Australia turns out to be a true “blue” country – even worse than I imagined! Blue = stricktly rules based. On my first trip over to Australia, I really enjoyed the laid-back mentality, the hospitality and atmosphere of the people. Over the past 4 months the laid-back mentality proved to be skin-deep.

Some examples: fine AU$ 150,0 for driving 108km/hr on a completely empty 100km/hr highway, fine for parking the car with the nose in the wrong direction, not allowed to take plastic water bottles into a fenced off area on new year’s eve, not allowed to take a bottle of champagne to the park to watch the fireworks, fine AU$ 200 for speeding with no consideration whatsoever to the fact that we were eloping giant honking trucks that were going way faster that the 100km/hr limit after two attempt to run us off the road altogether, shops closing at 3pm, bars and restaurants – even in Brisbane for that matter – closing at 9:00pm or 9:30pm…

The top was having to take 0.28kg out of my suitcase, because the weight limit is 20kg, so 20.28kg is unacceptable. I demonstratively took out some underwear and my bra!

All this has really shifted my perspective of this country. Shifted it from looking into permanent residency, to this is not the place for me. What happened?

Over the past 3 years I have been visiting travelling up and down the east coast tourist strip. This time we moved away from the coast and went more inland, about 50km. And it got more and more sleepy as we drove on. Most of the land is being developed for retirement villages that basically all look the same. Rows of houses with a giant mall next to it. The mall closes at 6:30pm and all of Sundays. Question: what do people do here to meet their need for variety. Because outside of these malls, there is nothing. And I mean nothing. We are a bit taken aback by that.

Every now and then Graham and I knock off at 3pm and embark on some sightseeing. This proves to be hardly possible in this region (Brisbane/Bundaberg); apart from the physical distances, you have to take in account that the sun sets at 6:30pm – and it sets very fast, almost as if someone turns off the light!  

We made one attempt, visiting the small town of Childers, described to us by the house owners as still containing large numbers of original Queenslander houses. By the time we get there (4pm) it resembles a ghost town. Stores closed around 3:30pm, restaurants and bars are set for locking up at 9pm. What do they do after that, we wondered… The house owners helped us out there: life here is geared towards the daylight. Most people rise between 5pm and 6pm and start their day.

Gin Gin marked the end of our 4 month stay in Australia. During this time I have come to see Australia from the inside out. And my conclusion: nice for a holiday – not suitable for permanent living:-)