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Original poster

wanted down under - these people drive me nuts.

122 replies

RaspberryCoulis · 07/01/2021 11:23

I do love watching the unrealistic people on Wanted Down Under.

Today's is classic. Mum with 4 Primary school age kids and a same-sex partner. Mum has always had a dream about living in Oz. Partner fairly meh about the whole thing.

The father of the kids appears to be very hands-on, very involved. Kids regularly expressing "missing Dad". Yet mum soldiers on with her selfish dream?

OP posts:
Standrewsschool · 07/01/2021 18:40

A common feature of the programme is that they think moving to Australia will radically transform their lives. They’ll be able to buy a house with a pool and walk-in wardrobes, work fewer hours, earn more money, develop a love of the outside, etc. Quite a few have never stepped foot in Australia before.

The family time is usually based on a visit to the zoo. They forget we have zoos in the uk.

june2007 · 07/01/2021 18:45

I don,t think wanting to mocve to Oz is so bad their are quite a few Australians over here so why not go over their. I have a friend who emigrated their and so has her brother their doing fine. Another in Newzealand again doing fine. I don,t think thats the issue.

Lightsontbut · 07/01/2021 19:02

Don't forget that they also expect everyone from the UK to visit regularly with scant regard to whether people have the masses of cash needed for a trip to Oz!

MollyButton · 07/01/2021 19:02

Nope wanting to move to Australia or where ever is fine - but it won't be Neighbours or Home and Away or any other beach lifestyle little work,and living in a massive house. And of course you will grow distant from family and friends etc. etc.

Like any decision there are consequences.

I had a friend move to Australia for all the right reasons - unfortunately her marriage didn't last, and she no longer had an option of returning to the UK - whatever she or her daughters wanted.

Toddlerteaplease · 07/01/2021 23:22

@june2007 the issue with this family, was that mum was the only one who wanted it. No one else did. She was also taking the kids away from their dad. Who they saw nearly every day.

CarrieCat · 08/01/2021 10:51

Watching this episode now. I think it's shocking that they would move when the kids saw the dad every day and said he was a huge part of their life. (Or even if he didn't see them as often)

Persianparadise · 08/01/2021 13:34

I cried watching this, the poor poor dad. He had skin cancer ( worst place to go is Australia for skin cancer) but he loved his kids so much he would do anything for them. The selfish women and her wife.

Standrewsschool · 08/01/2021 19:22

Is that the Ellis family? On the Facebook fan page I’m on, everyone was really supportive of the family moving out. It says the dad flew out because he wanted to see his children settled.

maddiemookins16mum · 09/01/2021 07:48

[quote sproutburger]@Nitpickpicnic basically a UK family is thinking of moving to Oz, expecting that they will be able to afford something off Neighbours unlike their grotty little terrace in some damp pommy shithole. They also want a more relaxed lifestyle, large garden, more time for the kids, more money etc which they think they'll get in Australia. So the tv producers fly them out there for a week or something to see what their lives would be like there, including a day doing their normal jobs here. They usually find:
-oz is bloody expensive
-they can only afford a slightly pokey house in the burbs miles from anywhere

  • they're on the other side of the world from their families. Who'd a thunk it! (cue video of tearful elderly parents saying "we'll miss you terribly but don't let us hold you back". All the kids and mum start howling)
-one of them will need to completely retrain as Oz doesn't need their particular trade
  • dad hates the idea because his mum is 92 and he'll probs never see her again, he'll miss all his footy mates and his brother who he sees every week, he earns a good wage as a plasterer and he is quite content where he is. he's only going along with it to keep his wife happy

at the end of the show they have to decide whether they want to move or not. 2 kids say yes because they met a koala, sullen teenager misses her mates so says no, mum is kind of ambivalent because she didn't realise that hairdressing doesn't pay $200 per hour in Adelaide and cheese costs a bomb. Dad still playing nicely but says no.

They don't move and had no intention of doing so really, but had a sunny holiday at the expense of the programme.

I stereotype slightly but you get the gist! I love the show btw![/quote]
100% this. You should write for a TV mag.

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 09/01/2021 08:02

My dc love WDU (dd2 managed to speak to Nicky Chapman purely because she wanted to fan girl about it).

