You can keep your Cities!

[ballaratdragons]

2 weeks ago my daughter came back from a 1 week long school excursion to Melbourne and she said they kept getting Wino's, homeless, Junkies etc asking for money, and it was too crowded and noisy. Yep, I remember all those things about cities!

Then, tonight, my son came back from his school Surfing camp at Lorne. We took him into Ballarat Pizza Hut Restaurant to celebrate him being home.

Now, today was a public Holiday in Ballarat coz of the Ballarat Cup Horse race. We hoped the restaurant would be fairly empty. It was when we turned up at 6:30pm.

Then the wierd crowd started turning up. Heaps of drunken blokes and sheilas in suits and floral hats from the Ballarat Cup day. They were only there about 3 minutes and they took over the place, yelling, throwing stuff around, arguing etc.

One family got up and walked out half way through their meal!!! I told my family we are staying, I'm not going to let them ruin our night. Then we looked out the restaurant window and there was a street brawl between about 30-40 Race-goers (blokes and sheilas) right outside Pizza Hut in the roundabout! Punches flying everywhere! They were fighting in the middle of the traffic with cars swerving to miss them (should have run them over!!!) and then more came out of the pub opposite to join in.

My boys were getting a bit nervous! It was a pretty wild street brawl. Then the drunks inside the restaurant started cheering them on from inside, trying to yell at them through the windows!!!

What a hell of a night at a restaurant!

When we finally left, every street we drove down to get out of Ballarat again, there were drunken, arguing, staggering race-goers, plus the usual locals stirring them on!
It was worse than the usual Ballarat Friday/Saturday nights of nightclubbers and hoons taking over the streets!

Geez it was great to get back to our quiet little country town.

Strange to think that many years ago I used to be one of those annoying people, and now I can't wait to get away from it all and high-tail it out to Hicksville, cows, sheep and peace & quiet.

It was a terrible night.

You can keep your cities thanks.
I'll stick to being a Hillbilly with dark sky and silence :thumbsup:

[kljucd1]

Hi,

Man I live a few doors up from the local and the other week I had twenty of them going at it on the road in front of my house/on my front lawn!! :mad2:

I wish I could move out to the bush :sadeyes:

Daniel...

[Omaroo]

This is exactly why we bought Omaroo Ken.

[ballaratdragons]

Same here Chris.

I haven't lived in a city for about 20 years now.

Now I remember why I got out!!!!

[dugnsuz]

It's not the city Ken, it's the booze etc which is the problem.
But, I don't live in the city either!!!!
Although Adelaide isn't like Melb or Syd by any stretch of the imagination.
But pissed peeps are the same all over!
...and I should know, look at my avatar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All the best and sorry that you and the kids had a bad night - that would piss me off too Ken.
Doug

[fringe_dweller]

Its funny Ken i know people that said the romantic country lifestyle dream was negated somewhat for them by all the chemicals farmers have to spray/cropdust and use, in fact i know of one elderly retiree person that eventually died indirectly from constant exposure/proximity to cropdusting. not too mention those dangerous highspeed roads, lack of doctors, sometimes decent jobs ect. Its not all beer an skittles surely?

of course i'm just jealous :tasdevil: :lol: :sad::sad::sad::sad::sad:

[jjjnettie]

That's shocking that. I'm sorry that you had to go through it.
I tell you, it's nice to get away for a bit but it's even better to get back.
I'm reading this thread with the deafening sound of insects and frogs coming in through the back door.
Serenity?
We've had a few fights on the property over the last 3 nights. My cat chased off a couple of ferals, she's still limping poor baby, and the other night a Corella got into a Crows nest full of babies, what a racket that was. Fighting and swearing, it took them ages to settle down. We had the spotlight out watching them.

I could never return to Brisbane to live. Ugh!

[Tamtarn]

Sorry to hear of your bad experience Ken.

The only time we go anywhere near the city is to visit Bintel everything else we need is local. But you never know where an idiot may appear and most times it is always a result of to much booze.

