Objectively, Australia is the best country

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

I don't personally really see any benefits tbh and that seems to be the point of contention anyway; differences in personalities and priorities. Where you see giant coastal cities with large populations and social opportunities I only see a ton of annoyance and polution, where you see plethora of animal species I only see the creepy and dangerous ones; where you see nature I see deserts and weak excuse of a greenery compared to that of Europe; where you see warm climate I see blazing heat and scorched earth. Also most certainly not safer than central Europe for example

[MarkKol]

2 hours ago, NewKidOnTheBlock said:

I don't personally really see any benefits tbh and that seems to be the point of contention anyway; differences in personalities and priorities. Where you see giant coastal cities with large populations and social opportunities I only see a ton of annoyance and polution, where you see plethora of animal species I only see the creepy and dangerous ones; where you see nature I see deserts and weak excuse of a greenery compared to that of Europe; where you see warm climate I see blazing heat and scorched earth. Also most certainly not safer than central Europe for example

You can look at Melbourne and Sydney from a plane, and you'll see tons of greenery; it looks very tropical.

You can see here how the ocean penetrates deep into Sydney like a river

Central Europe doesn't even have sandy beaches; the only one I'm aware of is in the Netherlands, which looks terrible.

If Central Europe means Germany, Slovakia, Czechia, and Poland, it doesn't even compare; most of these are very gothic/soviet style countries, I'm personally not the biggest fan of it, some of it is genuinely old and crooked like Budapest and Prague. I don't understand how people can look at those black bricks in Prague and think it's nice looking, maybe historic, definitely not pretty. Nobody actually wants to go outside and feel like they're living in medieval times.

Germany can be nice, but definitely not tropical or exciting.

I went to Tokyo last month, and the best part of the city, called Odaiba, was the one part most similar to Sydney and Melbourne. I'd call it a life-changing experience. Insanely livable, fashion and car scene unmatched, walking around at 2 am, super late night restoraunts and convenience stores.

I would actually rate the US and UK the worst in livability, with some US exceptions. Amsterdam is perhaps at Australia's level. It's hard to even think of how a place where everyone is armed to the teeth with guns and knives could be livable.

To each their own

Edited Friday at 12:11 AM by MarkKol

[Yimpa]

On 1/27/2026 at 10:27 PM, MarkKol said:

Australia is IT.

[Natasha Tori Maru]

3 hours ago, NewKidOnTheBlock said:

I don't personally really see any benefits tbh and that seems to be the point of contention anyway; differences in personalities and priorities. Where you see giant coastal cities with large populations and social opportunities I only see a ton of annoyance and polution, where you see plethora of animal species I only see the creepy and dangerous ones; where you see nature I see deserts and weak excuse of a greenery compared to that of Europe; where you see warm climate I see blazing heat and scorched earth. Also most certainly not safer than central Europe for example

While I agree we all have personal subjective perspectives and needs - and these evolve through our lives as we change - the title was 'objectively'  

I mean, I like Australia mostly for quality of life & balance. But I was born and raised here - so I suffer from SIGNIFICANT bias. Which makes this totally subjective for me also lol

What would be your pick of best country/s, objectively?

[Joseph Maynor]

One of my favorite post rock albums from an Australian band.  
 

 

[Leo Gura]

6 hours ago, Yimpa said:

Australia in a nutshell?

Lol

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

7 hours ago, Natasha Tori Maru said:

What would be your pick of best country/s, objectively?

I genuinely don't know, I could easily name you the list of worst countries objectively and everyone knows what they are and there would be no dispute there; but picking best countries will only ever be subjective. It depends on who you are and what's your personality and what your priorities are and values and what your experience was like in that country; for me, I don't like big, car centric cities with ugly utilitarian architecture and huge populations; and that's vast majority of cities (all cities actually). I wouldn't mind too much to go on a vacation to these huge cities but for actual long term living, I'd prefer more historical looking smaller cities that are not poluted and car centric. And I couldn't care less about the extra services and nightclubs and the beaches LOL parks are also in every western city so that's not something unique. What you gonna do in a park, jog and go on a walk, that's about it. What you gonna do on a beach, sunbathe and swim? Still an ugly car centric utilitarian souless poluted city lmao

Based on these subjective feelings of mine, I'd put countries in the central Europe on top; Switzerland, Baltic states and Netherlands included. Maybe a couple more I've forgotten to include but they'd all be located in Europe. Then there would be the rest of western Europe in the second place, and then somewhere on the third place, faaar below the second place would be US, Australia and the rest of the western countries. With some of the third world countries competing with them for the third place due to their low cost of living

[Staples]

I'm lucky to live there. But unless we make a significant investment in new cities and infrastructure the country is doomed to rot. 

