Australia, Canada or UK?

Sydney is a nice place to live......

and we're just charming people, as well (now that Mr Stillwater has moved to the Central Coast! ) and witty (did I mention fun-loving) and remarkably good looking, and exceptionally intelligent!

You're a bunch of pussies Margo. Well you are anyway. ;^)

Which bit of Sydney? It matters - I've lived with the stigma of being a westie my entire life.

I'm a westie - but an inner-westie - Abbotsford!

That's a lot more impressive than Liverpool...

Interesting, isn't it? (I used to live in Parklea!)

I'm active on a travel board, which has a number of members in Sydney - and we answer lots of questions from Americans.
We had a get-together last year, when one of the American questioners was here. I spoke to the organiser, a naw-shaw fellow, and when I told him I was a "westie", you could hear the temperature in his voice drop about 50 degrees.

Now, I'm (reasonably - well, a bit!) presentable, don't wear flanelette shirts or spit, don't scrape my knuckles, etc., and am quite well travelled (not to US, but...) and all our online interactions had been quite cordial, but, when he found out I was a westie...well!

I teased him about it greatly - and he had some difficulty recovering! I think I behaved adequately - although we haven't heard from the American woman again!

Bloody naw-shaw snobs!

How do you guys compare NZ vs AU? It looks like NZ is more open for migrants these days.

I've never lived there but I have more respect for them politically than I do for my own nation. I'm thinking of launching an application for Australia to become part of New Zealand and to be known as 'West Island'.

Hey Margo

Funny how our 'westie' conversation echoes the Macquarie Fields stuff in the news....

Lol - we kinda have "westies" too - The Parks and environs in the west of Adelaide are notorious- as also was Hackham West (in the south) - so much so that they changed the name.

I imagine in Perth they have 'Easties', because the wealthier you are the closer you can live to the coast.

ohhh please, who wants to live in Canada ANYWAY? I'm about 20 minutes from Canada by car.....and whenever I drive there people seem to throw themselves at the traffic. I always run over someone when ever I go there. It's insane.
Well, anyway, I'm torn between my motherland, England and Australia.

Being a Sydneysider(the proper name for a Sydneyite) The statement which i quoted is very true(it seems like you have bee doing your homework cicerone imposter) in sydney you have the most expensive Central Business District with an almost as expensive coastal area as you move away from sydney inland the prices gradually drop until you hit the mountains where the prices of land are patchy and inconsistent but generally Sydney West is most affordable as well as a few other Eastern Suburbs which are closer to sydney.

maybe you're a bad driver?

i love living in canada...although, i would rather live in australia with my uncle in Townsville.

Your choice of England and Australia should go a long way to saving many Canadian lives. Good choice. Perhaps you are used to driving on the "wrong" side of the street.

Quality of Life
I haven't been to UK for many years, but the trinity of bad housing, high costs and bad food turn me against it.

Australia is also a country I don't like. I know it does well on UN HDI indexes. But i think any country with ample land and welfare/ public health system scores very highly on those indexes, and therefore it doesn't make for a good comparison between first world countries.

Australia is suburbanised like southern california and has endless strip malls and drive-thru fast food, as a result Australians are almost as fat as americans. Australia doesn't have very much culture to speak of, aside from that which immigrants have bought. Also there is not a strong national culture and the one that does exist seems mostly negative ie to be a redneck and hate people who try to be different or are successful. Australia does now have good restuarants though.

I personally like Canada alot and certain parts of USA.

Hi Roja,

I'm buttoning down my nationalism and I've carefully balanced a chip on each shoulder, but I'd like to challenge you on a few of your statements.

Parts of Australia are like Southern California, but the majority of it is not to say all of the US is like SoCal is not as misleading as saying all of Australia is like SoCal (similar land areas, but Oz has 1/20th of the population). It does sound like you didn't get out of a major city (sounds like you're talking about Sydney) and you didn't really see any of the good bits of it, and there are quite a few.

Also saying 'Australia doesn't have very much culture to speak of, aside from that which immigrants have bought' fits the US and Canada as well as it fits Oz (both had relatively small populations of indigenes until 'invaded' by immigrants.



I'd argue against the first part of that statement, we do have a relatively solid national identity, generally speaking we are laid back, laconic, informal and distrustful of authority, we dislike airs and graces, support the underdog and believe in a 'fair go'. We don't push in queues.

On the latter part I have a harder time arguing, we do indeed have rednecks (though we prefer the term 'bogons', 'racists', 'coalition voters', and 'oxygen thieves'), but who doesn't?

I can't believe you think we hate people who are different - you must have had an awful experience here - but a country that host the Gay Mardi Gras and has over 30% of it's citizens born in another country is pretty tolerant.

We also don't hate the successful, we just don't idolise them (it's call the 'tall poppy' syndrome), you have to earn respect on a personal level, we hate toadies.

Damn, I'm generalising so badly here.

I'd love to hear about your experiences here, if only to apologise for them.

Oh, and we get narky when someone denigrates us, we're much better at it ourselves.

hingehead

Nah dlowan - the cops have always called Hackham West The Bronx :wink:

Yep Roja there's quite a lot wrong with Australia but on balance I'd sooner live here than anywhere else. And as for culture, well last AFL Grand Final weekend (or was it the one before?) more people went to the Art Gallery to see the Carravaggio exhibition (well it was the whole weekend not just an afternoon) than went to the footy at the MCG. Still, to each their own, I hope you enjoy it where you live - life's to short to do time in a place you don't like.

Looking for migration
hi

i am from Bangladesh and i'm looking for a suitable location for migration. in my list Canada, Australia and New Zealand are the top 3 to choose. but i cant decide which one to pick. Canda is easier in process and less costly but difficult in weather, Australia is costly and time consuming process with no help from the govt during jobless initial times and last of all Nz is clumsy and hazy also costly process. so if anyone can help me to decide what could be best for me.

ther's a little guideline i can give... i'm an architect, 5 yrs exp., looking for suitable weather from 12c~25c 30c max, with cheap living cost, beautiful landscape, quick relief possible within short time from busy citylife, easy travel opportunity with many options with airlines and airports plus good communication facilities etc. and most of it i'm looking for less costly, easy secured living and ample job opportunity areas.

i'll be greatful if anyone can help me with this.

rickk
You got me there.

Without discussing the merits of assorted other countries, in Australia about the only place to fit your weather specifications is Tasmania. It, however, doesn't meet many of your other specifications.

Melbourne may be a closer fit to most of them - but the living is not cheap, and I have no idea of the work situation for architects.

If you want to live in a city - it'll cost you. Compared to Bangladesh, life is quite expensive here. And Bangladeshis are in short supply (as far as I know), so you may feel quite isolated.