Boring Canberra
Jul 10th 2008 | 4:57 am
#16
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 402
From: kernow
Re: Boring Canberra
Thanx Quoll, sounds just fab the way you put it
might see you there!
Faircity - The OH has been contacted by the Australian Tax Office, we first got in touch with them at an EXPO in London - he is in IT, currently works as Network Manager and IT Security specialist in a College, I reckon I would give anywhere a go really and thanks to Quoll he has given us a nicer opinion of Canberra and if we do end up there and are having trouble settling we will just nip round quoll's house for a barbie by his pool and drink all his Ozzie plonk to cheer ourselves up
Eve x
might see you there!Faircity - The OH has been contacted by the Australian Tax Office, we first got in touch with them at an EXPO in London - he is in IT, currently works as Network Manager and IT Security specialist in a College, I reckon I would give anywhere a go really and thanks to Quoll he has given us a nicer opinion of Canberra and if we do end up there and are having trouble settling we will just nip round quoll's house for a barbie by his pool and drink all his Ozzie plonk to cheer ourselves up
Eve x
Jul 10th 2008 | 9:06 am
#17
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 545
From: Michelago
Re: Boring Canberra
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
We who live here in Canberra like the place very much. It is not so full of pollies and Public servants as some on here would have you believe. There are one or two plumbers and electricians, waiters, refuge collectors, postmen, Taxi Drivers and every other employment that you would come to expect in a civilised world. It may be the capital of Australia but really it is just a large country town.
If you found it dull here in Canberra, I guess you didnt look very far for entertainment. There is lots to do and see and most of the major tourist attractions here are free.
I visit Sydney on a regular basis and I think Sydney Harbour is one of the most beautiful places on this planet but there is no way I would live there. Give me "country town Canberra" over any major city, anywhere in the world.
Barney
Jul 10th 2008 | 10:56 am
#18
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 8,390
From: Canberra
Re: Boring Canberra
Thanx Quoll, sounds just fab the way you put it might see you there!
Faircity - The OH has been contacted by the Australian Tax Office, we first got in touch with them at an EXPO in London - he is in IT, currently works as Network Manager and IT Security specialist in a College, I reckon I would give anywhere a go really and thanks to Quoll he has given us a nicer opinion of Canberra and if we do end up there and are having trouble settling we will just nip round quoll's house for a barbie by his pool and drink all his Ozzie plonk to cheer ourselves up
Eve x
might see you there!Faircity - The OH has been contacted by the Australian Tax Office, we first got in touch with them at an EXPO in London - he is in IT, currently works as Network Manager and IT Security specialist in a College, I reckon I would give anywhere a go really and thanks to Quoll he has given us a nicer opinion of Canberra and if we do end up there and are having trouble settling we will just nip round quoll's house for a barbie by his pool and drink all his Ozzie plonk to cheer ourselves up
Eve x
However, always up for a latte!!!!
Jul 10th 2008 | 10:57 am
#19
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 8,390
From: Canberra
Re: Boring Canberra
Just two days to come to that conclusion. No doubt those two days were Monday and Tuesday. Just what were you expecting, Bright lights, Live music, Dancing girls. Come on, give the place a chance.
We who live here in Canberra like the place very much. It is not so full of pollies and Public servants as some on here would have you believe. There are one or two plumbers and electricians, waiters, refuge collectors, postmen, Taxi Drivers and every other employment that you would come to expect in a civilised world. It may be the capital of Australia but really it is just a large country town.
If you found it dull here in Canberra, I guess you didnt look very far for entertainment. There is lots to do and see and most of the major tourist attractions here are free.
I visit Sydney on a regular basis and I think Sydney Harbour is one of the most beautiful places on this planet but there is no way I would live there. Give me "country town Canberra" over any major city, anywhere in the world.
Barney
We who live here in Canberra like the place very much. It is not so full of pollies and Public servants as some on here would have you believe. There are one or two plumbers and electricians, waiters, refuge collectors, postmen, Taxi Drivers and every other employment that you would come to expect in a civilised world. It may be the capital of Australia but really it is just a large country town.
If you found it dull here in Canberra, I guess you didnt look very far for entertainment. There is lots to do and see and most of the major tourist attractions here are free.
I visit Sydney on a regular basis and I think Sydney Harbour is one of the most beautiful places on this planet but there is no way I would live there. Give me "country town Canberra" over any major city, anywhere in the world.
Barney
Jul 10th 2008 | 12:21 pm
#20
Thread Starter
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 71
From: Canberra for 2 days......bored....now Narrabeen on Sydneys northern Beaches
Re: Boring Canberra
If you mean the queing up on the road to Batemans Bay with everyone else on a bank holiday......
Whats wrong with catholic schools!!!!!!!
Think whatever part off australia your in it's more fun than a gloomy, cold and rainy part off England in an over priced house.
Whats wrong with catholic schools!!!!!!!
Think whatever part off australia your in it's more fun than a gloomy, cold and rainy part off England in an over priced house.
Jul 10th 2008 | 12:41 pm
#21
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 8,390
From: Canberra
Re: Boring Canberra
Batemans Bay isnt the only option - lots of my friends have places down at Marlo and other places on 90 mile beach - not a bad drive and usually not overcrowded on the road. BB is OK for a quickie - one of my sons even used to cycle down there (but he got a lift back up the hill!!!)