They went as far as downloading the application form which apparently has a great big warning at the top saying THIS IS NOT HOLIDAY. Grin

Chimeraforce · 09/01/2021 08:09

That was so sad. They're still in Australia. The mum has to work as a temp. Teacher as her UK qualifications don't seem to count as much. The dad died over there and the kids are so sad 😢
I laugh when they state their Low budget say 200k, then get shown fab homes..... 100k over budget.
Here's what you could've had folks!

Levirandal · 09/01/2021 09:06

I love this show. It’s the same old thing but I still watch. Interesting that over half the families that do move end up moving back.

I remember one family where the mum was hell bent on moving and basically said she’d be going without her husband and taking their two girls so he had to go.

HowOnerous · 09/01/2021 09:12

hmmmmm it’s sunnier in Australia so fuck you grandma

Lol, this!

RandomGrammarPun · 09/01/2021 14:14

And the conclusion of the budget calculations is always either:

If you stop being a SAHM/very part-time worker and retrain and work full time, you'll be better off in Oz....Who'd a thunk?

OR

You'll be £500 a year better off. Yay!! That's great Hang on, that's not enough to afford to ever fly back to the UK so hopefully your family will want to pay to come and see you instead Hmm

RandomGrammarPun · 09/01/2021 14:16

Or they're in Melbourne and go for a walk in a forest. It's no warmer than the Uk in the summer but...

"We definitely want to move for the outdoor lifestyle. It's so much better here." Erm, you do know there are forests and a summer in the UK, too?

Lightsontbut · 09/01/2021 15:59

"We definitely want to move for the outdoor lifestyle. It's so much better here." Erm, you do know there are forests and a summer in the UK, too?

I saw a great one where they had a lovely day on the beach and one of the parents was using that as an argument to move and a canny teenager said 'we have beaches in the UK too but we never go to them and I don't think this is a good enough argument to not see the rest of the family'. Loved it.

SeeSawSeen · 09/01/2021 19:09

The Reality Check section sends DH and me into a rage, but for different reasons... Him: 'Why are they tapping away on an ancient calculator and juggling pens and paper? Haven't these people heard of SPREADSHEETS??'
Me: 'Well fuck me, mushrooms cost 30c more in Oz? You'll pay 17c more for a pack of toilet rolls? Call the whole thing off! It's doomed, DOOMED, I tell you! Ominous music and worried faces all round.

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 09/01/2021 19:15

We were bemused (and amused) by the couple who were immensely concerned about the cost of baby sweetcorn. We’d never realised this could be a deal-breaker.

PapsofJura · 09/01/2021 19:55

It’s the ones who have never even been to Australia and their only apparent knowledge of Australia is that it’s sunnier than here. Why on earth do they think that this is enough to even consider a move to the other side of the world and often forgetting that it isn’t just a warmer version of the Uk it’s a completely different country!

LemmysAceCard · 09/01/2021 21:35

I have always said this, why would you uproot your family to move to the other side of the world to a country they have never set foot in. Surely you would go there first for a holiday to see if you liked it

Toddlerteaplease · 15/01/2021 11:31

Nice family on today's. But they don't seem very happy in NZ. Mum is having to work full time which she didn't want.

margoyuwer · 15/01/2021 18:26

I'm glad most of the revisited ones they are showing this time round they actually end up going. I find it a bit frustrating they spend the first half of the episode going on about how amazing OZ/NZ are then say they are happier to stay at home

margoyuwer · 18/01/2021 11:06

Today's family love Australia so much they named their first daughter Adelaide

Wearethetwirl · 18/01/2021 20:07

It's fascinating and I often want to don a fake beard, call myself Dr Freudyface and ask these people "so why are you REALLY going to the other side of the world?"

There seems to be so much not covered . I saw one couple who couldn't get to Australia so ended up in New Zealand, like two English speaking countries with different govt, lifestyles and climates were completely interchangeable. They clearly just were desperate to leave the UK.

Today's episode had a husband say in Australia you can go out for a coffee, go to the beach and go to the park, Britain having outlawed all those things in 1886.

I'd love to watch a version Wanted Down Under: the real reason I'm leaving. Episodes could include "my hubby slept with my sister and she lives on my street" or "my in laws are loud and over bearing and I want to escape those life suckers" or "I am actually clinically depressed and hope moving to somewhere sunnier will do more than my anti depressants currently are".

cherrypie790 · 18/01/2021 20:18

I love watching it but my god it's predictable.

I can't fathom anyone wanting to rip kids away from grandparents/family support for better weather, personally. I've got 5 grandkids and it would literally break my heart not to be part of their upbringing.

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