Expats in Oz - So what is it that you really miss about England

[pickupthismess]

We are really very seriously considering a move to Melbourne. I read a thread on the city with interest but I wondered what it is (other than family) that Australia really can't deliver that the UK can? I am trying to weigh our options up before we get too embedded in the visa process.

Ummmm, well on a shallow level, popping into M&S. But I can't say Australia doesn't "deliver" it, because in fact, they do.

On a more abstract level, I guess I miss;

1. Going for walks in the country and not having a slight worry of snakes.

1. Gardening without stout gloves on (snakes and spiders).

1. Cobbled streets and interesting old towns and villages.

1. The ease of popping to Europe and the US and the non homogenous cities that you can find there.

1. Not being forever an outsider.

But the main one is missing out on friend's babies, weddings, birthdays, special occasions etc.

But, on the other hand, living here we have:

1. A lovely decent house, 25 minutes from work.

1. The ability to be in the city in 25 minutes, the beach in 30 minutes and the countryside in 15 minutes.

1. Much more free time and the money to enjoy it.

1. Lots of new and interesting places to explore, plus stunning scenery and not having to share it with crowds of people.

1. The ability to afford things that would be out of reach luxuries in the UK for us, like private healthcare, private schooling, two good, new cars etc.

1. The weather is nice, as it means you can do lots of outdoorsy things, plus it's just nice having the sun shining (although you do get used to it).

thanks ozziegirly.

A few people have mentioned feeling liek outsiders. Do you find the Australians a bit closed to us incomers?

It's not so much that they are closed, more just that you don't have that shared history of things I guess.

Kind of like if you go out for drinks with a new crowd, who all know each other and they start talking about their (eg) high school teacher or something.

It's kind of like that I suppose. It's not like you're left out, I just often feel that I have nothing to contribute to tales of AFL etc.

But having said that, loads of people are lovely, it's not that they are unfriendly, I am just aware of having come from a different upbringing and have had lots of different experiences in general.

Tricky to explain actually!

I'm with you there Ozziegirly.

Personally it's the lack of knowledge of the sporting and political environments that make me an outsider. I miss out on "in-jokes" in my office to do with these things, and I LOVE to be in on a joke :D

I guess the longer you are here, the more experience and knowledge you gain of the environment in which you live. (And I hardly get a chance to read newspapers - I'm hoping to do that by osmosis).

mostly what Ozziegirly said.

I find that we can't do as much outdoors stuff here as we did in England because it's too hot - I don't tolerate heat well, and DS is very porcelain-skinned with a tendency to overheat very quickly (we only came here because DH is Australian) - and we're north of Sydney, which doesn't generally get as hot as Melbourne/Adelaide/Perth! We can't go for walks except to the shops - nowhere nice is in walking distance. So we have to get in the car to go for a decent walk, which pisses me off a bit. Mostly too dangerous to cycle here as well.

Haven't been here that long, only 6m but there are things that I miss being able to buy. I am in the process of trying to source them from an international importer but haven't had any success so far. E.g. - smoked mackerel, Boursin, oatibix minis (we're wheat intolerant). There are a few companies that specialise in British foods but they are expensive and I haven't found one that specialises in French foods yet (for the Boursin).

I find the cost of baby clothes here is excessive too - I got my sis to get me some from Tesco and ship them out to me, still cost less than buying them here!

I don't work - have a 2yo and currently ttc so decided not to bother yet - and it is quite hard to find activities to do. I find the internet here is backward in comparison with the UK, so not much help - the local community centre did get me into a toddler playgroup which has helped, but other than that I'm finding it hard to discover when/where activities take place.

Yes, that's it actually - a feeling of not being in on things!

Plus I have to say, and this is awful, but I don't find the Australian sense of humour funny in the slightest. I have tried, I have watched all sorts of things but I just sit there, stony faced, I just don't get it at all - not the old crappy "Hey hey it's saturday" shit or the new "Chasers War" stuff, and nothing in between!

It's kind of like when I was a child and all that crap on the TV, Russ Abbott, Les Dawson/Dennis/ Two Ronnies etc. To me, just NOT funny at all.

