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Old 25-10-2011, 17:09   #106
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Re: Beware

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Housing and the general cost of living is considerable cheaper in regional Australia.
In or near the cities where the Majority lives, this is not the case.



Being Australian, there is only one place I can call home as well, but that doesn't mean that its "The Best" country in the world to live in.

I look at the many retired people in Australia who even though they are fortunate enough to own their homes outright, barely scratch out an existence on the pension.
And what of those that don't own and have to pay rent in their latter years?

Compare that to the expats I have met overseas who are living a fantastic life on the same amount of money and the ones that sold the house in Australia and moved their cash overseas , well they live the lifestyle that only a millionaire could hope to have here.

Like I said, Australia probably is the best place in the world to live in, but if your version of living is more than just surviving, you would want to be fairly cashed up and or have a higher than average income
It seems I was wrong.. According to top 10 hell, Aus is only ranked as 2nd best nation to live in in 2010- we were pipped by the frogs. 10 Best Countries to Live in 2010 | Top 10 Hell. The forum below it has its own little debate going on also.

Melbourne clocked up the most livable city for 2011 in the worlds economists survey. Dont know if they included the weather in that survey. World's most livable cities - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sydney, Perth and Adelaide also scored in the top ten.

Grass is always greener. Anyhows, I will leave you with thought. We are getting tooooo OT.
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Old 25-10-2011, 17:13   #107
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Re: Australian Customs - Deterrent to Visiting Oz ?

The weather today in Melbourne is absolutely perfect. It's 18 degrees C at 11am right now, it's sunny and could not be more perfect, with not a breath of wind. I just drove into the office with a near empty freeway and glorious sunshine and without a hint of road-rage.

The number one city in the world and I know why!

(Luckily I missed peak hour by 2 hours, otherwise the tone of this message would have been somewhat different)
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Old 25-10-2011, 17:43   #108
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Re: Australian Customs - Deterrent to Visiting Oz ?

Wow, 3 in the top 5. Way to go Ca Na Da! And if any of you believe that crap, well, you must be very well off, or sadly deluded.
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Old 25-10-2011, 18:03   #109
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Re: Australian Customs - Deterrent to Visiting Oz ?

I love Canada, and I have lived in Ottawa and Toronto, spent time in Vancouver - never been to Calgary- but if Toronto is in the top 10 then, as we say in Oz - I'll walk backwards to bourke, nice enough place and all that but there are plenty of places in the world that would be better - in my humble opinion,
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Old 25-10-2011, 18:40   #110
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Re: Australian Customs - Deterrent to Visiting Oz ?

Australia isn't that much of a nanny state. The issue is more one of entitlement, as is often the case in relatively wealthy 1st world countries. Combine this with isolation and you've significant proportion of the pop'n who are unaware of just how good we have it.
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Old 25-10-2011, 18:43   #111
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Re: Australian Customs - Deterrent to Visiting Oz ?

Them surveys make me laugh, i have to fly through Melbourne at the moment to get to work, and for me that is too long a time spent in the place.....

My personal preference....

1. Darwin
2. Perth
3. Brisbane/Cairns
4. Adelaide
5. Canberra
6. Sydney
7. Melbourne

All my own opinion, which is as meaningless as some random survey....
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Old 25-10-2011, 19:10   #112
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Re: Australian Customs - Deterrent to Visiting Oz ?

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Australia isn't that much of a nanny state. The issue is more one of entitlement, as is often the case in relatively wealthy 1st world countries. Combine this with isolation and you've significant proportion of the pop'n who are unaware of just how good we have it.
Compared to...?

I migrated here from S. Africa in 1977, and was absolutely blown away by the freedom here. I absolutely loved it, and still do. I loved the Aussie attitude and genuine belief that the only difference between the CEO and the factory floor sweeper was that the CEO got lucky.
Officials were all friendly and welcoming.
I took out citizenship as soon as I could.

In 1981 I went back to S. Africa for 5 years for family reasons, and returned here in 1986.

I thought the pilot had landed me in the wrong country. In 5 years this country had lost it's carefree Aussie larikinism ( learnt that here... just make up words if you can't find one ready made)
Officialdom had taken over and the population was walking around like the humans in planet of the apes after they's had bits of their brains removed.
The Hawke/Keating era introduced a big brother culture that has changed this country forever, and not for the better. The Keating tongue is not only brilliantly witty, it also wears jackboots.

But, I still love this country and it has so much to offer. It just breaks your heart.

And now...? we are well advanced in our plans to become full time cruisers, starting wherever we find the right boat. But not likely to be here. This will always be home, but I just need to get far away from it so I can appreciate all it's wonderful attributes without having to put up with all the BS.
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Old 25-10-2011, 19:11   #113
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Re: Beware

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It seems I was wrong.. According to top 10 hell, Aus is only ranked as 2nd best nation to live in in 2010- we were pipped by the frogs.
And for the average Australian retiree surviving on a pension of $344 a week, how do these places stack up then?

What sort of extra activities can they afford to enjoy apart from watching daytime TV while eating catfood?

Take that same $344 a week to other parts of the world and their quality of life can improve dramatically.
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Old 25-10-2011, 19:27   #114
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Re: Beware

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And for the average Australian retiree surviving on a pension of $344 a week, how do these places stack up then?

What sort of extra activities can they afford to enjoy apart from watching daytime TV while eating catfood?

Take that same $344 a week to other parts of the world and their quality of life can improve dramatically.
For a start they can be happy they live in a country that has an old age pension, you dont get that in the third world countries expats move to. Arrg.. you have let me back into this discussion.. We wont agree. Its time to stop. We are too O/T
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Old 25-10-2011, 22:23   #115
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Re: Australian Customs - Deterrent to Visiting Oz ?

