Profpointy
Legendary Member
I lived for a year or so in Australia - small town an hour north of Sydney - only visitied Canberra once for a meeting so didn't see the place - but the pleasant but a bit dull vibe seems about right - but as I say I spent virtually no time there. I would love to have seen Blue Poles but didn't manage it. I'd not want to live there for ever but for a year or three yes.
Good points - incredibly friendly and welcoming people. Astonishing wildlife - standard bird is a parrot or cockatoo rather than a dull small brown thing. And the bigger animals like kangaroos, wombats and so on never ceased to amaze me. The whole outdoor scene - hillwalking, camping out in the bush etc is great. Eating out was good and cheap too by and large, but don't make the mistake of ordering a gammon steak - what arrives is some kind of spam - at the same price as a perfectly fine beef steak.
Bad points - the beer is woefull, albeit wine is good and cheap. I usually drank (local) champagne - how cool is that? Slightly cheaper than red wine itself very reasonably priced. Unexpectly it is very rule bound with lots of " can't do this, can't do that" Obviously there's the bike helmets thing - just the thing for a very hot country whatever else you might think, but it is symptomatic. The jokes about "more culture in a yoghurt than Australia" does have a grain of truth if that matters to you.
So great for wildlife, outdoorsy stuff and friendliness - with inevitably a few disadvantages.
I would check the cost of living and that your deal is Ok for this - when I was there 25 years ago it was slightly cheaper than Uk on balance - but I have heard things have changed considerably since then - just need to check.
Oh yes -and it is pretty hot - too hot for me to be honest but you get slighly used to it - but I don't really like hot weather
Good points - incredibly friendly and welcoming people. Astonishing wildlife - standard bird is a parrot or cockatoo rather than a dull small brown thing. And the bigger animals like kangaroos, wombats and so on never ceased to amaze me. The whole outdoor scene - hillwalking, camping out in the bush etc is great. Eating out was good and cheap too by and large, but don't make the mistake of ordering a gammon steak - what arrives is some kind of spam - at the same price as a perfectly fine beef steak.
Bad points - the beer is woefull, albeit wine is good and cheap. I usually drank (local) champagne - how cool is that? Slightly cheaper than red wine itself very reasonably priced. Unexpectly it is very rule bound with lots of " can't do this, can't do that" Obviously there's the bike helmets thing - just the thing for a very hot country whatever else you might think, but it is symptomatic. The jokes about "more culture in a yoghurt than Australia" does have a grain of truth if that matters to you.
So great for wildlife, outdoorsy stuff and friendliness - with inevitably a few disadvantages.
I would check the cost of living and that your deal is Ok for this - when I was there 25 years ago it was slightly cheaper than Uk on balance - but I have heard things have changed considerably since then - just need to check.
Oh yes -and it is pretty hot - too hot for me to be honest but you get slighly used to it - but I don't really like hot weather
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