Australia ROCKS!

[Pert_UK]

I'm so glad that I left my terrible job in China and joined my girlfriend in Australia.

I'm getting golf lessons on a course featuring genuine wild kangaroos.
There are hundreds of top quality wineries in the area.
I'm going to watch the World Rally Championship Perth stages on Saturday.
I'm going to watch England vs South Africa in the Rugby World Cup.
I'm buying local shark for dinner tonight.
And I just booked my first ever surfing lesson.

Of course, I lose my job next Friday which kinda throws a spanner in the works, but if money gets too bad I can always sell a liver.....

:-)

Hope things are going good for you guys!

P.

[BurtWorm]

1. So you're going to stay down under, mate?

[Pert_UK]

5. My visa runs out next May.....I'll be here until then probably.

P.

[BurtWorm]

8. What's the cost of living like there?

Like how much is a tub of Marmite?

[Pert_UK]

9. Bigtime cheaper than the UK....or at least London.

Marmite? Not sure....Vegemite is cheap though.

Basically, I'd earn considerably less here than in the UK, but the prices are significantly lower. Got a decent 2 bedroom unit with a sea view for $120 a week, which is about 46 pounds. You can get a reasonable car for under $1000 (400 quid) and there are NO MOTs in Western Australia - you drive it until it dies (or a cop pulls you over and impounds it 'cause it's only got 3 wheels).

You earn less, but the standard of living is higher and the money goes further, as far as I can tell.

Petrol is PISS cheap too - 90 cents a litre (36p ish) in WA.

P

[BurtWorm]

10. And you're heading into spring!

I bet the weather's lovely, too.

[Pert_UK]

11. Mixed bag....

Some really nice sun, but we've had a shitty winter. Only yesterday a truck got blown off the road in my town and there was a SHOCKING rainstorm last night.

Still, Spring will be nicer than the UK Summer, but it will be hitting 40 degrees + when we get up North......plus cyclones.

But seriously, it's not all sunshine here!

P.

[rooboy]

2. Bloody Hell...

a Pom who actually likes the country.

We sure do live in interesting times...

:toast: :toast:

[Pert_UK]

4. I didn't say I liked the people!.....

:evilgrin:

I joke of course.

To be frank, my general impression of Australians is that they genuinely want to be helpful and friendly. The customer service is brilliant, but it never comes across as false - people ask you how your day is going as if they MEAN it!

Store employees will spend 30 mins finding out product info for you and then tell you that you could get them cheaper somewhere else.

Everyone gives you a "fair go" - no being judgemental upfront. People you've just met will be fantastically welcoming.

As an example - I was given a chance at doing some work I'd never done before, and they didn't even ask for references from previous employers. Within 3 days they gave me a payrise and said they wanted to keep me on.

Of course there are some criticisms I could make (the widespread, casual racism towards the aboriginal people amongst the older generation, for example), but the overall impression is fantastically positive.

[sasquatch]

3. What were you doing in China?

Were the ChiCon's nice?

Australia is one of the places I would move to if I ever left the USA

[Pert_UK]

6. Teaching English....

At the worst employer of all time.

I have no idea what ChiCon means...unless it's "chicken", in which case I'm still puzzled...

:-)

P

[sasquatch]

17. I misspelled it

I hurt my hand I meant to spell ChiCom which means Chinese Communist

[Pert_UK]

18. Oh I see....

Met lots of very nice people in China, very few of them openly communist, but then I spent most of the time in Shanghai.

Of course, lots of them were very, very odd, and the TV news was a little biased to say the least!

P.

[nemo137]

7. i just gotta say this:

i support new zealand, and anyone who plays against australia.

sounds good for you, though. good luck.

[GregW]

13. Ka mate! ka mate! Blah-blah-blah-blah!

:eyes:

[nemo137]

15. uh, you'd be an australian then, right?

:D :P

[GregW]

21. Oi! Oi! Oi!

Embarassingly, yes.

Actually, I think the haka is a tremendously proud heritage for NZ (and was only pulling your leg). For the unitiated:

Ka mate! Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora!

Ka mate! Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora!

Tenei te tangata puhuru huru

Nana nei i tiki mai

Whakawhiti te ra

A upa ... ne! ka upa ... ne!

A upane kaupane whiti te ra!

Hi !!!

http://www.nzrugby.com/downloads/haka/Haka-st-bb-60sec.wmv

[nemo137]

24. the things that you didn't mention:

1.) it is very capable of scaring the crap out of an opposing team, and is great for psyching up your team.

2.)it helped a maori unit in WWII capture a german fortification.

3.)it scared the crap out of capt. cook the first time he saw it. it took a few times for the novelty to wear off.

my first experience with the haka:
my choir toured New Zealand this summer, and we did a concert at an assembly at a boy's school. when we finished our concert, the headmaster stood up, thanked us, and then told us that they wanted to do something for us, that the boys had been practicing very hard, etc, etc, etc. so we were expecting a school song, or kiwi folk song or something. wrong. the entire school took off their jackets, rolled up their sleeves, and dropped into that haka crouch. we had no idea what was coming, so when the PE teacher started pacing around the back of the room and shouting, we were a bit scared. this feeling went from a bit scared to massivly startled when the haka actually started, with the chanting and "i'm going to kill you" hand movements. it was great. they guys from the school loved freaking us out.

and yeah, that's a real oversimplification of what happened, but i can't describe it too well.

[roguevalley]

25. fantastic rugby match between the All Blacks and

Oz. Love to watch Oz and NZ sports.

[GregW]

12. Bloody oath it does!

Still can't remember why I left!

Actually, I can ... and the funny thing is that is was for Republican reasons! ... High taxes and rampart unionism.

Go figure :eyes:

[Pert_UK]

14. Forgot to mention....

Mountain biking is good, camping is good, scenery is good, weather will soon be all good, Offroad driving is good (and available everywhere), fruit and veg actually tastes of fruit and veg....

Criticisms? Well, I can only get 2 tv channels and the standard of news is very low......but there are loads of BBC progs on, so that's cool!

P.

[nemo137]

16. exceptionally good junk food, too.

jaffas and cherry ripe.

[Pert_UK]

20. If I hear "Look what's at Hungry Jacks" one more time....

I'll go insane.

For those that don't know, Burger King was already trademarked in Oz, so BK had to find something else, and plumped for Hungry Jack's...as in "Sink your teeth into Hungry Jack's Whopper.....he won't mind".

P.

[GregW]

22. Don't forget the Violet Crumbles!

Or the Vegemite for that matter.

[Pert_UK]

23. Does it? I'll be careful then.....

:-)

P.

[Pert_UK]

19. Forgot to mention one REALLY bad thing about Australia....

There is an UTTER C*NT running the place, but then again the same could be said for the US, or less so the UK.

It's no wonder that Australia joined Chimpy's crusade, as Howard is without a doubt rivalling W in smugness and arrogance. Just a really horrible person.

P.