BootsnAll's Travel Community

well its been a while, but its that time of year again,...winter in montreal...im buried in school books and dreaming of travelling.

so i'm thinking of going to work in australia next november. i'm trying to figure out where to live. i do love the excitent of a big city and being able to explore lots of interetsing neighborhoods and whatnot, also i'm pretty sure i need to be by the ocean....i would like to be able to save some money while im there...im also looking for the australian city with a young vibe and cool music scene.

can anyone help me out and give me some suggestions? i was thinking of brisbane? whats brisbane like?

Brisbane is OK, considered to be a bit quiet by some and not exactly by ocean.
I had occasion to be there through a summer couple of years ago and it gets very humid being up the Brisbane river a bit missing sea breezes and latest news is that Brisbane/SE qld. is in dire straits with water supply as is a lot of Australia at moment.

To be living in a capital city and on ocean you only really have Sydney or Perth, Adelaide still with a big sea front in a gulf and Melbourne on a bay but still good.

Well Nick,I am a born and bred Sydneysider but I will try to give you an objective opinion. I have not been to Brisbane for about 20 years so I may be totally out of touch with what goes on North of the Border.I imagine Brisbane is cheaper than Sydney or Melbourne. Generally the further north you go in Australia the more sun you get and the more different the life style: more outdoors as opposed to indoors. Melbourne is very European and arty with more of a cafe/ bar/ restaurant culture (especially in winter).It has lots of great food, theatre and music scene and licensing laws that mean that any old corner store can double as a bar. If you were to live by the ocean you would be in St Kilda which is very alternative and arty, although to be honest most Sydneysiders would sneer at the beach itself. Sydney on the other hand is very big, busy and often polluted. House prices and rents are more expensive with anywhere near the ocean pretty pricey. I have a love/ hate relationship with it because it is harmonious and multicultural one minute and aggressive and overcrowded the next. Even if you are renting in the inner suburbs you will be only 20 minutes away from some great beach which can have no one on it some days and be a bugger to get a parking space on others. The truly great thing about Sydney is how you can be almost in China or Vietnam one minute and Lebanon or Italy the next. There are suburbs where alot of immigrants from the same community live and it reminds you just how many people come here. Thats my favourite part, how diverse it is. And you do get some amazing culture and music as a result. Hope you find inspiration from this.

I live in the Melbourne area and carrienations sums up Melbourne very well. It is very cultural city with a lot going on. The city definitely has a great music scene. The greatest rock band ever ACDC is from Melbourne. Melbourne also has a good transportation system and is easy to get around.

Sydney definitely has Melbourne beat with it's beaches but you can drive an hour down the road to Torquay where it is a surfing mecca with its great beaches and surf there. Melbourne is also very multi-cultural just like Sydney with large neighborhoods of Greeks, Italians, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc. Plus depending on your budget, Melbourne is much more affordable place to live compared to Sydney.

If you are looking to escape the Canadian cold though don't come to Melbourne. It does get chilly down here in the winter.

well...thanks for replying everyone!.....it looks like there are lots of pros and cons to each city. escaping the montreal winter is definately one of my biggest priorities, with that in mind i will be arriving in australia in mid october, which means it will be coming into summer.....so melbourne should be pretty warm for a few months right?

i seem to be leaning towards melbourne because of the arts culture and european -ness you speak of.....but i do still love the idea of a giant city and nice beaches..ideally id like to be able to walk and jog on the beach, so if i could live close to one that'd be amazing........i guess its comparable to montreal and toronto...toronto is bigger,more new yorkish but montreal is more laid back artsy town.....heumm....choices choices...

I am not sure whether it was Sydney people that started it but a joke about Melbourne is that if you do not like the weather then wait five minutes (for a change).

I have spent time in both and Melbourne does get cooler weather in winter, wet and blustery springs (October,). There would have to be great climate change for it to get as cold as Montreal, Ottowa, NY, and rarely any snow and then not much on ground other than up in distant higher country (for only a few days) maybe every ten years.

The joke I suspect relates to their summer when it is known that you can have 40C and 20C in same day with a southerly change but very refreshing I suspect in those circumstances while Sydney can swelter.

Melbourne does have some great areas, festivals, Sporting Capital for major world events, hills country and wineries all very accessible along with reasonable bay beaches and ocean beaches further afield.

Go for Melbn! i lived in the surrounding area for 8 years up until 1996 (which makes me biased), i went back in 2005 for half a year and i also went to Sydney for the first time, Melbourne is alot more layed back and the people tend to be friendlier towards foreigners, Sydney wins on the beach front, But Melbs wins when it comes culture and music and allround livableness and with Wilsons prom and the Great ocean road within a few hours drive you really can't go wrong. Even though the weather is very uninteresting in the winter Melbourne is still the most livable city in my eyes. Brisbane is nice, especially weatherwise but alot less interesting for longer periods. Good luck making a choice, it'll be a hell of an experience wherever you end up.

GO THE HAWKERS!!

thanks skipp! i'm pretty settled on melbourne, but when winter comes i think i'll head north.....hopefully find some people who want buy an old wreck and drive across the country! cheers!

Hey,

I've been to australia a few times now and have been to Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns (as well as a lot of towns in between).

I defo think you are on the right track by spending summer in Melbourne and then heading up north for the winter.

In terms of Melbourne there is a nice suburb not far out of the city called St Kilda which is very nice. It sits by the sea and has a nice beach front as well as lots of locally run restaurants and bars....chains stores dont seem to be welcome...they opened a Wagamamma noodle house on Fitzroy street and I dont think it even lasted a year! Of course the problem with St Kilda is the cost, its not the cheapest area to live by a long stretch.

