I'm definitely being unreasonable! Comparing lives with Australians!

[teulie]

Watched a lot of Love Island Australia and MAFS Australia this year and follow a lot of the people from it now. Seeing all their stories all year and today for NYE, the sunshine, the beaches, the groups of girls all just having the best time being young in such a beautiful country with the best sort of lifestyle and it makes me feel sad!

I'm in my late twenties married with two kids, boring job, normal family life style but I look and think god could I of done that? Could life of been like that?

One of my old friends is currently in Australia so I'm seeing their insta stories all day everyday and it's made the pining worse than ever, I've never even been there and I find myself just wishing I could do life again and be born there

I also love the access to Europe and we go regularly taken teens to Paris / Amsterdam/ Berlin and had a blast. Think Australia would be too remote for me.

OP please ignore all the tourists, UK hermits and fantasists that populate this thread. I’ve lived across Australia and the UK. Here’s the straight dope.

You can have a good life in Australia if you’re a higherish earner - say top 25%. You’ll live in a good suburb close to the city with great amenities, culture, healthcare and so on. You’ll have ample time and money for pretty impressive beach holidays and some simple but stunning inland adventures. Conversely, if you’re not ambitious but kind of skilled and don’t care about the big city lifestyle of museums and books (plumber etc), you can have a pretty idyllic small town costal life. 40 degree days and bushfires and rare despite what you might see here. I say that access to Asia preferable to Europe.

In the UK, unless you are in the top 10% your life won’t be great. Your housing and access to nature will be very limited, if either of those are of value to you. Access to Europe is a huge plus of course if you’re able to research and plan a trip but I found that these occasional trips didn’t offset the everyday drudgery of heading off to work in rain and cold. The reality is that most will go to Ibiza and so on, which is worse than most easy trips from Australia. With that said, London pips Sydney and Melbourne if you prefer and can afford it.

Umm. You were perfectly clear on why we haven’t got rid of the monarchy. Because we are backwards and racist. The voice referendum was a huge disappointment, I guess it was like Brexit in the uk- a big protest vote due to people really feeling the cost of living crisis. Except Brexit was years before the current inflationary pressures so I guess it was just a big protest vote. We were living in the uk at the time.

A number of my family went to Australia in the 60s/70s. One in particular posts racist memes about immigration. The irony seems to escape her. She blocked me after she posted a 'Australia for Australians' meme and I asked when she's coming home..😂

So you are implying people with careers in plumbing etc aren’t skilled or interested in culture and just want to live quiet lives by the sea!
And how do you come to the conclusion that 90% of the earners in the UK won’t be living ‘great’ lives.
Jeez talk about living in a bubble

Seriously - you make your heaven or hell wherever you are. No-where could you live a life of dreams, carefree and dancing on air. It’s a fantasy. You could move to Australia. But you’d still have your responsibilities to attend to - your family, your work, earning enough to pay your bills, feed the family.

Like many things, the reality is often very very different to the idea. I’ve not been to Australia so I can’t comment but I agree it looks lovely.

However, my point is that you can’t escape the realities of your existence and your circumstance - people generally run from things not to things

In the UK, unless you are in the top 10% your life won’t be great. Your housing and access to nature will be very limited, if either of those are of value to you. Access to Europe is a huge plus of course if you’re able to research and plan a trip but I found that these occasional trips didn’t offset the everyday drudgery of heading off to work in rain and cold. The reality is that most will go to Ibiza and so on, which is worse than most easy trips from Australia. With that said, London pips Sydney and Melbourne if you prefer and can afford it.

again just not true. We’re no where near the top 10% earners and have a much better life in the uk than we did in Australia. Something Australians clearly can’t understand. Sydney has more rain days than where I live now…. I work flexibly, from home, compared to my almost 2 hour commute to work in aus. Had to drive everywhere in Australia too and couldn’t afford to be near the beach. Yet we walk everywhere here, have a great community, live 10 min walk to a beautiful little beach, have a river and countryside within 5 minute walk. And I’m sure people have wonderful lives in Australia too, but ‘stating’ you can’t have a good life unless you’re top 10% is mad, and saying access to nature is limited in the uk is insane! We have some of the most accessible countryside in the world!

My relatives emigrated to Australia and have the most amazing lifestyle, granted they moved there over 20 years ago and had good jobs to go to so it would be harder today, but they were able to buy a plot of land in a beautiful rural location and build a house. They have take full advantage of the weather to spend a lot of time outdoors in nature and playing various sports which they love. Plus they have travelled extensively and really enjoyed the scenery and fascinating natural history as well as the food and wine which can be very good. It wouldn't work for everyone, but I don't like some of the intolerance we have seen on this thread.

I’m almost 40 and Australia is the ONLY place where I experienced racism. Shame really.