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The weather today in Melbourne is absolutely perfect. It's 18 degrees C at 11am right now, it's sunny and could not be more perfect, with not a breath of wind.
You forgot to mention our fantastic Bay 20 times better than that harbor up north problem is no ware to store boats cheaply and we shoot livaboards parksvic make customs look like pussy cats,
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Old 25-10-2011, 22:46   #116
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Re: Australian customs - deterrent to visiting Oz?

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Its those little furry multi legged things that lurk under toilet seats waiting to pounce on dangly bits that puts me of OZ....
dickheads in uniform can be found anywhere....
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I'll have you know boatman presents a pretty tasty morsel. I hear it's the tapas.
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Its nice to know there are some who appreciate the little delicacies in life.....
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Old 25-10-2011, 23:06   #117
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Re: Australian Customs - Deterrent to Visiting Oz ?

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It's not just boats.

This mornings Sydney Morning Herald has an interesting article on customs and quarantine at the airport, very consistent with my own experience.

And we wonder why tourism numbers are down!

AQIS | Quarantine | Declare and beware: warm welcome wouldn't hurt
An interesting article however factually inaccurate. Sydney airport has NO nothing to declare line, everyone interacts with customs and AQIS to some degree and if this did happen at the inspection area it was AFTER all customs intervention. NO customs officers are encountered post AQIS inspection.
Another article by a lazy journo perhaps ??
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Old 25-10-2011, 23:25   #118
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Re: Australian Customs - Deterrent to Visiting Oz ?

Katiusha,

We visited Australia June-Sept 2009; cleared in at Mackay and out at Darwin, then visited Ashmore Reef en route to Bali. Clearing in at Mackay was a breeze. Very few boats clear in at Mackay and the officials were very nice -- very thorough but also very polite and nice. Every locker, cubby, bin and floor locker was searched -- but done in a nice way. We had read all the latest regulations and ensured before leaving New Caledonia that we met all requirements. We had just had a haul-out in NZ and had invoices proving what type of anti-fouling was applied. Our experiences can be found at
S/V BeBe: Australia
Scroll to the last posting on that page to read our inbound clearance experience.

Like you, I had dreamed of visiting or cruising Australia for years. However, the reality did not live up to the dreams. Both my husband and I were more disappointed in Australia than any of the 47 countries we have visited thus far. (To be fair, Male in the Maldives was the worst; Australia was second to the bottom of our list.) The Great Barrier Reef was a huge disappointment to me. The water was murky inside the reef and we saw nothing pretty. I do not enjoy scuba diving and only snorkel. Everyone told me that diving on the outside of the reef is where one finds the pretty stuff.

The highlight of Australia for me was sailing through Albany Pass. That short experience was one of the highlights of the entire South Pacific. Daintree Rainforest was another special place. Sailing inside the reef was nice. Appearance of waters inside reef sucked, especially after visiting far more beautiful places in the South Pacific.

Another reason we were so disappointed in Australia was that everything was very expensive. Our boat is 16 meters LOA and thus we were required to purchase a 3 or 5 million AUD environmental liability insurance policy (cannot remember the exact figure right now) for Queensland waters -- over and above our normal full-coverage insurance policy.

If you have dreamed of Australia, then you should go. Others we know loved it; some are still there after 3 years, traveling out via plane and re-entering to juggle immigration time limits. We regret going there but you might love the place.

Judy
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Old 26-10-2011, 00:55   #119
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Re: Australian Customs - Deterrent to Visiting Oz ?

Most sailors visiting Australia entering via the east coast sail north via the mainland islands-
say via Keppels/Percys/whitsundays/Hinchenbrook/Fitzroy/low isles/ lizard rather than actually visit the reef.

You can expect as SV Bebe indicated the “appearance of waters inside reef sucked, especially after visiting far more beautiful places in the South Pacific.”

Rushing through Aus and not taking the time to visit the coral cays and reefs of the GBR and the close Coral Sea reefs as you did you may get that impression.

Some of the islands off Mackay and in particular Bushy Islet are pacific like and have whales everywhere at the right time of the year. Not to forget the Capricorn Bunker Group at the southern end of the GBR with Heron (world famous bommie etc), Masthead and Lady Musgrave cays just some of the places to visit there.

You need to get amongst real reefs and cays which are accurately charted but most yachties avoid the real GBR or rush through. Safe anchorages are not an issue during the SE wind times.

Judy,
I imagine you visited Lizard island on your way north but if you didn't take the time to snorkle at the Cod Hole only a couple of hours away you missed one of the best big fish experiences in the world.

The GB reef and in particular the mainline island groups don't have the water clarity of the Pacific/PNG however the near coral sea reefs do but the GBR do make up with fish life far better than the Carribean.

Australia is too big to rush.
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Old 26-10-2011, 01:11   #120
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when I flew to oz we had the foot and mouth scare over here. and I lived on a farm - that had not had even the smallest hint of the disease. but I was worried that if I answered any of the "do you live on a farm" questions wrong I would ruin my the trip for the rest of my family? I was fairly young and it did stress me.

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In that case, New Zealand is the country for you. Most of our vehicle fleet are classics


Of course, we don't have quite the same scenery and sheer mass of land that Australia has ...... we have some pretty good scenery here, but Australia is pretty much unique.
on my way! actually, I had heard that nz had a more varied landscape, and that it's absolutely stunning. . . . it is one of my aims to see the Finn brothers at home!

what are nz customs like?
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