‘Completely underprepared’: US expat says Australia ‘rundown’

An American expat has been slammed over her comments on the video, which has gained more than 1.5 million views.

A US woman has been blasted by Australians after complaining about the “rundown” state of the nation on social media.

Arizona woman Lauren Ashley, 28, posted a video to TikTok which compared a sunset afternoon in Phoenix to footage she recorded while riding a train on a dusk cloudy afternoon in Brisbane.

The woman has been slammed on social media. Picture: TikTok

“No one romanticising moving to Australia talks about how hard it is to go from this — to this,” she wrote in the now-viral video.

The video has since been viewed more than 1.5 million times and is flooded with comments defending Australia’s beauty.

In the comments, Ms Ashley said she had “never seen” a nice sunset in Australia. Picture: TikTok

The American expat filmed from a train the back of warehouses and roads. Picture: TikTok

However, Ms Ashley, who is living in Brisbane on a working holiday visa, doubled down on her comments saying “most”’ suburbs in Australia were “run down and trashy”.

“Most of the suburbs I’ve seen along the east coast look like this,” she said.

“I’ve been to many suburbs and most of Brisbane is so run down to me. I was literally blown away and completely underprepared.”

Ms Ashley said she posted the video to show the “reality” of Australia – that it was not always “pleasant and Instagram worthy”.

“There’s many great things about this country! There’s no denying. But I was very shocked at the quality of housing here. It’s something idk if I’ll ever be able to get used to,” she wrote in reply to a comment on the footage.

“I want my everyday, mundane tasks to be beautiful to me. I don’t want to see trash and deteriorating curbs and roads on my commute to and from work.”

In a different video, Ms Ashley told her followers she moved to Australia as she was “terrified” of the state of politics in her country. Picture: TikTok

She admitted she had “romanticised” Australia before arriving. Picture: TikTok

Many in the comments pointed out parts of Australia that offered much more for the eye, such as Bondi Beach or the Great Barrier Reef.

However, she responded by saying it was the “little things” that counted when it came to landscape.

“Whitsundays are beautiful, but it’s not everyday life. That’s a vacation. Everyday life looks very different that I thought it would,” she said.

“I’ve lived in several different suburbs right around the city and they’re all run down. The houses are all old and falling apart and streets aren’t kept clean and landscaped.”

The video now has almost 4500 comments.