I think not getting the humour makes you feel a bit of an outsider, that and not liking sport....

Thank heavens for Foxtel!

But honestly, I do like it here!

Oh and thumbwitch, you're so right about the internet - I have been trying to find out any details of breastfeeding groups (like Baby Cafe) in my area, and have just given up as I can't find any information at all.

mad, isn't it? you'd think the Aussies would have been all over the internet like a rash, given the size of the place and the relatively high numbers of isolated places, but no! Give it another few years maybe .

Do you have a local health centre, not a GP, more of a clinic type place? We have one here based at the Community Centre, that is where I would start with info on BF groups if you have one.

I know! My aunt and uncle live in rural Qld and have totally embraced E-bay, but trying to find info on local things for babies to do? Nada.

I probably do have a local health centre, but I have only just moved to a new area and work in the CBD every day, so haven't been able to do much exploring.

I'm hoping the local library or something may be able to help. How very 1970s!

Funny how you become totally reliant on the internet.

I just can't help sitting watching Good News Week and comparing it very infavourably to Have I Got News for You, or Mock the Week. Comedy over here just does not compete.

But then the benefits soooo outway the negatives.

I've been here nearly 4 years and I still miss a decent newspaper. In fact I miss decent news coverage altogether.

My mum bought me a copy of The Observer when she visited in November, I can't bear to throw it away yet, it's just so good.

The media here is 99% unrelenting shit. As opposed to the UK's 79% unrelenting shit.

Also everyone here is so nice and frankly it really pisses me off. I know it sounds ungrateful but I do miss a bit of British surleyness now and again.

Also I miss Waitrose. Fecking Coles and Fecking Woolworths are fecking crap. AND they don't sell alcohol .

Also, and believe me I know how poncy this sounds, I miss Art. I so miss going up to Lunnon and seeing ART. There was a landscape exhibition on here a few months ago with some tip top paintings and I nearly wept - it was like seeing old friends. .

Oh, GOD, don't get me started on Good News Week! Why is it on for 90 mins! Astonishing. Mikey Roberts (Robbins) is just NOT funny.

But it is good here, honest. Also the sun shines all the bloody time which is nice.

Actually, on a serious note, having just been to my friends very young and very tragically dead mum's funeral this morning, what I really miss most is my lovely mum and dad.

Luckily I don't get Channel 10 so have avoided GNW.

But that godawful "my generation" thing - terrible. And Rove? Thank god that has ended - unrelenting shite with a group of totally non funny sycophants.

Claudia we basically only have Foxtel for Sky News and the BBC world news (and of course the Discovery Channel). Otherwise all you learn about is the state of wheat in Dubbo and that a hoon crashed a car in South West Sydney. Although ABC and SBS news aren't too bad.

BUT although I sound like a total whinging pom, I do actually really like it here!

Claudia un Mn and manly ((hug)).

I miss mine too and I do worry that one day they will die and I will horribly regret not spending more time with them.

I've been here forever, so some of this stuff I don't miss because it's been so long, but I totally agree about programming quality, adverts, newspapers, etc. I only ever watch British TV (have cable, there's a UKTV channel), don't really read papers, etc. It bothers me less than it would if I was much of a TV person, but I'm fine with my box sets of Dr Who and my online papers.

And yes, you can't buy alcohol in supermarkets. Although in Melbourne they often put the big bottleshop chains next to the supermarket so it's just going out of one door and into another. It's mad, because they're all owned by the same group, but it's a licensing law thing.

On the other hand, though, you can buy, e.g., cutlery if you're underage (I couldn't believe that you can't in the UK) and I don't think there's as much policing/nanny state overseeing going on generally. Except the booze.

Some of the other stuff depends where you live (er, obviously) - I agree with Claudia about the art thing, but it's much better in SSydney and Canberra than here in Adelaide, and not bad in Melbourne.

Ozziegirly, when I had my daughter I was given a list of things like breastfeeding groups, gymboree/baby bounce/baby massage classes, etc. And they'd have hooked me up with a postnatal group if I'd wanted one. But I couldn't find much out prior to that. Have you tried the Australian Breastfeeding Association website?

