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.

Snows- don’t feel sorry for us, we are perfectly fine! We lived in Sydney as an experiment to see whether we preferred it, and on balance we didn’t, so we came home.

I found the quality of goods and media was very poor, in the main. I struggled to buy what I wanted, or rather, with the quality I was accustomed to.

And yes to missing long summer evenings. It started going dark at 7.50 and was dark by 8.20.

Having said this, there’s not a day goes by that I don’t think about and miss it. I’d just rather live in the UK.

Spiders
Snakes
Sharks
Being too far from everywhere
Not being New Zealand

I got reprimanded by an older white gentleman when I gave money to a homeless black guy

Do you mean a person of Aboriginal descent ?

One of the things that has shocked me on Mumsnet is the shocking way some UK posters talk about people who are travelers or of Roma descent. I think this culture clash is very similar to the one outlined in the excellent post above about Aboriginal culture. To which I would add that the impact on Aboriginal culture of generational trauma of children being removed from families is profound.

@CountessFrog You put the point so beautifully, I won’t even try to add to it, but it’s such a succinct description. I wonder, on the back of this, what you make of ‘sorry day’ if they (you?) still mark that?

I understand the saying sorry- especially for the stolen generation which was a terrible event (even if it wasn't intended to be terrible). That said, I don't think there is any advantage to marking sorry day, or calling Australia Day 'invasion day'.

The reality is that aboriginal life wasn't all lovely until the Europeans came along- there was no influenza or alcohol, for sure. But that didn't mean that aboriginal culture didn't have the same weaknesses then as it does now, and that if things like life expectancy are worth anything, then those have improved (even if not as much as they should have).

It is important to acknowledge the problems caused by European settlement, but at the same time it wasn't like Australia was a land inhabited by a thriving people- aboriginal culture was tribal and nomadic. Agriculture was largely non existent and the life expectancy was (as it was for Europeans pre antibiotics & germ theory) in the 30s and 40s. Tribal and nomadic cultures don't maintain low populations because they're not having lots of children. It's because most of them die (in fact even today aboriginies have one of the higher birth rates).

However it was a culture suited to the geography and (importantly) the lack of fermented fruit. So it's a difficult thing- obviously there were downsides but also benefits. More importantly though is not to focus on why it's all terribly bad, but to look at the structural issues and try and address them going forward (I think things like abstudy is excellent for example even if it has a low uptake).

Just because a culture is nomadic doesn’t mean it’s not viable or thriving. They did extremely well in very inhospitable climates for 1000s of years and had a rich involved culture connected to the land. Who are we, as Europeans to say their culture was improved because we came along and upped their life expectancy? You can not make that call. That call is up to them. It’s a sad, sad story. However when I mentioned casual racism, it was certainly not just related to the aboriginals and it was much more open than it is here. Certainly in the north, can’t speak for southern England, as one poster proclaimed.

My opinion is based purely on my experience living in Sydney, so I don’t know about the rest of Australia (travelled around a lot but not lived there!)
Racism in the workplace, at three different places of work in central Sydney, I’ve never encountered anything like it.
Sexism
The spiders and snakes!
The weather- I was shocked by how much it rained in Sydney. I thought maybe it was particularly wet when I was there but I’ve seen a statistic that Sydney gets more rainfall than London? And it got so cold in the winter, 8 degrees and we had no heating?! And no air con in the summer!
The sea, I love swimming in the sea in the UK but there were so many dangers over there I never felt safe, not just sharks but all the other million things in the water and rip tides
The high cost of living

That being said I did enjoy my time there and visited some beautiful places. But my family and friends are in the UK and the beauty of oz didn’t outweigh the benefit to me of being near my loved ones. Plus I’ve now moved to somewhere beautiful in the UK and have the outdoor lifestyle I hoped to get there here.

I moved back last year. Had lived there 8 years and had both my children there. Love he place. We are all dual citizens. But since moving back I have become more aware of some drawbacks.

1. Sexism in the workplace very common. I had 3 different workplaces and same issue. Constantly talked over by men in meetings. Constantly heard women were being given positive discrimination whenever a woman was promoted. Was in one recruitment meeting where a man said he would prefer to hire a male candidate as he knew they wouldn't go on maternity leave. When I challenged it, I was the only one that did and a female colleague said "I didn't realise you were such a feminist!"

1. The racism does exist, mainly towards the indigenous community. It was commonplace for people to hold he view that any disadvantages faced by the indigenous community were brought on by themselves. On two occasions I had to report a crime. For one, the first question the policewoman asked me was 'aboriginal?' For the other, the comment I got from a really lovely Aussie friend of mine was 'probably just abbos'. Really shocked me.

1. Really expensive. Very hard to get on the housing ladder as a first time buyer. Crash is coming though! Economy is in serious trouble. Has been for long time but coronavirus will be the tipper.