Must admit it's always good to get back home. :)

[GrahamL]

.. we are all getting old ken:lol:
I don't know if its the same everywhere these days but there don't seem to be many happy drunks out and about
its always aggressive and obnoxious people you see wandering around.

[ballaratdragons]

Too True, Kearn.
But no-one cropdusts around here. No crops :lol:
This is sheep and cattle country.

No high speed roads, coz we are nowhere near any main roads. We are off the beaten track in between nowhere and the other nowhere. Yeah, Doctors are 20 minutes away at Beaufort :sadeyes: but we have a 1st reponse team operating in the town, who are faster than ANY ambulance anywhere.

Jobs? Yeah, gotta travel for those. Anywhere from 15 - 20 mins for the nearest places.

But also in response to Doug:


Yep, country locals now how to put the grog away too :lol:

Just not as many of them and only one small pub, and when they start causing trouble, someone will knock em down and drive em home, and still be mates tomorrow :rofl:

I agree, the country isn't all roses. And it doesn't suit everyone due to lifestyle, work commitments, whatever.

But when you live it for a while, cities seem so overbearing and hurried.
It's hard to leave the peace you've gotten used to, even temporarily.

I do go into Ballarat quite a bit, but I haven't been in there at night for a very long time.

[snowyskiesau]

I live in Sydney where the work is (IT)
I'd kill, or at least seriously injure, to be able to move to the country.

A few years ago, I bought a house down in the Riverina and hope to be able to move down there before I get too old to enjoy it.

[ballaratdragons]

Yeah, I know :scared:

I remember back when . . . . :lol:

Geez, when I was in an outlaw Bike club I was probably far worse than the clowns we put up with tonight. But the memory fades :whistle: and age mellows.

[ballaratdragons]

Exactly, Jeanette!
The frogs are deafening, the horses, cows and sheep have their own cacophany, baby birds chirping constantly to be fed, etc etc.

What a noise :thumbsup:

Gee it's hard to sit outside and hear the animals, watch the kids swim in the dam surrounded by Ibis and Spoonbills, wander over your property, smell the air (yep, real air!), wave to the rare occasional car that goes by, and look up and see the one daily jet to Adelaide.

And then to make things even worse, the Sun goes down and it is almost impossible to get around in all that dark! Gotta watch out not to walk into the fence up the back paddock.

Yep, it's a tough life in the bush ;)

[jjjnettie]

My old horse is sleeping at the front steps right now, snoring.
Funny old thing he is.
I wish I could post a sound bite.

[ballaratdragons]

Video him with sound and put it on 'You Tube' :thumbsup:
Then we can see and hear him :lol:

[fringe_dweller]

ahh cattle and sheep country, :cheers: stampede's? anthrax? :P :whistle:

I think orchard's can be bad too, if you're living right next store downwind to them that is,

sounds like You're living 'the dream' mate :) :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[fringe_dweller]

me too!!!!

oh hang on it's just my nature relaxation mp3's :rolleyes: :sadeyes:

I can hear snoring tho :eyepop:

[fringe_dweller]

from here in the 'burbs. I can hear the call of the 500 metre burn out nissan birds, the sneezing drifter, and the delightful thunderous nightcalls of the accelerating V8 hoonster.... ahhhh nature

[Bobj]

Mate, I retired to Paradise (well, next step to it) 8 years ago, go into the "city" of Mackay once a week for groceries and can't wait to get back to serenity... Drunken brawlers, piffle, we have an average of 3 snakes a week. Druggies, pooh, we have 5, or 6 prettyface wallabies to pooh on the lawns every day...No moo cows, sheep, horses to make a noise, only sugarcane in the area. The biggest noise is the sound of the wind in the coconut palm. No shops, so, no litter from the school kids.
And, I can put the dob in the front lawn and view the night sky without light pollution.

[leon]

Ken I know exactly what you are saying, and only last night I said to Alice, after watching the news about the level violence in our society, especially with the young.

There is no respect any more and there is no such thing as a fair fight, not that i encourage fighting at all.

Years ago when there was a scruff between to blokes or anyone for that matter it was fair to a point, and if you were down that was it and it was over, now the stinging pieces of crap kick you to death, or twenty others join in and stomp on your head.

