Advice on spending more time in Aus

[FireOnTheMuffin]

I'm seeking some life guidance.  Just feeling unsure/puzzled about what to do with our lives.  Please, analyze my thoughts/assumptions.  What topics should I be thinking through?

I'm a US citizen but my partner is Australian.  We have 2 young girls born in the US.  He has been here for 13 years, but is really getting fed up with US culture/politics.  His parents are getting older and live in Canberra, and I love them very much (much more than my own parents, who are in the US).  He is an academic and his work is reasonably flexible, and I am now FIREd, so we could spend something like 3-6 months in Australia a year.  He would like to move there permanently one day, before the kids are in college.  I'm not sure about that plan, but mainly it's a fear of the unknown.  I've visited with him several times, but only for short periods. 

We keep separate finances, but I manage all of our finances.  He is comfortable, but I have significantly more than him.  All my assets, and all of our real estate are in the U.S.  We have my dream property (home not done yet) in the U.S.  We hold it equally.  There is a large mortgage but at an amazing 30yr fixed rate.  I will not sell this house, even if we go to Australia, in case we ever wish to return. 

If we moved to Australia, buying a house in cash would eat up all of his savings.  I feel like we would want to buy in cash because interest rates are so high these days, and variable in Australia?  We could rent out our house in the US and funnel the income to him?  Or take a loan and use the rental income to pay the mortgage?

Financially, it is much better if we stay in the U.S. because he could improve his pension payout if he stays longer.  If we leave before 10yrs from now, pension would be pretty minimal.  He likely intends to work for a long time more, if we move to Aus, but the salary would be much less, and the dollar is not as strong as the US dollar.  I feel like it would mean the whole family will be relying much more heavily on my savings than I had planned.

Also, I don't know where we would want to buy a house, exactly.  I only want to move to Canberra if his parents are around, but his career prospects are likely better in Sydney.  Once they pass, it could make more sense to move to Sydney.

Should we just do trial trips and airbnb until for several years?

[deborah]

What are you talking about wrt pension? SS or pension from his company or something else? Because he has worked in both places, and the US and Australia have a pension agreement, SS and the OAP are able to contribute to the other one.

https://www.dss.gov.au/about-the-department/international/international-social-security-agreements/current-international-social-security-agreements/australia-and-the-united-states-of-america-usa-frequently-asked-questions

so this is not an issue. Sydney is a lot more expensive than the Canberra area, particularly as Queanbeyan is effectively a suburb of Canberra as far as distance to work is concerned.

[FireOnTheMuffin]

@deborah, pension from the public university he works at.  I don't understand the details, but his paystub does not show contribution to Social Security.  Instead, he contributes to the university pension system.  His pension program takes into account years of service (as a fractional multiplying factor that increases with years) and date of retirement.  So, his years of service would be much lower if he switches universities. 

[Telecaster]

There are a lot of questions here, but they mostly sound like personal questions.   For example, are you okay with the family relying more on your savings than you planned?   How important is sticking to the original plan in the first place?   Do you even want to move to Australia? 

As an aside, my American BIL married an Australian woman and has a career as an academic in Australia.   One great perk of the job is that the Australian university system (or at least his university) places a strong emphasis on an international blend in their academics.   He regularly travels abroad for both sabbaticals and presenting papers.  His university (or maybe just his department) also requires an international member on graduate student committees.  Maybe that is a way your husband could get a foot in the door? 

[Dicey]

I don't want to make this too political, but given what's going on in the US, if I had a place to go such as you do, I'd jump on it.

Why not just go and be renters?

[Gremlin]

Welcome to the Australian Sub-Forum! 

A couple of questions just to understand what you're considering.

You talked about your partner being an academic whose work is reasonably flexible so you're looking at 3-6 months in Australia a year.  Would he be working whilst here?  Remotely for his current university or for an Australian university?

I definitely wouldn't be buying in Australia unless I was certain where I wanted to be.  Transaction costs (called stamp duty) are pretty significant.

