Australia, Canada or UK?

If your family is considering a move to Australia, I would recommend the east coast not too far from Sydney. I have some friends that live in Australia, and by all indications, they love it there!

I know a few families from EU lived in the USA for a while and moved to AU and lived there for 5 years. They finally came back to EU or US saying that they did not like the life in Australia....Of course there are some opposite decisions made by others....
I think most of the people I know tend to stick around Sydney. Wonder which area around Sydney is most well recommended?

Val

When most people consider the area around Sydney, it has to do with cost. The closer in town one is, the more expensive - generally speaking. You'd have to ask a Sydneyite about these things.

Guys, give your opinion on which place you would like to stick with by giving your vote here at the poll.....Life question: EU, NA or AU? I am sure everybody would be very interested in the overall opinion at the end of the poll...:-)

Val

the uk - am i the only person? I find teh climate a lot more comfortable than Australia. I haven't been to Canada or America yet, so i really can't form an opinion, although i don't like places which are below freezing ( rain is cool). Strangely enough, i always feel a sense of belonging in Europe, which i never get in Australia, and i miss living amongst the ancestors . I miss Europe when i'm not there but i never miss Australia when i am away.

There are a lot of wonderful places in Australia, though, and perhaps you should look around. ALso, tell us what you are looking for - everybody has different interests and tastes, so recommending you places before we know what you are looking for seems futile.

Well, I've been travelling around quite a bit including UK because of my job in telecom and could say UK is a nice place to live too with lots of opportunities especially in London. Weather and high living costs is the minus of course for me. EU is nice but I guess we always want to try and explore something new and compare. I probably should amend my poll adding more subcategories to compare such as fun, business opportunities, social climate and chances to survive :-)

Val

Quote, "Weather and high living costs is the minus of course for me." I hear you, no_id. I love to visit London, but our US dollar is worth about .50c to the pound. When I visited last year in April, a coffee and donut cost US$5.00. Bet it's about $7.00 for the same thing now. OUCH! Going in May to meet up with some a2kers. How about joining us? We'll have some Brits, Germans, and a few Yanks at this one. Should be fun.

OK, well it seems like you want good weather

Sydney (population 4,000,000)
Well, I'm a sydneysider. If you like city life, Sydneys the go. The biggest, dest, most beautiful city in Australia. Although, it is an expensive city. House prices are in decline at the moment, though. Whats your price guide? What kind of house are you looking for. For example if you wanted a 4 bedroom family home under 450,000 AU (a very basic 1 storey one in a decent area, with a small block), you may as well forget about Sydney, unless you want to live far away from the city and/or in a undesired area.

A good alternative to Sydney with still good weather is the central coast (population unknown, number of townships), located just north of Sydney, it is in close proximity to Sydney, (so close in fact people commute to Sydney to work from there every morning), beautiful beaches, hills forest, just great. All this and you still are able to commute to the city by either train or car.

You might also consiter living in the neibouring city of wollongong (population between 250,000 and 500,000)and surrounding townships, also people once again comute to Sydney to work. Also has beautiful beaches, and quite a nice setting being bordered with cliffs to the west.

Other capital cities with good weather are Adelaide (population 1,000,000), Perth (population 1,000,000 to 1,500,000) and Brisbane (population 1,600,000) (although no beaches in Brisbane, and maybe just a tad too hot).


All other capital cities are either too hot or cold, since it seems you are looking mainly at

I highly oppose you live in UK, you couldn't live in a more depressing location.

It seems Sydney won the "most beautiful city" award by some travel magazines - again. They won last year too! Friendly people, good food, cultural offerings, and reasonable cost are all important aspects of a good city. I think it's a nice place to visit, but...

Its one of the most livable cities in the world, higher than any U.S city in that survey they had.

I think you mistaken that award with the "best to visit" in the world.

Believe me, unless you have got little money, its great.

nova, I would suffer from claustophobia after the first year I lived in Sydney. Our town, Sunnyvale, California, is always voted in the top five of cities over 100,000 population as the best place to live in the US. The only problem here is the cost of living. Home prices start at $500,000 - if you can find one.

Re: Australia, Canada or UK?
Hi there,

I have just stumbled accross this site via search engine and thought I might offer an opinion.
I was born in the UK, but live in Australia. I have also lived in the US. I would definately live in Oz. I would say the Perth area (west). Why? A few reasons,
1) perfect weather, 25 degree cel. average per year. Although it does not snow here you still get to see a change of season. Summer is lovely, everyone has the get out and do something bug. Winter there is still pleanty of stuff to do.
2) Cost of living. It is a whole lot cheaper to rent/purchase property here then in the east. General grocerys, petrol, transport are heaps cheaper, and there are no toll ways here either!
3) travel possibilities, within a few hours you can drive or fly to extreem heat and pristine reefs to cold ports and charming wineries. Also, from Perth, generally it is cheaper to fly to Malasia, Indonisia, Africa, UK, Europe than it is in the East. :wink:
I know this may sound bias but I have lived in a heap of countries and cities and I would live here and do with out hesitation.

blenners, Welcome to A2K. Bias is what it's all about when we express any opinion about choice.

Nice to have new opinions. According to my poll Canada is taking over :-) wonder why......Probably it would be more precise to distinguish opinions by targeting specific areas such as probability to survive, social climate, weather and fun. I am more interested in a "probability to survive" doing almost nothing ....just kidding :-). On a more serious note I want to quit my job and join my family online business ( www.canbalt.com ) where location would not matter much. I thought working for ourselves where your home is your office a nice weather presence is simply a must :-). I am currently in London, UK. Weather is quit depressing here....

Val

The only thing that would stop me from saying Australia is their close proximity to Asia and China...which as you know is fairly well loaded down with people who are not fond of caucasians...when and if the global **** hits the fan it's awfully close.....

I spent 3 months in China, to my surprise I liked more than I expected...If you are in big cities like Shanghai or so you can probably have some fun. I liked their extremely cheap but good food and they are very business oriented people :-) Of course borders are closed for most of them.

Val

What really matters
Well I suppose when it comes down to it all that really matters is that you are happy and content in your life and family. It doen't matter where you live as long as you live you life to your hearts content and love the people around you. All the rest doesn't mean anything!

Blenners I agree with you philosophically, but....

Your environment does affect your outlook.

Speaking as one born and raised in Sydney, who's never lived overseas, Sydney is great to visit. Can't imagine living there. Too many people in one spot.

I've heard good things about Perth, downside being a sense of isolation.

Adelaide aint bad, a big canberra really, but a UK-ite would suffer badly - they usually get a month of +35 c days each summer - that's tough.

Can't believe no aussies have mentioned Melbourne - not that I take sides in the Melbourne/Sydney thing but Overseas people should know that the two cities battle each other for 'best city' status. Sydney relying on it's looks, Melbourne on food, culture and feel.

You really need to say whether your looking for city living or something else. I should plug Canberra, but I leave it tomorrow for Cairns - you'll have to search for my precis of its pluses and minuses elsewhere.

Everyone is right in his own way…I wonder does any one can compare small business opportunities and its climate between these 3 continents? I am in process of switching my regular job into our family online business type of work where location is important as far as customers go. As far as jobs and being in telecom industry I found that UK is the hottest place right now, followed by the USA. Canada would be at the very end of the queue….