Moving to Australia? CP Advice Needed!

[Red Slinger]

Hey CP,

I currently live and work in Calgary and I'm considering a job in Australia. If I go I intend to bring the whole family (wife & 3 teens). The company I'm talking to is giving me the option of which city I would prefer to work out of. So, a few questions:

1) Which city is recommended between Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne?
2) What do I need to know about Australia that I may not normally think to ask?
3) Any overall experiences you can share and recommendations?

Thanks in advance!

[Byrns]

A friend of mine lived there for a while and this is what I can remember...

1) Of these 4 I would pick Melbourne. Perth is too far away from anything else, and Brisbane gets way too hot. (my buddy lived in Sydney but loved Melbourne)
2) 10 Most deadliest animals in Australia http://blog.hotelclub.com/the-10-mos...-in-australia/
3) It's a great place, I'd live there too!

[Hockeyguy15]

If you're looking to trade one of your teens for a more mature, and self sustaining individual I would be willing to come with you in their place free of charge.

Also I've heard you should check your shoes before you put them on, in the event something has crawled into them.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by fotze

What kind of weird job moves you to another country but then lets you pick the city. If where you are located is not important, why move you? Curious about this job.

+1 to this. That does seem odd.

On the other hand, (and I've only visited) but I would pick Melbourne. It's one of the few cities I've been that I would seriously consider living other than here. I went so far as to look up jobs there, but it seemed most of the jobs requiring my skillset were in Brisbane or Perth, which didn't interest me.

[MickMcGeough]

I've only been the Perth, but I'd live there in a heartbeat. Beautiful city. The Margaret River area is just south of there and is home to some of the best beaches and vineyards I've ever seen. I was there in 06 and it was still unspoiled, you could wander down the coast and find totally untouched beaches and just chill all day.

I've been all over the world and Margaret River is in my top 3 places I'd rather be at any given moment. I'd love to have that place a short drive away.

[Ducay]

Adelaide is nice; lived there for a bit; similar to Calgary in size and feel; except the weather doesn't suck and its surrounded by vineyards and ocean instead of prairies and the Rockies.

Plus, because of the way the winds are, humidity stays fairly low (much lower than the other cities listed), which is a bonus.


I think they're all great cities, I'd vote for Adelaide, Sydney or Brisbane. Depends on the lifestyle you're looking for.

Melbourne is a bit dodgy and Perth is too far away.

[WesternCanadaKing]

I've been to all those cities except for Adelaide, spent the most amount of time in Perth. If Sydney isn't an option, Perth would be my suggestion. It's remote, but flying in Australia is cheap (compared to in Canada). It's comparable to Calgary in size, but definitely moves at a slower pace. A very laid back city with TONS of sun, beautiful beaches (there are so many that they're never crowded), and the friendliest people in Australia. The Southwest region of Australia is also one of the most beautiful places in the world. All the stores are closed on Sundays though... sort of annoying.

Brisbane is hot, muggy, and the list of animals who want to kill you is long and frightening. Also kinda far from the ocean compared to other cities. Melbourne is dodgy, has Ducay mentioned. Can't comment on Adelaide.

Edit: another awesome thing about Perth: barely any traffic problems. The term 'rush hour' has no meaning there. Very well run and efficient transit too.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Adelaide would be my choice. Beautiful city that is much like Calgary as others have said. Been to that city numerous times and never want to leave. Right on the ocean, a short drive to Victor Harbor (beautiful little town an hours drive away that also has ferries to Kangaroo Island). North Adelaide is almost like a city within a city. Tons of parks, golf courses, coffee shops, bars, amazing area. Temp can get freakin hot in the summer but overall the climate is great. Cleland park is also just outside Adelaide and is a cool petting zoo kinda place.

I've been to all the other cities you mention save Perth so can't comment on it. Like others have said, it's miles away from anything else. This would be my last choice.

Australia as a whole is an awesome country. The people are just like us really. If you have the oppurtunity to work there for a few years, I'd be all over it.

[koop]

I don't know why being far away is a problem for perth.... Its not like the drive from brisbane to melbourne is exaclty short either, chances are you would fly if you wanted to go between most places anyways. Granted that if you do choose to drive the east coast is a much better drive than the nullarbor plain, but again most major cities are a ways from anything anyways, so I think the distance issue isn't that big a deal with perth. I'm assuming we are just talking about distance between cities though, as there are a ton of great things to see in western australia which a lot of people living on the east coast miss out on.

