UK ladies who watched "Australia" documentary....

[Expecting1]

The news is saying the documentary made by an English man recently, episode one was beaches I think. Ep two was about the damn jellyfish. Ep three was about bikies.....
Did you watch? And what was your serious honest opinion?
Did it seriously make you all "oh no I'm never going to Australia now"
I'm honestly interested in your opinions as we rarely get to ask people about what we see on our news.

(I will not be offended lol. I don't feel bad for Australia's tourism, it screwed itself lol)

 

[Sweet Lullaby]

I live in Aus... i havent seen bikies or jellyfish or sharks yet. I am over 30yrs old!

 

[Expecting1]

The news really loves to turn mole hills into mountains don't they!!!!
Hubs and I grew up on the Gold Coast (where all this "big bad bikie" crap is happening) and not once, EVER, did we ever see anything like what they're trying to portray on the news!
I'm not beachy so I didn't have problems with jellyfish lol but they're acting like these bikies are storming through every neighbourhood.
Pppfffttt the problem with the Gold Coast that SHOULD affect tourism is all the damn murders lately!! Pretty sad that those people feel that's the only solution

 

[kirstybumx3]

I didn't watch it, ive not heard of it tbh.. but ive always wanted to visit Australia!! x

 

[Mum2BKW]

I haven't watched it but my Mum did and was raving about it the other week, so it certainly hasn't put her off! She'd love to go

Out of interest, I never realised that Australian tourism was suffering. When you say "it screwed itself", what happened?

We've never been but that's mostly 'cos the flights are so expensive (and long!) and I doubt Australia can do anything about that

 

[Expecting1]

They were acting like it was this massive shock story to the UK lol. TBH you're more likely to have trouble with Asian tourists than you are to even MEET a bikie

 

[familygirl30]

I haven't watched it,but I've been and loved it! My hubby proposed to me while we were their over 2 years ago!

 

[Expecting1]

I haven't watched it but my Mum did and was raving about it the other week, so it certainly hasn't put her off! She'd love to go

Out of interest, I never realised that Australian tourism was suffering. When you say "it screwed itself", what happened?

We've never been but that's mostly 'cos the flights are so expensive (and long!) and I doubt Australia can do anything about that

The tourism industry is always complaining about this or that and really TBH they've dug themselves in a hole they can't get out of by the looks of it. The Gold Coast gets popular so what do they do? Charge 4 times as much for everything. Living there is f-ing ridiculous!!!! No wonder the flights are expensive.

At the moment the coast is being smashed by bad seas and its eroded all of the beautiful beaches and that's no ones fault, but that's all they choose to portray is the theme parks and the beaches.... Maybe show off the amazing scenery of the mountains or the culture and sights of the city.

And then they run 'horror' stories about how much they hate the Asian tourists and how the women who wear burkas (sorry I've forgotten their 'title' are they Muslim?) anyway, they say how much they hate it and then expect these people to fork out thousands of dollars to visit the very people mouthing off about them and their religious beliefs.

And it all comes back to the people who live there, ridiculously expensive houses, stupidly high taxes and rates, (it costs $5000 more to buy a car new on the coast than it does anywhere else) all because the tourism industry is spending all this money making it more appealing.......... I honestly have not seen a change in my 20 years.

 

[CelticNiamh]

I lived in Australia for 10 months as loved it, I lived in Cloundra on the Sunshine coast, I loved how people are so friendly and so happy to see children so child friendly compared to Ireland,

I loved the out door BBQ Kings beach in CLoundra was brilliant loved it the libary, we all loved the wildlife the only time we had to watch out for Jellyfish was up in the whitsundays well my DH did when he was up there!

I had my DD in Australia and it was so nice to not be the odd one out when breastfeeding her!! every one else was as well not like here when I have found I am the only one out of 6

never saw any trouble and any of the beaches we were on and we saw a lot along the sunshine coast we loved!!

We could have stayed as well, but I got home sick for my family if I could have moved them all over with me think I would never of left at all!

 

[Expecting1]

We're out rural now (affordability mainly) but our closest beach will be the sunny coast. I think it's a little more relaxed there because most of the tourism is on the Gold Coast with the theme parks and Surfers Paradise. We're excited to spend a lot of time on the sunny coast
I am really happy about the breast feeding here, we have strict laws stating I can feed my baby whenever wherever and however I want
It really is a beautiful place, it's such a shame the attitude of some people have to ruin it for everyone

 

[pandaspot]

I watched it, I have to say last nights about surfers really didn't paint oz as a nice place to go. The guy brought up drug and alcohol problems in surfers, kept saying it has a dark underbelly. Then went on about the finks, I was quite interested in them, wouldn't bloody mess with them though!!

Then they went down the coast and to the Liverpool plains and went on about Australians not caring about ecological issues and environmental issues!

Last nights was awful. I am planning on moving to Australia in about 5 years and last nights episode I could see oh thinking oh no. It took me a long time for him to agree to us moving there.