But investments like that are not cost effective anymore. Our cost of living is already too high. So here we are, stuck in stagnation.

[TimStr]

Australia as a country has enourmous problems:

 

[MarkKol]

13 hours ago, NewKidOnTheBlock said:

picking best countries will only ever be subjective. It depends on who you are and what's your personality and what your priorities are and values

If you ask ChatGPT, it's gonna say, Vienna, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Zurich, Melbourne, Vancouver (?), Tokyo, Auckland.

It's more objective than you may think, because of human values, and they apply evenly across the board. Like spending more time outside, your personality can be opposed to it, and you'll still be miserable. Personalities are not wired for happiness. Your personality can wire you for misery. In personality tests, you're asked what you do daily, not whether you actually like doing it.

You can look at this Forbes article and see how often New Zealand and Australia rank.

Everything is expensive. If you live in Bulgaria, where life is cheap, salaries will match, and it will still be expensive. Although there is some truth to this, Germany has higher wages, lower rent and grocery prices than Canada, despite 200% more demand in DE, higher GDP, and a fraction of the size in square meters. 

The funny part is that people still complain about German prices!!!

[Ulax]

I refuse to believe Australia is a real country.

I've seen too many videos of kangaroos squaring up on people to take its existence seriously.

[Basman]

On 1/30/2026 at 0:51 AM, MarkKol said:

Central Europe doesn't even have sandy beaches; the only one I'm aware of is in the Netherlands, which looks terrible.

Due to the winds the sand of Dutch beaches stretch quiet a bit inland and form a landscape of soft rolling hills which merges with the greenery and the woods further in. You get a unique blend of pine, tall grass and a sandy ground across a bouncy landscape, spotted with ponds and wetlands teeming with bird life. During spring this landscape is in full bloom with a myriad of flowers. You can hear the bees zoom like echoing cars.

It's an invading desert that got overgrown. The dutch dunes is one of my favorite nature spots. 

The beaches themselves stretch a great distance. The landscape is surprisingly hilly for a flat country due to the wind moving so much sand. You can breathe in sand particles miles away from the ocean if the wind blows right, making you cough. 

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

22 hours ago, MarkKol said:

If you ask ChatGPT, it's gonna say, Vienna, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Zurich, Melbourne, Vancouver (?), Tokyo, Auckland.

It's more objective than you may think, because of human values, and they apply evenly across the board. Like spending more time outside, your personality can be opposed to it, and you'll still be miserable. Personalities are not wired for happiness. Your personality can wire you for misery. In personality tests, you're asked what you do daily, not whether you actually like doing it.

You can look at this Forbes article and see how often New Zealand and Australia rank.

Everything is expensive. If you live in Bulgaria, where life is cheap, salaries will match, and it will still be expensive. Although there is some truth to this, Germany has higher wages, lower rent and grocery prices than Canada, despite 200% more demand in DE, higher GDP, and a fraction of the size in square meters. 

The funny part is that people still complain about German prices!!!

Yes, those are all fair and good point; granted, the way I was trying to convey my point about the comparison between US/Australia and some of the 3d world countries (Phillipines comes to mind for example) was from the point of view of someone holding down a US/western salary but living on these 3d world country living costs; which is realistically a very small amount of people who'd be able to pull that off. Perhaps if the polution problem would be pernamently solved right in it's root (we know the ways), then I guess I wouldn't have too much problem with how the architecture looks like, nor with the car centricness (which is necessary anyway); even then, the smaller and historic cities will mantain the charm megapolises will never be able to replicate, at least in my opinion

[UnbornTao]

On 1/30/2026 at 10:27 PM, Ulax said:

I refuse to believe Australia is a real country.

I've seen too many videos of kangaroos squaring up on people to take its existence seriously.

You clearly are missing an Australia Awakening.

 

Edited 23 hours ago by UnbornTao

[Ulax]

4 hours ago, UnbornTao said:

You clearly are missing an Australia Awakening.

 

ooooo omw to the embassy!

[Yimpa]

1 hour ago, Ulax said:

ooooo omw to the embassy!

*kangaroo kicks you in the nuts*
 

[Natasha Tori Maru]

https://youtu.be/7PTvxw4fc9M?si=QdYTE8tZBjkoQabH

[Basman]

Australia is a psy-op to turn Iran white.