1. It is so so far away. We visited UK family yearly but it cost a bomb and used all of our annual leave which meant we had no holiday left to explore other places. Kids on flights is hard work.

1. Skype calls really started to annoy me. Felt duty bound to do them, kids didn't care as didn't have much relation with family back then due to living so far away.

I could write a long list of why I love it too. I didn't want to leave at the time. But I have absolutely no regrets now.

I've been following both this and the American thread, I'm neither British, American nor Australian. I really want to applaud the native posters whose countries have been taken apart.

We are all accustomed to the ways of where we are born/live, it can be hard and feel unfair to hear what others think of you (some haven't even lived there).

Fwiw i think you have been good sports, and would love to see a similar thread about Britain, and posters being as nice about it.

Oh yes to a pp. Clothes shopping is a nightmare! Really hard to find something both nice and affordable. Fashion is weird over there. I used to do all my shopping whenever I came back to the UK.

Sorry all the mountains comment was tongue in cheek as ours simply don’t compare to Europe, I can see it failed . I wasn’t particularly struck by the high quality of affordable shopping in London but shopping and postage were much better.

I agree with other posters on here that the perceived racism towards Australian aboriginies has some complex causes.

But- I think there is a LOT of general racism in Australia against non-whites. It is a country that formally had a ‘White Australia’ immigration until the 1970s. Pauline Hanson’s racist ‘One Nation‘ party has had far more success than the BNP every had in the UK.

When my husband coached students in Qld, they openly referred to Aborigines with a derogatory term (starts with A), I had an Aussie boyfriend with Greek heritage who was openly called a ‘w*g’ by friends, Asians were disliked, I was told not to trust Italians, etc. It was really unhealthy and far more ingrained and commonplace than in the UK.

I also had wonderful Australian friends who had zero tolerance for racism, so not everyone was like that.

(BTW- I’m a dual citizen so feel comfortable commenting on both Aus and the UK)

According to friends living there, you can’t get a decent curry like here.

Totally depends where you are. It's a fucking big country

Supermarkets don't have ready meals

I shit you not when I moved to Sydney this ruined my life.

@giantangryrooster there is a U.K. thread running at the minute but everyone got very cross when some people dared to mention about its downsides!

Lived there over twenty years ago missed our blighty mentality humour culture TV quality fashion music multiculturism. Felt rather insular and behind the rest of the world far too influenced by US. Racism sexism materialism was accepted. I also missed the changing seasons.

@Kittenlicker
I've just found it, thank you .

As I expected, posters are not being very gratious . I've already seen the 'you better go home then' comments.

All the more kudos to the posters on these two threads 👍.

I live in Sydney and due to being WFH for the past two months, I'm feeling fairly relaxed . However, some my annoyances have been known to relate to:

• the price of books.
• lack of well priced, good quality clothing - in all sizes.
• the obsession with AFL and other sports.
• rude people (I know this is an international issue!).
• terrible TV. Thank goodness for Netflix, Stan & co.
• cold cold houses in winter, even when it's relatively mild outside.
• people who bang on about their investment property / self-managed super fund.
• terrible driving.
• too far away/ things too far apart (can't really blame anyone/thing for this!).

I have to say that I've never encountered sexism or anti-UK sentiment, and luckily have only had two spiders in the house, in four+ years and not too many cockroaches at any given time...

@beingsunny

So I'm English and have been in sydney 11 years, The worst things are no M&S, rubbish chocolate Clothes are expensive and poor quality House prices, I live in one of the most expensive suburbs in a 2br apt and manage on my graphic designer salary (though probably couldn't do that in central London) Spiders are huge! Winter, most homes have single glazing so are really drafts, it's often warmer outside than in! ( having said that I'm having a glass of wine on my balcony 3 days from the start of winter) It's a bit sexist There is casual racism here, though I live in an affluent area so it's not common There are no nearby towns to visit Traffic and drivers are dreadful

WHY is there NO M&S here? Surely it would be very popular? It's a constant mystery to me... the nearest M&S being Jakarta or Singapore, really isn't working me . Although I give the internet shopping a bit of a workout, it's just not possible to get the biscuits delivered...

I have to laugh about the lack of air con or heating in homes in Australia. It doesn't just magically happen you know, you have to buy it and have it installed - and surely if you want it that bad you do it?

Clothes shopping is a nightmare! Really hard to find something both nice and affordable. Fashion is weird over there. I used to do all my shopping whenever I came back to the UK.

Something else I find odd. We do see British TV programmes, news, magazines etc down under - I can't say I have noticed anyone wearing anything so wonderful or more different to the clothes here

According to friends living there, you can’t get a decent curry like here.

And there we go - just proves my point about Brits going to another country and expecting it to be just the same as home!!!

You totally can get a decent curry. Eating out there is great. Maybe depends where you are. I lived in WA