Society has turned sick, and i nearly spew each time you see the level of violence toward others.

The young men and also the young females are nearly always responsible and it's the piss that causes the problems.

If governments were serious than control it a bit better, like the war they (the government) did with smoking.

Grog causes more misery in society that any smoker ever has.

Leon

[OneOfOne]

I think one of the problems with society today, not just restricted to the young but they seem to be the biggest offenders, is a lack of respect for others. I guess that is why they are the "me" generation. They only seem to be concerned about the things that affect them today with no care about the future. They don't consider that anything they may do will have an impact on other people.

Fortunately, although I live just 10km or so out of Melbourne I am in a relatively "quiet" neighbourhood, with extremely good neighbours who generally know each other and respect them. The biggest distubance lately is probably a 21st a few months ago....we heard car doors slamming at 1am. I had to turn over and go to sleep again! Of course we have had break ins, property damage etc in the area but most nights you could walk around the street at midnight and probably get back home again....

I bet most of the trouble makers were males under the age of 25!

[xelasnave]

Booze and folk lacking the ability of self control can be a worry.
I had to laugh Ken at your recognition that once a long time ago you could well have been one of these folk. I recall doing similar with a pack myself so I guess its a human thing.
I now prefer the country life..rather the bush life...bush is a little further out than country... and rather enjoy the company of dogs than to most humans.
But the kids need the city to get their start and that worries me.... I wish I could save mine from it and I hope they will take advantage of the bush that I have secured for them in time.
The funny thing I find is you just dont need money once you have adapted and I think not calling at the pub for social contact is the reason... and you never get bored because there is so much to do just to survive out there...
It makes me realise how temporary material things are and unimportant really.
Dont get me wrong I like my toys but if they were not around would be well occupied with prospecting, fossil collecting, bird and other creature observation, painting, wood work.... well its a case of having too much to do really.

I like this place I now have in the city however..it is so quiet I cant see other houses unless I try... and the only folk I see around are the morning walkers... but its great to get a coffee and a meal at 3 a.m. if you dont feel like cooking.

I often wonder ...are things getting worse or am I just starting to notice the problems booze is having in our society but in truth I think booze has been a problem and maybe its only now I notice... to see a shopping center near a pub early morning with the vomit everywhere saddens me
so I dont go near those places... keep my our world tidy and clean by not bringing theirs into mine I guess.

For those who wonder how you can make a living in the bush there is always something... bookkeeping is a good one which is easy and enjoys a good demand... but my point is something turns up so do put it off ..living in the bush is so beneficial when compared to the rat race approach one falls into in a city.

alex

[h0ughy]

not goood news Ken - so where were the local police with all of this happening?

[Orion]

That's exactly what I was going to say. Where were the coppers!

[Campus Dweller]

Obviously, there are too many people that haven't discovered Astronomy.

Wait! On second thought, Astronomy requires brains, patience and appreciation of the natural world. The over the top revellers described probably wouln't know what Astronomy is:lol:

[Ric]

I live rural but work in Canberra which is a 45 minute drive. At the end of the day it is so nice to escape into the country side and dark sky.

Canberra doesn't come close to the other cities but it's big enough for me.

Cheers

[programmer]

45 min rural? Few years back I was driving 1hr+ each way to work, and was still in suburbia!

Anyway, I'm with OneOfOne, live not far from Melbourne but quiet, no problems (actually I work in Bentleigh OneOfOne :)). I never hooned or made problems when I was younger either, never been in a single fight, etc. So it's not growing up 'in the city' that does it to you, it's all up to the individual. Upbringing helps too :D

[dugnsuz]

Manning the RBT's on the roads out of town I guess!
There's money to be made!!!!:P

[ballaratdragons]

They turned up as we were leaving.
They must have had a busy afternoon/night coz the drunken race-goers where all over town.

And these weren't young people either!!! The yobbos in the restaurant were about 30-40 y.o., and the ones in the streetfight were about 40y.o.!!!!

