After eight days of my new life in Adelaide, I thought that I would share my initial experience with those of you who may be interested.

[B]The Environment

It is very difficult to describe Adelaide, other than a mixture of several places that I have visited in the world, all within a radius of some 30 klms. You have the modern or Victrorian city environment, together with the beach side, Northern & Southern suburbs, alongside the totally different world of the Adelaide Hills. In addition there are the Barrossa and McLaren Vale wine regions all within a 40 minute drive of each other. On the negative side ther are some areas that make Luton or Slough seem like an urban dream. Truly a diverse aray of landscape and vista. BTW The SA Govt must have bought a 'job lot' of beige paint back in the 70's, as most of the buildings seem to be coated in the stuff.

[B]The People

On the whole the warmth and willingness to be of help is very evident in most of the locals. I have however found them to be on occasions, on a totally different frequency to me when it comes to humour and sarcasm. Most of them seem to take all comments as being literal, even when they are obviously said in jest.

It has been well documented that Aussie's top the world charts as victims of fashion. I have seen some weirdly dressed and poorly groomed individuals here and for some, the idea of dressing up for dinner means wearing socks and shoes.

[B]Driving

I have to confess that I am now starting to understand the previous comments on here in the past, in relation to their driving habits. I have visited and have driven in AD twice before, however did'nt notice then what I am now experiencing.

I have gradually found myself adopting the Aussie habit of just driving around as if there were no other cars on the road. Once you have mastered the art of pulling out of a road into the path of another car, then cutting in between lanes as if you were made of marshmellow, then and only then will you start enjoy the whole down under driving experience.

[B]Restaurants/eating out

I cannot fault the restaurants in AD. As I have mentioned on here before, I have never been to a city where the food is so consistently good, with nearly every establishment that I eat at serving quality meals at outstanding levels of value for money.

That's all for now folks, it's time for my midnight swim around the jetty.

V

Hi Vespasian,

Well its nice to receive updates on people who have just arrived!

We are due to be finally there in Nov now that our house is sold and we can move on to our new life ahead.

Enjoy it all.

Yorkie :chuckle:

Excellent, can't wait to dress for dinner out there then, been a while since I wore socks. I can just see that no-one is going to get my sense of humour!! will have to change it a bit maybe?! :rolleyes:
Thanks enjoy reading new experiences
Claire

Hi There V
Keep up the regular posts and keep us all informed of your experiences, I enjoy reading your posts.. :loopy:
Next one day 16 :what?:

Keith :D ;)

totally agree with the humour.

They think its great to give the pommies a bit of stick but can't cope if you slug a hefty bit of sarcasm back. Its all taken literally and the humour isn't understood.

I think sarcastic humour is a very english thing, When we were touring Canada they certainly didn't get it and as for the Americans!!!!! Perfect example

My friend Sammi wants to be a Mortician. A spooky job but she thinks its great. One mum at school mentioned a mortician had been into the care home she works in and had taken an apprentice who appeared to be a bit thick. "she was a dill" said the mum. "Perfect job for you then Sammi" I said, "you can talk about yourself all day and no-ones going to answer back" The mum got highly offended and said " Sammi's got character, I'm just saying the girl was dill"

I gave up after that.

Jo

Spot on V

We had a new machine delivered a few weeks ago at work and from the packaging there were 4 sheets of wood leaning on the wall, these sheets must have been 15 foot square.
heres how the conversation went.

Vince> wot they going to do with them

Some chick > oh Dave's coming to pick them up tomorrow.

Vince > hope his got a bloody big boot :D

Some chick (very straight faced) No his getting a trailer :loopy:
................................................................................................
Another guy at work, been doing the same job about 5 years and very good at it.

Vince > do you know what your doing there?

Bloke > Yeah :doh:
..................................................
Sorry back to your thread
BTW agree with all you have posted :D

This is true and the trouble is once you have been here a while, you too find yourself dressing "down", (although my hygiene standards are the same :lol: ) and it doesn't worry you what you put on so much.
These days if I turn up at school at pick up time in a dress or skirt (I usually live in trousers) people ask me if I'm off somewhere special! :P

And it suddenly occured to me when I go back to the uk soon I'm gonna need some new clothes, 'cause back there you are still "judged" by what you are wearing. Although one of my Ozzie friends said at least people back in the uk wouldn't be familiar with Ozzie labels so I could always say its the latest designer gear :D

Sunshine.

