Down Under or the Netherlands - on our adventure to find paradise we have started out with living in two countries named with euphemisms for hell. But both consistently come out on top of quality of life rankings and are top destinations for tourists and immigrants. So where should one go to live? Having just lived three years in Sydney, Australia, now having moved to Amsterdam, NL, here is the play-by-play on how they measure up on important parameters, based purely on personal experiences and hear-say.

Natural environment

• AU: Has a quarter of the worlds biological variety and is mostly uninhabited. Parrots and kangaroos roam the street.
• NL: Has cats, dogs, cows, sheep and chickens, all genetically modified.

Winner: Australia. Hands down.

Population:

• AU: 20 million people on a whole continent. Country basically empty.
• NL: 15 million people on a patch of land the size of an Australian farm

Winner: The Netherlands. No more two day treks to visit the neighbour.

Sci-Fi factor:

• AU: Burnt out shell, setting for most dystopic cinematic presentations of the future starring Mel Gibson.
• NL: Half the country is engineered from swampland and is still going strong four metres below sealevel.

Winner: NL. Positive take-home message about rising sea-levels.

Freedom and regulations:

• AU: Signs tell you it’s not legal to access a bus through the driver’s window, please don’t spike drinks and don’t jump off the ferry instead of using the walkway. Beer has to be served in plastic cups.
• NL: Apparently no rules against anything short of murder. Use common sense instead.

Winner: NL. Unless you need the government to do your thinking for you.

Water:

• AU: Still a burnt out desert.
• NL: Below sealevel. Continuous fight against flooding. Moss grows on trees.

Winner: Tie.

Openness to strangers:

• AU: Aborginal people live in squalor, White Australia policy repelled scarily late. However, is a major destination for immigrants and allows large amount of immigration of skilled laborers. High levels of interpersonal racism.
• NL: Originally Dutch colonists created the South-African apartheid system. The Racist party is the country’s largest in polls. However, largest still is nowhere close to majority in multi-party Netherlands. Little interpersonal racism, more systemic and governmental racism.

Winner: To difficult to call. Tends towards Australia.

Beer:

• AU: When they say going on the piss in Australia, they are being literal.
• NL: European-style beers, Heineken and wheat beers. Import beer from Germany and Belgium.

Winner: NL. Easiest category.

Food

• AU: Any food under the sun in Sydney at cheap restaurants. Meat pies in the rest of the country. Watered down spices.
• NL: Strange dutch kitchen with food not usually served elsewhere. Watered down spices.

Winner: Australia (Sydney). Bonus points to NL for having their own food traditions.

Sports

• AU: Invents it’s own sports to compete in, rather than risk losing to foreign countries. Aussie Rules Rugby?
• NL: Big on good old football.

Winner: NL. Bonus points to Australia for creativity

Weather

• AU: Sunny and less sunny.
• NL: Rainy and less rainy.

Winner: AU.

Conclusion

Based on the parameters, the Netherlands is the clear winner, although Australia does strong on the natural environment-related categories. However, use your discretion and own preferences. We’ve only been in Amsterdam for one week and hear rumours that there are actually regulations and rules in the Netherlands, not only unbound freedom and tolerance. Apparently it is a question where opinions flourish. What are your experiences?

We’ve (me + fiance Angela) just moved to Amsterdam for work after living in Sydney for three years. Angela has her blog Amsterdamned set up, and have already got a nice little observation about the nice liberal attitudes in Amsterdam versus the comparatively rather stifling Sydney. We’re set up in a business suite apartment hotel way outside the centre, and after a week in Amsterdam thoroughly enjoy the true expat life here so much we have put all plans for moving anywhere else on hold on further notice.

And this from two people who’s expressed goal is to live in the tropics.

So keep an eye here to keep up on how things are going. Also, please do use the comment section to post any hints about good resources and forums for living in Amsterdam and the Netherlands. It is a bit hard to navigate..

Although the more whiny forums about dutch living claim otherwise, dutch food turns out to be surprisingly delicious. Not particularly spicy (not at all, actually), but with plenty of comfort for a hungry soul - or just as a sidedish for a cold Heineken - which thankfully seems to be a important role of the dutch kitchen. Four days after moving to Amsterdam, the following are tried and tested dutch treats worthy of trying:

• Bitterballen - Beer battered meat balls.
• Fried cheeseballs - I don’t know what they are, but they will come in a plate of mixed party snacks at most cafes.
• Poffertjes - mini pancakes with butter and glazed sugar! Delicious!
• Chips with mayo - They found a way to make chips even less healthy! And even more delicious! Also, they have a Potato War (Patatje Oorlog) - a cone of chips with ketchup peanut sauce, mayo and onion.
• Hutsput (or something similar) - nice, warm mashed potatoes with some meat and a little pile of sauce in a hole in the middle.
• Cheese and Ham sandwiches - better in Holland than anywhere.
• And more.. wait for the next note and we will find more.

Update: Here is also a good introduction to Dutch eating.

Notes about the World is back after a long, long hibernation. A lot of work and little to gain from blogging placed this completely on the backburner for almost a year. But that does not mean there was no travelling - since the last post I’ve travelled more along the New South Wales coastline of Australia, London, Lisbon and Algarve of Portugal, Norway and the Netherlands.

But this time around the blog will be different, this will be a project of low ambition posts of a personal nature to update whoever cares about the notes I make while travelling. Blogs are best when they are either actually kept up professionally or when they give a genuine personal view. The inbetween is hopelessly boring. So expect a lot of “me” and “I”.

There. Two paragraphs at the most - low ambition all the way..

Warning: This post contains pictures of a monster tearing to pieces a dead carcass. This is a long needed departure from nerdy search engines, weekend trips to the coastal towns and the German beer-vacations. This is a picture from a far more adventurous undertaking. Back in 2005 my friend Jon and I went to the little island of Rinca to see some of the most ferocious animals on the planet - the Rinca Dragons.

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The destination research tool is a quick little structured metasearch for looking up information on destinations in a really fast way. Just try it by typing in a destination above. It should be pretty self-explainatory, but it’s just a conceptual prototype/mashup now, so I’ll explain the intentions. I could even need some help to make it better. Read the rest of this entry »

This is from a really short weekend trip down the New South Wales coast of Australia. Seen with local eyes, this isn’t a very large outing, but for me most everything down under has something exotic or at least interesting to it. Actually, it might not be that everyday for the locals either: With every weekend trip I’ve done the last month, the Sydney Morning Herald has had someone create a so ecstatic tribute to the same location even the local tourist bureau would blush of shame. This trip was no different.

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