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What I like and don't like about living in Perth (Joondalup)


shwarmakarma

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I am quite new here (January) so I wanted to post my thoughts on life in Oz so far. I moved from a small, chocolate box village in Oxford with a gorgeous pub and lots of family and friends.

 

What I love

 

The huge skies

The birdlife

The beaches

Access to sport - for me, specially. I work from home so am able to play netball most mornings which is a great break from work and great to meet new people and get fit.

Access to sport for my daughter - her school in Oxford only had "A" teams.

Sports facilities are amazing - most have creches so new mums can get fit

I love the malls. Free parking. I love the shopping.

Easy driving. If something is 15kms away, it will generally take you 15 minutes to get there

Freemantle, Scarborough and Hillarys. Fun!

I love having my groceries packed for me

I love that everyone is generally very friendly and positive

 

What I don't love so much

 

It's not as dog friendly as I'd hoped (we brought our pooch from England)

There are no decent restaurants in Joondalup. You have to pay for everything up front and carry a 'number sign" for your table. I crave decent restaurant service in our suburb.

The traffic system. If you miss a green light, you have to wait aaaaages for the next one. A friend I know calls WA, 'waiting around'.

TV is very American - by which I mean two things: 1) too many ads and 2) promotes fear

Pubs are rubbish - I miss walking our dog in fields and then going to a pub with a roaring fire where dogs are welcome

The last on my list is hard to explain but I find that some people here don't communicate very well. This is the thing that bugs me the most.

 

 

It's only been 6 months for me but that's my list. I'm 100% positive about this place. I just don't get why Joondalup isn't more thriving…. a mystery to me.

 

Feel free to add yours…...

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It seems the things that you're not connecting with are things you miss from England ... I guess getting into the mindset that Australia is very different and you won't be able to easily replicate the chocolate box village you left.

 

I think Aus does have a more American than English feel to it (including TV), for me, that isn't a negative - I didn't move to Aus to feel like I was in England although initially it is a bit of a stark contrast and takes some getting used to.

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Good post, and I agree with a lot of yours - particularly good pubs and good food/service. Here are my additions:

 

Things I like:

The skies - beautiful changing colours and sometimes the most amazing clouds!

Wildlife and how common it is to spot so many different birds and animals

Fishing - took this up recently, my husband has been addicted since we came!

The smell of flowers and trees - the waft of eucalyptus on a warm breezy day

Knowing that most days you are guaranteed sunshine

 

Things I don't like:

Not being able to go to a supermarket at any time, late evening, very early morning for example

The lack of choice for many things - lack of competition meaning sometimes products or service is below par - example mobile phone contracts

Lack of 'towns' with the choice of shops, food outlets etc - you know like going to an English town such as York or Oxford and spending a day there shopping and eating and drinking and browsing.

Christmas in the summer.

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