moneypenny20

Nah you just knew which button to press and couldn't resist.

fish.01

ABCDiamond

It seems I was wrong, to admit I was wrong, as I appear to be not wrong ....

Although... I may have been wrong at the time... when did I post that comment ?

Buzzy--Bee

And possibly even more interesting in a thread called "Brisbane Beaches" we have started discussing the Gold Coast in detail! I think this would give a big clue to the OP!

Brisbane offers FANTASTIC beach opportunities for weekends. There's loads of great beaches within an hour - 90 mins drive. Bribie, Goldie, Sunshine coast, the Moreton bay islands, they would be great to take advantage of at the weekend. If your main requirement is to live within walking distance of a beach and an easy commute to the city though I would choose Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide or Perth over Brisbane.

BB

wooah

Aaaaargh. You could have told me that six months ago

The Flintstones

Well, you could choose the other cities over Brisbane, but then the water temperature makes it less enjoyable.

fish.01

Apart from Redcliffe and surrounding beaches, I agree Brisbane isn't a beach place....but you couldn't scratch Redcliffe off the list without removing Melbourne. Similar commute, less day light hours but far, far warmer than Melbourne.... for most people a beach just doesn't work as well in biting wind and freezing water

Alfresco

...And real sand. It was lovely. Clean as well, no oil etc...

Sheilas Wheels

Why don't you look at living on the Gold Coast and commuting to Brisbane by train? We are in Robina - great schools, shopping and 10 minutes to beach. In Summer we take kids down to Burleigh after school - another option worth looking at.

wooah

How far is the commute? And how frequently do the trains run? Actually I am looking at the train lines now.

Here I commute for 1h45m each way and I wanted to avoid that.

bcworld

http://www.translink.com.au/

Robina to Central is about 75 minutes.

comet555

How many people realistically go to the beach often after work? The reality is you get busy with real life and tend to do a beach trip on the weekend. Or at least that's the way it was for us.

Buzzy--Bee

I go to the beach after work every day to walk the dog. One of the reasons we chose Melbourne was because we could afford to include this in our lifestyle here.

The other point that could be made here is that although Brisbane is warmer and sunnier in winter than Melbourne is, you do acclimatize wherever you are. Anyone swimming in the sea in SE QLD in winter is almost definitely a tourist, not someone who lives there.

We swim in the sea in Melbourne 6 months of the year - that's 6 more than I could in London!

BB

comet555

The other factor is cost. Ho many people can live walking distance to the beach in one of the major cities? I don't know the answer, but for someone looking to live close to the beach it's something they'd have to figure out for themselves.

Broad Shoulders

Cairns...Beaches... do you mean the Cairns in Qld?????

I would assume when someone says they want beaches they don't mean croc and jellyfish infested mudflats