warrenm2

Thinking about sodding off to Oz. I work in IT, and there seems to be a few jobs going. Which is the best city to work in? Quality of life is my measure. I seem to remeber people talking about Perth, and Sydney, but thought I'd have a vote

GC8

Sydney according to my younger brother, who is now stuck in Adelaide for five years after the State Government sponsored him for citizenship He also lived in Perth for six months and Melbourne for 48hrs (its not for everyone!), before moving on to Sydney for five years.

Simon

firesorter

Perth is isolated, Sydney expensive. my mate lives in Adelaide, on a beach, he can see whales jumping out of the water at the right time of year, oh and its a nudey beach too. what more could you ask for?

cster

What about Hobart or New Zealand - I think thats in Australia

FlightMan

Sydney is great but mega expensive.
Melbourne is cheaper, but didn't do it for me.
As said, Perth is isolated.

Personally, I'd try Brisbane. Loved it. And only 60 mins from the Gold Coast. You'll catch the Indy cars once a year as well.

My sister in law has a 4 bedroom place with a pool in a great area, £200,000.

Oh, and Canberra is like something out of the X-Files. AVOID AVOID!!

FlightMan

You think New Zealand is in Australia?

Hobart is in Tasmania, which is an island off Australia. Not recommended though.

abbott

thats tasmania mate , ya wanna watch out for me uncle chopper there ,

mart360

My sister and brother in law emigrated to perth last year.

they love it,


Mart

KiwiGTI

Melbourne by far.

Sydney is an overpriced, dirty, dump of a city. Once you've seen the Bridge and Opera House there is nothing there.

Brisbane is hicksville.

Perth is incredibly isolated and a bit backwards.

Adelaide, quite pleasant but maybe a bit quiet for IT jobs.

Hobart, same as Adelaide but colder and quieter.

Melbourne - Australia's sporting, cuisine, cultural, music and fashion capital. Much more European than any other city. Good job market, cheaper than Sydney.

FlightMan

Yes, but stay out of St Kilda eh? I saw more nutters there in 10 days, than I have in 42 years in the rest of the world!

KiwiGTI

Yes, but some good bars and restaurants there. No worse than Kings Cross in Sydney though.

cster

Jokin about NZ - little wind up there.
Most of the places are similar with pluses and minuses.
All of them a fantastic (like Aus) according to the people who live there.
Avoid Canberra someone said - damn right is all I can add!

RRH

Another vote for Melbourne

MJW

Melbourne is a complete hole in my experience. Perth is nice though. Not too isolated I don't think - its not far from Fremantle !!

Klaatu

I voted Melbourne, but currently live and work in Sinny, I mean Seednee! When I was there in 1998, loved it. For me it has a nicer more diverse culture than Sydney. Sydney is the transient gateway to Australia, so it's a bit touristy.

Jamie Oliver and Gardon Ramsay have opened (Or will) restaurants in Melbourne for very good reason.

Klaatu

Depends, NZers think Aus is the large island off their west coast, while Aussies think there is a small, shaky, island off the east cost where the locals like to play with sheep too often.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Perth a bit backwards???? I don't think so. If it's backwards the UK is in the stone age..... like half of its population

HankScorpio

And has a great Goldfingers

Steve Perriam

We were looking at emigrating a couple of years back and had 10 weeks in Oz.

6 ish in Perth and then the rest in Sydney.

We both loved Perth and would move there in a flash. cannot for the life of me see how its backwards or isolated ?

Sydney on the otherhand just felt like any other big city - over crowded, a bit dirty, one for the tourists and not somewhere we would have considered living.

Just depends what you are looking for.

boxst

It depends what you want:

Sydney is a 'proper' big city like London. So it has its less than desirable areas. It does have the blue mountains and forests on the outside and is a nice place.

Perth is sort of isolated. It is a good place to bring up a family as the city is quite family oriented. You can go and see dolphins at Monkey Mia and go Rottnest island to see the overgrown rats (Quokkas?).

Melbourne is okay, I didn't find it particularly exciting or boring, so I guess that makes it the best choice!

I haven't been to the other places.

Steve

Cocker

iTrader: (3)

Perth for me

TopBanana

If it's IT, it has to be Melbourne or Sydney. Out of the two, Melbourne is much more cosmopolitan.

KiwiGTI

I just seem to read loads of complaints from Brits who've emigrated to Perth complaining about it's isolation, thing like you'll miss out on loads of bands/shows that stick to the East Coast, or the East Coast centric media etc. Then you have them complaining about opening hours (which I still find bizarre for people coming from UK/Europe) that shops close at 5pm, not open Sundays etc.

dpb

There wa this geezer on the radio yesday broiling his hide in Sydney almost begging to get back to the rain in good ole blighty

swaussie

I wouldnt go near the damned place. Too American, too run down, too far from anywhere and too many idiots now (look at the recent riots). Its abysmal how we went from the lucky country to what its become today. We'll go a waltzing Matilda no more

As an Ex Aussie, I can help wondering why anyone REALLY wants to go and live there. Drought thats apparently only going to get worse which leads to it having massive water shortages. Crime levels that are just horrendous (well, probably nigh on nothing compared to Blighty at the moment), nothing much to do outside the cities (especially in Summer), Highways that border on being dirt tracks and its in the middle of no-where!

