Leaving the whinging Pom behind.

I'd never really thought of myself as a whinging Pom, but then again I never thought I'd end up living in Australia either. Oh I had the occasional complaint about the weather, and the odd dig at websites that just weren't user friendly, but nothing (or so I thought) that would mark me out as WP material.

Then I met a fabulous girl from Brisbane and everything changed. Well she lives in Brisbane anyway, turns out she is originally from the north of England, but made her way to the land down under 20 something years ago. So here I am now, a married man, and in the process of applying for a permanent visa (currently I'm here in Australia on a subclass 300 visa, and believe me there are many days when I feel subclass too). So now I'm starting to settle, but its becoming clear that maybe there is indeed a bit of the WP in me, maybe a bit too much.For example its ok to say its hot, indeed very hot, but just don't over do it, simply enjoy the rain when it arrives. And don't complain about the crazy prices of broadband and telecoms, just put up and shut up.I could go on for ages and in fact the poor wife says indeed I do just that.  So its time to man up, drop the old ways, and step up to the new. In short its time to become a real Aussie bloke ( well as close to one as a scrawny, pasty faced south Londoner can ever become).

So I've hit upon a plan, to make this process easy as. It seems to me that there are certain fundamentals that each bloke in Australia has well covered. Therefore if I can master these fundamentals, I'll be well on my way to making the change. What are these fundamentals I hear you cry? Well settle down and I'll plot out my road to dropping the WP and becoming a true blue bloke.

Firstly there's the BBQ, if I can master that then getting out of the heat of the kitchen will be simple.

Secondly there are power tools and a whopping great big shed to be acquired and mastered.

Third is the 4 X 4 and off roading.

Fourth is the surf, which must be tamed, though I suspect that actual surfing might just be 1 step too far.

I'm sure there are many more, like understanding AFL and Rugby league,so I'll add to the list as I go, and keep you up to date on my progress. Feel free to add any suggestions you think I should also cover, and I'll see how they fit in with the plan.