Living in Aus - the good, the bad, the ugly and the infuriating!

Even though we have lived here for over 4 years (!!!), one of our favourite things to do is still chatting with people who are from the UK and discuss the things we love about living here, the things we miss from home, the things that are just so different and the things we will probably never get used to!

I will try and keep this post balanced, but there is a chance it will turn into a "whinging pom" post... so apologies to the Aussies that are reading this! 

My favourite things about our life.... I think I have to stop calling it our new life now we have been living it for so long!

• I get to have my birthday in the summer!
• We are only a 20 minute drive from work and a beach
• We live in a lovely area with a friendly village feel
• We eat better here - locally sourced food and generally healthily prepared
• We have a great work/ life balance
• We have made some great friends here
• When we have visitors, we get to spend some real, quality time with them
• On the whole, Aussies are friendly and laid back - they are welcoming and helpful. the area we live in, especially, has a lovely village feel where everyone smiles and says hello
• BYO - you can take your own bottle of wine to most restaurants making a nice meal less expensive
• Coffee! The Aussies know how to make a good coffee - even the crappiest coffee shop will have a decent offering

The things I miss most... please note, things! The list of friends and family would be too long and would end in me sobbing, unable to finish this post!

• British shopping! From clothes to food, we pay more here for less choice. 
• Milestones - weddings, birthdays, dinners and nights out. We miss individuals, but we really miss you all when you are all doing things together and we can't be there!
• Holidays! Leaving this vast country is not only expensive, it is also time consuming as everything is so far! That's why we only had our first proper holiday this year! (Although the fact that we only live a 20 minute drive from the beach does mean that every weekend can be a holiday!)
• Mum's cooking. But my mummy will arrive here in just over a month so I will get my fill then!

Things that are different here... and I do kind of mean worse!

• TV! Australian TV is pretty average, so we tend to watch a lot of English and American TV
• Drivers. Round abouts, lane merging and saying thank you are all alien concepts here and its amazingly frustrating!
• Crisps and chocolates. I still haven't gotten used to Australian chocolate and would readily donate an organ for an unlimited supply of English junk food... ironic cos eating an unlimited supply would end in organs being lost! 

When I started writing this post, I thought that last list would be much longer actually!

Looking at it objectively, it does look like life is pretty good!

Bye for now 

Kunj x