If you're looking at three to six months a year, then renting is definitely an option, especially if closer to six months than three.  If you're living six months in each for a few years, you can potentially try out some different locations.  Is your choice either Canberra or Sydney or would you consider other locations as well?  Also, bear in mind that Sydney is a big city.  Your experience of Sydney will be quite different depending on where you are living/working.

Canberra is a great place to raise a family.  Mrs Gremlin and I lived in Sydney for close to 10 years and loved it, but left Sydney to raise a family elsewhere (but obviously plenty don't).

[deborah]

@deborah, pension from the public university he works at.  I don't understand the details, but his paystub does not show contribution to Social Security.  Instead, he contributes to the university pension system.  His pension program takes into account years of service (as a fractional multiplying factor that increases with years) and date of retirement.  So, his years of service would be much lower if he switches universities. 

So this isn't an Australia vs USA thing. If he changes jobs to anywhere else, no matter whether it's in the USA or Australia, he won't have that pension because it's got golden chains in the form of that pension, and he will be starting from scratch with SS as well. It seems to me that you need to think about whether you want him to stay in those golden chains, and the implications of that (which seems to be that you will have far more money than him no matter where you live).

You need to separate the pros and cons of Australia and the USA versus you moving elsewhere within the USA. It also seems to me that if he's going to leave his current university, it may work out better for it to happen sooner rather than later, especially if you're contemplating moving halfway round the world. You said your children are young. Giving your children the option of going to school in both countries while they are still in primary school would allow you to experience life in its fullest in both places, rather than just visiting. You also need to recognise that it takes everyone some time to adjust to the cultural differences between places, and that it's really difficult not to be miserable for a time while you're settling in.

As there are five universities in Canberra, it probably has more universities in a smaller area than other parts of Australia.

[mspym]

Deborah raises a great point - the pension issue is separate from the Australia issue, he’d face that if he moved jobs anywhere. Ofpym was a professor in the States before he moved to Sydney - where we met - and ended up working in private industry for 3x the salary. Academic salaries in Sydney were higher than in the States but not viable because the COL was so much higher. They do mostly come with a 17.5% superannuation plan and there would be eligibility for the Australian old age pension. Melbourne also has a thriving academic and cultural scene with a lower COL than Sydney if you wanted to expand your options

[spartana]

I don't want to make this too political, but given what's going on in the US, if I had a place to go such as you do, I'd jump on it.

Why not just go and be renters?

This. Why not rent? That way you can test the waters before making a long term and possibly irreversable decision. You can rent your US properties, rent or even do a long term monthly airbnb in Aus and make any permanent changes about where to live down the road.

@mspym what does "of" stand for? "Official fella ;-).

[FireOnTheMuffin]

Lots of responses to digest, but thank you all so far!  I need to hear all of these kinds of thoughts. 

As far as job change within the U.S., he is unlikely to do that unless it were to a much more prestigious and lucrative job. He could easily do that but has chosen not to because he values freedom from corporate overlords and schedule flexibility a lot.  His position currently is very comfortable and cushy for work-life balance. Does anyone know if professors in Australia typically have good work-life flexibility and balance?

It sounds like we should just try renting in Canberra for these next few years and see how things go.  How do we get the children a real taste of life here though?  Does visitors ever enroll in school for just a few months?

Melbourne could be an option.  I loved it when we visited, actually a lot more than I liked Sydney. Those are the 3 cities I’ve visited, but we are tied to Canberra a bit because family and more friends are there.  My partner actually seems more open to going elsewhere, but I am the one who would be scared to move across the world and then not even be in the same place as the people I do know there.