[Ben_in_Canada]

What is the job? That could change my recomendation. I lived in Brisbane (for 26 years) and would normally promote there first, but that would be for me.
Brisbane - If you like the beach and sun (and lots of it!!)
Melbourne - If you like the mountians and snow.
Perth is beautiful, but IMHO the only benefit of being there is it's proximity to Bali.
Adelaide, I've been there.......... nothing else to say about it.
But over all, Melbourne probably has the most to offer.
You can play hockey in all of the cities you've mentioned and except for Perth they all have teams in the national league.
Cost of living is on par with Calgary as is the lifestyle. (Melbourne would be the busiest, Brisbane the most laid back).
As previously noted, Australia does have a lot of animals that can kill you, but not many of them reside in the city limits.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Ben_in_Canada

But over all, Melbourne probably has the most to offer.

I don't think I'd recommend Melbourne, aside from the CBD and good eats, its a lot like Edmonton. All industrial feeling and grungy. "Hey family, weekend road trip, where to?.......Geelong? Great Ocean Road for the thousandth time?"

I'd almost vote for Sydney or Brisbane just because they would be so much different than Calgary, which would be a nice change if you're only going to be there for a couple of years.

[Ben_in_Canada]

Originally Posted by Ducay

I don't think I'd recommend Melbourne, aside from the CBD and good eats, its a lot like Edmonton. All industrial feeling and grungy. "Hey family, weekend road trip, where to?.......Geelong? Great Ocean Road for the thousandth time?"

I'd almost vote for Sydney or Brisbane just because they would be so much different than Calgary, which would be a nice change if you're only going to be there for a couple of years.

Sydney wasn't listed as an option. If it was I'd have commented on it.
I lived in Brisbane and loved it, but hardly anything of significance happens there. Most of the big sporting events are in Melbourne; GP, Moto GP/Super Bikes, Melbourne Cup, all the football (AFL, Rugby League, Soccer, Rugby Union), cricket.
I would never recommend a drive to Geelong unless you were a surfer. From Melbourne it's only a couple hours drive to the mountains - which actually get snow in winter, in summer you can also go to the beach.

The choice, I agree would definatly depend on the duration of your stay and what you and your family would like to experience.

[Sylvanfan]

Depends what you want. If you want sunny weather and a pleasant place to live, I've heard Perth is hard to beat. If you want action, than Melbourne is the place to go. Brisbane offers hot weather, and is larger than Perth. Neither of them is a bad choice. Perth and Adelaide would be a bit more isolated though, Perth in particular if you wanted to see anything other than Western Austraila.

I'm jealous though, I'd love to be able to live in Australia for a few years.

[dissentowner]

While you're there you wouldn't be able to arrange to have my ex wife fall into a pit filled with starving crocodiles would you?

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Ducay

I don't think I'd recommend Melbourne, aside from the CBD and good eats, its a lot like Edmonton. All industrial feeling and grungy. "Hey family, weekend road trip, where to?.......Geelong? Great Ocean Road for the thousandth time?"

Interesting. If I was picking a city to compare Melbourne to, I'd say San Francisco, not Edmonton. Granted, I didn't spend much time in the industrial suburbs, but it's not like I do that here in Calgary either.

As you mentioned, the food is very good. I thought it was much better than in Sydney.

[Smilt]

I've been in Sydney for 6 years now, and I've been to most cities. Can't say too much about Adelaide though, I've never been and only have 2nd hand info.

It really depends on what the job is, and what type of leisure activities you and your family are in to. Perth is a really nice place with great people and beautiful beaches. It's also big enough so it doesn't feel like a small town, but doesn't have alot of the big town problems. It's really far from everything though unfortunately. It's quite isolated.

I've been to Brisbane a few times. It's an hour drive from some of the nicest places I've ever been to. In saying that, I don't think much of the city. Not alot to do apart from heading to the beaches, its small, and I got a bit of a strange vibe from locals. Others have said it can be a racist town (relatively speaking), but I didn't run into much trouble.

Melbourne is wicked! It's way colder than the other places, but its a really interesting city with lots to do. People were really friendly too. It reminded me alot of Montreal for various reasons actually. If I wasn't living in Sydney I'd want to live in Melbourne.

