We moved to Australia three years ago for our retirement. What I like about Australia: 1) The weather. We used to live in Wellington, now in Queensland. Enough said. 2) The people. Aussies are wonderfully open generous folk. And most of them like Kiwis. 3) Medicare. In NZ it cost $30 to visit the doctor. 4) The horse racing. Australian racing is as good as any in the world. 5) The fact that the All Blacks usually wallop the Wallabies. What I dislike: 1) The attitude towards asylum seekers. The detention centres are a disgrace. 2) The bureaucracy. There are forms for everything. If you want a form you have to fill in an order form to get it. 3) The "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy" chant. Utterly mindless. Am I sorry we moved? Definitely not. Should have done it 40 years ago.
There doesn't seem to be many docs who bulk bill these days, ours costs about $70 a visit. It has doubled in about 10 years from around $34. We sometimes use a bulk-biller, but we don't have a choice of our own doctor there - it's whoever is next available. What I dislike: Thankfully, it's not universal, but it's a large enough proportion of this country to upset. Interesting. Good description.
The only thing I dislike about australia is the amount of kiwis here..............just kidding! Northern NSW is one of the best parts of Australia in terms of lifestyle and people. That's an opinion coming from someone who has lived in a couple of major cities, outback areas and central and North Queensland! Other than this I think Australians are fairly ignorant but not always in a bad way! In the last twenty years or so I reckon we have transformed into a "keeping up with jones'" style of people and consequently become more class orientated. That's opinion!
The day we arrived we went shopping at a supermarket and the gorgeous young checkout girl kept calling me darling. Mrs AB looked at me sideways, thinking "I know he can be quick, but surely not THAT fast...." That Easter we were expecting some money, but the payment was late, leaving us without funds. I went next door, met our neighbour for the first time. I explained our situation and asked if I could borrow $50 till Tuesday. "That's not enough, mate, take $100," he said. Great people, Australians. Learning to talk Australian can be fun. I now know that prickles are bindis, duvets doonas and jandals thongs. Some day I may even say dancing instead of "darncing".
