Troood

Good day - it's been a wee while since I was on here last. Hope everyone is well.

We are still having a wonderful time enjoying the Mornington Peninsula - can't believe we will have been here a year on the 4th November. Time has flown by.

The reason for this email is that my best mate has secured a job in Canberra (they live in New Zealand at the moment) and she's keen to find out as much information as possible. I've done a search and read what I can on this site but she would like to know as much information as possible on the following. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

1) Does anyone know of any reasonable short term rental properties. They need to be able to commute into the city but have a young family so want to live somewhere suitable. (scenic, child friendly, nice parks etc, childcare facilities).

2) Which are the nicer areas to live and those to avoid?

3) What is the climate like there?

4) Unfortunately I told her about the flies in summer here - she now wants to know if they are as bad in Canberra!!!

So, if anyone can help, would love to hear from you.

Thanks in advance,
T

renth

I can do this one. Freezing in winter, sweltering in summer.

Troood

Ha,ha....is it really that extreme? I thought it might be a mix of Sydney and Melbourne weather. Did you notice the flies in the summer?

renth

Here you go:

http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/climat..._new.cgi?70014

NickyC

Agree with Renth. It regularly drops below zero during the winter and often only reaches single figures during the day.

Summer can be hot but it's not humid at all.

I lived in Canberra for two years in the 1980's. Facilities are great - loads of swimming pools, sports centres, bike tracks, good schools etc (no kid has to cross a main road to get to school - they build pedestrian bridges for them).
Everything you would expect in a government town. There are even swimming beaches on Lake Burley Griffin and on the nearby rivers, which are handy if you don't want to drive two hours to the coast to cool off.

Shopping is good there now - better than when I lived there and the road to Sydney greatly improved. Now only a 2.5 - 3 hour drive instead of over 4 hours.

Best areas are subjective. Most of Canberra is a suburban sprawl. I prefer the Civic suburbs which have some character (earliest houses built in the 1920's) because the bulk of Canberra is post-1960 so rather bland and characterless. The whole design of the place takes some getting used to - there's no real city centre just multiple de-centralised shopping malls with various government offices nearby.

The most expensive suburbs were Red Hill, Deakin, Yarralumla, Forrest etc in the 'consular' belt around Parliament House. The Civic suburbs (north of the lake) were quite desirable too. I never liked Belconnen which has the weirdest-looking 'town centre' you ever saw. The great swathe of new suburbs in the Tuggeranong Valley were called Nappy Valley back them, because the average age of the population was 2.

Have to admit that one of the happiest days of my life was the day we moved back to Sydney - back to the beach and a house and suburb with a bit of character..

NickyC

Forgot to mention, the flies were worse than Sydney but no-where near as bad as they are in WA.

aussie73

It is freezing in winter , can get -0 C degrees, but its no hotter in summer then Sydney, maybe a bit cooler. l have'nt heard anything about flies being a problem there. Its a small city, there are'nt any rough areas to advoid.

wanderingwombat

Summer is hot and dry. Think oasis in desert.

Winter can get down to -9ºC in the early am and bounce up to 15ºC on a sunny day. They had a few snow showers this year which whitened the ground for a while. The fog in the valleys can keep the temps down.

Transport systems and facilities are good (planned city).

Day trip for snow skiing. Beaches at Bateman's Bay 150km away.

As for the flies, you learn to salute a lot

WW