Australia on BBC2 now

Best country in the world to pack your bags and phuck off for a few months.

All crime, drugs, prostitution and drunkenness so far.  And the ubiquitous surfing.

Exactly

I've said it before but I'll say it again - I just wish my parents had travelled out there as ten pound Poms and I'd have grown up there.

A good watch that....enjoyed the biker birds in the Hot tub

I visit Australia a lot and am constantly astounded at the number of Aussies whingeing about how crap their life is!

My neighbour's daughter went out there 18 months ago. She's back here at the moment for a couple of weeks. Her visa expires next January and she's doing all she can to get a permanent job out there as the last thing she wants to do is have to come back here.
She loves it over there.

Did you see that petrol price? 88p a litre. They all whinge about that and their minimum wage is £10 an hour!

It`s a very rich country now and apart from petrol everything else is priced very high, they moan about this but don`t understand they live in paradise compared to this sardine tin.

Yes, just watching the koala bear up the tree in someone's back garden, as such, was good enough for me.

It's become a very expensive place to visit because of the strength of the AU$ and the weakness of the £.

But if you're on Aussie wages you have never had it so good.

Indeed, EGG.
I know what sport of money my neighbour's daughter is on - and it's an unbelievable amount to what she could earn here (taking into account the comparative cost of living into it).

*sort of money

I know plenty of young travellers who go or have been to Aus to top up their funds there. There is no place in the world where the work is so easy, the life is so good AND you can save up a fortune to spend where it goes a lot further.

This is a spurious supposition from me as I only have one experience of it, but; I remember watching a programme some years ago about Oz where they mentioned many qualifications for certain jobs don't hold up over there and certain professions have to retrain to Aussie standards - nursing being one of them.

When my mother was alive I had to take her to hospital via A&E many times and she often ended up on wards which weren't the right ones for her condition (because of shortage of beds), so I saw many different working practices and staff in that time on various wards.

The best nurse - by a mile - I ever came across was a woman who'd been born here but had spent about 30 years in Oz and had only returned here a few months before to look after her sick parents.

She almost single-handedly ran a mixed ward that was an overspill one from A&E where people were put while they were waiting to go to wards elsewhere related to their condition - so there were many different types of cases.
She handled them all with extreme efficiency and care.
She was so remarkable it's always stuck in my mind.

I really don't think it was just her being a superb nurse no matter what, I could see by the way she went about things compared to 'British' nurses she was just so superior to everyone else.

I can only assume this was because of her Oz training.

I know electricians have to relearn, I presume nurses do too.

Nurses round here are mainly trained in Nigeria or Ghana!

Same with the Paramedics in Australia Tommy, they can perform certain treatments at the scene of an accident which only our doctors can in the UK, obviously logistics plays a part with this due to there perhaps not being a hospital for hundreds of miles in Australia.

The Australian hospitals are also designed for efficient communications by having the relevant departments on the same level, where as in the UK many related departments are on different levels meaning life saving time is lost transferring patients requiring critical care.

seriously thought about it 15 years ago, great shortage of engineers then.

My mate blagged his way into a telecommunications job after paying a grand in the UK for some crash course on fibre optics engineering.

15 years later is on $120k Aus Dollars a year.

Ah, I'm glad to hear that AG, as it does look like my impression that medical people are better trained over there really does stand up.

The nurse I encountered was so good she was worth at least 5 others (and from what I could see, the hospital management knew it, as there was only her and one other nurse there).

Perhaps that's why she was in charge of the one she was in - as it was the type of ward which needed someone really up to scratch to run it.

She was just so good it made a massive impression on me as soon as I visited my mother in that ward - and remarked to my mother about it within about 15 minutes.
That's when she told me the nurse's history as it had impressed my mother too(which was a very rare thing indeed!).

Australia is surely Essex with more sunshine - a lower working class made good type of society ,a jetski,sports car  and stone lions adorning every driveway    

surely if youre in a low paid miserable job  with a miserable wife in the UK or Aus ,then life will surely suck

greatest bloody country i have ever been to..........the aussies know it and man are they happy...................SUNSHINE is the best cure for eveything

Too right, BDJockeys.

The one thing that buggers this country up above all is the sodding miserable, relentless, bloody rainy/cold/greyskies weather.

We get about, what, 14 days of actual sun and real warmth here (well, in Stoke) a year all told?

It's enough to make you commit harry bleedin' karry [sic]

SUNSHINE is the best cure for eveything
_______________

yeah the African economy and quality of life is thriving on it

Spain and Greece will be happy to hear it too

If you want sunshine ffs why live in Stoke on trent ? - possibly the only UK city with a climate similar to Iceland but without the beautiful women and scenery  .Stoke would appear  grim to the average Somalian

Move to a sunnier town along our south coast  - oh,and with better lookin women  too - avoid Eastbourne ,those old dears don't hang too well

Well, I'd rather be miserable in the sun than the cold - and that's a fact!