It does have a few upsides, Sydney is a great place to live, depending on where, northern Beaches, north shore and souther / Eastern Suburbs are decent, but expensive. Western suburbs leave a lot to be desired.

Brisbane is nice but hot and humid, no beaches so be prepared to drive to lay in a sun thats too hot to lay in. Byron is nice but there is only so much hippy culture anyone can take.

Melbourne is lovely. Lots of trees, a European/cosmopolitan feel (can also be found in Sydneys innner suburbs) and an OK climate, can get cold, can get very hot.

Adelaide, nice but small and also a hotish climate (record breaking heat wave this summer).... Adelaide set an unenviable national record today when it recorded the longest-lasting heatwave - 11 days - of any Australian capital city... previous record was Perth with 10 over 35 (not just 35 but up to and above 40 degrees). And its only getting hotter down there.

Perth, cant say, never been there. Lots of good reports about it though. I imagine it can be considered by some to be isolated, after all, it is the city thats the furthest from any other city in the world. And its seperated from the rest of Aus by the worlds second largest desert

Except for not having visited Perth, I would chose Melbourne for its architecture, feel and atmosphere. Sydney for its harbour, nightlife, parks and beaches.

Australia does have the best rugby team in the world though (or is that the All Blacks)

(all IMHO of course )

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

yeah it must have been a real gut wrencher to be knocked out of 2 consecutive world cups by some guys in white shirts from a hick island up norf

RiffRaff

Melbourne is not a hole. It is the sporting and cultural centre of Australia and is sofisticated as Sydney is new money flash. They have a F1 race too and Moto GP. Good food and wines. Alot of Greeks and Lebanese. St Kilda is fun but is home to a few nutters. Try Kings Cross though!

If you go to live in Sydney make sure you have at least a $1m in the bank. Sydney is fabulous if you can afford the beach or harbour lifestyle, other than that you live with all the problems of indiscreminate immigration and other dubious policies.

Adelaide- yes see whales. That is the most exciting thing that will happen all year- I can hardly wait!

Brisvegas- great city not too big and reasonable nightlife. No beaches to speak of inside 1 hours drive so go for other reasons. I like Brisbane. Great sailing, humid in summer but a fantastic mild to warm winter.

Hobart- a sleeping giant. In IT you could certainly be a big fish here. Great lifestyle and drives. Scenery to die for. Food- best seafood actually all food. Housing is 'relatively cheap even with a view of the Derwent. Gorgeous river.

Perth- boom town. A city that while isolated from the filth, crime and diversity of Sydney and other cities, depends what you are looking to get away from. Anyone can earn a million bucks in Perth if you are smart. The mineral and gas resources will hold the whole country together while it goes into recession in the next couple of years (please no longer!!) Weather LOL Summer is 9 months and winter is about 6 weeks. IT- you will get a job in 24 hours and have a choice.

Now, guess where I live

warrenm2

Cheers Riffraff. Deffo seems Mebourne and Perth and the ones to look at. Like the idea of a boom town I must admit. Does anyone have any pointers on Aussie visa rules. I am pretty familiar with the NZ system and I believe the Aussie one is similar ie points based. I have a degree and 12 years experience within IT, so not anticipating too many probs, although a lot of job adverts Ive seen say you must be eligable to work immediately, meaning I guess I need a visa first. Is this difficult?

GazTheHat

I'm in IT myself and have started the visa process to emmigrate out there.

I don't really know where to go either. I've spent about 3 weeks in and around Sydney and liked it. I've got a feeling it's too expensive for us though and then how much of a compromise would be need to take in location/house-size?? The family loves the snow though, so at least it's do-able from there.

I've been reading a bit about Melbourne. Sounds like a cosmopolitan mixing pot of all cultures. Weather is like here, no scratch that, nothing is like here at the minute, it sucks.

Perth sounds really nice. Isolated. Not really, we're in a rural village in Scotland, so it will feel bigger for us. I like how it's about 3hrs closer to the UK too. Beaches. Warmer.

Perth, Sydney. Brisbane & Melbourne are in the running. Probably in that order too. Anyway, got about 7m until the visa is sorted, so plenty of time. Will probably get a multi-stop flight package and visit the lot, before making a decision.

The wikipedia pages for the 4 above are a good read.

markr1963

My two-penneth:

Perth is my home town. Yes, it's a long way from anywhere though that's not necessarily bad

Boom town, yes. Not so cosmopolitan as Melbourne, probably. But if you want the OZ F1 it's a 3.5 hour flight. You take your choice.

WA is a life style choice. fantastic beaches, great surf (if that's you're thing), sublime wines (my thing <hic> )

Yes, it's shops shut too early; you can't get a meal after 9pm out in the sticks but...

I live here and I like it! (mostly )

Mark