Speaker 1: Flex and Frooms, Flex and Frooms. This is the Flex
Speaker 1: and Frooms catch up podcast.
Speaker 2: We've received a lovely DM from a fan but also
Speaker 2: a loyal Flex and Frooms listener. Their name is Ruby.
Speaker 2: The moving from London to Australia and they need to
Speaker 2: know which state to choose, which city Sydney or Melbourne.
Speaker 3: They've said, Hey, Gurley, he's a big.
Speaker 2: Fan here from the UK, hanging since the catastrophe that
Speaker 2: is Brexit.
Speaker 4: I'm a jump in. Brexit was also when the fabric
Speaker 4: of time stopped. That was the main calendar moment of Oh,
Speaker 4: that's the my calendar, my calendar. Yeah, I want to
Speaker 4: hear more about do you have any more on that
Speaker 4: or that's just it?
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: I've been toying with the idea of moving to Australia.
Speaker 2: England is going Hella downhill and your girl needs out.
Speaker 2: Brexit has stripped our opportunities to freely move to other
Speaker 2: countries in Europe, and Australia is likely the only country
Speaker 2: that'll take us Brits. It's giving immigrant to welcome obviously,
Speaker 2: though this is a huge decision to make, so I'm
Speaker 2: in the process of gathering dart and I wonder if
Speaker 2: you could help. I know both of you have experienced
Speaker 2: living in Sydney and Melbourne. I wondered if you could
Speaker 2: share your thoughts on both cities and the pros and
Speaker 2: cons of each. Where are the vibes and where is
Speaker 2: the quality of life best? Where are there more opportunities
Speaker 2: for a creative girlie? What are the pros and cons
Speaker 2: of living in Australia in general?
Speaker 3: Anything that might be useful. I'd love to hear it.
Speaker 2: And if you read this, I'll be so gaffed by
Speaker 2: the way way sending you much.
Speaker 3: Love, respect and admiration.
Speaker 2: Yes, Rubiana Ruby, we will come through with a pretty
Speaker 2: consolidated list of pros and cons. Bear in mind that
Speaker 2: we haven't lived anywhere aside from Australia, so.
Speaker 3: All we know is what we know.
Speaker 2: But we can come through with some generalizations that are
Speaker 2: likely to offend Australians, but that's what we're here to do.
Speaker 4: I did do ten days in New York a couple
Speaker 4: of weeks ago, and it was giving.
Speaker 1: It was given that lived in experience.
Speaker 4: I was saying, it's friends in Greenwich, so yeah, actually
Speaker 4: it was in Brooklyn, green Point.
Speaker 1: I didn't even know.
Speaker 2: Pros and cons of living in Australia general. Whenever I
Speaker 2: travel to another country, I often think of the reasons
Speaker 2: why it's easy for me to assimilarly there, but they
Speaker 2: might not be able to assimilate here very easily. The
Speaker 2: one thing that gets me about the UK London in particular,
Speaker 2: I didn't realize, and I'll be straight up, it is
Speaker 2: so strange to be black in Australia when I went
Speaker 2: to London and realized that, like everybody is mostly ethnic
Speaker 2: and not just black people, like all the diaspora of
Speaker 2: ethnicities that exist, they're there and they're not others. I'm
Speaker 2: walking down the city, I'm looking at a voter phone
Speaker 2: ad black person in Australia. If you see black people
Speaker 2: on ads, they're going to be for like particularly urban things,
Speaker 2: sports hip hop, shoe store, burger chain that's based on
Speaker 2: Kanye Like, it's very particular ways.
Speaker 3: Of framing people.
Speaker 2: And then every now and then you'll get like a
Speaker 2: beauty company trying to show you that they're inclusive. They'll
Speaker 2: use their one dark skin models just so you can
Speaker 2: catch a break. So I think you'll be very very
Speaker 2: surprised at how not black and like not ethnic Australia
Speaker 2: is and how it's not infused and integrated. There are
Speaker 2: pockets of ethnic people in different suburbs and that is weird.
Speaker 4: Literally, So I get like pretty much all my media
Speaker 4: through social media based on the people that I follow,
Speaker 4: and I would say I follow like relatively diverse range
Speaker 4: of people. So then when I watch like Free Day
Speaker 4: Air TV, I'm like, yeah, oh it's.
Speaker 2: The TV TVA where well even most media, to be honest,
Speaker 2: yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, h.
Speaker 4: Well I'm not really I'm not really dating in the
Speaker 4: traditional media since I'm reading a little bit of smh.
Speaker 4: That's more news rather than advertisements. So they're trying to
Speaker 4: sell the Australian public products.
Speaker 2: Okay, even the Sydney and Melbourne, I don't feel like
Speaker 2: they're twenty four hour cities. I think they really close
Speaker 2: at a certain time. Melbourne they've got a Monday Tuesday
Speaker 2: thing when a lot of hospitality venues are closed.