@tennesseewhiskey1 - I’m so sorry about that. We’re not all racist idiots, I promise. A lot of Aussies do the negging thing and can’t hack it when you get offended, as well… 🤦🏼‍♀️ The only place I have experienced racism was the Netherlands, and while it was awful, I now consider it a very good life lesson.

I hate to call anyone a liar but really? I’ve lived and travelled the world over and the UK is by far the most tamed place on earth. Mostly mowed grass, concrete and bitumen. The last remains trees are in protective custody.

Everyone has access to a creek in Australia. That’s the norm.

Yes of course! You’re so wrong I don’t even know where to begin. Did you just go to a city and not leave? Quite mind blowing really

@WhirlpoolRider
the majority of the country is countryside. Rural areas make up 90% of the land mass in England! You’ll find it’s lots of towns and villages connected by countryside. All easily accessible, millions of trails and paths. There’s a new coastal path that goes around the entire of England’s coast. It a small country so you’re never far from some beautiful scenery. Rambling, trail running cycling etc are all huge here.
I'd suggest following some Instagram accounts to get an idea of the countryside, countryfile, natural England, national trust, woodland trust, rspb are some I can think of of the top of my head (if you are actually interested!!)

@WhirlpoolRider
Gosh! You remind me of an Australian woman I met years ago when I spent 9 months in Oz (8 years later went back for another couple of months). She said, "It must be awful to live in a country with no trees". Me: "Yes, it must be. Er, why did you say that?" (I was being very polite). Her: "Well, there are no trees in England, are there?". I explained in a kind way that we do have some trees. (As it happens, I am a Londoner, who lives in an outer suburb surrounded on 3 sides by a large ancient forest, readily accessed by public transport to all Londoners. My little road is home to foxes, owls and deer and I once saw a rare native grass snake on the communal lawn of our flats). I was subjected to endless Pom bashing back then, which, clearly, the Pom bashers had no idea felt bullying and unkind to the recipient. It was 1980s, so I hope there is less these days. I remember hitching from rural NSW to Melbourne with my Australian friend, for example, and being picked up by a truck driver. "Where are you girls from?" On hearing I was from London. "A Pom? A Pom?" and immediately he called up his mate in another truck on his radio "Hey, Bill, you'll never believe this, I've got a bloody Pom in my cab". Can't remember next bit but in such Pom-subjected interactions, it was usually "and what do you think of God's own country? I bet you never want to go back, do you? It rains all the time there, doesn't it." . General England bashing would then ensue. I got used to gritting my teeth and pretending to find this light-hearted banter and not really annoying at all. I really hope that it doesn't happen any more now. I would never say anything like this to visitors to the UK. I missed the European culture too. I love the theatre and, working in Sydney, went to anything I could - theatre, opera, concerts at the opera house and often to the art gallery by the botanical gardens but rural Australia then had nothing like this available and spending hours in the pub gets a little tedious. Great bush walking and beautiful scenery though and a lot of kind and friendly people.

I also love the access to Europe and we go regularly taken teens to Paris / Amsterdam/ Berlin and had a blast.

Hmmm, the Margaret River, Monkey Mia, Denmark Beach, Perth and Fremantle, the Daintree Rainforest, a boat on the barrier reef, a weekend in the Whitsundays…………..or Amsterdam 😂

Snowdonia?
The Lake District?
Pembrokeshire coast?
Yorkshire dales?
Scottish highlands?
Hebrides?
Cornwall?
Norfolk Broads?
The Pennines?

I met someone in the uk at work no less and the conversation was like oh you’re an Aussie? Never seen such a bunch of uncultured rednecks as Australians.
me- !! So it happened the other way around in about 2016. I was quite a bit better at my job than he was at his.

I laughed at this! Australia has ugly furniture? This comment coming from what I assume is an english person? Ok then.

Even the left is quite right wing in oz though, their attitudes to migrants if said here would be considered hate speech, certainly far more than Braverman's policy ideas. They go beyond on implementation. Considering the very idea of turning illegal immigrants away is considered far right to most Labour voters in the UK I think oz politics would be considered way too right wing, even for moderate tories. Same with the lockdown response except this time authoritarian.

Also the UK has one of the richest natural environments in Europe, not samey like most of eg Spain. Generally the UK and NZ are known for this, hence both countries filming so many Hollywood and other series in thise countries with access to varied locations.

Sydney to Freemantle is 4000 kms.
London has around 40 capital cities closer to it than that.
Plus the Arctic.

Don’t fancy any of those places thanks never even heard of them - hard to beat Paris and Berlin though!

My daughter is currently in Australia travelling and this thread makes me feel nervous about it

Are you laughing at the idea of going to Amsterdam? Really? Have you been? An amazing city to visit. Fremantle doesn’t nearly compare, sorry.

Not entirely sure why the conversation needed to descend to playground oneupmanship. Is it not possible that both counties can be great places to live, they both have amazing scenery and lots to do but they are vastly different. Or is that all just too sensible.