Grandslam

totally agree with this

Japonica

I was just rereading my post from January and laughing that I mentioned bananas.

Bananas are off the menu in this house until the price comes down. I told my rellies back in Canada that bananas are anywhere from 9.99-12.99/kg here and they thought I was joking. I wish.

laven

While ocean is still a killer feature I just dont get it when people mention Australian climate as a huge argument in favor of the country... Just survived the second summer in WA, temperature around +40 all the time plus humidity is not comfortable at all... people are not even tanned here! they spend all the daylight time indoors or in cars.. If it was 27-32 in summer time it would be nice, not 35-40..

Cannot compare to Canada, but would not say (western) Australian climate is really pleasant.

jad n rich

Agree, we are in qld and while the winter and surrounding months ( may to september are really nice ) the summer months can be awful. Hot and humid is not comfortable if you have to work, sit at school etc in it.

Its late march now, today was still boiling and tonight so humid, you get sick to death of it. Some people here tan, but they look like leather by the time they are 40 or that boiled head look, where the face/skin is perma red. So much skin damage

The climate is harsh, extreme and by the end of summer I am desperate for something more comfortable.

welly

I've lived in both Australia (Adelaide) and Canada (Vancouver). I loved living in both countries and both cities. They couldn't have been much different cities and lifestyles. Vancouver is art and coffee, Adelaide is beer and stinking hot weather. I didn't get chance to venture much further from Adelaide but saw some of more inland South Australia. Vancouver is like a Mac user and Adelaide is like a pig wrestler. They were just so different but both with lots to offer.

Weather in Adelaide was far, far better (hotter) than Canada although the BC interior around Kelowna was superb. I found myself burning myself on anything I touched in Adelaide when I was outdoors though as it was so hot all the time. Door handles, fittings and fixtures, essentially anything you need to touch in every day life.

Vancouver rained a lot but during the summer, it was fab.

There's probably more variety in Canada than South Australia as far as activities. Vancouver was incredibly well catered for as far as sports goes.

Bearing in mind that I was in Adelaide in 2001, I remember it being comparatively cheaper living than Vancouver was (in 2008) although public transport and suchlike is cheap and excellent in Vancouver.

I agree with the post above saying Canada felt more "foreign" than Adelaide did, however as a Brit in Adelaide, I felt fairly special as there weren't many of us there (I only met a handful, if that in my 10 months there).

I would live in Vancouver tomorrow given the opportunity, but I'd live in Adelaide the day after. However, I'm doing neither and I'm relocating to Sydney at the end of the month.

Dorothy

Having lived in both, I can tell you that Vancouver is not indicitive of all of Canada any more than Adelaide is indicitive of all Australia. I hated living in Vancouver and even as a Canadian I felt "foreign". However I loved living in Southern Ontario and most other places I lived in Canada. I also loved living in Adelaide, which is very different to Perth where I don't love living so much. And I imagine Adelaide is different to Sydney or Melbourne or Brisbane or Darwin or Outer Whoop-Whoop.

Both Canada and Australia are such enormous countries that it's impossible to sum up the entire country in just one city.

welly

I completely agree with you, but I'm just sharing my experience based on the two cities I lived in I ain't got anything more than that!

Dorothy

No, I wasn't arguing with you. Just saying that when people want to compare living in Canada with living in Australia they have to understand just how varied both places are.

fish.01

A Canadian explained to me that that if you slice the USA and Canada into vertical slices you find more threads of commonality than within Canada itself. So west coast Canada and west coast USA have more in common, as do Canadian prairies with USA down to Texas as do the large eastern canadian cities with old USA on the east coast. Makes sense I guess. When I saw the belt buckles north of Calgary I could see what he meant.

GreenMan72

For me it is a no brainer - I would much rather live in Australia than Canada.
It comes down to prioritisation of your core values.

Climate has a massive weight on my general wellbeing. I love the outdoors plus sun and warmth for me is a happy drug.