Speaker 3: Weird.
Speaker 2: Sydney is sleepy by seven pm, maybe eight pm if
Speaker 2: you're pushing it. And this is like major metropolitan cities,
Speaker 2: whereas I feel like in Europe a lot of places
Speaker 2: feel like they're always on. You could league the house
Speaker 2: and have a dinner reservation at eleven pm and it's
Speaker 2: not a big deal. You're not doing that in Australia.
Speaker 4: It's totally different in that respect, I think as well.
Speaker 4: I noticed when I went to New York everybody gets
Speaker 4: up Well this is a generalization, but places open really late,
Speaker 4: like ten am cafes like, guys, what are we doing?
Speaker 4: Whereas if you moved to Sydney in particular, six am,
Speaker 4: there's a little six am buzz about town to Bondai Beach.
Speaker 4: Six am it's popping. Bondai Beach in the morning pops
Speaker 4: off the most at seven a m. Guys, that's early.
Speaker 4: It's not I'm fully Sydney cod now. I've been here
Speaker 4: for five years and it's giving. I've like assimilated.
Speaker 1: I've assimilated.
Speaker 3: I haven't, no, but I mean when you grew.
Speaker 1: Up here, so you know it's not that novel.
Speaker 3: I would say one more thing may be quite different,
Speaker 3: the currency.
Speaker 2: I think you're gonna be very surprised at how expensive
Speaker 2: it is to live in Australia in particular.
Speaker 3: I know they say.
Speaker 2: London is like the most expensive place to live ever,
Speaker 2: but there are places that you can go to and
Speaker 2: to get like a bit of a you're not really
Speaker 2: getting deals in Sydney. There's really like not like cheap
Speaker 2: places to live. And even Melbourne now, rent prices going up,
Speaker 2: cost of living is going up. It's all an expensive
Speaker 2: place to live. And if you don't have money coming
Speaker 2: up and you're not really good at budgeting, cooking, doing
Speaker 2: all of the stuff, you're gonna struggle.
Speaker 3: People are struggling.
Speaker 4: Before we get into the creative like which place is
Speaker 4: more creative city?
Speaker 1: I just want to give a little vibe check.
Speaker 4: We've spoken about it a lot on the podcast, to
Speaker 4: the point where someone and the team was like, we
Speaker 4: can't do another video on this, guys, because all you
Speaker 4: do is talk about Melbourne vis Sydney. But just let
Speaker 4: me give you a quick lay of the land before
Speaker 4: you choose your city. Okay, let's say you're moving to Melbourne.
Speaker 4: I'm from melbourne' this is what I know best. If
Speaker 4: you are more of a creative girlie and you've you know,
Speaker 4: more adventurous and kind of more interested in the future,
Speaker 4: go north side.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is where we're getting like very cool we are.
Speaker 2: You're talking about if you want to go to Melbourne,
Speaker 2: where you should live.
Speaker 4: Correct, got it, then go north Side. South Side is
Speaker 4: for people who don't work in the creative industries.
Speaker 1: Typically is what I've known.
Speaker 3: What is a creative industry?
Speaker 1: Though a creative industry is like if you're like.
Speaker 4: A writer, photographer, tattoo artists, like all of them kind
Speaker 4: of vocations is giving north Side.
Speaker 2: What if you're like a makeup artist, or what if
Speaker 2: you work in retail.
Speaker 1: That's a bit more south Side coded.
Speaker 4: What I think you say specific I know, but they're catching,
Speaker 4: they're catching a vibe. We're using or using stereotypes.
Speaker 3: Then I think you.
Speaker 2: Should use stereotypes, don't say creative industry, and then like
Speaker 2: make nuance. South Side, from what I can see is white, bougie,
Speaker 2: traditional beauty standards vibes. It's like the archetype of what
Speaker 2: people think Australia is like posh Australian accents. You're gonna
Speaker 2: find them there. Rogue Australians is like, this feels archetype
Speaker 2: of Australians. North Side to me feels culturally aware and
Speaker 2: coded from the Internet. North Side feels really informed by
Speaker 2: the Internet.
Speaker 3: It's global.
Speaker 2: It's like different cuisines and cultures and people and la
Speaker 2: la la and like countercultural and whatever, but really little
Speaker 2: you could afford facts.
Speaker 4: You said that way better than I could ever, So
Speaker 4: thank you. No, that's not true, Okay, Sydney. Sydney to me,
Speaker 4: from the very specific pocket where I've lived, which is
Speaker 4: all within a five kilometer radius, is so much more
Speaker 4: health coded, but in a way that I think is
Speaker 4: quite fun. Like the weather in Sydney is so much
Speaker 4: better than Melbourne in a way that I can't even describe,
Speaker 4: in a way that really shook me. When I first
Speaker 4: moved here five years ago, I didn't even realize that
Speaker 4: Melbourne weather was bad. It just it's like Stockholm syndrome.
