What's so great about Australia?

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

I never got it. Ridiculously expensive. Devoid of any meaningful culture. Uncomfortably hot. Crawling in biting insects. Humourless and arrogant locals.

I spent a month in there eight years ago and I have absolutely no desire to ever go back.

Other than the possibility of getting a mediocre job what is the attraction with the place?

The expensive part isn't true in all of Australia - in Sydney you can get a good steak with chips or mash and a side salad for $10, you can get a kilo or most fruit and veg for $2-3, you can buy a kilo of fillet steak for $20-25, a schooner (about 450ml) of beer or a house wine or vodka/whiskey/bourbon and coke for $3 in a lot of places. You can get a weekly unlimited pass for all trains, buses and ferries for $43 I think it was and all are frequent, quick and reliable (this is all as of two years ago), and I had a very nice, spacious 3 bedroom apartment in Kingsford shared with a couple and one other guy which was about 15-20 minutes on a bus you wouldn't be waiting any more than 5-10 minutes for from either the beach or the CBD, for $215 a week. Considering that minimum wage is/was then about $17.50 on a sponsorship or $22ish on a working holiday visa (you can only get casual work so no sick/holiday pay, but they pay you 25% extra so it's more than a good enough pay off), those are some incredibly reasonable prices. There's also a lot of more free stuff to do there in no small part thanks to the weather, which helps more again.

It can get uncomfortably hot but not often once you've acclimatised, you were only there for a month so you wouldn't have had the chance. Once you get used to it it's incredible waking up a 6-6.30am to 25 degree weather and beaming sunshine, so a lot of people go for a jog, to the gym or for a surf/swim before work which puts them in a much better and more easygoing mood.

I actually didn't find many Aussies that arrogant at all, the odd one but you get that everywhere. I made plenty of Aussie friends who I still keep in touch with and try to meet up with if they're in Europe in the summer, whereas the Irish in particular I found were terrible at mingling with the locals - spending their whole lives in the Randwick/Bondi Junction area, rarely going out anywhere that wasn't The Tea Gardens, Cock and Bull or Scruffy Murphys (or maybe Cheers sports bar or the Star casino to watch football matches), often working with and for Irish people and insulating themselves as much as possible from everything around them. I was staying in a hostel right by central train station at first, met a few Irish people who I was out with the odd time, but stopped doing so after I would get dirty looks and sarcastic comments off them for talking to Aussies out and about. Then we're the first ones to turn around and complain about the locals "not liking us because we're Irish", being arrogant, etc! :pac:

better call saul wrote: »

To me, from what I've seen, it's the biggest gob****es from small towns that have fcuked off to drive tractors all day or work in the mines with their parents showing off that they're making 20 bucks an hour without mentioning how expensive it is. Good riddance to the cunce

If you're working in the mines, you're earning a f***load more than $20 an hour.

Where did you find was so expensive over there though? Perth is stupidly pricey, but Brisbane and Melbourne are more reasonable and Sydney is incredibly well priced unless you're really looking to spend money.

Has anyone ever meet one person who's been to Australia who has one mildly interesting story to tell. Every single one of them has the same "mad" story to tell.

NZ_2014 wrote: »

but don't bash people who go there, whether looking for something different or just looking for a better job (or just a job!).

You don't know Irish people very well, do you?

I've never met an Aussie I liked. Must be the accent or something.

Scott Robinson.

What a spunk.

It's funny that the accent has come up because to me there is one awful type of accent, the 'bogan' accent which is kind of like Australia's answer to the Dublin townie accent, two people with it having an argument is the worst sounding thing in the world.



But on the other hand I love the softer Aussie accent that you get in most of the cities, especially up around Gold Coast and Brisbane. Was seeing a girl from there for a bit and just a few words would have me fecking melting, I've also been in touch with St. George bank a lot in the last few months whose call centre is in Brisbane and the accent is just f***ing mwah!!

DebDynamite wrote: »

Nothing, I hope! The OH is going out there to visit family and I'm dreading him coming back and telling me he wants us to move there ��

Are you just really attached to Ireland or is there some reason you would dread Australia so much in particular?

mad muffin wrote: »

The question… I don't get ?

Sorry there, meant to quote the post under yours!