My Australian Story and Why I Love Oz

Chapter 1. 

My Australian Story 🐠

How do I start this? 🍫 

Australia was a sweet warm dream from the childhood years of mine. 

And it all started from "Finding Nemo". 

Yeap!

Most of my friends know how this "down under" love story goes, but i would still like to write this one down.

 

I remember being a 12 or 13 year old kid in post-Soviet era Azerbaijan when amazing "Finding Nemo" came out in early 2000s. 

Me, my 7 year old brother Vüsal and mom were getting ready to watch this animation. I loved drawing and just like every other kid who was familiar with this film, i also wanted to draw Nemo, so I had told myself that I had to engrave his image to my memory so clearly that i could draw it well when I returned home. At that time we did not have internet to look up the pics or mobile phones to take pictures, and no, taking photo cameras to cinemas was both lame and illegal. Especially my mom's cheap bulky archaic unbranded camera she bought from some underground Russian vendor. 

I watched the entire film without a blink! I was so captivated that I almost felt like I was inside the ocean with those fish and i needed to stop watching so I could come out of water and breathe! 

I always loved learning about different countries and i thought i knew about every other country on Earth (false confidence of 12 year old teenager!). 

So i heard this familiar sounding (Austria?) but yet different name "Australia" in the film and saw that address:

P Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney NSW

I asked my mom:

What is it? something like Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory?

Mom:

No, it is a real city in an actual country. 

In my arrogant teenager brain, I was so surprised as let alone the name of Sydney, I hadn't even heard of "Australia" before! I was like "umm what? why haven't i heard of you before?!"

After the movie, I had this insatiable desire to learn more about this "new" country. But from where? My dad did not have a book about Australia. Most of his books were about Soviet Union, Europe and Middle East - nothing outside of this triangle. 

That was why I had to find the most reputable source of information at that time - the legendary - Great Soviet Encyclopaedia 📕! Phenomenal 30 giant red burgundy books of Soviet Encyclopaedia contained information about everything! I never failed finding about anything in those books! It was my childhood's Google that i could touch, hold and smell. 

And my dad did not have them! 

But my engineer uncle Älaskar and his historian wife Zümrüd did. 

I couldn't wait to visit my uncle's and read everything about Australia in those books. The whole school week felt like a decade to end! I was asking everyone at school if they knew a country called Australia. Apparently it was only me who did not know about kangaroos, boomerangs and Great Barrier Reef! and most importantly!!! - KYLIE FREAKING MINOGUE 👱‍♀️! Everyone gasped, grunted and judged me, while I felt mortified and felt how my reputation plummeted because of my lack of essential pop culture knowledge! 

How dare I ?! It's where Kylie is from! 

 

Anyway, weekend came, I went to my uncle's, and read everything in Australia, Sydney and New Zealand chapters. 

I was so fascinated about everything in Australia! The Outback, The Great Barrier Reef, Dividing Range, parrots, red soil, beaches, lifestyle, eucalyptus trees, its vastness and so many things. I just felt like this is the country meant to be in my life! 

I was dreaming about it, watching all the TV programs made about and in Australia. And that's how i discovered Steve Irwin!!! I just fell in love! Everything about Australia was inspiring me. I even adopted 2 budgies haha - this was the only physical connection with Australia for me!  

I needed to do anything in my power as a child to be able to move to Australia as soon as i finish my school! So I started to spend more time on improving my English! I remember crying and whinging to my mom one day that i could not learn English (i still have a lot to learn!) ! I did not understand how this bizarre language worked with its alien grammar, and of course absolutely non-sense pronunciation (many non native speakers will agree)! But i had to do it for Australia! So i studied my ass off! Every single day i would practice English, and my little vocabulary notebook was always with me in my pocket. I still have one of those, i swear! Such a childhood habit! 

By the end of the school years i had so much knowledge learnt from the books about Australia that i felt like i was already living in an imaginary Australia! I would walk on Harbour Bridge, feed lorikeets in Cairns, swim on the Gold Coast by just closing my eyes! I was ready to finally leave for Australia! 

But I could not!

Travel to Australia was and is expensive! like... EXPENSIVE 🔥! Especially from Azerbaijan. I had no money or a way even for a short visit! 

I started my Bachelor Degree in Azerbaijan and was looking for ways to at least visit Australia. This dream had never died or got weaker throughout those years, on the contrary, it was becoming even bigger! 

Finally after 4 years my dream came true! My Australian Dream! 

I arrived in sunny Brisbane Queensland (sorry Nemo).

Australia had everything, and this country was everything i imagined it would be! 