[oOo]

Australia has many positives; whether it is “best” depends entirely on the lens applied. Since the dispossession of Aboriginal culture, Australian identity has passed through multiple phase transitions, not merely political but geopolitical and governmental, particularly over the last decade as international power distributions have shifted.

Its most pathological feature is also its most revealing though, Australian culture increasingly exists symbolicall, in newspapers, panels, branding, and mediated narratives, while being almost absent in the country’s most densely populated lived environments. Culture is archived rather than inhabited in a way, yet this same absence is also its latent advantage, especially for immigration policies heh. For those positioned to receive externally redistributed power, Australia functions less like a nation and more like an open operating system, lightly populated by myth, administratively flexible and unusually receptive to global reconfiguration haha.

This is the only frame in which Australia’s trajectory makes sense to me, not as some declining national identity, rather, as a country in identity escrow. In an ideal resolution, one that currently feels no better than probabilistic parity, it may become the first genuinely global nation, no longer anchored to a single ethnocultural narrative, acting as an interface to indirectly help other countries burn through older national colours.

The timing of this transition has been embedded for decades, even encoded in the national anthem, though rarely read as such. It’s actually pretty humorous, the same people decrying are the same people proudly singing the very same words that detail that pro immigration is like its biggest asset ———- I recommend reading the Australian National Anthem. Mass media instead rebranded the narrative into first- and second-generation jerseys, presenting demographic succession as if it were the final chorus rather than a transitional verse which is why it’s smoke gullibles but I’d argue most if not all good people, will just take the puff of. News media performed the primary work of this reframing, supported by softer propaganda systems, sport chief among them. Australian rules football for example, once a cultural unifier became a demographic amplifier ha! Concentrating identity anxiety and projecting it outward as concerns like “over-immigration,” confusing bait and switch momentum’s. 

On top of that though the First and Second World Wars were pivotal not only geopolitically but psychologically in creating the generational trauma bond, embedding habits of alignment, obedience, and inherited narrative continuity that persisted long after their strategic necessity expired. These habits shaped how Australia learned to sing itself, even as the underlying score changed.

Australia is not self-annihilating per se. It is between stories and always was, it’s becoming always what it set-out to be (again, read the Australian National Anthem). Whether that interval resolves into decay or transformation depends on who recognises that the jersey was never the nation, the choir was never permanent, and the clock has been ticking the entire time on the change of hands heh. There’s a lot of humour in it, it would be satirical if not for all the people it genuinely wounds though which is sad. As people feel lost, and they can’t find the same grace because they’re not told that the truth was always just a puff of smoke they inhaled for existential relief they were told was “cool and hip” branded as “mateship, a fair go and Aussie Aussie Aussie! National pride”, totally oblivious to the fact that as soon as that lie was told, the lie recategorised the inevitability as an existential cancer that was going to take people emotionally from the inside out. A small externalised drip they were told was an internalised drip towards slowly deeper a slowly deeper truth the more one integrated into “TRUE Australian Culture! YEAH G’Day mate!” Until, well a lot of us have woken up now; just on different levels.

But yeah, enjoy yourself as a tourist sure, it’s ur holiday when u make the trip and it can facilitate that in many ways; genuinely.

Edited 6 hours ago by oOo

[Ramasta9]

On 1/30/2026 at 5:38 AM, Natasha Tori Maru said:

Haha, you got me - the touristy aspect does turn me off. 

But someone recommended Bali to me, as a first destination for a solo woman traveller 😃

Bali is lovely, especially if you venture off into the country side and islands. I ran into some very beautiful and healing places and people there living so naturally, so warm and welcoming, especially north Bali where i ran into an indigenous village by Les waterfall. I was there with my partner at the time, we would sleep naked on the outdoor bungalows with just a mozzie net for $25 a night and getting the freshest breeze and sound therapy all day/night from the wildlife, and never gets too hot or too hold, cleansed by the waterfalls every morning, lots of fresh local very cheap fruit and $1 coconuts the size of Mt Everest start your day with a liter of the purest water on the planet then scoop the soft jelly flesh inside mmm....

Ubud and the city was pretty hectic tho, but still quite fun for a few days to explore. if you do go hire a scooter and international drivers license, cheap and makes the traveling so much more freeing to get around without having to rely on taxi's and such. A lot of artists and healing energy healing modalities and practices there I haven't come across anywhere else. There are also some dark and twisted things too, but you know how it is  

I am considering going back this year or tossing between Thailand, especially after 2025, was a rough year for me.