Australia, what a concept...


I moved to Australia from the U.S. when I was fifty. The transition looked deceptively simple. After all, I’d visited there a half-dozen times, I knew my way around, and the Aussies speak English—how hard could it be? I quickly found there’s a big difference between being a tourist in a country and having to make a serious go of it. This blog covers what I had to learn the first few years in order to survive.
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Sunday, March 2, 2008

“You’re on your own, mate.”

Australians are very independent people. They don’t like to meddle in other people’s business and they expect no one to meddle in theirs. This is part of the Fair Go attitude that is deeply ingrained in the Australian psyche: everyone deserves a chance, a “fair go”. A fair go is an opportunity to succeed or fail on your own. It’s yours; a gift from the Australian people. Good luck with it.

The down-side of this is, don’t expect people to offer you help or advice—you’re on your own, mate. If you do ask for help, people will generally be glad to assist—in a reserved way—but part of your problem as a new arrival is that you won’t know which questions to ask, or even that there is a question. Keep this book handy. It’s the Operator’s Manual for Australia.

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