spouse of scouse

"Never confuse Queensland with Australia"
And I've no idea what it means.

That's because it doesn't mean anything, or more properly that it can mean just about anything, depending on who you ask.

All you'll get here are responses based on individual prejudices, which is exactly what you've stated you don't want. You'll get these responses based on individual prejudices, because we are all, of course, individuals with our own prejudices, based on our own experiences and observations.

Not, in my opinion, helpful for someone who's looking to understand a country through sociocultural research.

astera

Melbourne has more rainy days.

Just like Sydney has double the rainfall of Melbourne but it's still a better climate overall as it can come down hard and fast, whereas in Melbourne you'll get that all-day-long drissly crap that is the worst. Who cares how much rain comes down - what matters is how LONG it rains throughout the day.

Gold Coast also delivers more hours of sunshine per day. Melbourne only has 6 which is the worst result in continental Australia (only Tassie gets less) according to official gov't stats: Water and the Land: Sunshine

And looking at water temperatures we'd really be laughing. Is it true that the average in Melbourne is well below 20C throughout the year?

People in the UK move South. If they cannot afford Bournemouth they'll look at Boscombe. If that's too much they'll look elsewhere, but they will look south. You know what I'm talking about.

Not my impression. Seems quite nicely ahead of Sydney/Melbourne and is moving forward at a very good pace. Then again I am not looking at historical comparisons or even looking back a decade as the Gold Coast seems to have accelerated the most during these recent years.

Sydney is home but as much as I admire its beauty and all I don't quite find it an exciting place to be in. The centre is over-crowded with office drones, whereas most pubs seem fixated on tourists. Seems to be a very uneventful place in the late evenings as well. Head to the outskirts you say? Uhhhh... even worse.

It's years behind Brisbane today in every way, which admittedly has come a long way over the years to where it is today. Even the people are different - walk through the centre of both cities and you instantly see a difference in "quality." Brisbane: better dressed, less overweight, less tattoos. Sydney: exactly the other way, shabby, low-class, not too safe in many areas at night, not clean at all (trying to be very diplomatic here - others would say it's downright filthy compared to the Gold Coast), backwards beyond belief (I'm been to parts of Sydney that seemed like a time capsule, even when entering a bank which should keep up with the times).

Still love Sydney as it's what I know best and the family home, but there was no way I was moving there instead (though if the choice was only between Sydney and Melbourne then it would be a no-brainer and I'd be in Sydney in a flash).

astera

It's a bit of a social & identity thing over here, drawing lines and then coming up with differences across state borders. The best one is when people start talking beer. Victorians don't like NSW piss, those in NSW think Melbourne beer is undrinkable, etc. It all tastes the same but they love to get all wound up about it.

Sadly, as patriotic and "Aussie" as everyone pretends to be, I don't see many people joining me in purchasing Coopers beer (in my case Coopers Clear) at the bottle shop. It's the only big brewer still left in Australian hands and yet everyone is content feeding foreign corporations who own the rest...

Beoz

Ho ho ho. You hang out in the CBD in Sydney. Well that's your first mistake and your biggest. The second is you hang out in the outer suburbs. Never mind. Your loss is our gain

astera

Right, so where do you hang out that's all dandy?

Bix

Lived in both and loved them both.

If weather was the only criteria Cairns would win hands down of the two.
SE QLD weather is far more variable and unpredictable.

BadgeIsBack

Bernald Salt, the demographer columnist in the Weekend Australian says that Brisbane and Perth are more middle-class cities - they haven't got blue-collar traditions and unions and less big battler populations like Sydney and Melbourne etc. The cities developed less chaotically perhaps with less strife. The city centres are probably full of office-workers - less of a melting pot. Of course leave the Perth CBD and every man is a tradie or a miner. Exaggeration.

That is not to say there are no bogans in Queensland.

Bix

Agree with this.

Beoz

Fortunately here in Sydney we have a great big social divide that runs north south down the middle. You get to choose which side you live on

OzTennis

If that's the case, I'll have eastern suburbs, say Pipers Point, Vaucluse, Darling Point or Woolahra please.

Alborg

I'm not looking for anything particularly deep and meaningful. I have youtube documentaries and wikipedia for that. Looking for the average man social prejudices that you get in every country. But somehow it's got round to the weather. Must be a throwback to British genes. Care to add your own observations? Anybody linked to first settlers here? I hear they are like royalty.

Kim67

Call me Princess. My first settlers came here via a convict ship.

Beoz

Me too.

Beoz

Its a pretty big topic. We've done the weather bit. When it comes down to it, whether has little bearing. As a continent macro level, someone mentioned earlier that in some respects you could compare it to the US, but upside down. The deep north and all that. Each location has its social differences. As I mentioned, Sydney has its own based on wealth. As a general rule, rich in the east and poorer as you move west. And with that comes cafe culture in the east to mall culture in the west, if that makes sense. Not sure about other cities.

astera

US is a bit different, with the Blue vs Red divide shaped according to various factors. Religious brainwashing is a big one (not to mention isolation from the world or even the country at large) and dominates the inner states and the south where Republicans rule, whereas the more educated, more intelligent and more liberally-minded people across the entire west coast from top to bottom as well as the north-east/mid-west + Florida are traditionally Democratic.

Republican candidates have a much easier job because they are trying to convince and mobilise the least intelligent people out there. So the likes of The Donald will spew submoronic diatribe simply because they are addressing the lowest ends of society.