I know this is going to open up a can of worms, with every body putting in the 2p worth, but that is what i am after.
My wife and I are at the very start of thinking of moving to Oz. this wont be any problem as she is in apreferd occupation.
so where do i want to live and what are the benifits?
apart from missing the great !!!! Scotish summer
I live in Melbourne and would have to say I think it is personally the best place on earth to live. My favourite fact being that I am within an hours drive from the mountains, the beach and the countryside.
Although, I guess pretty much everybody is going to tell you how good their own state is.
Sydney if you want some violence and a good ol' drive-by shooting, Melbourne if you're looking for some great souvlaki or Brisbane if you want the sunshine.
What line of work are you in? Opportunities are different in different regions.
How much can you afford for accomodation. Rural regions are cheap, things get expensive in the big capitals
What do you want to do with your leisure time (apart from drive the mini)? eg beaches, participate in sport, watch major sports, arts, restaurants, community based activities, alpine sports. Are you looking for a rural our urban environment?
Do you have any friends or relatives over here. If you do, it is better to be close to them.
Why don't you give us a summary of what you are looking for, and you will get some suggestions
Cheers
Robbo
Mods: Hartge kit, CAI, oil cooler, headers, cat & exhaust, bilstein coilovers, adjustable bars & camber plates, quaife diff, roll cage, seats, harnesses GO MADDIE and SPARKY!
Australia has a lot to offer, each of the states offering something different
Having immigrated to Sydney from New Zealand I would strongly recommend visiting a couple of the major cities BEFORE making any final commitments ... it is such a personal thing, you want to live somewhere that suits your kind of lifestyle
Personally I would MELT if I lived in Brisbane and the other half, though she loves the shopping in Melbourne, thinks it gets way too cold there in winter ... Sydney was always our first choice but only because we had spent time in each location prior
By my way of thinking, this is a really good excuse to see most of the country in order to make the best choice for you
Robbo MCS, as usual, has some wise words to help you.
Climate varies so much across our great land, and as warped said, it can get hot in summer in Brisbane and cold in Melbourne in winter. Conversely, I would bet you would love the Brisbane winters.
Have you lived anywhere else in the world with a climate substantially different from Scotland?
Tasmania is probably the closest to the Scottish summers and winters and has some of the best value for money housing in Oz, but the population is small, so the job market is also comparitively small. Then again, you may be running away from the Scottish winters.
As Robbo said, give us an idea of what you would like and I am sure you will get heaps of valuable info to help you decide.
Hi thanks for the start of the imput.
Hobbies :- well drink funnily enough, Rugby sadly only as a spectator now
Work :- I have the best job in the world ( MINI Sales), her indoors is an O.T. so any good childrens hospital.
currantly we live in the country and travel to work in the city, which is the way we like it. (more fun in the car)
Well if one of your hobbies is drinking, you are halfway to being an Aussie allready
If you like Rugby you have allready narrowed things down a great deal. In Victoria / SA / WA and NT they wouldn't know what you were talking about. Seriously, they probably would struggle to tell you who won the world cup.
If you like following Rugby your main options are metropolitan Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra, which are the strongholds.
I work in the health field. There is plenty of work for OT's, but mainly in capital cities and major regional centres. If your partner specialises in Paediatriac OT then you are probably looking at the major capital cities.
Cheers
Robbo
Mods: Hartge kit, CAI, oil cooler, headers, cat & exhaust, bilstein coilovers, adjustable bars & camber plates, quaife diff, roll cage, seats, harnesses GO MADDIE and SPARKY!
I'll second Canberra. I worked with a guy from the UK (the company brought him and his family out here). He described Canberra as Australia's best-kept secret. While Canberra only has a relatively small population (322,000 in 2002), compared to the other capital cities, it has the highest average level of education and the highest average income. If you wanted to live in semi-rural or even rural areas, the drive into town is only between 15 to 30 minutes (my parents live on a 1,300 acre property 30 minutes from town and it is nice just to be able to get out of town every now and then). Canberra supposedly has the most restaurants per head of population too.
Canberra Hospital is the major hospital in the South Eastern region of NSW and does pretty much everything.
The climate in Canberra is great, hot and dry in the summer (as opposed to Sydney and Brisbane which are hot and humid) and the winters are cool (about. -2 to about 12 degrees celsius). The mountains around Canberra generally get a covering of snow at some point during the winter and it is only about 2 hours drive to the snowfields. It's about 2 hours drive to the beach and about 3 to Sydney too. Plus there is some great driving to be had too around the Brindabella's (mountains) and other places.
People will say that Canberra is full of public servants but the reality is that the majority of the population works in the private sector. There is a growing and fairly dynamic IT industry in Canberra too.
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