@deborah,hmm golden chains.  I hadn’t thought about it like that, but yes it’s like the whole US venture for us is golden chains for him.  He has said “Would you want us to move to Dubai, if we would make $5M?  That’s like what I’ve done coming to the US”

@Telecaster, there isn’t exactly an “original plan”.  We are trying to decide on a plan.  I am not sure I want to move to Australia, but I’m open to it and acknowledge it would be fair to, given he’s been in the US so long.On the savings question, I’m not sure… I have to think about it and maybe better understand how our finances would translate there.

@Gremlin, 3 months would just be our summer vacation.  Towards 6 months, he’d be taking sabbatical and likely working at an Australian university for that time.

[Gremlin]

Being the national capital and home to embassies, their staff and families, the schools in Canberra are more experienced than most in having international students transition in and out, even for short periods.  But I must admit, I genuinely don't understand the admissions process for the ACT. 

Yes to professors having a pretty good work-life balance.

[deborah]

I’ve never heard the USA being compared to Dubai before!

Job environments change, and places that are fantastic to work at can be transformed within a few years to soul destroying environments. It’s happened to many people on the forum. It could be that they’ve changed, or the job’s changed, or both. And if you both plan to FIRE, a pension of the type your partner has doesn’t really allow for it, nor does it allow for flexibility if things do go bad.

[twinstudy]

I don't want to make this too political, but given what's going on in the US, if I had a place to go such as you do, I'd jump on it.

Why not just go and be renters?

I would caution about assuming things of American lifestyles based on what you read in the news. I have lived in both countries, and the quality and standard of life in the top 10-15% of America (the coastal "elite" areas, essentially, plus some parts of the interior) is easily on par with anything you'd see in Australia. Plus there are certain parts of US life that are just *better*. Want to go to a truly elite university? US beats Australia hands down.

OP, worthwhile noting that the cost of living in both countries is disparate. Some things in Australia are cheaper or comparable, but most things - especially 'nice' things, whether goods or services - are much more expensive, even after currency conversion. On the other hand, necessities such as medical care and core costs of living into one's old age are much cheaper, since the government pays for a lot. So to live in Australia is cheap; to live at a luxurious standard is very expensive. In the US, there is a more linear relationship.

[deborah]

I would caution about assuming things of American lifestyles based on what you read in the news. I have lived in both countries, and the quality and standard of life in the top 10-15% of America (the coastal "elite" areas, essentially, plus some parts of the interior) is easily on par with anything you'd see in Australia. Plus there are certain parts of US life that are just *better*. Want to go to a truly elite university? US beats Australia hands down.

OP, worthwhile noting that the cost of living in both countries is disparate. Some things in Australia are cheaper or comparable, but most things - especially 'nice' things, whether goods or services - are much more expensive, even after currency conversion. On the other hand, necessities such as medical care and core costs of living into one's old age are much cheaper, since the government pays for a lot. So to live in Australia is cheap; to live at a luxurious standard is very expensive. In the US, there is a more linear relationship.

This is a bit misleading. Even though Australia has one tenth of the population of the United States, in a country of about the same size as the contiguous United States, we have one third of the world’s international students, and of the top 100 universities by world ranking, Australia has six, while the United States has thirty six. It really depends on what you call truly elite. Education in Australia is also significantly less expensive.

It also depends on what you call nice things - note that twinstudy has often cited the relative prices of Porsches in both countries, where Australia does have eye-wateringly higher prices.

[twinstudy]

I've studied in both countries and my partner studied also in both countries (she went to one of the better Boston institutions) and there's just no comparison. Australia has nothing that can compare with the US's elite. I mean, you can cite that we have six in the top 100 and the US has 36 and then say that the 6:1 ratio compares in Australia's favour to the 10:1 population ratio, but that ignores the fact that the US's entries on the top 100 list are in places 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 10 on that list whereas Australia's top entrant is the University of Melbourne which is usually somewhere in the 20-30 range and then ANU is the next best which is around 30-40 and then the rankings fall off steeply.

As for the cost of education, some of elite schools in the US are relatively cheap if you have the marks (Stanford is free as long as your parents earn under $150k USD) which narrows the gap here - Australian uni is also cheap/free if you have the marks. But US graduate salaries are much, much higher.