All looked like officeworkers.

[acropolite]

Have to disagree. Unfortunately it's the morons who consume the booze that are the problem, some people should never touch alcohol. :tasdevil:

[h0ughy]

hey I work in an office :scared:-oh point taken:whistle::rofl:

[Glenhuon]

I've just come back from my first visit to Sydney and the thread title pretty much covers my feelings on it and every other city i've been to. Noisy, dirty and smelly places. Enjoyed some parts of it, had afternoon tea with the governor (50th anniversary of the Muscular Dystrophy Society) and a good walk around the Powerhouse Museum & Paddys Markets. OK for a very short visit, but wouldn't live there for quids. Coota is big enough for me :).

Bill

[rogerg]

I wish I didn't live in suburbia. But work and all that. One day I'll hopefully be able to afford a second place, in the country.

I do worry though, if we all hate the city, so we all move to the country, how long before the country is too over populated to be pleasant? .. Have seen it happen in the popular country towns in WA over the last 10 years. Slowly spreading to others....

:(

Need one of those mass extinction events to cull the population a little perhaps :shrug:

Roger.

[ballaratdragons]

That concerns me too Roger. But many many people would never leave the cities or suburbs.

Even Ballarat is creeping out into the rural areas as is grows :scared: bringing with it more streetlights!

But I think (hope) it will be another 20 years or more before it reaches out this far.

[[1ponders]]

The population growth is pretty scary. I first started going to the Sunshine Coast North of Brisbane in about 1966 as a child on holidays, moved there permanently in 1974. I believe the population of the entire SC then (1974), from Caloundra to Gympie, was in the range of 25 to 30 thousand people. Now the population is topping out at around 300,000 people. :(

[fringe_dweller]

hehe Paul, i just, vaguely as i was a tacker, remember surfers paradise as a bunch of shacks from late sixties, special to me as i was conceived there apparently :P

yep roger the irony of people contributing to destroying the very reason they moved to where-ever, is not lost on me, the blockies/tree/sea changers tend take the best bits, especially those with views, and leave the ****ty bits, of which there is a lot of here, untouched - but hey thats progress?

[ving]

Green acres is the place for me.
Farm livin' is the life for me.
Land spreadin' out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.
wussy...
:P

[bird]

Sorry to hear that Ken, it's a common disease these days, even once-upon-a-time sleepy canberra is getting full of idiots, one of the reasons Leisa & I moved out to the country (apart from the obvious other reason!).

cheers, Bird

[KG8]

Sounds like the country folk can't handle their grog to me! I've never seen anything like that in Brisbane or any other capital.

[ballaratdragons]

I can almost garantee these were the racing crowd from Melbourne. 90% of the crowd at the Ballarat Cup comes up from Melbourne.
The whole Spring Carnival up here is mostly Melbournites :lol:

[netwolf]

I would love to live out Country under dark skies. Build a place with a flat roof like we build em in India (concrete not timber), so you can sleep on it under the stars. But then i think what will i do for work? Still dreaming.

[ballaratdragons]

Why do so many people think work is hard to find out in the rural areas? How long does it take you to travel to work where you are now? Many people can spend 1 - 1.5 hours travelling to work each day. I can drive or catch a train to Inner City Melbourne in 1.5 hours from here! Ballarat is only 20 minutes away, Geelong is only 40 mins away. :shrug:

Start a business at home, or open a business in the country town. If you really want to go rural, you'll find a way. But to be fair, many people like cities. Or are scared to leave the convenience of cities. They do have almost everything close at hand. It does take getting used to the fact that 7/11 isn't 100m away, and McDonalds is 20 mins away. ;)

:lol:

[fringe_dweller]

thats true Ken, i was thinking of most of rural south australia i guess. yes variety of food is important to me, specially plenty of fresh vegies :)
I have one mate who's been in the bush a long time, he's thinking oif doing ok with ebay, get the right area I spose?

