bencoles

We've been living in Canberra for 5 years now having moved here from Canada. I'm surprised that so few migrants consider Canberra as a viable option. Not being a great fan of big cities, Canberra suits us just fine. Here is a list of things I like about Canberra:
1. Fairly small, easy to get around.
2. Clean air.
3. Beautiful environment (I can see wooded hills with kangaroos bounding across them from my house).
4. In less than 3 hours you can get to Sydney, beautiful unspoilt beaches or the ski slopes.
5. Lots of well paying jobs (highest average incomes in Australia).
6. Most educated population in Australia.
7. Good public schools.
8. More than its fair share of galleries, museums and cultural events.
9. Good climate (in my opinion). 4 distinct seasons but generally dry and sunny. Autumn is a fantastic time of year with warm days, crisp nights and beautiful colours.
10. Heaven for sports enthusiasts with bicycle paths everywhere, great facilities (kids learn to swim at the Australian Institute of Sport) and lakes for sailing etc, etc.
11. Loads of business opportunities servicing the affluent population.

Of course there are a few negatives like it can be hard to make friends due to the transient population and it's not a cheap place to live either. However, having lived in 8 countries I can say that the standard of living here is right up there with the best.

C&R

I remember liking Canberra when we went there whilst travelling round Oz. But I think we felt it was rather - institutionalised. What other countries have you lived in?

bencoles

Countries I have lived in: Canada, UK, France, Switzerland, Cameroon, Ireland.

pomref

I would like to make an important point about employment in Canberra most jobs about 80 percent are for government departments, even in the local papers it says you must have AUSTRALIAN CITIZENSHIP and wont employ you.

Its got no industry here and even all the trucks come up from Sydney to sir-ply Canberra, unless you are in a government type job its a better place to come to once you have lived here and got your Australian Citizenship its not a good city to start if your a new migrant.

>Trigger<

Ahh Canberra.....waste of a good sheep station!!

BadgeIsBack

Having seen the acreage that scutterUK has bought 30mins from Canberra I reckon Canberra could be one of the best kept secrets in Australia!

bencoles

Less than 50% of jobs are with the Federal Government. That still leaves a lot of other employment possibilities. Tradesmen and builders do really well here and often make more money than Public Servants. Average per capita income is around 45% higher than the national average. Unemployment is a mere 3.3%.

ANU is Australia's best university according to a recent international comparison. The ANU was ranked 16th in the world by the Times Higher Education Supplement. School kids get some of the world's best results in standardised literacy and numeracy tests. Just about all social indicators put the ACT ahead of anywhere else in Australia. Men in the ACT live 1.8 years longer than the national average.

thribble

Perhaps all of this is true. However, when we were travelling round we hated Canberra, and if it left that impression on us, then perhaps people considering living there and going for a visit would be put off. I found it impossible to get around unless you drove - walking was right out due to the hikes we had to do to get between places. When we did drive we got incredibly lost as every road looked the same, and seemed to take us to the same place.
It took us an hour to find our hotel, and when we did finally check in and go out to find something to eat, we discovered that, for a supposedly large city, the choice of places to go out was surprisingly small. We were staying right in the centre of Civic, which I would expect to be the hub.

I'm not saying Canberra is like that, don't get me wrong. I'm just suggesting that perhaps first impressions can be misleading, but sometimes they're all we've got to go on.

Jonahs_mummy

My brother lived in Canberra for a while & he wasn't keen. Having lived 80% of his life on the Gold Coast he found Canberra cold.

YoSemite

have spent a lot of time in canberra (more than i have in brisbane) and I liked it...

Have 19 (soon to be 20) family members in canberra. only 3 below working age, and only 1 of them works for the government, tho to be fair 3 of them work for my cousins internet company.

Only thing that put me off canberra was the fact that my family could pop round whenever they wanted! at least being in brisbane they have to call before the can fly up!! ;-)

bencoles

I agree that first impressions of Canberra aren't always good. One of the reasons is that it is quite different to a conventional city. It is easy to get lost if you're not used to the way the roads are laid out. It doesn't have one center but rather has several so Civic does seem very quiet after hours. There's more happening in places like Kingston, Manuka and Dickson. However, Civic is undergoing a massive re-development so all that is about to change. It's an ideal city for bikes but is a bit too spread out to easily walk between attractions. Personally I didn't like the place for the first 2 years but now really appreciate what it has to offer. Making friends here certainly helps. I still love going to Sydney or Melbourne occasionally for a taste of what a real city is like.

Wol

Sounds just like Luxembourg, which has the highest average earnings in the "EU", as befits those who spend all their time dreaming up ways to hinder everyone else.

One of the main reasons we left the UK - so why go and live in the same environment again? <g>

scutterUK

shhhhh!!!!! don't tell everyone! jeeezz!

i have to agree though. it's pretty dam fine here.

there are a lot of government jobs around canberra, but it depends on what you do. it's a big city..well ok biggish. if you're in one of the main trades then you'd find it just as easy to get a job here as anywhere. if you're a full time beach bum, then yeah, i could think of better places to go.

personally the whole area has so much to offer, i think people are crazy not to consider it. it makes me laugh when i see a poll on here asking where you're heading to and canberra very rarely features on the list.... it's fine with me though! all you guys can have your sydneys and your melbournes, i'll take canberra any day!

sasbear

WTF - tell my hubby then - he has been driving a truck since he arrived and never out of Canberra.!!!!!!

No industry - there are at least 3 industrial estates that I know about!!!!

Canberra is BEAUTIFUL and one of the safest cities in the WORLD.

We moved out here from the UK and found work quite easily.

Granted there are a lot of public servant jobs - erm....that is because it is the capital!!!??

Don't knock Canberra - it is absolutely gorgeous - there are that many things going on here for entertainment - you would be hard pushed to fit everything in.

BadgeIsBack

I went on a business trip there once, and got picked up by the local govt man. He was driving a battered ute and explained he was on acreage.

I'd always thought of the city as all surburbia.

A particular area reminded me of Basingstoke though or a typical M3/M4 town.