So generally, I'd say if your goal for the next generations is to do really well and make lots of money, the US wins hands down. If your goal is to live a comfortable life without having to try very hard at all, in a country where the government will provide you everything you need to live comfortably even with minimal effort, then Australia has a much better safety net.

[deborah]

I've studied in both countries and my partner studied also in both countries (she went to one of the better Boston institutions) and there's just no comparison. Australia has nothing that can compare with the US's elite. I mean, you can cite that we have six in the top 100 and the US has 36 and then say that the 6:1 ratio compares in Australia's favour to the 10:1 population ratio, but that ignores the fact that the US's entries on the top 100 list are in places 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 10 on that list whereas Australia's top entrant is the University of Melbourne which is usually somewhere in the 20-30 range and then ANU is the next best which is around 30-40 and then the rankings fall off steeply.

As for the cost of education, some of elite schools in the US are relatively cheap if you have the marks (Stanford is free as long as your parents earn under $150k USD) which narrows the gap here - Australian uni is also cheap/free if you have the marks. But US graduate salaries are much, much higher.

So generally, I'd say if your goal for the next generations is to do really well and make lots of money, the US wins hands down. If your goal is to live a comfortable life without having to try very hard at all, in a country where the government will provide you everything you need to live comfortably even with minimal effort, then Australia has a much better safety net.

As the list ranking universities throughout the world has been composed by experts, and you may have been to universities in the top 100 in both places, I suspect the experts have a better grasp on these things. Most students in the world would give something to attend any of the top 100 universities.

I am also a bit puzzled. I thought that you actually resided in Australia. Why - if the USA is so much better from your perspective?

[Gremlin]

I am also a bit puzzled. I thought that you actually resided in Australia. Why - if the USA is so much better from your perspective?

OT - but I'm not entirely convinced that twinstudy isn't a troll...

[Tardis81]

I had to take a second look at the post dates to make sure it’s recent. The posters and I must live in different Australia. Easy/cheap life?! “Just rent” for 3-6m at a time?! Everything is expensive. Rental market and property market in general gone nuts. Beautiful place, no/less guns, and medical costs are still reasonable unlike US. But uni lecturer’s salaries aren’t there in top incomes and finding and securing a decent rental is hard.

[FireOnTheMuffin]

@Tardis81, I don't think it was me who used the words easy/cheap.  Others have been using the word "cheap" a lot, but I guess when referencing things that are relative to the US, like medical costs.  "Just rent" would be as opposed to buying.  What else are we supposed to do??  Yes, we know uni job for him would be a significant pay cut, especially given AUD vs USD. 

I actually think that @twinstudy's lines of thinking are not wholly incorrect.  I happened to go to one of those elite universities around Boston, and my partner did his post-doc at one on the other coast.  The caliber of his PhD students here, who come from all over the world, is also likely higher than it would be in Australia.  Regardless of the rank of the university, the issue is that top PhD students want to come to the US because they know they can graduate to very high paying jobs here.  So, the disparity in "elite" schooling is not lost on us. 

He just thinks that the benefits of living in a society where people are less polarized, less violent, less car driven, may outweigh such considerations.  He is now saying he just wants the kids to be resident in Australia, rather than splitting so much time in US.  He says things like, he doesn't want the children to be American and that he doesn't want them to think America is an option.  I guess, as an American, I feel it's a little hypocritical for him to make that choice for the children when he chose to come here for elite schooling and career opportunities.  Maybe he is right that it is better to grow up in Australia, though. 

@twinstudy, I might caveat your comment that next generations doing "really well and making lots of money" isn't a given in the US, which is also an argument that Australia is a safer bet.  Unless you happen to succeed at the elite college/career competition in the US, life can be quite a miserable slog.  There is no doubt it would be a financial hit for us to make the move to Australia, though. 

