Having planned to come to Canberra for the past 3 months.....i have lasted 2 days....it is dull and boring.....i know i should probably give it more time but first impressions and all that and i just feel i am in a dull american city in the middle of nowhere!!! were heading back to sydney today to reconsider our options

Hi
Never been to Canberra so cant comment really but hope the rest of your trip gets better

Really? I cant for the life of me see why anyone would think it dull and boring All depends what you want out of a place I guess. Sorry you arent liking it!

Canberra is the nation's political capital, chock full of politicians and civil servants. Just how exciting did you expect it to be?

I imagine it's like living in a perpetual committee, with no toilet breaks.

Oh no, we do get loo breaks and latte breaks and brainstorm breaks and ciggie breaks

Obviously the OP hasnt been to Charnwood on a pension pay Friday night - all the excitement any normal person could ever dream of

Edited to say - I do take offence at the dull AMERICAN city - wah? Dull, probably, city, definitely, in the middle of nowhere, yup, but American nope.

How offensive.....'idea showers' please. Tsk.

Mea culpa and me from the home of PC too

As they say in fyshwick you have to 'suck it and see' .Small country town with flourescent lights, and plenty money floating about, and no traffic probs. will take you longer to cross Sydney than to drive from Canberra-Sydney.
Good luck with your journey

With all that porn, pot and fireworks, how could it be boring?


Or maybe that's why they have all that porn, pot and fireworks

exaclty... fireworks at home in canberra

canberra is a wonderul and beautiful place to live..

heaps to do also.

I like my 15 minute commute in Canberra ... a 1 hour plus each way in sydney gets pretty boring and annoying after a while..

if ysomeone doesn't like the outdoors, art galleries, no traffic, low crime, plentiful public facitilies, low pollution levels, decent schools, day trips to the snow etc.. then maybe canberra wasn't for the person who started this thread..

each to their own i guess..

Have found a cool rental in Northern Beaches
Loving Sydney and i think my 2 boys are enjoying being 5 mins from the beach
Canberra made me and my wife feel depressed

my OH might be offered a post in Canberra what is the cost of living like?? Can you recommend any nice subarbs/schools??? Canberra was never really an option but if it is where the work is then we are willing to consider it - any advice will be great!!!

My OH too!

Not sure about Canberra myself either, I suppose its just not the coastal life I dreamed of!!! But I'd give it a go anyway, it sounds quite idealilic really,just have to settle with a big Pool.

eve x

hi eve - glad someone else is feeling the same as me - where is your OH being offered a post?? It isn't what I was looking for either I am with you more the coastal life I was looking for and not too sure how my 12 year is going to take it that this may not be what we are going for!!!

The coast is just 100km away and Canberrans tend to flock there in the holidays and occasionally at weekends. In reality it is not that much further than you have to travel from Brisbane or Melbourne for top quality surf beaches. We also have the added advantage of being a couple of hours from the snow fields as well in the winter.

My version of a good suburb may not be yours. Personally I dont much like the soul-less new build suburbs which tend to be big houses on small blocks. My preference is for the inner suburbs - all depending on how deep your pockets are - Reid, Campbell, Yarralumla, Forrest, Red Hill (parts of), Griffith, Ainslie, Hackett, Aranda are all ones that spring to mind as being nice suburbs, well established, reasonable houses - in parts - and all within easy access of the city. The rental market here is tight and the sales are plateauing at the moment but they keep on saying they are getting better - www.allhomes.com.au is the place to check them out.

Schools are up and down and there are one or two to avoid but generally much of a muchness. About 50% of high school students actually go to private schools, mainly systemic Catholic, and that is something to consider.

Weatherwise we have it good - well, today was a bit of an aberration at only 5C but usually in the winter it gets up over 10C and is always sunny (not today). We dont get nearly enough rain which is fine if you dont like rain but it does mean we have water restrictions.

Lots of pools here - big swimming pools that is, actually, fewer homes with pools than there used to be - what with water restrictions and the hard work in maintaining them people are just not as interested in pools as they were a few years ago they go to the public pools instead. Lots of sporting activities for kids, a range of artistic type endeavours, usually a music program (band) in pretty much every school, quite a few horses on the outskirts. We also have several lakes and sailing and rowing are quite big as is waterskiing (on the river).

You could do much worse!