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Bruce,

I had the BEST lobster chowder in Bangor once. Yum.

DS,

I saw your comment. She is the cutest real estate agent. I added a comment too (although not about that). There is nothing at all unreasonable about anything she says, but the real estate investor guy apparently thinks she's insane. "What, people should only buy what they can afford? Good God, then their neighbors will think they are poor, poor I tell you! You wouldn't want people thinking you can't afford that McMansion, would you?" (That's the thought bubble I picture over his head.)

SP,

Loreena Yeo is da bomb! How many realtors have even heard of Dave Ramsey let alone strive to adhere to his principals! Some time back a client brought Dave to my attention and I've been a fan ever since.

In part that's why I was disappointed mortgage acceleration wasn't rec'd more openly. I absolutely hear where Headset is coming from and have also adopted the "30 Years to Life" mindset when it comes to mortgages. At this point, even if I DID find a home (at a price I was willing to pay) a 30 Year is just out of the question! How can any right thinking person consider themselves "retired" when they have another 20+ years left on their mortgage?

DS and ajh,

Good points, though arguably being like America would argue in Australia's favor. I spent my life in China and the US, two countries so big that they're always acting as though the rest of the world does not exist (except as quaint vacation spots or source of consumer goods). I wouldn't mind something a bit different. With the option of dual citizenship, I doubt I'd hurry into a permanent OZ based job (I have heard that wages are much lower there). I just need to get my foot in the door before I'm too old to immigrate.

Is it true that Aussies drink their beer at room temperature?

DS Says:

“Australia is still more like UK than US in culture, altho it is also somewhat intermediate between the two, and still shows some of its cultural heritage of being drawn from the convict hulks on the Thames”

Definately.
When I went to Victoria a few years back, I got the feeling that the culture was English but the geography was much more like a very dangerous Wild West. Consequently, the nice, polite, conservative English zeitgeist is mixed in with the sort of pioneer attitude needed to live in a big, hot, dangerous country. I'd guess it was much the same as the American attitude up until the start of the 20th C

Personally, I'd give my right boobie for a job offer in Melbourne ;-)

IIRC, these days there's a certain cachet in having Crims as ancestors.

Incidentally, I lived for many years near the Thames in Deptford (South East London), which was the site of many of the Prison Hulks, crammed full of unfortunate souls due for transportation to Oz - many of them for trivial crimes like stealing a loaf of bread. Oh, how times have changed....

"though arguably being like America would argue in Australia’s favor"
"though arguably being LESS like America would argue in Australia’s favor"

Anyone here have a psychic grammar check helper monkey for sale?

astrid,

if you do go down under, hook up with your Columbia Aussie alumni first. The Ivies (mostly Harvard, Yale and Columbia) have some presence down under, but don't flaunt your school name the way one usually does in the US, it is a very different culture and mindset, Aussies don't appreciate that too much.

However, the cost of living is NOT much lower than the Bay Area. In Sydney, the housing cost adjusted for local pay and tax rate is actually HIGHER! Aussies get no tax break on their mortgage interest for prime residence, but tax breaks for negative gearing (negative cashflow) on investment properties, extremely wicked tax system. Some food is cheaper and some more expensive, while gasoline is more expensive. The big savers are education (no difference of school districts, all about the same), and universal medicare (but not in Sydney, because you'll have to wait too long to be treated).

Australia is having a boom of the century, but its boom is indirectly dependent on the US. The biggest export destination of Oz is Japan (#1) and China (#2), accounting for over half of where their stuff are heading towards, but the #1 export destinations by far for both Japan and China is the mothership US. So if we falter, Oz will be very much affected, a country of 20M population is too small to sustain a thriving economy on its own, although it has plentiful natural resources to deplete.

I usually come back from my annual Oz visit thinking that gosh that is a great country and get back in the Bay Area feeling depressed. But after a while, I figure that I've never made a dime in Oz, I have always looked at Oz from the perspective of American wages and exchange rate (sucking big time lately, and likely will get worse), so I don't really know what it feels like to earn the dime locally and spend it locally.

I would suggest that you don't miss Brisbane and Perth on your trip, the two fastest growing regions of Australia, and of the western developed world. There's a very useful immigration site called britishexpats, and the top destination for British emigrants or expats is Australia. There are tons of useful information on that site for the choice of location, cultural adjustment (from British perspective), jobs, etc. Hope you have a good time down under.

OO,

Thanks for your advice. I didn't go to an Ivy League school though. I hope the fact that you didn't know that means I haven't been flaunting my degree too much. My college is a brand X liberal arts college anyways.

Time to dispel some myths, heh:

So, do you have the Family Leg-Irons mounted over the mantle?

Yes, and a framed ticket-of-leave signed by the Gov'nor. No, FALSE, my folks emigrated from UK when I was a young'un, they weren't even transported (unlike the Bee Gees, who used to start fires as juveniles, until the local constabulary 'suggested' the family emigrate to Oz).

Is it true that Aussies drink their beer at room temperature?

FALSE. No, definitely not, not in this climate. That's a joke about the English not refrigerating beer told by Aussies.

many of them for trivial crimes like stealing a loaf of bread. Oh, how times have changed…

TRUE. I saw a doco the other day where a 14 year old girl had been given the death sentence in about 1778 for tricking another girl, taking her outer clothes and pawning them, at a time when people in London were basically starving. The judge thought this was an offence showing incorrigible moral turpitude in a 14 year old that required hanging. Luckily, the new colony needed breeding stock, and her sentence was commuted to 14 years transportation while she was lingering in the barges.

Canberra is a haven for bright, time-wasting public servants pretending to be efficient and effective.

TRUE, unfortunately. I always thought ajh was a private sector, outsourced kind of guy supplying IT services... ;)

I spent my life in China and the US, I wouldn’t mind something a bit different.

While I think of it, I don't know whether you'd find Sydney interesting, as there is a really big ethnic Chinese population there, which facilitates doing business and job-hunting sometimes. (Some people still claim a huge influx of rich HK businessmen caused the Sydney property boom, especially after the lease expired in 1997. It could have been a factor.) Other cities are more 'Anglo' generally, with more European immigration.

DS,

Thanks for the answers. What a relief to know that Aussies drink cold beer! I don't mind room temperature ale, but I loath to contemplate the taste of a warm Heiferweizen.