I don't care at all about Porsches, but what about like Hyundai?  How about home additions?  Like, if we bought a small house now, just to get into the market, would adding a second floor later cost a ridiculous amount?

Do people think home prices are going to continue rising, or is there a potential drop in sight? 

What are mortgage rates currently?  Though, I don't think we'd qualify for a mortgage easily with such a strange situation.

Would I as an American, easily make friends?  What are best ways of making friends?

My partner says growing up in Canberra, he was free to roam the neighborhood without fear of safety issues.  But that was basically true for me in the US too, and now people feel differently.  Is it still that way in Aus/Canberra for children?

[twinstudy]

I've studied in both countries and my partner studied also in both countries (she went to one of the better Boston institutions) and there's just no comparison. Australia has nothing that can compare with the US's elite. I mean, you can cite that we have six in the top 100 and the US has 36 and then say that the 6:1 ratio compares in Australia's favour to the 10:1 population ratio, but that ignores the fact that the US's entries on the top 100 list are in places 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 10 on that list whereas Australia's top entrant is the University of Melbourne which is usually somewhere in the 20-30 range and then ANU is the next best which is around 30-40 and then the rankings fall off steeply.

As for the cost of education, some of elite schools in the US are relatively cheap if you have the marks (Stanford is free as long as your parents earn under $150k USD) which narrows the gap here - Australian uni is also cheap/free if you have the marks. But US graduate salaries are much, much higher.

So generally, I'd say if your goal for the next generations is to do really well and make lots of money, the US wins hands down. If your goal is to live a comfortable life without having to try very hard at all, in a country where the government will provide you everything you need to live comfortably even with minimal effort, then Australia has a much better safety net.

As the list ranking universities throughout the world has been composed by experts, and you may have been to universities in the top 100 in both places, I suspect the experts have a better grasp on these things. Most students in the world would give something to attend any of the top 100 universities.

I am also a bit puzzled. I thought that you actually resided in Australia. Why - if the USA is so much better from your perspective?

I live in Australia for family reasons. As for 'most students in the world giving something to attend any of the top 100 universities', that might be true in a sheer numbers sense (most people in the world would be happy to attend any university full stop) but the impression I got from the OP's post is that the OP has significant opportunities and therefore might care for the nuance at the top end of the uni rankings (for example). I am not saying that my viewpoint is 'right', but that it is very important to get different viewpoints in these sort of things. Obviously, not everyone goes to an elite uni but by the same token not everyone is going to want to go to, say, University of Technology Sydney (UTS is ranked ~90 in the world).

I also find it strange that people (not you, deborah) will imply I'm a troll for giving a perspective which comes from actually having lived and studied in both countries.

[twinstudy]

In relation to OP's questions:

- Hyundai cars are the same price here as in the US, after converting for currency. Luxury car tax and luxury car stamp duty won't apply to Hyundai.

Regarding the cost of property here - I doubt there is any drop in sight. Australia has relatively high levels of migration, and a lot of people like investing in property, and there is also a concentration of land near the coast (thus a scarcity). In just about any of Australia's large cities, buying a detached home in a 'good' area will set you back a fair sum - maybe $3m+ in Sydney and $2m+ in Melb. However, prices for units are much lower, and prices in less desirable (but still pretty liveable) suburbs are also much lower, so finding something good for <$1.2m is still doable, except maybe in Sydney. I can't comment specifically regarding Canberra house prices.

Mortgage rates are around 6% variable.

I think you would have no difficulty making friends - I'd say most Aussies are pretty friendly.

Regarding kids' safety and safety generally - I can't speak for Canberra (I'm in Melbourne), but I'd say that Australia is overall safer. There's almost no gun violence. There are still violent acts, but they tend to be fistfights or knife fights, so there's less potential for catastrophic injury or death, and much less potential for bystander injury - no bullets spraying anywhere. But I think that's the only big difference - that if you're caught up in a bad situation here, you're less likely to be shot.

