Any Ping Pong Paddies?

dSTAR

Seems you just can never please those 'whinging poms' according to a survey of Britons who moved to Australia and then returned back to ol' blighty because they claimed Australia is not all its cracked up to be.

Record number of Britons leaving Australia and heading home

Some of the reasons they cited for their return were:

• Skyrocketing property prices
• Boredom / Banality of life
• Lack of culture
• Weather

Is there any Irish people living here for any length of time who can relate to this?

Cheers..

myflipflops

The research was based on monitoring a popular internet-based discussion forum aimed at the British community in Australia............... was followed over six months and analysed for consistent themes

As half assed research goes, this is pretty impressive.


Article seems to state that most people leave because they get homesick and miss their family, it's not really a groundbreaking paper on emigrants.

I've been away for over 2 years now (only 6 weeks or so in Australia) and have been tempted to go home a few times. I'm finding life in Melbourne relatively similar to life in Dublin though so far though.

dSTAR

It does highlight the sentiments of a large number of people and is not pretending to be a scientific study merely a snapshot of returning emigrants.

jank

I can see where a lot of them come from. I plan too to go home to live in Ireland one day only when I have my blue book though.
I think like Ireland the last 10 years of the economic boom has had a negative effect on society. People dont give you the time of day, its all about money and the big house, consumorism is much more apparant. Ireland was like that but not any more. Maybe Australia will return to that type of society.

Hasmunch

Doea this take into account the thousands every year that arrive into and leave Australia to travel and plan on return to Britan after their travel period is up?

dSTAR

Hasmunch wrote: »

Doea this take into account the thousands every year that arrive into and leave Australia to travel and plan on return to Britan after their travel period is up?

I'm unsure but I would imagine it focused mainly on long term residents / citizens.

jackbhoy

Yeah, the things that would draw me back home would be family and mates really, and to a lesser extent things like culture and a decent pint of Guinness

Australia has a very rose-tinted reputation with people I know back home because so many of them came here on WHVs and partied for a year and travelled with no responsibilities etc, and obviously loved it. Thats is not really representative of living here permanently though as when you start building a career and paying bills etc it's a bit less carefree and reality bites a bit.
Having said that I'm loving life in Melbourne and can't see myself moving home for 4-5 years at least, and by then who knows.
Personally, I made better money in Ireland that I will in Oz and had a good standard of living there so I haven't seen a massive change in lifestyle like people who were unfortunate enough to be on dole back home. If I do choose to stay here it'll be purely for lifestyle reasons and not financial ones and when you take the latter out of equation Ireland doesn't compare too badly, IMO anyway...

ellaq

My parents ping-ponged and my grandparents before them. It has caused all sorts of problems for me when I tried to get my first Irish passport. My children are not entitled to a European passport so the odds of me returning are now zilch.

brock landers

Yep, I did a year and a half in Oz, and delighted to be back closer to home,As someone mentioned already, a WHV is fine and great for a year or two,but living permantly is a totally different ball game..the main things that got me were,primarily being so far from family and friends(homesickness i suppose),but that feeling of being so isolated from the rest of the world..then the lack of culture,being expensive,and the stifling heat..and of course there are too many aussies there :rolleyes:

seipeal1

brock landers wrote: »

Yep, I did a year and a half in Oz, and delighted to be back closer to home,As someone mentioned already, a WHV is fine and great for a year or two,but living permantly is a totally different ball game..the main things that got me were,primarily being so far from family and friends(homesickness i suppose),but that feeling of being so isolated from the rest of the world..then the lack of culture,being expensive,and the stifling heat..and of course there are too many aussies there :rolleyes:

Delighted to hear you are so thrilled to be back closer to home. Did you ever intend to live here permanently? For most of us who do, it is called real life. Trying to do our best to give our kids the best opportunities in life. Working hard to make life better. Trying to continually make ends meet. Basically, trying our best.... Yes, it is far from home. Yes, it gets lonely. Yes, it can be expensive. But, you know what, it is worth it. The lifestyle is better. The weather is better, the jobs are more plentiful. The kids are involved in lots more activities than they ever were at home. We spend lots more time together as a family and we have become closer.
We have lots of Aussie friends. Genuine, kind, good people. They accept us for who we are.

As for the lack of culture. Yes, it is a new country. But, you know what. It is older than the Republic of Ireland and this country has proved mature in its buisness acumen and its economic policies in the last few decades, something that cannot be mirrored by our own apparent lack of maturity as a nation when the boom years hit and we lost our way a bit when we shed a bit of our culture for pure greed a few years ago.

So, give this country a break. It has nothing to prove to most people.

Nelson Muntz

dSTAR wrote: »

It does highlight the sentiments of a large number of people and is not pretending to be a scientific study merely a snapshot of returning emigrants.

