BadgeIsBack

I'm reminded of an old scene from a kid's programme I watched (when I wasn't a kid) where a character said 'I don't want to go to Vancouuuvrrrrrrrrr'. This character clearly had reservations.

Strikes me as the sort of place everyone raves about but in reality 'sucks'. Maybe.

I would say that Australia is about 1.2 times better than Canada.

And as for green, well, it can get brown in Melbourne and it ain't pretty but you do adjust and get used to it. And it greens up in March.

Amazulu

It's in a great location and has some good points, but the actual city itself is pretty average

Japonica

I love visiting it. My niece lives there, as does a very good friend. My SIL lived there for about 5 years. It's picturesque, touristy, lovely. Whenever I transit through the city on my trips back to Canada, I make it a point to stay a couple of days.

But the reality of life there is a whole other thing. I mean, during one of our visits, my SIL took us on a drive of downtown Vancouver. It included E. Hastings and area. When my SIL does her version of a Vancouver tour, it includes everything. I recall looking at the hundreds of people lying in Oppenheimer Park and I was just speechless. I wasn't a country cabbage. We have a significant number of homeless in Edmonton, but not to the the scale of Vancouver. She used to tell me about people shooting up next to the train station and finding needles in her alleyway on a regular basis. It sure takes some of the shine off the place to hear what everyday life can be like there.

Oink

If you've got anything about you, you'd stay in the UK. Both are parochial and dull places. It's really only people who can't make it in the UK and think a geographical fix to their personal inadequacies want to move. You know "its an adventure" right?

spouse of scouse

I've seen some sweeping (and uninformed) generalisations before, but that takes the biscuit

BadgeIsBack

I think part of the problem with smaller cities on the edges of large unpopulated countries is that there is no where to go for people marginalised. So they tend to end up in view. In other countries, in Europe, people can blend in, in much smaller places and across the country.

Zen10

Oui, c'est ça, exactement.

BadgeIsBack

For me, this is one of the key differences between the UK, and Australia and Canada. The latter are 2 countries where the population lives in regional (state or provincial) cities. In the case of Australia at least, (I'm not sure about Canadian populations) these cities are huge only due to suburbanisation. The actual CBDs are quite small so problems stand out.

JBJ14

I'm living in Perth aqnd moving to Calgary next month. Moved to Perth from UK when I was 9 years old, loved it as a kid, hated it from about 18-25 as the nightlife was horrible. 25 onwards it was just MEH .... like a few other posts have mentioned. Decided life was too short for MEH so went on a working holiday to Canada, LOVED it ... applied to move there and here we are currently packing to go back!

Hopefully no regrets in moving, but only time will tell. I find that most places are the same when you're going about your day-to-day business, it's what you can do in your 'down time' that makes me want to head back to Canada. So close for travel to Europe, USA and of course the rest of Canada. Here in Perth it's pretty much Bali or Adelaide for a flight under 4 hours!

Good luck in your choice though!

Budawang

Many Canadians seem to think Vancouver is some kind of Shangri-La, but I'm afraid Vancouver really didn't do anything for me. The CBD itself is not particularly attractive - lots of high-rise apartments and fairly bland office buildings. The city's best features are the surrounding mountains which really are impressive and Stanley Park is very nice too. However, I didn't get a good vibe from the city with its depressing, seedy areas and obvious drug culture. When bus drivers don't hand out change, it's not a good sign.

Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa are more interesting than Vancouver. Montreal's got heaps of character with its anglophone and francophone areas, "joie de vivre" and interesting history. For the record, I like most Australian cities too.

Japonica

Agree with everything you said.

Someone's going to come on and say about your last sentence, "Wellll, there you go, that explains it."

Japonica

Did your working holiday include January-February in Calgary? All of my family are in Edmonton and we miss them tremendously. But the thought of going back to -30C windchill, scraping windshields, boosting frozen cars, navigating icy unplowed streets, shovelling the sidewalk from Nov to April, well, that leaves me cold, pun intended. The snow isn't gone yet in Edmonton and it's almost the end of April.

I have the utmost respect for expats who move to the prairies and thrive during the winter, subzero temps and all. I tip my toque to them.

JBJ14

Yep, we did 2 winters over there, one in Edmonton and one in Jasper. Got to -43 with windchill on the ski hill. I can alwas warm up, its the +40 here that kills me

Must admit though, the snow still being there now would get to you, when did it start Oct/Nov?

Toque ... ahhhh yes time to ge used to all those words

Japonica

Yeah, they're all getting to the end of the tether now with the snow just starting to melt. The posts on fb from frustrated Albertans have been amusing. "Where is spring already OMFG...aaaaaargh"

First snowfall is often by the end of October. There's something like a 50/50 chance of bringing the kids Trick-or-Treating in snowsuits and winter boots.

Definitely snow by November unless it's an El Nino year.

If you would rather the -40 than +40, then I suspect you'll do just fine.

Shard

I disagree. I would say Canada is about 1.5 times better than Oz, and the Britain is 2.0 times better than Canada, making Britain in fact 3.0 times better than Oz!

Although I have never been to Perth, I cannot fathom any European choosing to isolate themselves to that extent. Eastern Oz is bad enough (too far from anywhere) but at least there is a smattering of beautiful cities and some density.