I'd say that the actual prevalence of 'bad situations' is similar in a good neighbourhood here as it is in a good neighbourhood in the US (growing up in the US, I also felt completely safe to roam as I pleased, as long as we didn't go into the 'bad parts of town' - there's much less of the bad parts of town here in Australia), while the prevalence of bad situations in bad neighbourhoods here is much lower than in a bad neighbourhood in the US. We don't have ghettoes and scary neighbourhoods like the major US cities do.

There are still issues with aggression and anti-social behaviour in Australia, like a strange obsession with gambling and drinking alcohol among some demographics, and in some ways there's more low-level anti-social behaviour because there are no consequences for it: no one will shoot you for being rude, the police won't lock you up and there are no genuine penalties for smaller offences.

But overall I'd say that the intensity of bad stuff is lower than in the US. I'd agree with OP's partner that Australia is less polarised. By the same token, Australia is also more apathetic,  and more complacent from an educational point of view- I think there are real benefits to studying in the US as opposed to here, so I'm not sure about OP's partner dictating what the kids can or can't do.

[deborah]

Australia is often billed as the most successful multicultural country in the world (whatever that means). 30% of residents were born in another country - more than twice the numbers for the USA. I mentioned before that we also have a much higher percentage of students from other countries attending our universities than the USA does.

We also have far less discrimination
https://worldjusticeproject.org/news/discrimination-getting-worse-globally
so, as an American you should experience little discrimination here. we also are supposed to be less discriminatory toward girls
https://www.worldvision.org/gender-equality-news-stories/behind-the-curtain
so, your daughters should have more opportunities. However, everybody experiences things differently, so nothing is guaranteed.

I have a number of relatives who've married immigrants and settled here. Some of these people have always longed for home, and never really settled in Australia. The vast majority have settled here, are really happy, and think of Australia as their home. It sounds like your partner has problems with calling the USA home, and may never truly settle there.

One of the problems you have is that the people of the USA have been taught all their lives that the USA is number 1 in the world. This is true, in that it's the world's biggest economy, but it doesn't mean that everything that's done in the USA is the best, nor does it mean that it's number 1 in the world in other ways.

When I look up google for the biggest canyon in the world, many US sites say that it's the Grand Canyon. However, that's not true, as the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon in China might be the biggest, and the Grand Canyon in the USA is somewhere at about the 8th biggest. This is a problem because people from the USA are not taught much at all about other countries, and when I have talked with them, they have been surprised about such basic facts as that we speak English in Australia (I have been congratulated by several USA people for how good my English is). As a result, I suspect that you know very little about us, and expect that most things in the USA are better. There are certainly some things where the USA is better, but there are others where Australia is better. For instance, we are the wealthiest people in the world if you look at the median wealth of people in a country - people of the USA are the wealthiest if you look at the average wealth of the people in countries.

You have two other problems that I see. Firstly, each of you considers their birth country as home. I think that if you tried to live in Australia for as many 6 month periods as possible, as soon as possible, you might have a better outcome. Your partner may see that he's fantasizing Australia, and it's no longer (or never was) the country he remembers. You may also see that Australia is different to your ideas, and (maybe) that you could live here, and make it your home. If you give it a fair go, you both have some possibility of coming to a successful outcome. The longer periods will allow the normal things of life to happen, rather than it just being a holiday (and we all know that we have rose coloured glasses when we're on holiday).

Secondly, your partner is just about completely fed up with the USA and is intensely homesick. Forcing him to stay longer in the USA is just making him hate it more. You need to let him be in Australia, so he can remember the things he hates about us here, and why it's so good in the USA.

[Dicey]

^ClapClapClap^

[FireOnTheMuffin]

We've just arrived in Australia for a visit a few days ago, and I'm trying to see how life could be.  I know I had discounted Sydney before, but it seems like it could be nice if we had a house like my partner's sister, which only cost her $4.5M AUD...  However, I get a sense that a lot of Australians hold significant scorn for America/Americans.  I worry I would struggle to fit in.  I realize we Americans have a lot going wrong at the moment, and perhaps deserve the scorn, but it still feels hurtful.  I've never felt like there was any bad feeling towards Australians among Americans. 