Canberra house prices are verging on the over priced as well - unless you want to live out at woop woop you are going to be up for $450K at least and even that is very ordinary. Rental is going to be at least $1800 a month even for something half decent. As one of my friends has noticed too - many Aussie homes do not cope well with the cold weather because of their construction and you have to put quite a bit of effort into insulation or pay a fortune in heating bills/cooling bills.
As for fun - well, I am fully expecting my month in UK to deliver more fun than the entire rest of my year in Aus as from next week!!!!! Each to their own I guess!
Jul 10th 2008 | 2:22 pm
#22
BE Forum Addict
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 1,222
From: Canberra, ACT
Re: Boring Canberra
Couldn't agree more with you quoll.
Having turned the job down three times before finally accepting (under pressure!) we decided why knock something we haven't tried?
So, Canbera it was and for us, it couldnt have been a better choice.
We live 20 mins out of the city (south) and surrounded by mountains and lakes etc. Truly stunning.
We totally love it here and to be honest do not ever see us moving anywhere else.
Having turned the job down three times before finally accepting (under pressure!) we decided why knock something we haven't tried?
So, Canbera it was and for us, it couldnt have been a better choice.
We live 20 mins out of the city (south) and surrounded by mountains and lakes etc. Truly stunning.
We totally love it here and to be honest do not ever see us moving anywhere else.
Jul 10th 2008 | 6:32 pm
#23
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 165
From: Canberra
Re: Boring Canberra
Thanx Quoll, sounds just fab the way you put it might see you there!
Faircity - The OH has been contacted by the Australian Tax Office, we first got in touch with them at an EXPO in London - he is in IT, currently works as Network Manager and IT Security specialist in a College, I reckon I would give anywhere a go really and thanks to Quoll he has given us a nicer opinion of Canberra and if we do end up there and are having trouble settling we will just nip round quoll's house for a barbie by his pool and drink all his Ozzie plonk to cheer ourselves up
Eve x
might see you there!Faircity - The OH has been contacted by the Australian Tax Office, we first got in touch with them at an EXPO in London - he is in IT, currently works as Network Manager and IT Security specialist in a College, I reckon I would give anywhere a go really and thanks to Quoll he has given us a nicer opinion of Canberra and if we do end up there and are having trouble settling we will just nip round quoll's house for a barbie by his pool and drink all his Ozzie plonk to cheer ourselves up
Eve x
Eve - OH has also been contacted by gov for a post he also meet them at the Expo! My OH was quite shocked when I said I was coming round to the idea of Canberra as I had always said Brisbane area - housing is bound to be a bit more expensive it is the Capital!
Kind of prepare for that tho - if only we can sell our house for a reasonable amount:curse: As for the quote about it being a town full of civil servants and politicians - sounds like a home from home for me as I am a civil servant in this country and can tell you we are not all that bad!!! Let me know what happens with your OH and if he hears anything!
Jul 10th 2008 | 7:03 pm
#24
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 1,222
From: Canberra, ACT
Re: Boring Canberra
If its any consolation Faircity, I wanted to emigrate to OZ since age of 8 and a now ** well, old but still in double figures! LOL
Somehow the ship took my stuff to NZ and then bu**ger me, if the pilot didn't take a wrong turn and went to NZ as well!
It took us 6 years to escape.
Having set ur hearts on Brisbane/Gold Coast, there was no place else for us, or so we thought!
Ended up in Canberra, and we love it!
As for homes being cold...OMG, No, No, No...not here! At least not the one we are in!
Solid brick top to bottom, clay tiled roof, and REAL heating inside.
Got our first bill and it was less than our last one in NZ, which was during summer (in NZ) and we did not have heating apart from in one room only!
So, for us, we use a lot more power for much less $$$$.
House prices are not as bad as I expected them to be, depends on area like everywhere I suppose. But for a capital city, I think they are reasonable.
Parking is cheap, $2.40 for 2 hours in city! Where can you park in any capital city for $2.40???
Further more, I think Canberra city centre has been well planned and well designed, even upside down map readers like me finds my way around!
Somehow the ship took my stuff to NZ and then bu**ger me, if the pilot didn't take a wrong turn and went to NZ as well!
It took us 6 years to escape.
Having set ur hearts on Brisbane/Gold Coast, there was no place else for us, or so we thought!
Ended up in Canberra, and we love it!
As for homes being cold...OMG, No, No, No...not here! At least not the one we are in!
Solid brick top to bottom, clay tiled roof, and REAL heating inside.
Got our first bill and it was less than our last one in NZ, which was during summer (in NZ) and we did not have heating apart from in one room only!
So, for us, we use a lot more power for much less $$$$.
House prices are not as bad as I expected them to be, depends on area like everywhere I suppose. But for a capital city, I think they are reasonable.
Parking is cheap, $2.40 for 2 hours in city! Where can you park in any capital city for $2.40???
Further more, I think Canberra city centre has been well planned and well designed, even upside down map readers like me finds my way around!
Jul 11th 2008 | 12:28 am
#26
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 196
From: Was Pisa, now Oxfordshire
Re: Boring Canberra
Where can you park in any capital city for $2.40??
Jul 11th 2008 | 1:00 am
#28
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,478
From: From SE Wales to SE Queensland.
Re: Boring Canberra
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!
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!
And I am so over the cold of winter!! I havent come to the other side of the world for 10 degrees I can tell you!!
Go Queensland for me!!!
Jul 11th 2008 | 2:30 am
#29
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 16,623
From: Hill overlooking the SE Melbourne suburbs
Re: Boring Canberra
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..
Jul 12th 2008 | 8:05 pm
#30
Canberra bound
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,062
Re: Boring Canberra
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
