I live in the far North and you can see the mountains when you look out of our family room patio doors - can't see the mountains in the north pwah! The North is an easy commute to be honest even from past Gunghalin - I work at ANU and it takes 20-30 mins max to get in and hubby a further 10 mins to get to Woden for his work. The commute that everyone moans about is not as bad as a commute in the UK I can assure you! I agree with the rental side of things - we were vvv lucky and have a lovely house and only paying in the $450 region and were able to increase with no increase for a further 12 months. The school my boy goes to isn't ideal however people moan about the education over here - my son seems to be excelling. In the UK at secondary school he was studying over 11 subjects which meant there was no real focus on the key maths, english and sciences. The school he is at concentrates on maths, english and science and he chooses two pathways a semester - so he is doing something that interests him. I actually prefer it and am watching my son improve every week. Not saying it is perfect it is just my preference!

PS People complain bout the cost of parking in Canberra - my recollection of the last time I parked in a city centre in the UK I paid £14 for roughly 5 hours which on today's exchange rate is around $24 - I have never paid this much in Canberra in fact OH only pays $7 a day in Woden! Not bad eh!

$10 a day in Canberra City and if you dont get rooftop parking or one of the very crowded all day parks it can be up to $20. Its a shame we dont have free park and ride like most UK cities - all day for a couple of quid.

That is v true it would be a good idea! I am sorry I still think $10 a day is reasonable to pay - it is only about £5 when I worked in Civic I really didn't struggle to get a park.

You probably would struggle now - you can usually get into the Canberra Centre ordinary parking but rooftop is much tighter (and cheaper). They have just closed the park near the university and the outdoor parks tend to fill up very quickly but if you dont mind walking from down by the lake there are usually spaces. I guess $50 a week is fine if you are on $80k+ but I work in the not for profit sector and most of my colleagues do baulk at that and I can imagine those in retail would be similarly reluctant. I dont mind paying either but, then, I am not living on a pittance.