Tell me the bad things about living in Australia.

[ilovepixie]

Following on from the USA thread what's the worst thing about living in Australia.

Distance and flights yes, it sounds daft, but you don't realise until you are so far away.
The TV is god awful, even the news.
The mayonnaise!
It has much more to it than the cities, and I wouldn't live in most of them, never mind the country towns I spent loads of time in.
20 years ago at least.

Some Australians apparently have an unusual attitude to risk. An NZ friend of mine told me that he'd see a waterhole surrounded by warning notices: "Danger! Crocs! Strictly No Swimming!"

"Full of Aussies!" he said, "All swimming! I'd shout and point to the notices and they'd just come back with 'Aw, you gotta die of something!'
Yeah, they're right - but there's ways to go!!"

I was there about 20 years ago, had a week in Perth which was lovely, after that I found Sydney not as pretty or well looked after.
I saw no snakes or spiders, we had no complaints with the weather.

CSSSSJ
Crocodiles
Spiders
Snakes
Scorpions
Sharks
JellyFish

All the people carrying on about the wildlife have clearly never actually lived here or been based somewhere rural/far north. I’ve been in South East Qld for 13 years and can count on one hand the number of times I have seen a snake in the wild or something nasty has got into my house!
Negatives include the lack of a well funded public broadcasting service, poor level of public discourse, distance from European countries, lack of cultural history and culture of ‘mateship’ which definitely excludes women.

I would like to live in Australia but the snakes put me off . They terrify me.

Are there really that many snakes ?

I know it's a dumb question but it's the one thing putting me off.

@notcycling - Racism towards aboriginals: highly dysfunctional and socially disadvantaged people tend to be difficult to live with due to their antisocial behaviour. There is a general denial/misunderstanding about how white colonialism has impacted them. It can be hard for people living amongst it not to form a negative opinion of a group if they are committing a lot of crime, drinking until they fall over in public and abusing one another. I was sitting in the main street in Darwin when an aboriginal man knocked his girlfriend out during a fight and no one batted an eye as this is normal behaviour.
Refugees, especially boat arrivals, have been used as a political football for 20+ years. There is a general perception that they are just here for the social welfare and do not want to work or be part of society. Being on Centrelink (benefits) is probably more unacceptable in Australian culture than in the UK.

I lived in QLD for 4 years and I think the negatives have been summed up pretty succinctly in this thread. I would certainly go back for an extended holiday. But live there again - no way! What really struck me was the overwhelming difference between the degree educated, well travelled Aussies and... everyone else.

Spiders (usually poisonous)
Jelly fish.
Sharks.
Snakes (usually poisonous).
Crabs the size of dustbin lids.
Extremely hot weather.
So many Australian people going on about the hot weather,as if it's the most fantastic thing about the country.

Wow this is quite revealing ! When you see all these tv programmes about starting a new life in Aus it all seems so idyllic.

I can just imagine those boorish Aussie men continually jibing with their smart ass Pommie remarks.

One thing that has puzzled me is property prices in Aus. With so much space how can they be so expensive? I did read that it was because the state has a stranglehold on land ownership and keeps prices high by restricting development.

It's a long way to travel anywhere else in the world - a 'quick' international trip would be to somewhere like Bali, which is up to 6 hours away! The heat, of course. Limited job opportunities in certain fields. Very expensive housing and lifestyle costs in the major cities. Limited cultural activities of the National Trust/historical buildings variety.

Having lived in both places Australia is certainly more overtly racist, especially outside of the urban areas, but that's partly because the culture of Australia is less subtle and more in your face generally. The insidious and subtle racism I've seen in England has been quite interesting to see, especially from people who loudly denounce Australia for its racism...

Another big drawback to Australia: huge, flying cockroaches. Just disgusting! The sound of their wings flapping is enough to give me nightmares.

I went ten years ago and was shocked by the racism. I overheard check in staff at the airport openly and Loudly use racist language. I gasped and stared at them but no one else even batted an eyelid. I wish I had done more - I really regret not speaking out.

Sexist. Rubbish fashion. Can be quite narrow minded.

But absolutely beautiful country.

