Finally escaped Australia!

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Well, finally escaped Australia after around ten months on and off spent in the land downunder. Oz has had its good times and bad times for me, most of the bad times whilst working for a variety of psychopathic employers!! I did leave with some interesting and unique experiences, plus I've met a lot of great people in my time there (very few of whom were Australians I should mention!).

I had grown disillusioned with Australia a long time before I had to leave. Many people I met along the way saw it as a paradise to emmigrate to, but living in the cities for any length of time you see the social problems, violent crime etc which were more severe than I had expected.

With regards to the backpacking, people on the working holiday visa are often shamelessly exploited and the conditions of a lot of the hostels both in the inner cities and in the rural areas would lead them to be shut down in most civilised countries. I've often been in filthy dorm rooms with 12-14 people, barely big enough to contain the actual beds, thirty degrees plus, day and night, no fans or aircon. It's not particularly unusual, and I believe that you probably wouldn't even be allowed to keep animals in those sort of conditions!
bizarrely, staying in hostels in southeast Asia you can get a clean room, ensuite toilet and shower, plus fan or aircon for a few dollars a night, why can't they manage it in an alledgedly developed country charging $25-100 a night?!

Another thing that grated on me almost instantly was how boring the place is from over-commercialisation. Fresh young backpackers coming in their millions to be trawled up and down the east coast circuit in buses, all doing the same thing at the same place, taking the same picture, and then telling the same story of their "adventures". I'm aware that I'm not exactly an old-hand at travelling, but I could see it as complete bullshit! Also, the fierce patriotism and overeager marketing describing the greatest or biggest, this, that, or the other in the world is bordering dellusional! Coupled with the fact that the cities all seem to be based on Calfornia or something, poor imitations of a plastic city somewhere in the states leaves me surprised that they have any clear sense of national identity at all. As I mentioned, they are highly patriotic to the country, desperate to distance itself from its colonial past as something independant of the UK, but also desperate to gain acceptance and allie itself economically with Asia, yet idealising an American culture and lifestyle. What in theory should be an extremely interesting country because of the diversity of immigrants forming a nation, seems to make it a confusing and confused territory.

Anyway, I'm going off on one of my rants again, so I'll just say that I'm glad to leave and eager to see some new places before I have to return home! Really looking forward to Fiji right now, but there is a quick stop in Auckland first for a very brief taste of New Zealand...

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Until I'm back home!

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[Jon]

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