Hey Tina - I note you are a newbie - welcome

Welcome Tina - at least we got the Sydney Capital changed on the Wiki page!!!!

Canberra, for me at least, is the best place to live. That being said I like spending a few days in Sydney every now and again. Partly to make me feel good about living in Canberra but also because it's good to get some big city vibe.

Oops sorry wrong thread .I thought i was getting the Perth Brawlers Page

A cross between country and city life is just what I was saying today would be a perfect combination!!! Can't wait,
As "quoll" knows we are trying to get to Canberra in the not too distant future.
Claire

We're all one big happy family now - after Quoll sorted us out.

Will you guys stop going on about how good canberra is!

(you'll start attracting all the riff-raff!)

It's really crap here in canberra.. i wouldn't recommend it to anyone!

oh btw... BOO!

Well said ...erm it's really crap here and there's no beach and erm ...well anyhow just DON'T COME!

That's the spirit.

Don't forget the cold winters and the hot summers. oh and no water and high house prices.. and and and... and stuffit!

it's great what else is there to say?!

Ohhhhhhh....please let us come over.......I am a hairdresser and I know your'e short of them.....will be working at one of the Just Cuts....many years exp. please come and see me....will let you know which one when I know!!!!!
Claire.....hair stylist to the stars

Yep, Canberra sucks. Getting up at 6 am to shovel snow out of my driveway in winter. In summer the humidity is unbelievable - worse than Singapore. Driving to work in stop start traffic - makes Sydney roads look like the Nullabor Plain in the off season. Don't get me started on the violent crime. I thought Johannesburg was bad until I moved to Canberra.

Dont forget the bushfires and the raging floods as well - there is no accounting for mother nature - oh yes, and the seizmic activity just outside of town which shakes us to bits at regular intervals. Wouldnt be surprised if we had our own San Andreas fault line going right under Parliament House!

I'm a newbie here (hello! please be gentle with me!) and have been looking for more info on Canberra. I had heard that the ICT work in the area was somewhat restricted due to the government bias and therefore a preference for local staff rather than Expats.

Can anyone comment on that?

Notwithstanding the forest fires / snowstorms / traffic / enormous crime rate, Canberra looks like a nice environment to settle in...

Cheers!

Much of Canberra's business is government and for that you need to be PR or citizen. However, not all of it is government and because we dont have much (any) heavy industry a lot of our businesses are technology based so I would still think there is a fair bit of private enterprise IT opportunity. You might want to check with Sasbear, she would have a better grasp of what is available in the private sector.

Canberra is a nice place to live (I've done it), but its reputation for dullness is not unfounded:

- You have a City Centre (Civic) that's essentially deserted at weekends,

- Everyone drives at or under the speed limit (everyone! - no big deal you may think, but it's "robotic" when you see it in action at busy times - the locals' excuse is the number of speed cameras, but I'm not convinced)

- Nearly everyone works for government departments (all IT work is directly or indirectly connected to Government Departments - and not being a citizen significantly limits the number of jobs you can go for - not having PR limits you even more)

- It can get extremely cold in winter

- The best and prettiest suburbs are close to the lake and city but are unaffordable for most arriving immigrants - who tend towards the northern and southern extremes of Belconnen and Tuggeranong (and at weekends most couldn't be bothered to go all the way to the City - hence it's desertion).

I'm not saying I wouldn't, but I'd think twice before living there again.

I would also dispute earlier comments about the "great" restaurants. There may be the odd good one, but hit-and-miss in terms of quality is being generous (though admittedly it's a lot cheaper than Sydney). Also, I would describe a lot of the "restaurants" as glorified cafes.

The average drive to Sydney is about 4 hours (allowing for 1 stop and traffic at the Sydney end), the drive to the South Coast (around Batemans Bay) about two and a half, but be aware that half of Canberra would be on the road with you at school holiday times, so traffic can be a nightmare. (The ACT's maximum speed of 62.5 mph doesn't help - there again, NSW's whopping 68.75 mph is no great shakes either.)

Other than that Canberra's great.