Best and Worst Things About Living in Australia

Once again, you prove to be more informative than me. Thanks! Huh, maybe you’ve got used to those rules and regulations:) The Alice licensing laws sound like an effective barrier to drinking. I’m not averse to seeing the odd snake from a distance after being conditioned to living with snakes in Costa Rica. Recently, I did skid to a halt outside a neighbor’s house at the sight of a ten foot python lounging on his front lawn but it turned out to be a loved pet!

Wow, it looks like I missed out on a lot of worsts. Luckily we don’t have box jellies or salties here on the Sunshine Coast. But you’ve got me worried, what on earth are irukandj and coneshells. No, on second thoughts I don’t want to know!

Down side: Your children will grow up to be Aussies!
Up side: Savings on heating your home!

PS You need to read up on cone shells if you are going to live in the tropics! Wear good water shoes.

Hi Annabel

I think the Noosa area is just fantastic. I love walking in the National Park and I love the beautiful white sand beaches. The people are nice too! The government pay our medical bills, our power bills are low, we have fresh tropical fruit for breakfast and prawns cooked on the BBQ for dinner. The sun shines in a cornflower blue sky. It is indeed the ‘Lucky Country’.

Negatives? I seem to be buying a lot of sunglasses!

You forgot Cane Toads on the Worst list (at least for Queensland). Cane Toads on the road, in the dogs drinking water, drowning fish in the pond (it happened to my mother’s fish), choking water ways with their eggs, croaking in drain pipes at all hours of the night. I’d also like to add mosquitoes. They’ve died down now because it’s winter, but the little buggers are still around and come out when the weather is warm enough. I’d also add ants and Medicare. On the best list there’s also Cherry Ripes, Jack’s salt and vinegar chips and Aussie beef (I’ve had it in NZ, USA, including Hawaii, and Ireland and my butcher beats em all).
Great post, mate.

Worst part – some of our politicians
Best part – some of our politicians

There’s lots more but I think those two are important. We need to do away with State governments, I think.

Hi Annabel, I would say that one of the best things about OZ would be (for you, and for me a fellow Kiwi) that it’s not ‘home’. Moving to a new country offers so much in life lessons; in learning about yourself, in bringing your family closer, and in becoming more expansive towards other people and other countries.

Of course one of the downsides would also be ‘that it’s not home’. Because? Because no matter how much you like it until you really settle you will feel like the new girl at a new school!

I know this because I have lived in Australia and because last year I moved to the other side of the world (along with my dog, cat and three kids!) to live with a wonderful Englishman in rural Hampshire. II’ve been here just over a year and have been writing about my experiences in this new world (to me) on my blog. As the UK is the 4th country I’ve lived in I have a few ideas about the expat experience :-)

The worst thing as far as I’m concerned is recently Australia seems content to let itself slip back into the dark ages as far as internet censorship and internet access is concerned.

Tackling access first, it is insane that the kinds of speeds and access available in Australia at a high cost is so behind other developed countries – Our fastest connections here are comparable to what is offered free as a basic service in some countries and those in rural areas suffer very much (Dial up or paying thousands of dollars to set up satellite is all that’s available in my town)

As for censorship – what a joke, we condemn other countries for doing the same yet our Gov is happy to take away our rights to control our own choices :(

I agree with every aspect of your good list though :)

yo you guys are stupid

Annabel Candy thank you for sharing! What a lovely article and the photos are amazing too! I love how you put together these information on Best and Worst Things About Living in Australia. Easy to read, very relatable and great tips! Can’t wait to read more!

I am an American, born in Los Angeles (where I currently reside), but grew up in Surfers Paradise, Qld for most of my formative years. My mother is a dual Australian-American citizen, my step-father is Australian and I have previously had permanent residency in Australia. I am considering moving back there, but there are some hesitations including the hot, humid weather (at least where I was from on the Gold Coast), it is expensive (again maybe not in all parts of Australia, but where I would want to live), and Australia is pretty far from just about everywhere in terms of travel, which is necessary for what I do. To Hong Kong (from Brisbane) is about 9hours, Paris can be up to 24 hours, Rio=20h, LA=13h, etc. I’m lucky having ties there, but many foreigners will not have a very easy time getting residency. Nice, genuine people, but lots of racism against almost every other culture (including the British-POMS and Americans-YANKS), especially darker-skinned people (even Italians!) and arabs (especially after recent bouts of terrorism). So, much to consider before just picking up and moving there again.

Australian people and Australia in general really are not that friendly and there are alot of rules and regulations here. I find the country to be very lonely to live in. I have traveled and lived in China and have many friends there. Also traveled and stayed in other Asian countries. China ia way more friendly to live in than Australia and much essier tovdo things there. I think Australia is overated and the successive governments have donea great job messing it up. No real developments or technology. Great medical though and welfare system as the government really wont create jobs for the people. All in all, outsidecof Australia I findis more friendly. Just my view and experiance.