Nature, sunshine, tropical forests, wildlife, amazing ocean, beautiful cities and of course people. 

I even found Willy Wonka's chocolate bars here!!!

It did not taste as good as Lindt's but at least the packaging was great!  

I came to Australia thinking eventually I would return back to where i came from. 

Mhm. Long story short - No, I didn't. I stayed! 💅

Chapter 2. 

5 Reasons Why I love Oz 

Uhh Australia... There are so many reasons to love you!

I will talk about the things that matter to me most and this has been my personal observation throughout the years of my life in Australia. 

1. Nature and wildlife 🦜🌴🕷️

Australia's number 1 most important and amazing thing that makes my butterflies fly in my stomach is Aussie nature. This country is incredibly unique and adventure packed with its colourful parrots (btw parrots are my fav aussie animals!) flying in ancient tropical forests from Gondwana across Dividing Range, kangaroos hopping around the sun-scorched red savannahs of Outback, snakes slithering under the desert rocks of Nullarbor plains, lizards roaming over the vast Simpson desert, dramatic cliffs of Great Australian Bight, bloodthirsty Croc Country, sweltering steps of Top End and most amazingly in my opinion endless shoreline and beaches embraced by 3 oceans!

2. Standard of living 💰🕊️

Australia is one of the world's best in terms of that and it is always amongst world's top 5, often right at the top of that list. Happy middle class that actually do great with excellent public healthcare and welfare support and plays a significant role in all aspects of life without being shadowed or compromised by the rich. Even though higher education is not too expensive, you can live a good life without actually having any tertiary degrees, by just working jobs that do not require 2 university degrees or 5 year work experience at NASA! At the same time, there is an immense array of jobs for everyone - astronomers, analysts, artists, health professionals, military personnel, scientists, engineers, lawyers - the economy is very diverse and salaries are again yes you guessed it right - one of the world's best. For example, you can make $65K as a hospitality worker, $90K as a finance analyst, $110k as an IT consultant, $150K as a health professional, $200K as an anaesthesiologist and so on.

3. Freedom! 🏳️‍⚧️💬

Australian way of life is the way of life that suits your likes! I love it and feel grateful for it every single day of my life! Australia allowed me to be who i want to be. To express myself in every way i feel like, and this country and its people not only embraced all facets of my personality but also celebrated its all colours and reflections. Yes there were difficulties, but none of them made me feel barricaded or hindered.  I always feel like i am allowed to do whatever i want to do (As long as it is legal of course!). Most Australians seemingly take it for granted as they are so used to it, but for someone like me this is something so valuable and important and i point this out to my friends all the time. 

4. Being an Australian 🌏

I wasn't born into an Australian identity, and so no, it was not my birth right. 

But I earned this right. I worked for it and this label was my trophy and i am immensely proud of it as much as my Azerbaijani identity. 

Being an Australian will give you an advantage of travelling around the world freely, and knowing that there is going to be an Australian embassy there that will have your back when things go wrong. Australian passport holders can travel to more than 100 countries without having to deal with visa procedures. Besides, you can move and live in tens of other countries for more than a year as part of working holiday visa programs (UK, Canada, EU, East Asia, Singapore, South Africa, South America etc.).

Australia has been home to Aboriginal Australians for thousands of years, but as a country it is a young nation and in my opinion, it does have its own "local ethnic" group other than Aboriginals, that i think are those known as "true blue aussies" by descent who were born and bred here, and there are also people like me who are Australians by conferral. Even though we are very diverse, i think we have a solid system of common values and that's what makes this country so great!

5. People 🤝

Australia's past in terms of human history is bloody and sad, however nowadays these issues are being brought up to the public discussion more often for everyone to participate in finding solutions and work towards the reconciliation. 

The people embody everything Australia is great about! Starting from the soldiers of Northern Territories, miners of Western Australia, artists of Victoria, economists of New South Wales, farmers of Queensland, conservationists of Tasmania to winemakers of South Australia - Australians are just nice and most people would probably agree with this. At least the ones i have met in my life have been friendly, fair, helpful and considerate towards me. There is a seamless bond between people here that unites the nation around the common goals. Most people are trying to make a difference, do good, be fair, approach challenges with an open mind and help one another while doing those things. Almost a quarter of Australians were not born in this country so everyone knows how hard it is to move to a new country and embrace the new norm, at the same time adapt to the crazy ecosystem (dangerous wildlife, bushfires, floods, tropical cyclones are norm in Australia!). That is why i believe they try to offer a hand to the next person during hard times. I always experienced this help and tried to extend it over to the others. 

That's all, folks! 

I hope you enjoyed by blogpost.

❤️🦘 

Rashka.