I know the forum this "research" was taken from. There is a sub forum for moving back to the UK. Obviously, all the comments on the forum are from people that are moving back home. There are many genuine reasons of course but that forum is also full of people having a moan about Australia & trying to convince themselves that moving back to the UK is the right decision.

brock landers

seipeal1 wrote: »

Delighted to hear you are so thrilled to be back closer to home. Did you ever intend to live here permanently? For most of us who do, it is called real life. Trying to do our best to give our kids the best opportunities in life. Working hard to make life better. Trying to continually make ends meet. Basically, trying our best.... Yes, it is far from home. Yes, it gets lonely. Yes, it can be expensive. But, you know what, it is worth it. The lifestyle is better. The weather is better, the jobs are more plentiful. The kids are involved in lots more activities than they ever were at home. We spend lots more time together as a family and we have become closer.
We have lots of Aussie friends. Genuine, kind, good people. They accept us for who we are.

As for the lack of culture. Yes, it is a new country. But, you know what. It is older than the Republic of Ireland and this country has proved mature in its buisness acumen and its economic policies in the last few decades, something that cannot be mirrored by our own apparent lack of maturity as a nation when the boom years hit and we lost our way a bit when we shed a bit of our culture for pure greed a few years ago.

So, give this country a break. It has nothing to prove to most people.

Of course I intended to live there permanently as I even have a residency visa that says so,but unfortunately it wasn't to be,After having the experience of working with two incredibly unprofessional companys,along with the other reasons mentioned,I said enough is enough and got out while I could.luckily in my line of work there are more opportunities this side of the world. Aslo I got sick of landing out fees and fines for every bloody thing..(600 AUD for not wearing a seatbelt in WA):eek:

Also to note,I dont have kids and could opt out when I felt like it.I'm sure there is good things about Oz,just I didnt see many.there's no accounting for taste either.
I wish you and your family the best of luck as I know it can be tough out there.

By the way though whats all this we business regarding the boom years,there are actually people out there that didnt buy into what was fed to us and cut our cloth to suit its measure.

Skittlebrau

I guess I'm one I suppose. Been here 6 years and am leaving in a month or so. Have the all important 'little blue book' though.

In my case, it's more my g/f wanting to go live in Europe for a bit that's the driver but it'll be good to be close to family/friends too. The whole employment situation could put a dampener on things though and I reckon there's a strong possibility we'll be back (would that make me a yo-yo paddy?). We've both taken a year's leave from work here which is a nice little safety net to have. Gives us 12 months to give it a proper go back home anyway.

Father Damo

Been here 3 years odd and known a grand total of about 5 people who voluntarily have returned home in that period (knew a few others either deported, refused a visa and left so as to allow themselves a clean record, or a few who had top return home to ill/ dying relatives whilst already illegal). Pretty much to a man I cant think of one person who has returned home permanently in that time, and cant think of many who ever intend on doing so. So five people out of god knows how many I know, its not a big figure. Then again its even rare for a non Irish person to bother doing a 2nd WHV, never mind settle.

Jumpy

brock landers wrote: »

Aslo I got sick of landing out fees and fines for every bloody thing..(600 AUD for not wearing a seatbelt in WA):eek:

Its called "enforcement". Ireland should try it.

Pisco Sour

Jumpy wrote: »

Its called "enforcement". Ireland should try it.

Some of the fines are a bit off the wall to be fair though. 176 dollars for being caught with your feet on a tram seat in Melbourne. WTF. That's the exact same fine as for fare avasion. How are they equal offences??!!

Also a fine for standing at the train platform to wait for somebody who you are meeting when he/she get off the train and who doesnt know the area well. Seriously?!

Jumpy

04072511 wrote: »

Some of the fines are a bit off the wall to be fair though. 176 dollars for being caught with your feet on a tram seat in Melbourne. WTF. That's the exact same fine as for fare avasion. How are they equal offences??!!

Also a fine for standing at the train platform to wait for somebody who you are meeting when he/she get off the train and who doesnt know the area well. Seriously?!

Dont put your feet on the seats.

That second one I am not familiar with. Were you beyond the ticket gates without a ticket? Dont know how that one works at all. Must be a Melbourne thing.

brock landers

Jumpy wrote: »

Its called "enforcement". Ireland should try it.

is it really?? well i would call it daylight robbery!

Damokc

So you expect to go to a foreign country and not obey their rules? You are the problem. We give out enough about unruly "foreigners" here:rolleyes:. I was never fined for anything while I was there.

Zambia

Fines are taxes you impose on yourself.

mandrake04

Zambia wrote: »

Fines are taxes you impose on yourself.

That true, its funny as they only seem to fine you when you do something you shouldn't.

