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What do you know of Australia related Cypriots?

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Re: What do you know of Australia related Cypriots?

Postby Paphitis » Sun Nov 25, 2018 8:53 pm

Get Real! wrote:
Pyrpolizer wrote:For myself though the balance was clear after the first couple of years as there was too much racism.

Maybe you’ve got the standard "eastern Mediterranean looks" and thus faced racism but I’m quite fair-skinned and spoke English well so I (luckily) had no problem in that department.

Once I got there I did everything right which guaranteed me of a successful career including:

* Went there quite young at 21-ish and got straight into a free tertiary education.

* Having qualified the Australian way I accepted voluntary work which landed me my first job.

* I kept chasing after all industry accreditations I could squeeze in my schedule thereby always remaining competitive.

* I absolutely loved what I was doing so there was no way I wouldn’t become good at it.

* I couldn’t care less about any employment rejections along the way, because I knew it was a numbers game… same as picking up women.

And after 15 years and having accomplished all my career goals I got bored of it all and left… only to return home and encounter difficulty adapting to the slack Cypriot way of doing things! :lol:


You lived in Perth. Did you ever travel to places like Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart, and other places? Or was WA all you knew.

It seems a real shame to have lived in Perth and never seen other parts of Australia. It's like living in San Francisco and not seeing other parts of USA.

Perth is a great city (all Australian cities are) but it isn't my first choice.
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Re: What do you know of Australia related Cypriots?

Postby Paphitis » Sun Nov 25, 2018 9:19 pm

Pyrpolizer wrote:Paphitis, don’t forget you were born and raised there.
Perhaps we could get a better understanding if your father was doing the talking instead of you.

For people like GR or myself who had a choice of living in a foreign country or Cyprus the choice was clearer. Cyprus is not the best place in the world but not total shit either. It’s a matter of weighing the pros and cons. Surely for most young mainland Greeks today the balance would tilt towards Austrialia.

It looks for GR the balance was tilting slightly as he managed to stay there for 15 years which is quite a long time. I think (from things he said in the past) what pushed the button was the safety of his child. For myself though the balance was clear after the first couple of years as there was too much racism.

After so many years I still have nightmares of having to live in that country ever again. No way …


if you are looking for information because a relative is thinking of moving to Australia, you will need to advise them to come to Australia.

The reason for that is simple. Australia is a pretty top notch country. In my opinion it is a better country to live in than Cyprus by far. There really is no comparison between living in Cyprus or living in Sydney or Melbourne which are great international cities that look amazing. You can live a lifestyle similar to Cyprus in Australia as the climates are similar and Aussies love their beeches. But it is such a vast country, it offers a lot more that is too difficult to explain or describe.

Opportunities are amazing. Cypriots or Greeks will not experience much racism I would say as they are largely accepted into the fold these days. That wasn't the case in the old days like back in the 1950s. People like my Dad did face bad challenges but Greeks today just won't.

Just some advice though. Don't act too woggy or Greek. Try and interact. Australians will generally help out and will establish friendships quite easily.

Your friend would easily make friends among the Greek community as well. There are Greek Church's, community centers, and schools.

If they end up not liking Australia they can move back very easily. But not many do.

The working week is 38 hours per week. Wages are much higher. Infrastructure is way better. there is so much to see and do.

It is pretty much one of the best countries to be in. I am not saying this because I lived here all my live or out of bias. This is generally the accepted opinion of most people who have lived in Australia and traveled and it is also the opinion of foreigners like Europeans and Americans who have lived in Australia.

Socially and economically, Australia is very much right up there with the very best of Scandinavian countries and Switzerland. It is a much better country than all European countries, USA and UK. I am not joking. We have the best of pretty much everything.

Economically and politically - well they don't get much better than Australia. It is a very affluent country plush with jobs and opportunities. The political system is very stable and it is a very democratic and free society. It is a liberal country too. That could be a shock to some Cypriots who only know Cyprus. Not so much if you lived in New York, LA or most of Western Europe.

