Frustrations about the backpacker scene

OK. Here it is: flies. billions and bilions - no, make that
googleplexes and googleplexes of flies. Learn the Aussie national
salute. (...waves hand in front of face...)

If you can ignore them, it is a right fine place.

Flies take around three days to get used to AROUND you - buzzing around, in
your hair, on your back. What is annoying is their search for moisture - in
your eyes, corner of mouth, nostrils....

Hats with corks are the stereotype, but I think I've only ever seen one
actual Australian wearing one (in FNQ). Nets are much more effective. Or
get used to it like everyone else.....

To each their own. Don't let me stop you. I grew up near the Rockies in
Canada... and have lived in Northern California... which is similar to
SE Australia. Yeah I hiked Australia's highest "mountain" in the
summer - Mount Kosciuszko...which is a mole hill. I would love to take
a dirtbike through the middle of the country on the Great Ocean Road
(which is modelled after the Pacific Highway in California). I've
ridden through Costa Rica and highly recommend that. The rainforests
and volcanoes blew me away.

I found Australia's natural beauty too similar to California/Nevada -
yawn. Ok, the north is more like Florida. The interior is fairly flat,
but the coastline/beaches are great, but unfortunately I don't surf. I
dug the modern architecture of the houses and the older gold rush towns
near Melbourne... but again nothing blew me away. Australia has good
food, wine, weather (debatable - Syndey is hot and Melbourne has
SF-weather) and people are friendly... but it's all bland and
uninspired. I remember signing along to "walking in a winter
wonderland" there in December...

But yeah I am NOW a city slicker at heart and that's why my near
perfect place in London, UK (spent all of 2003 there). I also love
mountains and volcanos. You know I fell in love with Iceland.... not
Australia... I personally would head to Costa Rica or anywhere in Latin
America over Australia now.

Considering what I consider natural beauty, I'm sure I would love New
Zealand...

in article , RH at
wrote on 2/15/04 11:50 AM:


I found Australia utterly devoid of life - landscape and people... so
that is a place I'm glad to have left.

Marcus...can you expand on this and explain what you mean?

Ive never been to Australia.... but have always dreamed of moving
there

Hold on to this dream of yours and move to Australia :-)

Of course it's alright for each of us to have our own opinion about a
certain country.

I've been to Australia two times for a couple of months and I just LOVE the
country - the aussies are very friendly, the nature absolutely beatiful and
a very relaxed atmosphere in general. I've been on two RTW and met a lot of
different people from different countries on my way - and I have never heard
anyone saying anything bad about Australia.

/Sanne




Marcus sounds like a city-to-city backpacker, which is fine - Australia's
cities are, with some modification, variants of many other western cities
(with counterintuitive traffic directions, seasons, and water drainage for
those of us from North America). If you get bored with rural areas easily
(as I surmise from his "wilderness was crap because it was in drought
season" comment) you will not appreciate a good part of Australia's
uniqueness. In a desert ( Australia has 13 of them) you can easily go
through three ecosystems in a day.....

The houses are also built better there - usually stone/rock not wood(in
short supply) - I visited my Uncle's place in a suburb in Sydney who
bragged about Australian houses so it stuck. The weather keeps them in
better shape than they would be in the northern US. Unfortunately,
because of the drought a few houses are cracking now.

To be fair, the median price in San Francisco is $450,000 (maybe 1100
sq. ft) - converting that to Australian dollars, a house there is
cheaper. Seattle, San Diego, Santa Monica (all nice places) prices are
probably similar when converted to Australian dollars. Considering what
the English pay for housing in South England (Surrey), everything in
Australia is a bargain.

How long is a piece of string?

In Sydney, half-a-million (AUD) wouldn't get you a toilet block in a
respectable neighbourhood (I recently saw a parking spot listed for $200K).
The same amount would get you half of Hobart.

OK. Here it is: flies. billions and bilions - no, make that
googleplexes and googleplexes of flies. Learn the Aussie national
salute. (...waves hand in front of face...)

If you can ignore them, it is a right fine place.

The flies are only a problem if you're in the Outback - if you travel along
the coast (as most people do except perhaps one or two weeks) there is
absolutely no fly-problem :-)

/Sanne

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 19:16:45 GMT, Raffi Balmanoukian
a wrote:

How long is a piece of string?