As for northern areas, Brisbane is nice but as someone has already mentioned can be considered a bit quiet. Personally I prefer Cairns as it has easier access to places like Cape Tribulation, Port Douglas and Airlie beach which are all nice. Cape TRib I especially love as its in the rainforest and well worth a trip there if you are basing in Cairns. When I'm in Oz I tend to stay for a good few days each time.

If you can stand the humidity darwin is also very nice and has a lovely waterfront

Whatever you decide to do you'll have a great time. Australia is one of the friendliest countries I've been to and everyone is so much more relaxed!

Cheers

Chris

quote:

Originally posted by Outback Dobbs:
The city definitely has a great music scene. The greatest rock band ever ACDC is from Melbourne.

Technically,, AC/DC got their start in Sydney...Bon Scott joined the band in Melbourne.

Firther trivia.

In fact the Young boys were Scottish immigrants and their parents emmigrated to Sydney when they were school aged.

Elder brother George Young was a member of the easybeats a sydney band in the 60's.

Angus Young attended Asquith Boys High School around the same time that Mel Gibson did.

Cheers
MH

Oh, that makes me want to live in Melbourne now. Hands up all you Sydneysiders who have fantasised about living in Melbourne? I would do Melbourne in Summer also, and then head north. However my fiance lived in Melbourne for 6 years and said that Melbourne gets stinking hot in summer. Much hotter than Sydney. And, yes, Melbourne is cheaper, because at the moment in Sydney we have what the newspapers call a "Rental Crisis", which means that some ugly, stinking dive in the inner city will cost a fortune but have about 2 dozen people throwing money at a real estate agent and offering even more money in order to secure the place. Think I'm exaggerating? No way!!! Some of my friends have had these experiences recently. Bummer!!!

Having been "born and bred" in Melbourne I suppose you could call me biased, but Melbourne really is a more livable city than Sydney. Have been to Sydney many times(a family member works there), and although it's a great place to visit, I wouldn't want to live there!

Yes the Harbour is beautiful, the ferries are great fun, but the city is spread out like a rabbit warren. Seems to take ages to get from one spot to another. Very easy to get lost. Melbourne, being a "planned city" is built on a grid, it's a;most impossible to get lost in it. Also, publuc transport is VERY expensive unless you have a pension card. Melboutne's public transport is not only a hellava lot cheaper, but much better too.

Carrienations is partly correct in saying "Melbourne gets stinking hot in summer", but I wouldn't say it was much hotter than Sydney. Sydney also gets "stinking hot" in Summer and the humidity is higher. At least with Melbourne you always get a "cool change" every few days- the South-Westerlies.

If your'e in Melbourne late October you simply must go to the Melbourne Cup, the richest and most prestigious horse race in Australia, perhaps even in the world. So many international visitors come for "Cup Week". The Cup is always held on the first Tuesday in November at Flemington Racecourse and there are special "Melbourne Cup" trains running which deposit you right at Flemington racecourse. A champagne breakfast is held in the early hours, in fact many young people alamost seem to arrive the night before, often dressed up in funny hats and/or outraqgeous clothing with a bootload of grog (alcohol).

The weather in Melbourne is still hot until the end of about March. It was 33degrees celsius yesterday that's around 92 F We had a pleasant balmy night today is 25C or about 76F.

Melbourne never has snow and is cooler than Sydney in winter. Head up to QLD for winter. Surfers is great to visit
plenty of action and non-stop entertainment. Nightclubs every night until the wee hours. A word of advice though, stay north of Cavill Avenue, much safer. the south part is pretty dingy. Oh and stay clear of Peninsular Drive or Wheelers Avenue- they keep changing the name of the street doe to its reputation.
Cheers.


Have a nice day, Whistler.


If you can keep a sense of humour and see the funny side of life, you will never be old. SMC.

Since I'm from Canberra (in between Sydney and Melbourne) I can give a totally objective unbiased opinion *cough* no, really...

Anyway, my vote is for Melbourne. It really does sound like it suits the OP's criteria the best. Sydney does lose points for the current lack of rental properties, as mentioned above, and personally I find Sydney less comfortable to be in and the public transport is a million times worse than in Melbourne.

The living-near-the-beach criteria would suggest Sydney would be better, but remember that unless you're pretty rich you're most likely not going to end up actually living near the beach anyway... and while the water is colder down south, places like Bells beach aren't too far out of town for the surfer in you (just don't try to do the Great Ocean Road during holiday periods, it turns into the Great Ocean Traffic Jam) and if you're just into walking/jogging then as mentioned above St Kilda would probably suit your purposes. Phillip Island is also not too far to go for a weekend beach trip as well.

The main reason I wouldn't suggest Perth is simply that you'd be so far away from everywhere else that you're likely to want to see. But do try to get over there for a visit at some point, it's a very nice place and does have a great music scene at the moment.

I've never been to Adelaide or Hobart, find Brisbane kinda boring (sorry, but I do...) and while Darwin is quite nice it does lose points for monsoonal weather and being a long way away from everywhere else.

I think I should stop procrastinating and do some work now...

Ickis is correct about Darwin. The best (and only) time to be in Darwin is in the dry season -end of May until end of September. The wet season is very , very humid and as the name suggests- very, very, wet. The weather is also very unpleasant. Friends who lived there for several years said it is known as 'suicide season'.

Adelaide is really boring, apart from Kangaroo Island, Barossa Valley and Glenelg(a beach suburb), there is nothing to do or see.


Have a nice day, Whistler.


If you can keep a sense of humour and see the funny side of life, you will never be old. SMC.