People are very privileged to live in Australia.
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Re: What do you know of Australia related Cypriots?

Postby Get Real! » Sun Nov 25, 2018 9:37 pm

Paphitis wrote:You lived in Perth. Did you ever travel to places like Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart, and other places? Or was WA all you knew.

It seems a real shame to have lived in Perth and never seen other parts of Australia. It's like living in San Francisco and not seeing other parts of USA.

Perth is a great city (all Australian cities are) but it isn't my first choice.

Perth’s 1.5 million population was more than enough for me… weren’t interested in larger cities and I’m not much of a traveler either.

Once traveled from Two Rocks to Mandurah and that was a HUGE distance for me! :lol:
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Re: What do you know of Australia related Cypriots?

Postby Paphitis » Sun Nov 25, 2018 9:45 pm

Get Real! wrote:
Paphitis wrote:You lived in Perth. Did you ever travel to places like Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart, and other places? Or was WA all you knew.

It seems a real shame to have lived in Perth and never seen other parts of Australia. It's like living in San Francisco and not seeing other parts of USA.

Perth is a great city (all Australian cities are) but it isn't my first choice.

Perth’s 1.5 million population was more than enough for me… weren’t interested in larger cities and I’m not much of a traveler either.

Once traveled from Two Rocks to Mandurah and that was a HUGE distance for me! :lol:


That's pretty sad get Real.

You missed out on a lot if I can tell you that. Perth is a small city. Don't get me wrong. Perth is nice, real nice and it has a great climate and great beeches.

BTW, Perth has changed a lot and is a very different place than the 1990s. It has developed so much in the last 20 years because of the mining boom. A very wealthy town. I don't think you would recognize the place if you went there today.

But man, you should have got to Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Hobart, and other places.

You should have visited the entire Victorian and New South Wales and Queensland coast. Got up to the Whitsundays, Great Barrier Reef, Noosa, Cairns, Proserpine, Coffs harbour and I can go on and on.

In all honesty, I don't think you would have left Australia.

Traveling around Australia is pretty cheap these days. generally, people fly from city to city and rarely drive. Although driving this vast country is a massive adventure. I want to drive Route 66 in the USA.
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Re: What do you know of Australia related Cypriots?

Postby Get Real! » Sun Nov 25, 2018 9:58 pm

Paphitis wrote:That's pretty sad get Real.

You missed out on a lot if I can tell you that....

Never been much of an outdoors person… I once approached a girl at some reserve holding a koala for visitors to pet, and the damn thing stunk like hell so I quickly backed off. Same with kangaroos… they all stunk and I wanted nothing to do with them.

I always felt happier in and out of rooms full of patch panels, cold and noisy basements full of servers and mainframes, or electronics workshops littered with tools and parts.

Beats visiting that stupid Sydney opera house any day… :D
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Re: What do you know of Australia related Cypriots?

Postby Paphitis » Sun Nov 25, 2018 10:06 pm

Get Real! wrote:
Paphitis wrote:That's pretty sad get Real.

You missed out on a lot if I can tell you that....

Never been much of an outdoors person… I once approached a girl at some reserve holding a koala for visitors to pet, and the damn thing stunk like hell so I quickly backed off. Same with kangaroos… they all stunk and I wanted nothing to do with them.

I always felt happier in and out of rooms full of patch panels, cold and noisy basements full of servers and mainframes, or electronics workshops littered with tools and parts.

Beats visiting that stupid Sydney opera house any day… :D


Al, animals stink Get Real. I am pretty sure that isn't unique to Koalas. kangaroos are a pest. They are so out of control.

I can understand you liking your job if you are that way inclined. But man, you should have visited the Sydney opera house. it's just an international icon.

Don't you like to travel to Europe? What about Greece and the Greek Islands like Crete, Santorini, Mykonos, etc etc? Greece is a very beautiful country.
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Re: What do you know of Australia related Cypriots?