Very funny Coach!!

I plan to buy a one way ticket to sunny Australia one day. Wish I had done so 25 years ago.

Tommy -  i know the feeling though , 3-4months of continual  dullness  anywhere can get you down a wee  bit .

some affected are worse than others - do you get SAD ?

i wouldn't want to shatter anyones dreams by also reporting that the suicide rate is higher in Australia vs the UK

ooops ,sorry for disclosing that small detail 

If I don`t get on that plane, I`ll be another statistic for UK soon

I've thought about it Coach, and don't think so - but it's like today; most weather reports I saw were saying how hot and sunny it was elsewhere.
Well, in Stoke it was cloudy and not very warm for most of the day.

Even though the local forecasters for the Midlands on tv are only about 40 miles away, they rarely get the Stoke weather right.

I think what you said about Stoke being grim to the average Somalian just about sums it up!

If Stoke is high altitude it might explain it ,and plus youre heading up to the north west .

For the record ,the weather in my patch for the last 12 months has been absolutely horrendous -the worst 12 months i've known by some distance -every bugger has been maoning about it .

Out of interest i looked at the stats ,and noticed those 12 months were pretty much the normal average for Manchester and  Lancashire 

I now know why northwesterners  complain so much

Melbourne 19.9/10.2
London  15.2 /7.5
Stoke   12.22/5.44


So as London is cooler than Melbourne ,so Stoke is as cold again


Sunshine averages 30 years

Melbourne 2190
South of England(Eastbourne ) 1887
Stoke/Birmingham  1395


^^^Thats just depressing - i'd move south Tommy

Coach, I know from experience of being in the south on holiday when I was a kid and also travelling there for quite a few years through business when I was older, the difference in the temperature is amazing to encounter.

It sounds daft, but just those few degrees extra, meaning warmth and a bit more sun (usually), mean all the difference to a body - both physically and mentally.

Ha! Now you have the statistics to see what I mean, Coach!

Never mind Australia, a move south to Stoke will do me good with an extra 5-10 degrees,

Mac, I really don't know how you put up with the weather up there.

i should also add that Perth has an annual sun total of 3,211  -that's very sunny -possibly too much ,i'd pick Melbourne every time which is a nice amount imo

Tommy - agreed ,and it's also very nice if you have a QUIET garden to sunbathe in - it's like a bloody circus round here -Dogs barking,noisy kids and adults grrr ,so sunbathing is a no no unfortunately  - 

have a good night Tommy ,and happy gambling my friend

off to bed now

Coach, I`ll swap you mate - you give me your barking dogs and noisy neighbours and I`ll give you all the "druggies" and anti social feral youths

Goodnight Coach.

Hope you get plenty of sunshine when you wake up!

its hilarious when guys quote stats like higher suicide rate in aus than uk as a basis for saying uk is better place to live


put it like this..............why do uk people prefer a hot summer to the rest of year?  end of discussion.

seen most of these shows,very good,well presented and very educational esp regarding the mining industry and the ozzys treatment of the native aboriginals etc ,the bbc do some great stuff imo.

I moved from Manchester to Melbourne 2 years ago. At the risk of sounding like a smug bell end, it's much better here in every respect. The mrs gets a bit homesick sometimes and it is a long way away (obviously), but if you can cope with that it will not disappoint.

too many snakes and spiders, the deadly variety

Lovely sunny morning here in Sunny Essex!

that'll be the glow from all the fake tans

Races were called off here in Melbourne on Saturday due to rain 

I love the song that's been used in the trailers for the programme.

Paradise
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANBViRX3ZeM

I had to check the link to see if it was Amen Corner. It isn't.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foTwWg1CyWU

House prices used to be dirt cheap around 2000 - 2005 as well when the pound was strong against the aussie dollar, i presume they arent now though!

Aussie house prices have gone down ( not in the mining areas ). It's probably the only effect of the global recession that has been seen there.

My sis and bro in law bought a cracking detached place just over ten years ago in a nice sydney suburb.  Neither have high flying jobs (she works in a call centre for a bank and he is some kind of delivery bloke for some building materials//wheeler dealer/semi pikey come good) but they could still afford it.  Dont think it has gone up massively tbh but if they sold it and moved here (as my aussie bro in law quite fancies, but she doesnt) they could buy a nice pile in the country.  She got made redundant a few years back and got a more than a years salary as a pay off and a new job pretty soon after.  They are rolling in it relatively and live in a delightful area.  Theyll be coming here in august and will feel like kings, unlike ten years ago.  Even though they are bringing up a family and only have average jobs.  Either the whole country is living in an economic fools paradise or they are very very lucky.  I dont understand why the dollar was so cheap 10 years ago, why wasnt it the same value then as it is now?

It's partly/mainly because of China. Aus resources were pretty useless (except expensive metals) 10 years ago because it was so far away from the buyers. Now China want everything Aus can dig up and also Chinese money is buying luxury property on the coastal resorts. Less than 10 years ago the Gold Coast was chock full of Japanese, now it's all Chinese.