Good to hear you are settling in ok.

One word of warning though. Don't swim too close to the jetty as you don't know what will drop off the end of it next :lol:

Graham

Feeding time for the sharks V :-)

I still can't get over seeing so many people shopping and going about their everyday life wearing no shoes - don't they know there are insects here that BITE!!!

If you haven't already done so, can I suggest you take a drive out to the North East and have a walk through the Torrens Linear Park towards the hills? Definitely an experience that makes you feel lucky to be here.

D

glad your settling in.

Good to read your comments, Vespasian.

Humour is a strange thing - what some people find funny, others find offensive, or just don't get it, etc. Sometimes people need to know a person for awhile before they know where a person is coming from and what wave length they are on. I've been reading and finding your posts on this forum very amusing, but it probably took me awhile to realise just how funny a lot of your comments are and to like your forum personality. I believe that different nationalities experience humour and sarcasm in different ways, and what is funny in Australia may not be in other countries and vice versa. I recall being in Paris, and not being able to understand the mentality of hotel receptionists, etc. Just different from what I expect.

Also, a note to Sunshine:
I've often seen comments on these forums about people wearing no shoes when out shopping, etc., and I do wonder where everyone is shopping. I can't say I've ever noticed lots of people not wearing shoes, but maybe I'm shopping in different areas. I have never, ever, gone shopping without shoes. Actually, I do have a memory inside my head somewhere of seeing someone wearing thongs, and I thought, 'OH, that's what the Adelaide Brits are always talking about!'

Dress standards in Adelaide are fairly casual, but is that necessarily bad that we don't judge people by their standard of dress? (And don't feel that we have to 'dress up' to be accepted?) It seems that in warmer climates, dress standards do tend to be more casual and comfortable. I think Darwin, for example, is even more casual than Adelaide. Melbourne and Sydney would probably be more dressed up.

Anyway, back to Vespasian - Keep writing your thoughts. I do enjoy reading your comments, and even though I'm an Aussie, I do think that at least 99% of the time, I know when you're joking, and don't take everything you say literally! I find a lot of what you write is very funny!

Cheers,
Jen

I don't think anybody knows what planet a Parisienne receptionist is on (except another Parisienne receptionist :lol: )

Welcome to Adelaide V.

Desiree
:D :D

The humour thing worries me a lot. I am extremely dry and play on words a lot. I may alienate half the population before lunchtime! :unsure: Ah well, at least Steve will fit in, he's a fairly simple sort of chap, otherwise known as an engineer... :doh:

I have a very dry, dark and sarcastic humour. After a year, I've toned it down a bit because I've found its easier. We all need a laugh and theres not much point if its only you whos laughing. Often people don't get the word play at all. I've stopped doing that.

Jo

sure is...... took me years to work this out. Not many other nations in the world would use the words "sarcastic" and "humour" in the same sentence....

True Blue,

The fashion thing here IMO is not so much about dressing comfortably in a warm climate, for me its more about a complete lack of awareness relating to coordination, garment quality and cleanliness.

My observations do not represent all Aussies, but I think it is safe to say that one can come across a number of these models daily. I know that I have only seen the locals wearing this seasons winter collections, however I am confused as to how some feel comfortable going into a restaurant wearing a spagetti stained hoodie, with purple track suit bottoms, filthy black bare feet, with hair and beard looking like it forms part of a biological research project.

IMO, This dress code does not represent a casual, living with the warmer weather conditions approach to fashion, but more like one that says 'I can't be bothered to wash and dress for dinner'.

Please be aware though that the above comments, are purely my observations only and should not be viewed as me being critical to the point of wanting change. As far as I'm concerened people should dress how they like and if they wish to neglect basic levels of personal hygiene, well that's their prerogative.

V.

:sign68: If this is what you have seen, then I agree with you entirely, V.
However, I don't think this is the 'average Aussie'. More like a feral percentage, which I presume you find in every city. I haven't noticed this when I've been out at restaurants, but I don't doubt that you have seen this. Are you sure you're not eating at a kitchen for homeless men??? (Just joking, in case you don't understand my humour!)

Jen

You may be onto something there....I have my evening meals at the pie floater van in the city..perhaps I should try to go upmarket a bit?

Next you'll be telling me to stop shopping at 'Mrs Bankrupts Dump House'....their 'G' strings fit me a treat.

V

Thanks for giving me plenty of 'out-loud-laughs' tonight, Vespasian. :D