Postby Paphitis » Mon Nov 26, 2018 1:14 am

Pyrpolizer wrote:Paphitis, don’t forget you were born and raised there.
Perhaps we could get a better understanding if your father was doing the talking instead of you.

For people like GR or myself who had a choice of living in a foreign country or Cyprus the choice was clearer. Cyprus is not the best place in the world but not total shit either. It’s a matter of weighing the pros and cons. Surely for most young mainland Greeks today the balance would tilt towards Austrialia.

It looks for GR the balance was tilting slightly as he managed to stay there for 15 years which is quite a long time. I think (from things he said in the past) what pushed the button was the safety of his child. For myself though the balance was clear after the first couple of years as there was too much racism.

After so many years I still have nightmares of having to live in that country ever again. No way …


The biggest dilemma with moving to Australia is working out where to move to.

The differences between different parts of Australia can be very striking and the diversity is amazing.

You need to find out what that person likes. Are they a cultural person? Do they like the nightlife? Do they want the fast pace or a slower pace? Is being around lots of Greeks important (then go to Melbourne or Sydney)?

Some Australian cities are very cultural and European - Adelaide, Melbourne and Hobart

Others are less cultural and more American like (LA like) - Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Gold Coast.

My preference is Sydney, Brisbane mainly because of the warmer weather. Others are very different and prefer Melbourne and Adelaide. But you got to get it right. Some people say that Adelaide is Australia's best city, and for some things they could very well be right. people don't realize that. People know Sydney but what Sydney makes is a good postcard. It also has its massive disadvantages.

Plus do not do what Get Real did who only knew one city (Perth). Australia has so much to offer. The person will need to get out there and explore. Don't be intimidated by its size.

Imagine living in Sydney and not getting out to see other places like Noosa and Gold Coast. Imagine not going t the Great Barrier Reef or Cairns. Imagine not going to Tasmania. :roll:

People will kill for a holiday like that.
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Re: What do you know of Australia related Cypriots?

Postby Get Real! » Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:03 pm

When I first returned to Cyprus and I’d mention software licensing, Cypriot customers would respond with a…

“Are you crazy? Nobody pays for Windows or Ms Office in Cyprus… we all use cracked versions here!”

So after hearing this numerous times I got the message so I searched and downloaded cracked versions of pretty much everything and made CDs out of them to install in people’s machines and they were all happy, until I met DT…

“Are you crazy? I don’t want a hacked Windows.. I’m happy to pay for a Windows license!”

Am I’m like… “Oh, fuck the lot of you!”

:lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: What do you know of Australia related Cypriots?

Postby Get Real! » Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:31 pm

One time an old friend who had a legal practice just off Makariou street rang to complain that his Internet connection had cut off.

I went over, looked around the office and couldn’t find his router or any CYTA paraphernalia so I asked where it might be and he said…

“I don’t have such things but I swear my Internet was working just fine up until yesterday. Have had it for ages…”

I then asked... “Are you all on wireless connections in this office by any chance?” and he said “Yes!”.

So I said… “Ah OK… it looks like the business next door have either password protected or have disconnected their Internet connection altogether!”

“And what’s that gotta do with me?” …he asked.

“Well, you were pinching the Internet connection off them and they’ve suddenly disconnected so you’ve lost yours!”

And the typical lawyer then goes… “Oh my God, and what am I liable for now?” :lol:
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Re: What do you know of Australia related Cypriots?

Postby DT. » Mon Nov 26, 2018 7:28 pm

Get Real! wrote:When I first returned to Cyprus and I’d mention software licensing, Cypriot customers would respond with a…

“Are you crazy? Nobody pays for Windows or Ms Office in Cyprus… we all use cracked versions here!”

So after hearing this numerous times I got the message so I searched and downloaded cracked versions of pretty much everything and made CDs out of them to install in people’s machines and they were all happy, until I met DT…

“Are you crazy? I don’t want a hacked Windows.. I’m happy to pay for a Windows license!”

Am I’m like… “Oh, fuck the lot of you!”

:lol: :lol: :lol:


:lol: :lol: :lol:
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