Makes sense EGG.  A shame because it was always a cheap country, now it isnt.  The rise of china wasnt hard to predict, perhaps some wise people might have made a mint out of it.

With their expensive labour though it must be very hard for them to have much of an export market for manufactured goods.  Perhaps they never did, i dont know of any major goods manufactured in aus.

when I was living in Melbourne 20 years ago the music magazines in the local shops were full of adverts for nightclubs in Stoke

I spent 13 months there, we both got good jobs quickly me with a company car and rented a place in Lane Cove which is a great little suburb. Played a lot of cricket, was going racing, playing golf and tennis and generally had a ball. You have to go for it most definitely. The Aussies actually are very fond of us.

When Ive been one thing that always surprised me was how much coverage british news got in the papers.

I find it amusing how they report sport on the radio. From a little while ago... " And now news from Saturday's Premiership games - Harry Kewell fell over and grazed his knee. That's it really."

My 18 year old daughter and her boyfriend are in Cairns at the moment they are looking for work. I am planning on going out there in Oct/Nov time.

Brisbane not far from there and the first ashes test is in november.

I thought Cairns was a shíthole but Port Douglas, just north was glorious. Mind you that was 5 years ago and it was being developed like nothing mattered. Just bulldoze the rainforest. Fck it.

I did a bungee jump in cairns 15 years ago.  I wont do another.  Seemed like a good idea at the time, until i got to the top and realised just how high 150ft was.

I'd love to emigrate to Aus but wouldn't quite know where to start with limited job prospects , i hear of lots moving over there where they end up with good jobs but i guess many have the job ready to move over to , otherwise it's all a bit of a gamble

criteria used to be under 40 with a trade

sydney suburbs are probably best place in the world to live. aus is basically a sport obsessed nation so if ur into sport, u will love it there.

To get residency it's a points system and this changes all the time.

For example if they want plumbers and hairdressers now, you and the Mrs (it helps a lot if you're married with kids and both can do something they want) train up as a hairdresser and a plumber. Then you apply and now they want electricians and nurses.

Being young is a big help, having a degree is good as well.

Medical problems will prevent you from getting in , as will police convictions.

They cherry pick like this because they can. Though all the while they are being inundated with Kiwis, "refugees" and "asylum seekers" which they are obliged to allow in.

I presume you can " buy " your way in ie sell your property over here plus savings and basically retire over there, any idea what that threshold would be ?

You can get in anywhere as a "high net worth individual" but Aus stopped issuing retirement visas if you have something like £350,000 in the bank, about 5 years ago I think.

Can't you get in if you set up a business employing Aussies but need about £500,000 to back it up...?

Yeah I think so. I just need a business idea then.

Dave Clark, a a boy in the class next door at senior school, left for Oz with his family in 1965. Never came back, so it must have been good. 

Tommy Bowshall was one of our neighobours 6 kids. Contacted him on Friends Reunited about 3 years ago. He left secondary modern school without sitting any exams, so no passes at all. Went to Oz in the early 1970s.  He's now a policeman (high up the ladder) in New South Wales.

Like Tommy Toes, I wish my dad had gone there for a tenner.

full of racists I heard, seems bit backward in many ways. Survived latest crisis due to what its got under ground, but try and pretend it was prudence or some such bollox.

This programs sh!t to, supposed to be "think you know Australia, think again" then tells usabout the cane toad and surviving in the outback of green ants

Essex with sunshine

rob_dylan
Great country, poor cricket team.


interestingly the Lions scored more points (69) in yesterdays tour match against 'Western Force' than Australia's cricket team (65 all out) managed runs in the one-day defeat by India

I've been twice to Australia.In the late 50's the family(children and grandchildren of my next door neighbour) emigrated on the £10 Scheme.Anyway,on my first visit,in 1995,I sent a postcard to my parents saying that I wished that we done the same,in accordance with the posts of Tommy Toes and SqueezeFirmly.Best place I've ever been and terrific seafood.

My Dad was a ten pound pom, my Mum didnt like it so they returned.  My two eldest sisters were born there and one has now returned and has a family out there.  Lots of good seafood, but their fish and chips is rubbish imo, shark not a patch on cod.

Pound now 1.63, was 1.44 two months back.  Keep it coming.

Phil Olivetti is probably my favourite australian ever.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=2aUZe9lkuyE&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D2aUZe9lkuyE

A true blue aussie hero, a tragedy he didnt even get nominated for australian of the year.

Made decent typewriters as well

Australian Rules Football in many ways the greatest sport there is.
the movie The Castle was a good comedy with some great one liners but underneath it all was a very clever message.
First Australians, great documentary series http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcslF8yQ1Tg

The Castle is a brilliant film, as is everything chris lilley does.  He has a new series out this year and BBC3 have already got the rights.

"Wayne, you're an ideas man."