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**Big Daves Gussett** · 02-12-2008, 15:07

Taking it down under

Make that two. I've just had my visa application approved as well and will be heading down to Sydney in July. I'm excited and terrified and emotional and a bit hungry actually.

The visa application was sat swaying on my desk for about four months before I could summon the energy to attack it. As the self-proclaimed King of Procrastination (right now I have at least two other more important things to be doing than writing this, and one of them involves extinguishing a small fire in the kitchen), completing a form the size of a man was quite a challenge. But, I slowly chipped away at it over the course of the summer, and sent it off in September. A week later I received a very polite and lengthy email pointing out all the things I�d neglected to include (details of first pet, favourite dance move, opinions on how to resolve the Middle East situation, 2 x passport photos).

I then had to go for a medical at a private hospital in Earls Court, where I saw the entire Sunderland squad milling around Sainsburys before their match at Fulham later that day. One of the squad, whose face I didn�t recognize, was carrying a copy of The Independent which I found quite surprising. Presumably whichever youth hostel Roy had booked for them was out of bog roll (although why he didn�t just buy bog roll, I couldn�t tell you).

The medical itself went pretty well. The doctor was very pleased with the quality of my urine, which actually gave me a stupid burst of pride. This pride was short-lived though, as I was then required to strip down to my underpants, whereupon it became painfully obvious that I had got a little bit of exceptional wee on my grey jockey shorts. I tried to cover the dark patch with my hand, but to no avail. I couldn�t see the notes that the doctor was writing, but I imagine they were something along the lines of �good piss, bad aim�.

So now I�ve got seven months left in England. Shit. Yes! Crumbs.

**Max Payne** · 02-12-2008, 15:39

Taking it down under

Well done BDG I'll let you know how I settle in. Try the www.pomsinoz.com forum too. That Visa is a monster app isn't it? And yet, including a week to arrange the medical it was all processed and green lighted in 3 weeks!

**Big Daves Gussett** · 02-12-2008, 17:09

Taking it down under

Nice one, Max, some useful stuff on there. We'll have to arrange a OTFathon - Antipodes edition.

**willie1foot** · 02-12-2008, 19:42

Taking it down under

Congratulations to you both.

That forum looks like it has some useful information, rather than advising where the nearest 'Treats From Home' is located...... "because the washing up liquid and soap powder in Australia just isn't as good as Fairy and Daz"

Sounds like a OTFathon is a goer. We did have one before. GY was the special guest.

**Rory Bunk** · 02-12-2008, 22:45

Taking it down under

Put me down too for a Sydney-thon when BDG lands.
There's a few ex/occasional otf-ers here in Sydney I can rope along. Might be a stretch for the Melbourne crew to come up though.

Anyway, welcome to Max and BDG. I don't think there's much you'll need to learn. Everything should just about be the same as it was back home. Language, head of state, government. You'll get to come to grips with the idiosyncrasies of football down here. Lots of it is good, but it will probably be weird as a football fan to be in a minority.

Max has got the better end of the stick as far as home-town football clubs, but BDG can lay claim to hope and aspiration by joining in the clamour for a new West Sydney team - the real heartland of the game in this country.

**Jon** · 02-12-2008, 23:24

Taking it down under

Best of luck with the move and the future down under, Max and BDG.

**Jimmy Bignutz** · 03-12-2008, 09:48

Taking it down under

Dave, your medical wasn't yesterday, was it?

**Guest** · 03-12-2008, 09:49

Taking it down under

Max Payne wrote:

Room for one more please

It's going to be a tight squeeze, Max, but welcome anyway (and BDG too).

There was a big feature on the news this morning about Australia's soaring population and Victoria overtaking Queensland as the fastest growing state. Melbourne is absolutely bursting at the seams with 1500 new people arriving every week and the government announcing that 600,000 new houses need to be built by 2020. There goes the green belt (actually, it's a yellow belt - 12 years of drought have seen to that. 1 million new people but 3 years supply of water left and a public transport system that's on it's knees. But enough of that, it's a great place to live).

Since your wife's an Aussie, you'll probably be well clued up but, if you have any questions, just ask. I've been here just over 4 years. Have you any idea where you're planning to live? We're in the southern suburbs, 26km from the city. I chose my AFL team, St Kilda, based on geography - that's the best way unless you plan to live near Collingwood.

If you plan to watch Melbourne Victory, I hope you like "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes - a variation on that accounts for about 75% of the chanting.

**Big Daves Gussett** · 03-12-2008, 10:09

Taking it down under

Thankfully not, Jimmy. I doubt the doctor would have been quite so impressed with my wee if that were the case. Unless he's the kind of doctor who is impressed by people who go out drinking on a Monday night and who eat crisps for dinner.

Picking a team will be tricky. Obviously, as I'll be in Sydney it makes sense to go and watch them, but they don't seem to have a great rep on here. My wife's family are from the Western Suburbs (Windsor and Wiseman's Ferry), so maybe I would be inclined to back the West Sydney team. Ultimately, I suspect that my decision on who to support will be backed by the following factors:

1. Who plays nearest my house
2. What colour they wear (I couldn't ever lend my support to a team wearing yellow and blue I'm afraid)

**hobbes** · 03-12-2008, 10:13

Taking it down under

There was a big feature on the news this morning about Australia's soaring population

It's all the Aussies from London abandoning the sinking ship and goin home.

