Have you been over to visit? I unfortunately missed out on Sydney and got stuck in Adelaide for two weeks. Many years ago my mate who I was travelling with at the time had a mental breakdown and was institutionalised in the secure unit of a psychiatric Hospital. Adelaide was 40 degrees C, the flies would land on your mouth and eyes in search of moisture and the locals like to beat the living shit out of each other in mass brawls at the local park. The hospital staff were nice though!
We Brits are easily beguiled by anyplace that has better weather than the UK. I spent 4 months in Oz on the east coast, can't say I'd rush back.
I've had the invitiation but no as that lengthy flight would do my head in just sitting around waiting to land..
I had a couple of opportunities about 10 years ago to go to Perth, visited for 3 weeks (wife has an aunt there) and my wife was initially keener than me but ended up not wanting to be so isolated (Perth is worse than Sydney) and be overly worried about things that bite and kill you. Back then it was very expensive in comparison to UK so make sure the salary is suitable. Seemed to be a bit more of an aggressive male culture, which is why they have that stereotype, but not something that would be a real problem - unless you happen to be a complete snowflake I think Sydney would be more appealing than Perth as at least your closest city is on the same continent
I think NZ is a more diverse place (with less killer things) and we were looking to move there.. We went for 3 weeks and felt that it missed something... not sure exactly what.... but we stayed here in the suburbs of West London. Both NZ and Oz (East coast) are fantastic places for a holiday IMHO.
hmm, i could get over my fear of flying.. . A peyote is a small, spineless cactus that contains the psychoactive alkaloid mescaline. It is classified as a narcotic. The substance was tested and returned positive results for mescaline. The detection was referred to the Australian Federal Police
Nigel, why are you not sat on the plane now!! I’m in Brisbane at the moment, been coming for the last eight years as my daughter is married to an Aussie guy, I used to come for all of December when I was working, but I retired slightly early and the last 3 years have had December, January and February out here to miss the shitty British winter. IMO just jump at it..go as soon as you can. The lifestyle over here is fabulous, if your hobbies revolve around being outdoors, this is the place for you. All depends on how well you handle heat, I’m better with heat than cold, I bloody hate being cold, but having said that, last week hit 41c one day and it was blisteringly hot, but that’s not the norm really and Sydney is a little cooler than here. I can’t explain it to you, but every time I get off the plane at Brissy airport I just feel like I’ve come home, it’s wierd, I feel more at home here than I do in the UK ?? I think it’s all to do with the weather and the fact that the Aussies are such a positive, “can do” mentality sort of people and really chilled out about most things, as opposed to the Brits who imo come over a bit negative and will find ten excuses why they can’t do stuff? It’s an outdoors lifestyle and the food here is the best I’ve had anywhere in the world there’s such a mix of cultures and cuisines, and when you fancy a holiday just drive 1hr 30 mins up the coast here an you’ve got Mooloolahba and Noosa Heads, beautiful places and you’ll find stuff like that near Sydney, fab seaside resorts all up the east coast. Don’t take any notice of the bugs and creepy crawly stories, yes there’s some shit out here that can take care of itself, but you’d have to be looking for it in the Bush crawling around and treading on it before it would actually bite and if you’re stupid enough to be doing that, you deserve to be bitten. I ride a mountain bike in the forest and have seen big 5ft goana lizards, snakes and some pretty big spiders and they all just scarper as soon as they spot you, they’d much rather avoid humans than attack them. We are applying for a retirement visa out here and I’m definitely going to go for Australian citizenship as soon as I can, I love the place that much! It’s the sunny weather and the quality of life that makes the difference over here, you feel like you’re actually “living” as opposed to just “existing” like in the UK, it’s actually depressing coming home , you feel like you’ve just stepped out of a Walt Disney technicolour cartoon , straight into one of those gloomy black and white Ealing films about foggy old London...shite!! Do it, I doubt very much that you’d ever regret it. Poucher
don juan? meh, i know how to get the wumin. we just need to find a book that deminishes their eyesight.
I lived in Oz for almost a year, and had a great time. I was near Brisbane for a while at Mooloolaba https://www.mooloolabatourism.com.au/ and sailed the entire coast down to Sydney, then sailed north via WhitSundays. Cairns, Port Douglas, Cape Trib, Melville National Park. Wonderful place, great people. It is a bit macho, but perhaps thats the price of great weather, people, scenery, beaches. Can't have it all? What have you got to lose by trying it out? If the answer is not much - then theres the answer. Its interesting that most everyone reccomends you to just go, but most haven't done so themselves. Perhaps for the very reasons you might not go either - family, friends, security. I could go and live there too I guess. But I'm quite happy in the UK right now.
thanks @Poucher, we’re 90% sure we will make the move, Mrs has to work 3 months notice with UK business which ties in with my notice period too, so, all things equal, we’ll be leaving end of April
