Australia Recap

So, our final feelings on Australia.

We LOVED the way they sort out the visa problem. It takes you 10 minutes to submit an application on-line and few minutes later you get the mail. This is by far the best process we have seen so far anywhere in the world. No checking for outgoing tickets or invitation letters or anything. Just pretty amazing.

We really did not like the rules & regulations abundance. Everything is regulated down under and even more disturbing everyone was following the rules. Pretty unusual and not what we are used to.

Indigenous people situation. We don’t have feeling this problem is really sorted. We did not get the feeling the rest of Australia is really eager to do a lot about it either. It is almost as there are two separate ways of existence:  traditional and modern one. On one hand indigenous people seem to prefer to live the same way their ancestors lived for 30 000 years before white people showed up and changed the scene: hunters and gatherers living off land and in harmony with it. The ‘new-comers’ want to live the way we do – modern existence. Ruining pretty much everything and anything but going ahead with technological progress. And they really don’t mix well. Living according to ancient philosophies and customs just does not fit into the 9 to 5 routine of the modern world. Who has it figured right? It’s everybody’s choice really.  

Food wise, Oz was great. We LOVED kangaroo meet (we know, we are horrible people!!!). BBQ was a very common and often occurrence… Along the way and many days in wine regions we learned a lot about Oz wine as well. Much more to it then we usually see in Europe.

Whole atmosphere. Well that was a bit 1984, as we already said. It is almost as if Australians are trying to create a new society where everything is regulated. A bit too much for us. We appreciated the cleanliness, but that did not the whole ‘perfect people’ thing. Not to mention the whole stay fit movement in Sidney that seems to be spreading to Melbourne.

So, are we happy we went? Absolutely! Are we thinking of going back? No, not really.