Admittedly it was yonks ago that I was there, but I found it just so 'meh' compared to the uk. Like it had no personality, no soul. The scenery was so beautiful, but at the same time, just meh. I don't think you can appreciate the history, the personality of the uk quite until you go to a country that has none.

Chocolate tastes wierd.

What on Earth are people doing work koalas to catch chlamydia snigger

I’ve never ever fancied it (spiders) but DHs cousin lived there for a long time, she felt like a second class citizen as a woman and she hated the drinking culture.

The racism and sexism was striking and really shocking.

Houses were freezing in winter (plug in fan heaters instead of central heating in some)

Styles - just seemed 'dated'

Weird animals that are often trying to kill you. Not safe on the land or the water. Slight exaggeration, but there you go!

Re posters talking about the climate/weather - of course it depends what part you go to - ghastly humidity in Queensland - but not in Tasmania or Melbourne etc.

I was shocked by the racism casually expressed by people fully expecting me (a white person) to join in. Had never experienced it that blatantly before. I was only there for a few weeks and it happened several times
I agree that there is racism in the UK but it is not as overt.

We've only been on holiday it was oz winter and Sunshine Coast but the one thing that stood out was the fact it just goes dark so early?

I had visions of BBQs on the beach late into the evening ? But nope dark at 6pm sat inside.

The houses huge inside, no space outside.

The fact they have dogs that literally just live in kennels outside? Pointless.

The dangerous/unfriendly wildlife
The obsession with sports
The racism, homophobia and sexism being acceptable
The horrible attitudes towards aboriginal people
The showy/flashy/tackiness
The food in supermarkets isn't great and is very expensive for what it is
Places like Melbourne were very disappointing
Sydney has a lot of grotty bits and accommodation in good areas is eye wateringly expensive
A lot of the men are too forward and chauvinistic compared to anywhere else I've been
It takes forever to get anywhere else in the world
Some of the small towns I visited were a bit "we don't get many outsiders round here" and people stopped and stared at us
It gets a lot colder than people think and isn't a nice warm, sunny place all year round which is the perception some people have

I actually live here so can probably give a bit more of a true view of what is good and bad compared to the U.K. where I lived for 30 years.

We live in the outskirts of Sydney so obviously it’s different to living in Darwin or a small town in northern Queensland, in the same way that life in London would be different to living in a village in wales or the outer Hebrides.

Snakes - we’ve seen two or three on bush walks and we go on bush walks probably 3-4 times a month, so not an issue in Sydney at all. Certainly might be if you live in the country.
Spiders - well we have the house sprayed but I saw more big spiders when I lived in Sussex than in Sydney. You certainly don’t need to check the toilet again, maybe if you live in the back of beyond and have an outside loo or something.
My kids go to a very multicultural school and I haven’t come across any racism and have never been “mocked” for my English accent - there are a huge range of accents there after all. We also do have air conditioning at school.

The real things I do think are bad are;
It’s a long way back to the U.K. or to Europe.
Agree re the lack of culture - you have to really search it out and the love of reality shows and things is a real turn off.
The lack of a long history - totally agree although again it isn’t something that I turn my mind to daily.
The TV is appalling, so incredibly low brow. Thank goodness for Netflix and Stan.
When I lived in Adelaide and was a lawyer there, I definitely had to fight against ingrained sexism. Haven’t come across it at all in Sydney though. Although to be fair had to deal with it a bit in London too.

I can’t imagine what it was like living here 30 years ago but now I can’t think of anything we can’t get here that we can get elsewhere and attitudes have definitely started to move on.

I lived in Perth for two years. My gripes were:
Ants can sniff out a cake crumb from two miles and they’ll gather to thousands to a crumb.
Refrigerating bread.
Fly season 🤮 (flies on your face)
Yes, about sport. I hate sport.
Separate shop yo get booze 🙄
Everything is shortened with an o.
The cops hiding in bushes with their speed guns.
No where decent to shop to get large bra sizes. I used to order from Marks to send my bras internationally.

@justkeepmovingon you came in winter and were surprised that it got dark early? It’s winter! Also, we are closer to the equator here so we don’t get super long evenings even in summer, it’s still dark by about 8.30.