Australia is pretty wicked overall though, and I've loved my time here. Only thing keeping me from calling this home is the fact that my family is still in Calgary

[WesternCanadaKing]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

While you're there you wouldn't be able to arrange to have my ex wife fall into a pit filled with starving crocodiles would you?

Whenever anybody mentions Australia on this board, I wait for a comment like this from you. Makes me chuckle each time.

[Tron_fdc]

I've lived in Perth and Brisbane (a few months each) and spent a lot of time travelling back and forth between them fairly recently. Been to Adelaide once, but only for a week.

Perth is probably one my favorite cities in the world. Loads of sun, excellent surf beaches, and a fairly affluent population.

Brisbane is a lot like Calgary was up until a few years ago; loads of migration, traffic problems, and a ton of money. Everything seemed more expensive there, and it's not on a beach (close to lots, but is sort of inland and guarded by Stradbroke Island).

Each city is really different there, and it depends what you want. North and south of Brisbane are some of the nicest beaches on the planet, and some of the most insane metropolis' around (Surfers Paradise). Inland has vineyards, and a "mountain" range. However Perth has all I would want (surf beaches) so I'm a little biased.

If I were you I would go visit them. It's fairly inexpensive to fly there now (Air NZ to Brisbane), and then city hop via Virgin airline. It's an anwesome country.

[Mad Mel]

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

1) Which city is recommended between Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne?
2) What do I need to know about Australia that I may not normally think to ask?
3) Any overall experiences you can share and recommendations?

1) Depends on your... 'thang'. Melbourne is more metro / cosmo, Perth and Brissy more laid-back, Adelaide operates in slow motion.

Adelaide and Melbourne weather sucks, might as well be in Canada. Well, not that bad, but still bad, it sometimes snows and crazy shyte like that. Perth weather is the nicest, like Brissy but less humid.

Perth is a long freakin' way from anywhere else, but if you like a Perth kind of lifestyle, there's enough around it that you won't feel the need to go anywhere else very often.

All are very nice cities in their own right, I'd consider what kind of lifestyle you enjoy... if you're an urban kinda guy, you'll enjoy Melbourne the most. Adelaide is a very quiet town, kinda like a huge suburb. If the most important thing to you is enjoying a relaxing weekend outdoors, preferably out of town, you'll like Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth. Consider city size as well; Melbourne is a major city of 4M+ people, Brissy is about twice the size of Calgary, while Perth and Adelaide are Calgary-ish in size.

The deadly animals thing is ridiculously overstated; Aussies think the same thing about Canadians living among the bears and wolves, and it's equally relevant in normal day-to-day life.

2) Visas: You'll want a 457, don't let them dick you around with some substandard piece of crap. The 457 buys you 4 years; if you dig it, you can apply for permanent residency after two.

Taxes: I haven't crunched the numbers, but gut feel says that it's pretty similar to Canada.

Wages: Higher than Canada. If they try to pay you the same as what you make in Calgary, they're hosing you.

[Red Slinger]

Originally Posted by Mad Mel

1) Depends on your... 'thang'. Melbourne is more metro / cosmo, Perth and Brissy more laid-back, Adelaide operates in slow motion.

I've kind of narrowed it down to Brisbane and Perth at this point.

2) Visas: You'll want a 457, don't let them dick you around with some substandard piece of crap. The 457 buys you 4 years; if you dig it, you can apply for permanent residency after two.

Taxes: I haven't crunched the numbers, but gut feel says that it's pretty similar to Canada.

Wages: Higher than Canada. If they try to pay you the same as what you make in Calgary, they're hosing you.

Yeah, the company is talking about a 457. Good to hear that's the way to go.

Originally Posted by fotze

What kind of weird job moves you to another country but then lets you pick the city. If where you are located is not important, why move you? Curious about this job.

It's a large consulting company that has offices in almost all of the major cities. I happen to work in a field that is transferable between all offices and also happens to be an area of need throughout the company. I can provide more details via PM if required. This started with the Australian job fare that was in Calgary several weeks ago.

For those interested, the unemployment rate in Australia is about 4.5% and they say that about 4% of Australians are "unemployable" (i.e. not interested in working for whatever reason). In other words, the unemployment is almost zero and they have a booming economy (particularly mining) and have a population smaller than Canada's.

I appreciate all of the advice.