**Max Payne** · 03-12-2008, 14:36

Taking it down under

Have you any idea where you're planning to live? We're in the southern suburbs, 26km from the city. I chose my AFL team, St Kilda, based on geography - that's the best way unless you plan to live near Collingwood.

The area around Coburg,Preston and Pascoe Vale as far as Strathmore judging by where Mrs Max has been looking at places to rent. She used to Live in Coburg so likes the area.

**willie1foot** · 04-12-2008, 08:37

Taking it down under

Windsor and Wisemans Ferry are most definitely Outer Sydney, but lovely places IMO. Travelling to Sydney FC games would be quite a trek.

**Big Daves Gussett** · 04-12-2008, 18:38

Taking it down under

Ooh yeah, I'm not going out that far. Although we are moving down under to be closer to Mrs BDG's family, we don't want to be so close that we'd actually have to, y'know, see them all the time. Although I did foolishly promise to paint the outside of their house when making a pact with fate in a moment of uncertainty about my visa application.

**willie1foot** · 04-12-2008, 20:19

Taking it down under

Fair enough. I'm on the other side of town (near Sydney FC's home ground as a matter of fact), but an OTFathon is definitely on the cards.

**Rory Bunk** · 04-12-2008, 22:43

Taking it down under

My father-in-law's out in that Windsor direction, a little bit south of that near Richmond. It is pretty nice and relaxing out there, but probably a bit slow moving. Any ideas where you will be looking at? For an englishman coming in to Australia, I believe the punishment for not getting digs in the Eastern Suburbs is death, or worse.

**Uncle Ethan** · 05-12-2008, 02:45

Taking it down under

Obviously you are going to the wrong side of the continent, but welcome anyway.

My b-in-l lives just further out than Coburg, just before the end of the tram line and apparently it is a decent area. The wife and kids have been but after I'd gifted my frequent flyer points I stayed home.

I am now waiting for the right conference to come along in Sydney to try again for an OTF-athon, having missed out last time because I was stuck in bloody Fairfield.

Practice eating Vegemite before you arrive.

**willie1foot** · 09-12-2008, 19:51

Taking it down under

Oh yes..... toast with plenty of butter, then a thin scrape of the Mighty Vegemite(y). You know it makes sense.

**linus** · 09-12-2008, 23:25

Taking it down under

Melbourne Arab, Australia seems to be able to accomodate 100 million people, you have the whole continent for yourself. The population density in your country is really small by regional standards.

**Guest** · 10-12-2008, 04:26

Taking it down under

As I sit in my dead garden (I'm not allowed to water it), next to my evaporated pool (I'm not allowed to top it up), looking at my brown car (it's actually blue but I'm not allowed to wash it), recoiling in disgust at my own stench (I can only shower for 4 minutes), beside my fat kids (there's no grass in the local park and the school oval has a sign saying "no football" because the ground is dangerously hard), it gives me enormous pride to hear John Brumby, the Premier of Victoria, announce that Melbourne is the fastest growing city in Australia. 1500 new people every week! A million more by 2020! Bigger than Sydney by 2028! Hurrah!

Since Melbourne's last reservoir was built, the population has increased by a million. There are no plans for another one. Instead, the government have just started the North-South pipeline to transport water from the Murray-Goulburn Valley to Melbourne. Trouble is, the drought in northern Victoria is as bad as it is here. The once might Murray River is now the Murray Stream. The farmers up there are struggling badly � the pipeline will finish them off if they don't get killed opposing its construction.

The other masterplan is a desalination plant which will cost billions, destroy vast areas of coastline and kill off all the marine life. Even after all that, its contribution to Melbourne's water needs will be minimal.

**NHH** · 10-12-2008, 07:43

Taking it down under

Isn't Sydney in the same boat, water-wise? When I was there, there was a debate about a desalination plant versus capturing more run-off water etc

**Guest** · 10-12-2008, 08:55

Taking it down under

Sydney does have water restrictions but its annual rainfall is a lot higher than Melbourne's. Sydney's reservoirs are two-thirds full; Melbourne's are two-thirds empty.

**willie1foot** · 10-12-2008, 11:18

Taking it down under

MA, you're just a 'reservoir's two-thirds empty' kind of guy.

**NHH** · 10-12-2008, 12:18

Taking it down under

I read a piece by Tim Flannery on overpopulation in Oz; he was arguing that essentially, the last 200 years have already done damage to the natural environment which will take thousands of years to be repaired, and every new arrival creates greater pressure. Australia, he arguing is a place which is phenomenally unsuitable to life; what life can be supported does so on a knife edge which is in grave danger - if not already too late. And by life, he wasn't talking about animals - he meant humans too.

I got that sense when I was there. Lovely and all, but not sustainable like this. It was like being in the SW desert states of the US; God/Mother nature/whoever is trying to tell you something with this desert thing; millions of people shouldn't live there.

**Big Daves Gussett** · 10-12-2008, 17:59

Taking it down under

So you're saying it's a good thing that I'm moving there, right?

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