Since we've moved here, lots of opportunities have opened up. I now swim regularly at the beach and rock pools and can do this most months of the year. I also run and walk a lot more. As a consequence, I have lost weight and feel considerably younger.

Canadian climates for me are either too wet, cold, overcast or unliveable depending on the location. A friend of mine in Toronto was explaining to me how long it took her to get ready to go out in the winter months.

Maybe my view is simplistic and yes, Australia can be expensive, TV is drab with in-your-face commercials, but it has everything we need. Ironically due to the poor TV options, I now read at night and have rediscovered my love of books .

I've spent too much of my life already in cold and dark climates which never suited me at all.

Everyone is different - I know people that detest the heat and sun, but it works for me. I can understand entirely why some people prefer Canada as well. The only downside is I am stuck in an office 40 hours a week, but I enjoy my job and always get outside at lunchtime.

flat to the mat

Ha Ha Ha,it always takes women a long time to get ready to go out,any country,any time of year.
We live in Saskatchewan, Western Canada(prairie) and love it.How many of you guys know where it is ? Not many would be my guess.Getting pretty fed up with winter now,it's been a long one and is still hanging on,but next month we'll all swap our skidoos for convertibles and boats for six months,and the only down side of a long hot summer will be the mosquitos ,no spiders or venomous snakes.
Vancouver is apparently the number one city to live in worldwide,but for me the climate is too much like Britain,ie damp and cold.We have extreme cold down to the minus 40's and below,but are the sunniest Province which does help.Any of you lot imagine being outside in a t-shirt at minus 20? You can here,on the other side,in mid winter you can through a boiling cup of water into the air and it'll come down as snow. Each to there own I guess.

GreenMan72

Climate aside, I am a big advocate about Canada . I haven't been to Saskatchewan but keen to do a decent road or train trip there one day.

I cannot imagine anything below -15C (that was pretty nasty). Would like to at least experience it once for the novelty factor

Japonica

My relatives live in Ft.Qu'Appelle, and a bunch of tiny little towns near the MB/SK border, so I know the area oh so well. I've been in Regina when the temp was -40 without the windchill (-53 with windchill). And I've lived in Edmonton and area for most of my life, so I know all about prairie winters with freezing temps but bright blue skies.

It is indeed to each his or her own...yes, some of the summer days can be pretty miserable here (most recent ones that come to mind were the ones in Feb where we didn't get the Freo Doctor but hot easterlies instead...ugh...nothing like 38C and walking through hot air like it's right out of a tumble dryer) but still, we'll take that over almost 6 months a year of snow and freezing temps.

It's the old "too hot vs. too cold" argument and it's totally dependent on personal tastes and perspective...

GreenMan...summer in Saskatchewan is glorious (aside from the mozzies)...long nights, camping, pow-wows and festivals (*drooling over bannock*)...I used to visit the rellies all the time and see as much of the countryside as I could...and if you're a history buff at all, the area is rich in landmarks and important places...

Japonica

As much as it pains me (LOL), that does have some truth to it. Alberta has more in common with those states (yes, even Texas) than say Nova Scotia...

debs1966

Hi

Talking from experience I would have to say Australia was for me. We went out to Toronto in October of last year and the place did not do it for me at all.

From being a young girl I had always had vision of wanting to emigrate to Canada and I was somehow disappointed.

The city is was excellent i.e. the museums etc and Niagra Falls was abit like Blackpool but it was a little boring looking round certain suburbs and rather flat in places.

Although I have to say the Candadians were on the whole very friendly people.

But on when I landed in Perth its just felt intuitively right for us both my partner and I felt the same having come back from a Canada and we both turned round to each other and said had we been going to do a reccie to Canada then we most certainly would not be applying for a visa to live there.

Sorry to sound negative but that it just my views thats all the other side of Canada i.e. Vancouver may have been better but unfortunately I didnt get the chance see this side.

Debbie