Pookyl

Aah, ok that makes sense. It’s about 1-1.5hrs one way so up to 3hrs per day commute. The Yarra Valley is beautiful with vineyards etc and popular weekend destination.

Hi all, It puzzles me why this phrase is considered amusing especially given how many words and phrases are a ‘no-no’ in America. For future reference the only people who find the phrase “the dingo took/ate/stole my baby” funny are Americans. It’s offensive to Aussies.

We have pretty good wages/salaries here. For example my 19yr old daughter was paid as a waitress $20/hr on a normal day and $36/hr on public holidays. Many jobs are unionised and the rest are individually negotiated salaries. Property IS expensive though. Owning your own place is the great Australian dream but many of us settle for renting. Melbourne is the 2nd largest city in Australia and it’s about as rural as Paris so God only knows where the ‘rural’ area was.

We stayed in accomodation on the outskirts of the city centre so in an area not too touristy. We’re not a big fan of organised large tours. We would pick a direction and just hop on public transport to see what we could see. Public transport is safe and fast. We caught the trams and trains everywhere. We did a day trip on train to Salzburg (Austria) and left Germany for Prague by train in time for NewYears Eve. We were in Munich for Dec. It snowed on Christmas Day and was just beautiful. Munich’s got something for everyone. We’re ‘foodies’ so loved the food options. We had the best Croatian food ever in Munich which really surprised us. I also love old architecture. There’s a number of palaces and museums you can see which I enjoyed. Marienplatz is a must see, even though it’s as touristy as. If you’re into cars you have eg BMW museum, if you’re into sport there’s a massive stadium to explore, if you’re into classical music it’s everywhere etc etc. If the weather had been less wintry we would’ve explored more. We also went to Vienna and Cesky Krumlov after Prague on the same trip.

I’ve spent a month in Munich and would love to move to Germany for a year or two. It’s pretty easy to find your way around using high school German with a little English thrown in.

Hi Ohwell and Spunkygal, My intention was not to be callous. I was merely passing on what American expats tell me. A few years ago I lost a close friend to gun violence in the US and I’m actually furious with what has happened yet again. Hi Chocolatine, Yes every country has its pros and cons. The question of “why did they leave the USA?” is frequently asked. My response is based on what USA expats have told me. I had the opportunity to go to the USA for work sometime ago but they were unable to match my salary. So again we can each only go by our own experience.

Long time viewer and lurker. Being not from the US of A there is a common thread from those from the USA that I meet irl. They leave America looking for employment, better pay, a better education system, free health care. Oh and the peace of mind knowing that their kids can go to school with no threat of guns.