Melbys population is almost 4 times that of Adelaide.
How exactly are there "more work prospects" in Adelaide ?

I think you may find this could be a pretty subjective statement that may have been true in your case or in the field of work you may happen to work in or just the situation you encountered at that particular time.

As an overall statement, it may be a bit of a furfy though.

Just my subjective opinion for anyone considering Adelaide over Melbourne in relation strictly to work prospects.!

Well, I have been to Melbourne several times and didn't find the weather at all like Adelaide, its very very dry here....and very hot in summer....Adelaide is just a big old country town, very nice if you like that sort of thing...Melbournes a more "European" place, quite cosmopolitan etc... people can be a bit sharp in comparison to Adelaide I think..... I prefer Sydney!

Gawd blimey - do you not like looking at stats As I said, so many, many times before - check out www.bom.gov.au and you will see in black and white that the climates ARE NOT THAT DIFFERENT.

OK - here we are, for those non-believers


Melbourne

Statistics for January 2008
Mean 17.6 27.9
Lowest 12.8 21.4
Highest 26.4 41.2

Adelaide

Statistics for January 2008
Mean 17.5 31.0
Lowest 13.0 24.7
Highest 26.4 42.1

Melbourne

Statistics for June 2007
Mean 7.2 14.1
Lowest 3.0 11.7
Highest 11.0 16.8

Adelaide

Statistics for June 2007
Mean 6.4 14.6
Lowest 1.3 12.4
Highest 11.6 16.5

And as I've said, I'm not bagging Adelaide at all - just I don't think the climate is that different to be a deciding factor - up to the OP of course.

Well-respected poster JonD stated

I think he may be right.

Buzzy

I don't care about stats! Ive been.... and its generally pissing down!

How long did you live in Melbourne for??

So the Bureau of Meteorology is obviously a sham then and I've obviously been delusional for the whole two years I've been living here
So, I obviously haven't got an abundance of tropical plants in my garden, orange and lemon trees and five outdoor swimming pool complexes with 15 min drive

I must be suffering from sunstroke......

Just for you - as I know you like stats - Adelaide had 110mm more rain than Melbourne last year.

BTW - I'm trying to assist the OP with helpful, factual information - apologies if you don't approve

Amazing...... and yet Ive been here two years and I reckon its rained about three times.....or has it? but then maybe its not even 1973 after all and I ve come here for a reason?...............

To the OP, if you're still with us. While the numbers are the numbers, here's a few things to keep in mind when you read them. These are pretty big cities and they're spread out. Although I've been to Melbourne I don't know too much in detail about the geography (other than it's a pretty big urban sprawl - I don't mean this in a bad way), but here in Adelaide the temperature can vary quite a bit depending on where you are/live.

The city and inner suburbs are on a large plain, with the sea on one side and a mountain range (well hill range really) on the other. When you watch the weather reports on the TV, the northern part of the city is usually a few degrees warmer than the southern part and it's cooler up in the hills above Adelaide too. It can get cold in the winter and because you can't just go and switch on your GCH and settle back it can get a wee bit chilly indoors too and these reverse-cycle and woodburner thingys just aren't the same as radiators thumping out heat. But then it's horses for courses; how many houses in the UK have ducted air con? Some houses here are double-brick, but I'd say that most are single-brick or timber construction.

I live up in the Hills about 40kms from Adelaide. The fields that were brown are turning green after the recent rain and I suspect they'll get much greener over the next few months. However, some parts of the hills will get stacks of rain, while over on the other side you get much less.

One thing I have noticed though is that even on cooler days the sky is still pretty blue and you don't seem to get the endless days of grey cloud cover and general damp feeling that I remember from the UK. Yes we've had grey cloudy days, but they don't feel as if they'll be hanging around for days or seemingly weeks at an end.

In summary, the summer here can be pretty hot (40+) and the winter can be (I'm told; not been here for one yet) pretty cold, and (if this makes sense) it'll feel colder than it is because you can't retreat into the same environment that you're used to in the UK.

Thanks hills boy, in fact thankyou everyone. We have been doing so much internet research we are fed up looking at the screen. But although we both like the idea of the layed back life that adelaide would provide, it seems that melbourne is going to provide more in the way of scientific research companies that my wife will need to work for. So we are hoping to live in and around the dandenongs. Hopefully this will give us the quiet retreat that we would like. Hopefully it doesn`t`t take too long to travel to the coast from there! But i`m sure we will find all this out if / when we get our visas! And at the end of the day after the 2 years of state sponsorship, if i have retrained we can move onto where we would like to be, if Melbourne isn`t`t for us.

Thanks again

Darren.

Same with me,

One thing I have found interesting in all the discussions about Melbourne's weather, is that those who think it isn't very good are the ones who don't live here.

Read into that what you will.

I believed the rubbish about Melbourne's weather before I came here. I thought it would be grey and wet because I had listened to the opinions of those who had visited for one wet weekend.

In fact I am finding the weather here to be very Meditteranean, a bit like Greece.

Buzzy

So that's why we've had stringent water restrictions in place since I've been here - you lot are so funny

From The Basin it's about 45 mins to the coast - but this will reduce with the opening of the East Link (hopefully sometime this year). I would hope then that it would be about 30 mins. Lysterfield Lake and Lilydale Lake are closer option, where younger kids love to splash around and build sandcastles. There are also plenty of outdoor pools too.

We will be adding a pool to our house for next summer