Raindrops on eucalyptus and whiskers on wombats...

It's always a risk when you write a blog that focuses on issues of prejudice and isms, but recently I feel like I've been a bit of a complainer. So to counter some of the complaining, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the things I like about Australia. I'm a reasonably risk averse person, so moving to Australia was a thought through and carefully weighed decision. We knew the risks and what we'd be leaving behind, but decided to take the risk regardless. And six months in to the move, I think it's turned out a lot better than I expected. Helped by having family and friends here, a warm and welcoming workplace and knowing I'm only a four hour flight from home, I've not experienced any major homesickness yet. So here are some of the little trivial things that have helped me feel happy here:

• the weather - it's an obvious one, but for the first time in many years I felt like I've had a summer. It's been hot, so hot my husband had a spot of heat stroke. Melbourne's weather patterns are actually pretty close to Wellington's weather patterns, but I've loved wearing shorts at night, not needing a cardigan for months and actually needing a fan.
• the employment conditions - as we've all been told a million times, salaries and contracts are generally much better in Australia than New Zealand. I thought it was a bit of an exaggeration, but it isn't. Moving here has made working for a charity a viable option for me, where I could have never taken the salary drop in NZ.
• public transport - again NZers constantly hear about how bad our public transport is. It makes a city so much more accessible and tourist-friendly when you have an extensive public transport network. It isn't amazing by world standards, but compared to NZ it's on another planet.
• living in a big city - there's a certain charm in living in small towns, and I've lived in towns with a population of under 500. But there's so much to love about living in a big city again. From exploring little neighbourhoods every weekend, to the many specialist craft shops, there's so much variety and choice. And I feel like I'm more a part of the world than in NZ.
• ethnic diversity - NZ is a lot better than when I moved there 14 years ago, but it still doesn't compare to the diversity of Melbourne and Australia. I read a statistic that over half of Australians were either born overseas or have a parent born overseas. You really get that sense here, pho and mee goreng and tajine are part of the vocabulary, every suburb has an Asian grocer and immigrants even have their own acronym (CALD - culturally and linguistically diverse). That's not to say that people are more tolerant or less racist, but it's nice being less of a minority.
• wildlife - it sounds so silly, but wildlife is one of the things I missed most when living in NZ. I come from a place where I'd find snakes on my windowsill and my dog would hunt wild monkeys, so moving to NZ and seeing people be excited over a tuatara was a big (and bizarre) culture shock. It's exciting knowing there are dangerous snakes and spiders here, that a few hours drive out of the city and I'll see koalas in the wild. And I can't wait to see the crocodiles in North Queensland.
• cost of living - it's a bigger country with the ability to create more of its own produce, so of course things are going to be cheaper, but it's actually been quite remarkable. Fresh fruit and vegetables are generally much cheaper (and I understand it was even more so before the Queensland floods), internet is cheaper, phone contracts are cheaper, public transport is cheaper, power is cheaper. It's actually been quite bizarre as many people have been complaining that produce is so cheap it's hurting the farmers. As the high cost of food is a live debate in NZ, I wonder if Australians shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
• friendly, helpful people - I've been taking a lot more public transport so I've seen a lot more of the 'people' than I did in NZ. I've left my sheltered life behind and have seen so much drama, people fainting, having strokes, falling off trams... And I've been utterly impressed at the willingness of people to help out and step in when required. The one that impressed me most was when a man on a train loudly threatened to punch his female partner. A young man stood up, approached the offender,  reprimanded him and then called the police. That one really made my day.
• call out culture - related to the last one, I think Australians are much more comfortable calling out behaviour they find inappropriate. Maybe it's related to the higher quality journalism here, but there is much more mainstream discussion of bad behaviour. 
• everyone here hates Paul Henry - no explanation needed.
• entertaining politics - the Gillard-Rudd saga was like a long, embarrassing, really bad soap opera. I savoured every minute of it. I doubt I'll be loving it so much when Tony Abbott is elected Prime Minister, however.
• not caring about politics - aside from a few issues, I love that I can turn off a little when it comes to Australian politics. NZ politics drove me insane, but here I don't know the players and the issues well enough to care. But something tells me that once I'm better informed, I'm not going to like it.

So there is my silly list of the things I like about Australia. You might notice there is little of substance in the list, nothing about social services or outcomes for indigenous people and minorities or gender equality or inequalities or poverty. And there's a pretty good reason for that.