In Sydney, half-a-million (AUD) wouldn't get you a toilet block in a
respectable neighbourhood (I recently saw a parking spot listed for $200K).
The same amount would get

Wow

I would have thought that since the population of Australia is only
abt 25 million...... but yet the land size is that of the USA.....
that land prices would have been cheap! No?

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 20:42:45 GMT, Turby
wrote:

OK. Here it is: flies. billions and bilions - no, make that
googleplexes and googleplexes of flies. Learn the Aussie national
salute. (...waves hand in front of face...)

Why so may flies there? What is unique abt Aus that creates so many
flies? Just curious....

I've been to Australia two times for a couple of months and I just LOVE
the
country

How is the cost of living there? Say compared to the midwest of the
USA? Rural areas of Missouri that is

I'm sorry but I'm from Denmark :-) I've been to the USA but I don't remember
excactly how the prices are in the USA. Denmark is a quite expensive country
to live in, but Australia is cheaper.

But I can tell you a few of the things I remember about Australia:

- Sydney is much more expensive than the rest of the country.
- Rented a furnished townhouse (3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, kitchen,
livingroom, garage etc) in a suburb of Brisbane - approx. 6-8 km from the
centre of Brisbane. The house was in a very safe and nice complex with
swimmingpool and tenniscourt, Price: 250 AUD a week (the unfurnished houses
are less expensive)
- Apples, pears etc are about 3-5 AUD per kilo
- Beef and steaks are very cheap (it's possible to buy two large steaks for
about 3-4 AUD)
- Chicken fillet - 7-10 AUD per kilo
- Coca Cola etc. - 1,3-2,5 AUD/ 2 litres
- Beer (VB or XXXX) about 30 AUD/ 30 cans
- Small box of Kellogs Frosties, 4 AUD

That's some of the things a remember :-)

/Sanne

wrote:
Raffi Balmanoukian a wrote:
In Sydney, half-a-million (AUD) wouldn't get you a toilet block in a
respectable neighbourhood (I recently saw a parking spot listed for
$200K).

I would have thought that since the population of Australia is only abt 25
million...... but yet the land size is that of the USA..... that land
prices would have been cheap! No?

Just like in the USA, it's cheap if you live where nobody else wants to be.
But in a large cosmopolitan city, it's going to come at a premium.

Also remember that in Australia there's mostly not much water except at the
coasts, so most of that land isn't too livable.

miguel
--
Hundreds of travel photos from around the world: http://travel.u.nu/

in article , Miguel Cruz at
wrote on 2/18/04 2:55 AM:

wrote:
Raffi Balmanoukian a wrote:
In Sydney, half-a-million (AUD) wouldn't get you a toilet block in a
respectable neighbourhood (I recently saw a parking spot listed for
$200K).

I would have thought that since the population of Australia is only abt 25
million...... but yet the land size is that of the USA..... that land
prices would have been cheap! No?

Just like in the USA, it's cheap if you live where nobody else wants to be.
But in a large cosmopolitan city, it's going to come at a premium.

Also remember that in Australia there's mostly not much water except at the
coasts, so most of that land isn't too livable.

miguel


Actually, there's lots of water - it's just waaaaay underground (the Great
Artesian Basin). It's also quite jeopardized through a combination of
mining, pastoral settlement (a/k/a "spread of waters"), and natural forces.
For this reason, built-up regional Australia can be extremely expensive - a
starter home in Alice Springs can set you back AUD$300K and you won't get
anything flash. The same would get you something very nice indeed in
Adelaide.

in article
sw.edu.spamblock.au, Greg
Pankhurst at wrote on
2/18/04 8:31 PM:

Raffi Balmanoukian a
wrote:

in article , at
wrote on 2/15/04 12:19 PM:

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 16:50:50 +0100, "RH" wrote:

I've been to Australia two times for a couple of months and I just LOVE the
country

How is the cost of living there? Say compared to the midwest of the
USA? Rural areas of Missouri that is

How long is a piece of string?

In Sydney, half-a-million (AUD) wouldn't get you a toilet block in a
respectable neighbourhood

Wrong.

Not wrong:

http://unclestupid.com/article635.html

I also seem to recall a listing for a parking space around the QVB at over
$200K