Agree about internet generally, though; as well as here, I'm on an American-based parenting site, but have never warmed to the Australian ones like Essential Baby.

My mum died before we came out here; one of the reasons we delayed coming as long as we did was because of my Dad - first because of the bereavement anniversaries, then because he had prostate cancer (thankfully seems to be all gone now) and I still worry about him but Skype is a great invention and meant that when we went back to England in January, DS recognised Dad completely (although he couldn't get his tongue round saying grandpa instead of grandma )

My only other relly that I care about is my sister and her DC - apart from her and my Dad, it's my friends I miss.

I don't mind some of the TV here but agree that the "humour" leaves a lot to be desired. I don't know whether Go channel is regional to NSW, but it's not too bad - lots of films on, reruns of Frasier and Seinfeld etc. (if you like those)

We haven't got Foxtel yet because we are coping without so far, although I would like to get it at some point.

Male chauvinism is still rife here as well - I really object to being talked "over" just because I am female! Especially when DH doesn't have the first clue what the person is talking about, yet he's still the one talked to because he's the man. Grr.

I can't say whether or not I prefer it to England - coming here wasn't entirely a lifestyle choice, it was about family as well. It's not bad but I do get homesick and I have been told that it can take between 2 and 5 years for that to wear off.

plus, I HATE mosquitoes! bastard bloodsuckers have been really bad lately, because of all the damp! Can't set foot outside without 4 or 5 of them latching onto my flesh within a couple of minutes!

I really miss British supermarkets - our local Woolworths makes me want to cry before I even set foot in in. Not being able to buy alcohol in the supermarket really pisses me off!

The news is rubbish - they just list every car crash that happpened in the last 24 hours and how much water there is in the dam and follow it up with some comedy footage of someone being chased by some form of wildlife. But as one of my friends pointed out it's kind of nice to be somewhere where so little else happens it's possible for that stuff to be on prime time news. I just use the BBC website to catch up with serious world events.

The cable company think it's ok to just switch the cable off from time to time, with no warning. The first time this happened I actually cried at the prospect of no Foxtel and no internet (and therefore no MN) for 3 days.

Like others said it's hard to understand conversations about sport etc. without having grown up with it. And the use of the term footy to describe pretty much any sport that involves a ball and some burly blokes makes it 10 times harder to figure out what's going on! I work with teenagers and have whole conversations with them about school etc. and am too embarrassed to admit that my entire knowledge of the Australian education system is based on what I have gleaned from extensive watching of Home and Away

That said I love it here, and like ozzie don't want to come across as a whinging pom There are also many aspects of life here that are a million times better.

The only thing I truly miss is my family, and I do sometimes worry that if anything happened to them I would regret being so far away

tortoise I'm hoping that I get a bit more info as my pregnancy progresses. I've only had one appointment with the obstretician so far but have another in 3 weeks and then loads after that. I think maybe she was just keen not to overwhelm me at once.

I have been on the Australian Breastfeeding Assoc website and it just said "there will be some classes in Adelaide".....but there is a number to call, which I will do closer to the time if I need it.

I think you're right in general about the nanny state stuff though, it does seem better over here, not so bossy.

The only thing I miss about England is it's proximity to Europe; I really do miss not being able to nip off to Paris or Barcelona for the weekend. I spent time in the UK last September and I think the guy at Sydney immigration thought I was a loon on the way back when I told him how happy I was to be HOME.

DH and I went to the Asquith Leagues on Saturday night! We must meet up for a beer soon.

I also can't help comparing Spicks & Specks unfavourably with Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Rockwiz isn't bad tho but I just like it coz it's filmed in the Espy

I watch too much TV

I don't miss anything about "England" - but I sure miss lots about Scotland.

Wow, that's a great load of info. Sounds like there is a gap in the market for Tescos eh?

Can you get English clothes shipped over (Boden, M&S etc)??

Also, is Foxtel like SKY? I remember Australian TV well and the highlight used to be Sale of the Century which I guess is all you need to know LOL. Sounds like it hasn't improved any.

I lived in Perth for one year when I was a teenager and really couldn't break in and never made any real friends which is why I was wondering what the 'adults' were like.