Speaker 4: I didn't realize how bad it was and how great
Speaker 4: it was until I moved to Sydney.
Speaker 2: And that sounds out every day, blue skies, blue skies,
Speaker 2: and if it's not out, it's an anomaly and.
Speaker 4: It's giving dystopia. So that's what's kind of like keeping
Speaker 4: me in this city. And it's such a boring thing
Speaker 4: to say, but it's what everybody says.
Speaker 3: It's a real thing.
Speaker 1: It's a real thing, and the beaches will just blow
Speaker 1: you away.
Speaker 2: I feel like, if I'm want to beat crass, please
Speaker 2: and The oversimplified way to put it is that Sydney
Speaker 2: is la and then Melbourne, New York in the sense
Speaker 2: that you can do the same things in both places.
Speaker 2: They both offer you a lot in terms of dating
Speaker 2: and culture and lifestyle and work opportunities and going out.
Speaker 2: It's a different approach with the same intention. People will
Speaker 2: be like, oh my god, Mellen people.
Speaker 3: Are so much nicer.
Speaker 2: It's like, no, they definitely understand casual interactions a little
Speaker 2: bit better than Sydney people do, whereas the interactions in
Speaker 2: Syney can feel transactional, but that is about your little
Speaker 2: niches that you hang out with. I would definitely say
Speaker 2: that like Sydney is more commercial, Melbourne is more underground.
Speaker 2: But that is broadly speaking for people in our demographic.
Speaker 2: People say, like Sydney is so clique, Melbourne is clique.
Speaker 2: They're both CLIQI They're both cities where you need to
Speaker 2: know to do the stuff you really want to do. However,
Speaker 2: I feel like going into a new city for the
Speaker 2: first time with no context, Melbourne is set up much
Speaker 2: better for you to just like find your way meet
Speaker 2: people casually. There's something on every day of the week.
Speaker 2: There's somewhere to go except Monday, as you say, as
Speaker 2: we said, but that's that's hospital and dining. In some
Speaker 2: areas you'll always find a play to watch, a movie,
Speaker 2: to watch art, to see, show on sports on it's
Speaker 2: always pumping. Whereas Sydney the particular moments in the year
Speaker 2: where something is happening and people don't go anyway. People
Speaker 2: aren't going to Vivid in May, people are not in
Speaker 2: Sydney for Sydney Festival. In January when Sydney Fringe is happening,
Speaker 2: people aren't going.
Speaker 1: It's a marketing problem.
Speaker 3: Really, it's a marketing problem.
Speaker 1: I will say.
Speaker 2: Sydney is very expensive and you have a smaller time
Speaker 2: to get it right. If you don't have a job
Speaker 2: set up, if you don't have a network, if you
Speaker 2: don't have your ducks in a row, you're gonna struggle.
Speaker 2: Sydney's not a chill place.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: A lot of people who are managing are from Australia
Speaker 2: who have families here and like relatives and resources and
Speaker 2: you understand the dynamics of it. Whereas if you're coming
Speaker 2: here and especially wanting to get the most of your
Speaker 2: life before you got to do farm work to stay,
Speaker 2: then oh.
Speaker 3: Farm work to stay.
Speaker 2: It's like go to Melbourne, you get the best of
Speaker 2: you know, a metropolitan experience, and then go visit Sydney
Speaker 2: for a couple of beaches. But I don't think Sydney's
Speaker 2: worth moving to from across the world if you don't
Speaker 2: have your stuff an order, if you're not getting sponsored
Speaker 2: by a job or something.
Speaker 1: I've heard it's a bit of a party though.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I have. But it's a mandatory thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, to live in these disgusting conditions on site.
Speaker 3: I think someone's family, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: You would. I think that's a great way to meet friends.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think.
Speaker 1: I say they're all bonding through the trauma.
Speaker 4: In terms of farm's locations, go to Orange like that,
Speaker 4: alright's actually quite a big city, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: People don't want northern Queensland or something isolated rural regional.
Speaker 4: I had a friend do it and they had like
Speaker 4: a like I found myself in the farmland.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like she said that it was a really mindful
Speaker 2: activity and it like reframed what.
Speaker 3: She did with her life amazing.
Speaker 1: So might be fruitful.
Speaker 2: That's your permanent residencies, guy, that's just to extend your
Speaker 2: So be mindful.
Speaker 1: I've got a really good idea, real quick.
Speaker 4: If you are a creative girl, what I recommend is
Speaker 4: go do farm work, make of simple life, make a
Speaker 4: spin off of simple life, than curtail into your creative career. Guys,
Speaker 4: it's been twenty years. It's time for a reboot.
Speaker 1: It's time for a reboot.
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