When they bring out a fine for doing the correct thing.... I might consider leaving.

Pisco Sour

Jumpy wrote: »

Dont put your feet on the seats.

That second one I am not familiar with. Were you beyond the ticket gates without a ticket? Dont know how that one works at all. Must be a Melbourne thing.

I didn't get fined for either. I just think they are stupid fines. How is putting your feet on a seat worthy of the same punishment as fare avasion, a.k.a. stealing? Please try justify that to me, as I am baffled by it. Maybe a smaller fine would be justified but to have the 2 offences with the exact same fine makes no sense!

And the offence of waiting at a train platform without a valid ticket is nonsense. What if somebody is coming to my house but doesn't know where they are going? Well I'd offer to meet them at the train station platform obviously. We're not talking a big station like Flinders Street or Southern Cross here where you have to scan your ticket or myki or whatever to get through the gates, we're talking about a small local station like Balaclava or Ripponlea!

I think SOME of the fines are excessive for the "crimes" that are committed. I think it's just them looking to get a bit of cash in at times.

brock landers

I think SOME of the fines are excessive for the "crimes" that are committed. I think it's just them looking to get a bit of cash in at times.[/QUOTE]

Exactly my point,as far as I can see its all about revenue raising a lot of the time...the frustration of driving around the likes of perth sometimes for example, chugging along at 60-70km on what is effectively a highway..

basically the place is becoming like a nanny state with overregulation which many of its citizens agree....

Oz is also a rip off in some ways as far as I'm concerned, example being,In my line of work,on getting my qualification,I was verbally misinformed by a quango which left me 2500AUD out of pocket,and because the info wasn't in writing,I hadn't a leg to stand on,therefore no accountability.

Having the experience of living in other countries(and continue to) in both Europe and Asia,I find Oz to be OTT with extracting money.

brock landers

Damokc wrote: »

So you expect to go to a foreign country and not obey their rules? You are the problem. We give out enough about unruly "foreigners" here:rolleyes:. I was never fined for anything while I was there.

This one has caught me a few times.. Arnotts shoppers better watch out

Zambia

I'm sorry , why do you want to put your feet on the seats so badly again?

As for the the standing on the platform offence well chances are you passed the ticket area. They should have let you off that one if you stated sorry I am Irish and did not read the sign.

I was let off once for over paying for a train I paid 4.10 the tickets I should have was 3.00. The bloke still made out he was doing me a favour by not charging me??

pclancy

I've found it usefull to wear a seatbelt every time I drive a vehicle because I don't want to fly out of the window if I crash, $600 bucks sounds like a worthy donation towards a fireman who has to scrape up the people that are muppet enough not to wear one.

Fines are the last thing that would enter my mind when thinking about a country. Lifestyle, Work choices, Social life etc would rank as way more important things to discuss or consider then the consequences for breaking some rule. Everywhere has become a nanny state, look at the amount of CCTV in Europe now, its just a sad fact of life.

I've found after nearly 4 years in NZ that the ones that make an effort to meet new people and try new things get on well here and don't miss family and friends so much. There's always Skype for the lonely times and Meetup.com to meet new people. OZ/NZ arent for everyone so i think its pretty normal that there will be trends of ping-pongers, OZ in particular i think is a bit overblown in legend and ott/brash at times but its a gorgeous, vast country with tons of opportunity for those that want it.

NZ is much the same except sheepier and with better beer I'm damn excited about Summer though, Wellington is a fantastic place on a good day!

brock landers

pclancy wrote: »

I've found it usefull to wear a seatbelt every time I drive a vehicle because I don't want to fly out of the window if I crash, $600 bucks sounds like a worthy donation towards a fireman who has to scrape up the people that are muppet enough not to wear one.

Fines are the last thing that would enter my mind when thinking about a country. Lifestyle, Work choices, Social life etc would rank as way more important things to discuss or consider then the consequences for breaking some rule. Everywhere has become a nanny state, look at the amount of CCTV in Europe now, its just a sad fact of life.

i think the odds of flying out the window at 20kph down a main street in the city centre are pretty slim..fees,fines and overregulation is something I didnt think of either until it becomes a rip off...

Lifestyle can be good there of course, but it depends on what your into. work choices of course depend on what your profession is.

There really is no accounting for taste,everyone is gonna have a different experience.

ellaq

Don't you have to wear seatbelts in Ireland?

In Ireland where kids are forced into a booster seat until the crazy age of 11 compared to 7 in Australia. Now that is overregulated.....as is keeping to 30mph in city zones.

pclancy

brock landers wrote: »

i think the odds of flying out the window at 20kph down a main street in the city centre are pretty slim..fees,fines and overregulation is something I didnt think of either until it becomes a rip off...

