Gail, this isn't the fault of the ducted heating. It's the fault of lack of insulation and very little passive mass inside Australian buildings (eg no all-brick walls inside the house). Hydronic heating (what we all had in the UK) would go cold quickly too, possibly not as quickly due to the ambient heat in the radiators.

Buzzy

If you're Indian (or from the Subcontinent), you might wanna avoid Melbourne for the time being, if you believe that the recent attacks against Indians & South Asians were racially motivated...

hmm but how r things now in there ? i mean in general do people are racially particualr ? i suppose Aussies do welcome people from any part of the world, no offense to any ladies and gentle man.

regards,

The Indians I speak to think Melbourne is fine, and the whole thing is a beat up by the press.

I am from India and so far my experience in Australia has been very good. I have lived quite a while in few european countries (belgium for instance) and also in USA for a short duration. The noticeable difference that I find here the moment I land up at international airport in aus and pass through custom etc is that invariably there would be warm welcome and greetings from officers and other stuff, which one cannot fancy in europe and USA where (no matter what is claimed) u tend to have a feeling of being looked down upon!

By and large, I believe the racial issue faced by indians and people from other subcontinental countries is among the least here in Oz.

However the recent attack on indian students is definitely a shameful and condemnable incident (in fact incidents, taking series of similar events over past few months in perspective). Probably this was triggered more so with the backdrop of recession, and the fact that indian and subcontinental students are coming here in large numbers and most of them would later convert to PR, apparently aggravates the job security of the locals. Getting skilled migrants from oversees helps a country grow economically, best example being USA. But this is a large picture tht australian government understands, but u cant expect ordinary mass (especially immature teens or youngsters) to appreciate this. Probably we wud have reacted in the same fashion if same thing had happened to india!

Good news is, with the recession coming to an end in near future (at least in Oz for sure), there is going to be a turnaround in the economy..unemployment will start reducing (take a while though)..and eventually all these reasons for emotional outbursts of locals would diminish and sense will prevail, one hopes.

My suggestion is dont take this attack etc into account while chosing your city of migration. These things are very temporary and definitely come and go

If you believe the West Australian newspaper,and who wouldn't then Western Australia is about to streak in front of Eastern States...so if you folk want to be where the future is you know the place to be.

I agree Simon

We have ducted heating and its much better in this climate than central heating. Along with our 4 metre high ceilings it is possible to live comfortably in Melbourne. Have been walking around in shorts and tshirt for entire winter. We have the thermo set at 18 during the day and drop it too 14 at night.

Watch out for front door drafts and keep doors between rooms closed.

Warm upward drafts are great for newly washed work shirts on hangers

Could be as you say a fall out of the recession bringing out the worst in some areas of society.

Just too add that these incidents are particularly shocking from white european/australians perspective as well. The victims are not seen as faceless numbers. The poor guy in Berwick this week - hes just a fellow dad trying to earn some money for his family.

How about South East Asia Country ppl in Melbourne life style? coz I've heard as Melbourne is more likely as European culture and People.

I've lived in Sydney for nearly 1 year at 2006 and It is OK for me,
Now I've plan to choose Melbourne as well and collect all information about Victoria before my decision to make, (but it's is depend on my 175 application result )

One of my big worry is Job, I work as .Net Programmer and
I don't know Melbourne Jobs Market is more or hard to find IT jobs.

So far, me and my wife don't have children and planning to get around next year, this is also one point to consider.

Any input will be greatly appreciate

Now It is dilemma to choose for Migrate and Settlement. Bit confuse of decision time

I have to say its swings and roundabouts with the weather. Sydney defo gets milder winters than Melbourne, but on World Standards Melbourne Winters are still classed as mild its only in terms of australian weather people class it as having cold winters.. If you look at the av winter temp this year (Daily Max) it was 15.8 degrees... Now you tell me a city any where in Europe that would get temps above that in the winter months? So Depends how you look at it... Also last Summer (Dec to Feb) Melbournes Average Daytime Max was 26.6 with many days over 30 and 40 degrees.... The long term average shows that Melbourne gets on average 29 days a year over 30 degrees including 10 days above 35deg and 2 days above 40deg, where as Sydney only gets 14days days above 30deg including 3daya above 35deg and .3 above 40deg...

Also Sydney gets more rain in a year than Melbourne, but it generally comes in heavy falls over s hort period of time where as Melbourne its more in showers over a longer period of time..

Sydney and the east coast is experiencing some fantastic prolonged warm weather at the moment and Perth Adelaide and Melbourne are getting lots of rain and showers, which is needed... This is due to a system that is staying put off the South West of WA, which is causing the weather on the east Coast to stay fine.. Look at 2007 the whole of the east coast pished down every day from about October through to March.... People were sick whilst other cities like Mel Adelaide and Perth were the opposite.. with prolonged dry sunny days

The Weather is very eratic in Oz and people have to learn its nothing like the weather in Europe, you have to live here for a while to appreciate how crazy it gets,, there are no patterns really. Come the end of October I am betting that Melbourne becomes dry and hot through to March... With very little rain again..
Although I am very envious of the weather up the east coast at the moment...

Personally I will stay away from Melbourne and Sydney. They are both a bit run down with old buildings. I really don't know why people want to live there

Yeah, I'd much rather have identikit plasticky new shopping strips, preferably with the same old combo of fast food joints at the entrance everywhere ya go. Having character is way overrated.

Beauty

What is your favourite city. ?

It's great to see we are all different... doubt if you will be putting Florence or Prague on your list then.

I just love the monuments to crass commercialism which are the Centros.

One Australian friend of mine thinks that as long as a town has a target/kmart or coles/safeway then you're all set!