I have been to Australia a couple of times, my best friend lives there in perth and i have a few more fiends there and my sister with her family on the Gold Coast. I have never been given the impression that Australians don't care about environmental issues or ecological, personal what the guy was saying last night was rubbish I thought.

 

[Expecting1]

I think it's funny that he just went on about surfers lol does the UK honestly not have one clubbing area notorious for naughty boys and girls? If he was worried about drugs and alcohol he should have done a story with the Kings Cross ER docs lol now there's a collection of drug takers (their patients I mean lol) but in all honestly I wouldn't go near surfers after 10PM but not because of the drugs or alcohol but because it's expensive as all hell to park there lol and the drunk people sure do love a fight (like anywhere though, am I right? Lol)

TBH the only thing I've heard about the Finks recently (or at all for that matter) is their fights with other bikies.

The only people that don't care about the environment are the ones making money off it's demise.

I've seen some terrible 'horror' documentaries about the US but I still dream of living there! One persons opinion shouldn't ruin it for everyone! When our beaches are at their former glory the tourists will come flooding back, things will get more expensive and people will find more problems with it.

Props to your sister for being able to afford to live on the Gold Coast!! We're 4hrs away and that's the closest we could afford lol.

 

[Lawgirl]

I didn't see it, but I have to admit that Aus is not on my list of must see places, primarily because of the number of poisonous and dangerous creatures (spiders, snakes, etc, not to mention crocs).

 

[Expecting1]

Yes it does seem like all our not-so-cute-and-cuddlies are trying to kill us haha. Even our cute-and-cuddlies can kill you lol. Oh and now apparently our bats have rabies!! Isn't that just peachy lol.

 

[pandaspot]

The programme did show some nice scenery but tbh that was it, they went on about racism and the aboriginals up in cape York and the poverty they are in. Oh and also illegal immigrants and how they are chucked in detention centres.

Personally I love Australia, it has a way better way of life compared to the uk. Which also has racism and detention centres. Also has a drug problem and certainly a drink problem.

If I was the oz tourist board I wouldn't be too happy with the way the programme showed Australia. It was good but did slag it off a bit not sure what the purpose was?

My sister moved a couple of years ago down to the Gold Coast from Townsville her husband is a uni lecturer, she keeps saying I should move there, but tbh I don't want to live on the Gold Coast. Sunshine yes

 

[Expecting1]

There are a lot of aboriginals here, there's a mission just outside town and they're in poverty because all they do is drink and smoke. Yeah, they do throw a lot into detention but they all get their free pass into Australia anyway, I personally just think its a big song and dance to make it look like they're trying to keep them out. I bet he forgot to mention that an ILLEGAL immigrant gets better government benefits than an AUSTRALIAN senior? Lol.
The news said there's some lock so we can't watch his show online but they had tiny clips to show on the news. Do a lot of people move from UK to Aus? Maybe he got his panties in a twist haha.

I don't see the Gold Coast as somewhere to live anymore, it's good for my family because they've been there for more than 20 years but to move to it now is way too pricey and it's just "somewhere to visit" IMO. Our town is a "just passing thorough" town and we love it

 

[Kitta]

I've met 'bikies'. Our town has 2 clubhouses. One lot run a tattoo shop that my brother often goes to.

 

[cupcake23]

I actually think that it was well balanced, never been to Australia and this programme wouldn't stop me visiting (cost of flights would!)

Like any country it has it good and bad, the bloke spoke to Australians about their views whilst showing amazing scenery, he made me very jealous as he got to see so much, something I would love to experience.

He seemed to love being there so I don't think he was trying to tarnish the Australian image.

 

[Sweet Lullaby]

I didn't see it, but I have to admit that Aus is not on my list of must see places, primarily because of the number of poisonous and dangerous creatures (spiders, snakes, etc, not to mention crocs).

Awww dont be like that. I have only ever seen a snake and crocodile at a Zoo...

Spiders..little ones sure.. just like any other country

I still get super excited seeing a wild kangaroo in rural areas or driving cross state..... to me its rare...but exciting!!

 

[MikaylasMummy]

I'm from aus down on the central coast (hour north of Sydney) and I do have to say that I think surfers paradise at least has gone quite downhill.we go to the goldy every year for a holiday.when dd was 1 it was beautiful, we stayed in cabarita beach but spent all our time in surfers for the restaurants and nice fun atmosphere.however just in these few years I feel the people that hang around there are much less desirable and it is not as safe and nice a place as it used to be.
BUT we went and stayed at coolangatta this year (20 mins south from surfers but still very much part of the Gold Coast) and it was AMAZING.beautiful clean beaches and streets,lots of families and no rough people (even though it was Aussie titles for surf life saving which is why we were there for oh) the tester aunts were amazing with fabulous service and absoloutley everything was within walking distance.we will be going there from now on.
I think like every place there are some nice areas and some not so nice.even here on the central coast where it's small in comparison there is huge differences between areas.