Ya think? Come to my hospital's ED department any night of the week and i'll show you the consequences of even a 20kph crash Your body won't stop moving just because the car does.

I think Ozzie is so hard with fines because thats their attitude to people that don't pull ther weight or break a rule. They don't hold back opinions, if they think you're an idiot they'll tell you and in the cops case they'll fine you a big amount in the hope of making you cop on for next time. Harsh but gets the message across to most.

Take their form of drink driving ads for example



Simple but effective imo

jackbhoy

ellaq wrote: »

Don't you have to wear seatbelts in Ireland?

Yeah but you can generally talk your way out of anything in Ireland, especially if you are female and the cop is male! In Aus cops don't give a fook about your sob story or excuses they just write you up anyway.

My personal opinion on stuff like seatbelts is it should be left to person themselves. If you are stupid enough not to wear one then good old natural selection will probably take you out of gene pool and the average intelligence quotient of the population goes up a little bit...

MrCreosote

jackbhoy wrote: »

My personal opinion on stuff like seatbelts is it should be left to person themselves. If you are stupid enough not to wear one then good old natural selection will probably take you out of gene pool and the average intelligence quotient of the population goes up a little bit...

Fair enough if you kill yourself, but personally I'd resent my taxes paying for someones brain injury rehabilitation that they got because they were too lazy/thick to clip their seatbelt when they drive. Is it really that hard?

$600 fine seems like a reasonable incentive to remember in future.

Pisco Sour

Nobody has yet to justify why putting your feet on a tram seat deserves the EXACT SAME fine as fare evasion (a.k.a. Stealing).

It's not a case I want to put my feet on the seats. I don't put my feet on the seats at all. But I think it is a stupid fine, where the punishment doesnt fit the crime, and until somebody justifies this then I will continue to think so.

Some people are very moralistic when it comes to this stuff. Give me an actual reason why putting feet on the seats is deserving of an equal fine as fare evasion, rather than coming out with stuff like "Don't put your feet on the seats" or "why do you want to put your feet on the seats". That doesn't actually explain the legitimacy and honesty of the fine one bit.

IMO, it's a stupid fine, and an easy way for them to get in some revenue.

Jumpy

It doesnt matter. Its not up to you to argue it.

As a commuter I dont want to sit in the crap falling off the bottom of your shoes. But I dont give a **** if you fare evade.

One is for a criminal offence, the other is a slapdown for being a dick.

mandrake04

04072511 wrote: »

Nobody has yet to justify why putting your feet on a tram seat deserves the EXACT SAME fine as fare evasion (a.k.a. Stealing).

It's not a case I want to put my feet on the seats. I don't put my feet on the seats at all. But I think it is a stupid fine, where the punishment doesnt fit the crime, and until somebody justifies this then I will continue to think so.

Some people are very moralistic when it comes to this stuff. Give me an actual reason why putting feet on the seats is deserving of an equal fine as fare evasion, rather than coming out with stuff like "Don't put your feet on the seats" or "why do you want to put your feet on the seats". That doesn't actually explain the legitimacy and honesty of the fine one bit.

IMO, it's a stupid fine, and an easy way for them to get in some revenue.

Maybe someone has to then clean the seats!!! probably costs more than a $3 fare.

Sure if everyone just decided to do what they want where exactly would it end?

Try spitting chewing gum on the pavement in Singapore as a good example.

Jumpy

mandrake04 wrote: »

Sure if everyone just decided to do what they want where exactly would it end?

Ireland.

Zambia

There is no Morals to it

If you fare evade you fail to contribute to the cost of the trains hence you fail to pull your weight and burden everyone else.

If you soil the seats with your feet the train system has to clean the seats and this costs which everyone pays.

Both offences have the same outcome.

Zambia

Jumpy wrote: »

Ireland.

Well put my indigenous friend

Pisco Sour

But putting your feet on the seats doesnt always mean you are being a d1ck. It's a bit of an instinct at times. If you've just busted your ass on the track, or on the rugby pitch or wherever, it's common that you could be suffering some serious pain, and putting your feet on the seats on the way back from a training session is something that relieves the pain. Sometimes you don't think about the stupid rules and the fines, when you are absolutely shattered and in agony. It's just easy to forget the rules at times. I've put my feet on the seats at times after running track sessions, and only after about 10 minutes would I realise I had my feet on the seats and then would take them down. Not like I'm trying to be a d1ck deliberately.

My former housemate said she got done once for having her feet on the seats, even though she had sprained her ankle. FFS!!

Anyway, I wonder how much cash they spend on cleaning those trams. I'd say less than half what they receive in from that fine alone. A nice net profit

Zambia

The fine can be contested on the back simply state you wish your day in court. Then send it to the address listed. If you provide a doctors certificate you may get off.