At the very least, while we're here, I will still try to investigate how we might start spending some months here every year. 

My parents immigrated to the U.S. for economic opportunity and built significant wealth from nearly nothing.  Leaving, seems like it would be a step backward on that front for me and my kids/future generations.  My partner makes Australia out to be some kind of social utopia, which I admit some structural differences around the political system seem to create.  However, right wing politics seem to be on the rise almost everywhere else around the world.  Do you Australians feel confident that Australia will continue to be safely democratic with a strong economy for future generations? 

I'll note that I and my children are not white, if that matters.  I had an acquaintance move to Melbourne from New York, and then move back, saying that she encountered unacceptable levels of racism.  That surprised me, but I don't know what to make of it all.

On the Hyundai, I didn't see any of my car on the road here!

I think I will seek out some expat forums for advice, too.  But thanks for all your thoughts!

[MoseyingAlong]

....  However, I get a sense that a lot of Australians hold significant scorn for America/Americans.  I worry I would struggle to fit in.  I realize we Americans have a lot going wrong at the moment, and perhaps deserve the scorn, but it still feels hurtful.  I've never felt like there was any bad feeling towards Australians among Americans. 
.....
I'll note that I and my children are not white, if that matters.  I had an acquaintance move to Melbourne from New York, and then move back, saying that she encountered unacceptable levels of racism.  That surprised me, but I don't know what to make of it all.
.....

I spent a wonderful 6 weeks in Australia in 2017 and noticed both these things.
At that time, I heard quite a few remarks about Americans being stupid about guns. And it seemed to be implied that if we were stupid about that, we were just plain stupid. It actually did impact my enjoyment of a group trip where I was the only American in a group of about 20 for a week. There did not seem to be any actual interest in hearing about why we might have different outlooks; just wanted to hear me agree that Australia had that one right.

They also seemed mystified how Trump got elected. Since I was shocked also, that one didn't bother me.

Regarding racism, some of the terms I heard were shocking to me, like terms that I would have expected in the 50s and 60s.  This was outside the big cities, mostly in Alice Springs and Cairns. I have not delved into much Australian history so don't know if the language reflects history or not. The poverty evident in Alice Springs was sobering.

Even with those, I had a great trip. I found it to be a magical place and would love to return. Most of the people I met were welcoming, friendly and helpful.  Too bad it's so far away.

[twinstudy]

Many Australians feel compelled to cast judgment on Americans despite never having lived there, understood its history or appreciated its culture. However, this is rarely done on an individual level. I would say that as long as you're not walking around with a MAGA cap, you'll be fine.

It is sad though that a lot of Aussies can't appreciate all the things America gets absolutely right as a society, including its education system which at the top end far outpaces Australia's. There is also a reason why the best start-ups are all American-based.

[theninthwall]

Many Australians feel compelled to cast judgment on Americans despite never having lived there, understood its history or appreciated its culture. However, this is rarely done on an individual level. I would say that as long as you're not walking around with a MAGA cap, you'll be fine.

It is sad though that a lot of Aussies can't appreciate all the things America gets absolutely right as a society, including its education system which at the top end far outpaces Australia's. There is also a reason why the best start-ups are all American-based.

I'm an Australian living in America, and there are times when I cringe at some of the things Australians say. Because there's so much exposure to American media, Australians can assume they know a lot about USA culture, but there's also things that get missed in translation.

A relatively innocent example is pro wrestling. Whenever it comes up, Australians will say, "But you know it's fake, right?" Yes, I know it's fake. So does the rest of the crowd and the fans (perhaps excepting a very small minority). For whatever reason, Australia struggles to accept the idea.