Isn't the entire reason d'etre of Canberra to serve as central location for goverment? Wasn't it in fact only dreamt up and built, in the style of some Australian Milton Keynes, to serve as a vestibule for government? And if we kept our cockroach politicians, wouldn't the place return to the dust it was built on? You know, what with the vast majority of the residents of the area depending upon the scraps that fall from the public purse to finance their lives?

@ the O.P. personally I found it an unsettling and depressing place, about as exotic as Barnet and about as enticing as Stevenage.

If it took you less than two hours to get from Canberra to somewhere like Batemans Bay down the Kings Highway I'd be ****ing amazed. And as for Sydney traffic, I can commute from South Coast NSW to Bondi beach in under two hours.

Yup probably but they do give the place a bad name. It is really rather better than Stevenage though and developing quite nicely - we even have all the rev heads in the southern hemisphere coming next weekend for their chrome and sex on Ice extravaganza so how can you say it is boring - I'll bet Milton Keynes doesnt have such excitment

Alright l was exaggerating, but theres more to life then the beach, 2 hours isnt far for a beach holiday, many people live close to the beach and hardly ever go. You can get a house with a swimming pool.

I live close to the beach and go whenever possible. Got a pool too which the kids love.

I lived there for 3 years and in my opinion the place is as dull as dishwater.

Worse than the uninspiring city the population of Canberra is dominated by public servants - all on roughly the same salary doing roughly the same types of jobs. They all live in roughly the same types of housing and spend their leisure time doing roughly the same things (walking round the lake - there is not much else to do) Can you imagine how dull the place is populated by these types?

Bateman's Bay etc is stuffed to the gills with public servants "breaking out" for the weekend and trading their uniforms of cheap shirt and trouser combo's for their uniform of t shirts and board shorts - other than that nothing changes with the same conversations about what they are cooking for dinner, how they had a nice walk around the lake etc.

Its not for me - might work for some and good luck if it does (let me know I'll be selling a very nice house there soon!)

Sounds like that movie " the Truman show".

Yes, it's absolutely factual. At 4:51 precisely we public servants simultaneously log off our computers, stream out of our buildings to the nearest lake and mindlessly march in perfect time around it once. Yeesh.

There's plenty to do, you just have to know where to look. Plenty of sport options (can personally vouch for the netball, basketball and karate). Plenty of cultural activities for those that way inclined (I tried our a couple of choirs). Just have to actively look for it. There's a website called "the riot act" (easily located with Google) with lots of Canberra info - have a surf around there for things to do.

Reading this I'm pretty certain most of the posters have never been to Canberra let alone lived there. Whatever floats your boat though.

Yup, my thoughts exactly.

Thanks for your reassurances . We'll be visiting Canberra - our future home, for the first time in April (on our validation trip).

During my time in Canberra I consulted in 5 separate Departments - found that 4:51 log off not too far from the truth....closer to 4:57.

I tried the sports thing but found even at the larger clubs people stuck very much to their own groups and cliques.

Glad it worked for you but have to ask why are you moving to Brissie if you enjoy Canberra so much? Its not as easy to find all the things you love in Canberra (clean open spaces etc) here in Brissie.

Actually only 2 posters who have passed on their judgements on Canberra (rather than just making a comment or passing on others opinions) did not specifically mention that they had either visited or lived in Canberra. One of those posters is Australian and therefore almost certainly had been to Canberra at some point in his life (albeit a school trip) we are left with 1 poster..............

Most people live in Canberra as their relatives live interstate ! ! !

I have lived and worked in Canberra since coming to these shores nearly 14 years ago. I now live about 50 Kms south of the Capital and drive in each day for work. I have been in public service for nearly all that time and I have never knocked off at 4.57pm. I just love the place.

There is lots to do if you choose to get off your backside and do something. I never walk around the lake as I am too busy doing other intesting things. I couldnt care if the beach was 500 kms away (its not but you get the point) as I rarely go because I dont like the beach.

The climate is good, the summers are not hot for too long, the winters are cold. What more could you want (apart from those who need instant gratification) but hey, Canberra can cater for your needs there, brothels are legal over here.

Barney

An excellent point. I'm moving to Brisbane primarily to live closer to my parents (who live near Byron Bay) and my non-UK-dwelling sister (Brisbane). My two year old will be able to see his grandparents and aunty more often.

Another reason is that I'm not the biggest fan of winter, so the warmth of Brisbane is very appealing (offset against the less desirable summer, of course).

A third reason is that since I've had my baby, I get the worst hayfever (something that I've never had before, despite living here since 2001). It has totally neutered my enjoyment of Spring/early Summer here, which was previously my favourite time of year. Whatever is triggering it seems Canberra specific, as I've spent time up north in peak hayfever season with not a problem at all. It might not be a bad idea for people considering Canberra to come in late Spring or early Summer to rule the hayfever out for them.