[OneOfOne]

I think one of the worries is that as people have their "sea change" they take their "city" values, attitudes etc to the country. I remember seeing something on TV some time ago about this phenomenon where some country towns have become so popular with the sea changers that the place ceases to be "country" anymore. Some of the locals were complaining how they can no longer go out and leave the house or car unlocked and are having problems usually associated with the cities, like fights at night, graffiti etc. Maybe if you want to move into a rural area you should have an interview or at least take a test to see if you would fit in.

As for the trouble makers being "older" I am surprised (it is usually restricted to males with too much testosterone flowing through their veins) and disapointed (they are old enough to know better). I would also not be surprised if the majority were "city slickers", lack of consideration seems to be a more common city value.

Hopefully, they woke next morning with a throbbing headache and a few broken bones!

[Glenhuon]

Quote
Maybe if you want to move into a rural area you should have an interview or at least take a test to see if you would fit in.

I believe its like that on Norfolk Island and it is the case on Fair Isle, a little island between Orkney and Shetland. If the existing residents don't think you'll fit in, no go. Other places I've been don't vet incomers, but if your a pain in the butt, the local shops ignore you (no service), the mail man doesn't deliver and the garbage man leaves your bin alone etc.
I think the Amish call it "shunning" :lol:.

Bill

[KG8]

Then I guess it was all the riff raff concentrated in one little place. Sort of what like you get when you cram a lot of enriched uranium into a small place.

[jjjnettie]

LOL
It's the same here in Kilcoy.
You can't get a tradesman to come, but if you get an outsider to come and do the work, your the worst in the world.
Don't gossip. You don't know who you're talking to. You only have to go back a few generations and they're mostly all from the same family. Sad but true enough.
If you want to be accepted as an outsider, (you'll never be accepted as a local unless you are 2nd generation), you have to get involved in the community. So unless you go to church, that means joining committees and clubs.

[Ric]

I've noticed that some people who want the quiet rural life are deterred when they see the reality of living away from cities.

One hurdle is a deposit to get the loan in the beginning, when I first started researching I assumed a 10% deposit like other loans but every bank/society came back a standard 30% deposit. Their reason is that rural land is risky. The fact that you might own a business or have a stable Govt job means nothing.

You have to plan things a lot more becuse you just run up to the corner shop if you run out of milk and bread. There is also no home delivery from the Pizza shop.

Then there's snakes, spiders and vege eating Roos, lack of water, telephone drops out, power disruptions, fire etc.

Despite these minor diversions, it's a great life but I do hear of a lot of properties being bought and sold in the first year.

Cheers :)

[cahullian]

I lived in a NSW country town for 4 1/2 years and they seemed like the longers two decades of my life. Boring, boring, boring. Give me a city any day. I live in the suburbs and my neighbours are all nice and friendly, I can't remember the last time a house was broken into on our street. I work in the city and it takes me 20 mins to get there. I love going to the movies, football to watch my beloved Jets and I also play and referee.Living in the city I also know where to good quiet restaurants are where the best pubs and clubs are. My kids and I all like to drink and we have never gotten into a fight. The city centre here in Newcastle is where all the rowdies go, so if you are the kind of person who likes a fight that's where you go and drink ,if not ,you stay away. I don't like sheep or horses and couldn't care less about frogs croaking or hoons burning rubber it's all just noise anyway. so keep your rural/bush living I love the city and if it means I don't have as dark a night sky, so be it, I wll happily give up dark sky for a lifestyle that suits me down to the ground. I think the rural life might sound good to people who are getting on in years as the peace and quiet may seem appealing, but all you hear from the youngsters in those areas is I'm bored , there is nothing to do (except get drunk or get into drugs) some of the worst pub brawls I have ever seen have been in country pubs and drugs among the young people in the rural community is rife.,we can't get decent jobs (which is very true) none of these things would ever endear me be part of that. I'll keep to the city and enjoy the dirt,pollution,grafitti,noise,cramp ed and light filled nights thank you.

Gazz (I just love to stir)

[tileys]

Haha...Gaz...don't think you needed to add the bit in brackets... ;)

Thought I'd throw in my 2 bobs worth...

