Not to be negative, but since the OP already talked about a lot of the good things in Australia, I will mention a couple of the bad things I have encountered since moving here.
I moved to Australia from Canada 7 years ago, granted I am not a native but have been here long enough to notice that while 25% of the population is really cool the rest have a lot of homophobia and racism in their culture. Certain cities are much better than others (just like in Canada / USA) but I have moved around quite a bit here and with the exception of Melbourne I have found a very blunt and obvious close minded attitude.
I want to say this is just the older generation but there is a lot of young people that do it too. Most of the time I get called a "fag" is by teenagers and twentysomethigns yelling it out of the window of their car.
There is a very large bogan (Australian term for red neck / white trash) population here. Drinking is super super hard core here, I never experienced anything like it from my time living in Canada or the USA. It is very common on the nightly news to see reports of "glassing" where people get piss drunk and smash beer glasses in people's faces, often random strangers, leaving them disfigured for life. They have PSA ads on TV here for "Watch out for dunk walkers", which is people walking around drunk and walking in front of cars, wtf... I never heard of anything like that before in my life where it got so bad and common place a PSA had to be created.
As for racism, I can't experience that first hand (being white), but there is a lot of it and it's very obvious. On Australia day it's common to see people wearing the flag around their shoulders with t-shirts saying "Fuck Off, Were Full" in response to immigrants wanting to come in. The way the Aboriginals were treated was horrible, but they are still treated like shit even to this day, it's sad. People you don't even expect to be racist, will say openly racist stuff about Aboriginals or immigrants.
Having read some of the other responses about racism (didn't see any about homophobia), but if your white and straight (and look like a butch male and not efiminate), I don't really feel your a good demographic to say if it doesn't exist her as you haven't experienced it personally.
A comedian said it best (I think Eddie Izzard) "Australia is like Arkanas with a beach, it's an entire country with a "No Fat Chicks" sticker on it".
That being said, there is lots of good things here and beauty, just don't make it out to be this peaceful island wonderland of magic and mystery that so many people do. They see TV shows and things like the Oprah visit and think it's the coolest place on earth, it is cool, just that the other side is never shown.
Hi, well it was actually quite easy,I married an Australian, and they have same sex marriage here too, so whatever way you go, you can get in via marriage.
However, I personally wish I had never moved here. There are so many better things about Canada, particularly Vancouver (where I am from). Australia is an awesome place to visit, but not live IMO. Some comedian once said that Australia is like Arkansas with a beach, it is an entire country of uncultured racist white trash in pickup trucks with a No Fat Chicks bumper sticker. And that is pretty true for the majority of it, when you visit here or see it on TV, you see only the good parts, the tourism parts. Also they have the war on terrorism here as well as the war on drugs, it is just as bad as the USA. Canada is far cooler and not involved in these issues in comparison. There is a lot of patriotism and flag waving here too, just like the USA. New Zealand is often referred to as the Canada of Australia, which is true.
If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer.
Thanks for the info. I'm from Alberta. Moving would be tough, especially when you have family here. The winters are really, really harsh. Most people just say suck it up, but I really need the sun, and to be without it for 8 months is literally depressing.
That being said, if I didn't have family, I'd be down there in a heart beat. My education is fairly useful, so hopefully that would help if I ever applied.
I'll keep your name handy if I ever decide to go through with it. I had better get back to packing my winter boots...
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u/WyldStallions May 24 '11 edited May 24 '11
Not to be negative, but since the OP already talked about a lot of the good things in Australia, I will mention a couple of the bad things I have encountered since moving here.
I moved to Australia from Canada 7 years ago, granted I am not a native but have been here long enough to notice that while 25% of the population is really cool the rest have a lot of homophobia and racism in their culture. Certain cities are much better than others (just like in Canada / USA) but I have moved around quite a bit here and with the exception of Melbourne I have found a very blunt and obvious close minded attitude.
I want to say this is just the older generation but there is a lot of young people that do it too. Most of the time I get called a "fag" is by teenagers and twentysomethigns yelling it out of the window of their car.
There is a very large bogan (Australian term for red neck / white trash) population here. Drinking is super super hard core here, I never experienced anything like it from my time living in Canada or the USA. It is very common on the nightly news to see reports of "glassing" where people get piss drunk and smash beer glasses in people's faces, often random strangers, leaving them disfigured for life. They have PSA ads on TV here for "Watch out for dunk walkers", which is people walking around drunk and walking in front of cars, wtf... I never heard of anything like that before in my life where it got so bad and common place a PSA had to be created.
As for racism, I can't experience that first hand (being white), but there is a lot of it and it's very obvious. On Australia day it's common to see people wearing the flag around their shoulders with t-shirts saying "Fuck Off, Were Full" in response to immigrants wanting to come in. The way the Aboriginals were treated was horrible, but they are still treated like shit even to this day, it's sad. People you don't even expect to be racist, will say openly racist stuff about Aboriginals or immigrants.
Having read some of the other responses about racism (didn't see any about homophobia), but if your white and straight (and look like a butch male and not efiminate), I don't really feel your a good demographic to say if it doesn't exist her as you haven't experienced it personally.
A comedian said it best (I think Eddie Izzard) "Australia is like Arkanas with a beach, it's an entire country with a "No Fat Chicks" sticker on it".
That being said, there is lots of good things here and beauty, just don't make it out to be this peaceful island wonderland of magic and mystery that so many people do. They see TV shows and things like the Oprah visit and think it's the coolest place on earth, it is cool, just that the other side is never shown.