As an ex-pom I'd say that Australians are heavily concentrated in the big cities due to history. The rural villages of Europe developed pre-industrial revolution - you lived where you could walk to work and once a week you'd go to the nearest big town (probably not much further away than 10-15 miles) to the market to stock up. The cities saw their growth with the workhouses and factories of the industrial revolution. They built it and people came... Work became more specialised as a rule and people lost touch with their previous lives, they saw more possibility for development in the cities and larger towns and only recently have started to realise what they've lost and the frustration and alienation that comes from that finds release in all kinds of unpleasant ways (I'm in my 30s by the way, even though I may sound like an old fogey)

As Australians we're overwhelmingly crammed into the cities that were originally built around (apart from Canberra - an experiment) and broadly speaking unless you are e.g. a teacher, doctor, mechanic i.e. someone with broad skills that are universally locally needed it's hard to leave the larger population centres behind because that's where the bulk of the work and opportunities are.

I work in IT - implementing and customising enterprise level information systems using software, hardware and services that only larger companies can afford. I'd have to really think outside the square to transfer my skills to country NSW (I can't repair PCs - maybe I could start an internet cafe - if there's a decent infrastructure). I grew up in a small town (30k people) in England - I could be in open fields and woodland in 5 minutes walk. The work in Europe is more decentralised because the people are - I found myself working all over the country there but I'm still happy here.

As far as cities go Sydney is a very pleasant one but the value of it is being eroded over time through lack of vision and lack of will and my worry is that within a generation people won't know any different to sitting alone in their car for 3 hours each day and working 10 hours once they get to the office.

Gee...thanks...that's really depressed me now...

...it's the clouds...they do that to you ;)

Steve

[fringe_dweller]

hehe thats right JJ, i have a mate who moved 2 or so hours away to mid north town here, for health reasons, he had originally already moved from melbourne to here, coz he couldnt handle the pace anymore, then eventually even adelaide was too hectic for him! lol
he's been there 10 or 11 yrs or so now, and tried to fit in with locals, volunteer at old peoples home lots of stuff like that. he says it is common wisdom/knowledge that it takes about 20 years for outsiders to be accepted as part of the community where he is. of course he makes friends with all the other outsiders/blow-ins no problem. only 10 years to go! friendly country people my arse.
hmmm methinks city is a MUCH friendlier place.
they suspicous you're on the run or something, or something to hide, to move out there lol
of course thats outback type cockie towns, not the cosmopoliton places like snake valley :D
and whats the other common warning, dont go near towns at the end of a rail line? :P

[fringe_dweller]

also coupla years ago, as he has ongoing serious health problems, he got really sick, and the local typical fascist MD was misdiagnosing him and treating him like a hyperchondriac troublemaker (sp), due to lack of CHOICE, luckily another blow-in who was a nurse saw what was going on, and rushed him down to adelaide, were he was immediatly given a kidney transplant after being put on dialysis, another day or two and he would of been dead or in a coma at least! yikes, don't move to country if you plan to get sick!

[ballaratdragons]

:lol: all good arguments.

Like I said, some people like cities. Each to their own.

If everyone moved the the country, it wouldn't be the country any more! :thumbsup:

[leon]

And Ken, It would get to light at night. :whistle:

Leon :thumbsup:

[ballaratdragons]

:eyepop: Yep!

[gaa_ian]

Nhulunbuy NT.
- Nearest Macdonalds 10hrs drive :thumbsup:
-1 hrs drive No power let alone lights
- Want a beach to yourself, no problems, take your pick.
- An Island to yourself perhaps? OK
- As it is all aboriginal land, so no Alcohol outside the town boundary.
(Since the federal intervention)

So if you want to get away from drunks in town (yes we have em too !)
-Don't go to the pub
-Take a 10 minute drive

That said we have Woolies, Mitre10, specialty shops etc 3 minutes from anywhere in town.
Then Beautiful white sandy beaches 5 minutes away.

No wonder I am still here 11 years later ;)

[sailormoon]

The city aint that bad. We have all the great services and a better life than country towns. If it aint so then why are people flocking to the cities to live while many country towns are rotting to death?