Jim&Sus

Please can anyone give us the benefit of their experiences/knowledge of both Queensland and Melbourne? Our in-laws are in Melbourne, but we like the look of Queensland too. We have 2 children (12 and 8) so need to get this right first time so we don't muck up their education (!)

We'd like to experience more of the outdoor lifestyle - husband loves golf and footie (so does son!).

Also... just how far apart are these 2 cities from each other anyway?

swissfabs

To me, what is important is the weather. I am going to QLD cause I don't like the cold (for a long period of time)...

However u will find Qld very laid back and Melbourne has more to offer on the culture side. It all depends on your priorities! Tough choice, I know!!!

fabie

spalen

You might have more luck if you picked a place in queensland, seeing as its a state bigger than the UK..... Brisbane? Cairns? From Brisbane to Cairns is over 1,000 kilometers and they're both 'queensland'.

And the two places are a LONG LONG LONG (many 1,000's of Kilometres) way apart. You might want to invest 5.99 before you leave in an atlas.

If you want flight times between Brisbane & Melbourne you can look here
www.virginblue.com.au

for road distances ( but , you wouldnt... really ) www.racq.com.au and go to travel directions.

Jim&Sus

Sorry.....on re-reading my question, I realised that I should've typed Brisbane, not Queensland (forgive me.....first timer!)

Susan

spalen

Its still a bloody long way
try here for a 'glimpse' of brisbane whats on & stuff. www.ourbrisbane.com.au


brisbane is hotter than melbourne and has less rain (except its raining now)
Melbourne has a more temperate climate
Brisbane has as much to offer sporting wise as you'll need (AFL (Aussiefootball), NRL (rugby league) teams in brisbane are both big and in premier ( I think ) leagues,lots of golf courses etc, local soccer clubs to play in .Melbourne has F1 once a year and is supposedly the aussie cultural capital. Brisbane is quite fresh / new and has some cultural bits & pieces. Brissie has nice cafe culture lots of coastal towns around it (So you can live by beach & use the beach) and has major tourist resorts of gold & sunshine coast. Melbourne has more professional work opportunities ( more Company hq's than brisbane) and has advantage of being on south coast of australia where most of the commerce is. If you're in the trades I'd guess its neutral .

Jim&Sus

Brother & sister-in-law are moving to Melbourne in November (from Perth) as she's starting a course for around 16 months. As they don't have kids they don't have the worries of them settling in, schools, making friends, etc, that we'll have, so we don't want to move to Melbourne for 18 months and then move again to Brisbane (as this is where they want to settle and we'd like to be close by).

Have been on the ourbrisbane.com.au to check out suburbs, etc, as it looks like we'll be on our own for a bit before the in-laws arrive!! This isn't likely to happen for us until early 2006 anyway, so have got a bit of time to do a bit of investigation, etc.

Thanks for advice.

jwatsonoz

Once you've lived in Brisbane you won't want to live in Melbourne. But I'm sure Melbourne will be fine if you know no different....



Seriousley, I find Melbourne too cold now. Was there last year in July and was shocked at the difference. However, having said that its feels fairly chilly in Brissie at the mo.

Secretsquirral

Hi,

We lived in Melbourne (or more specifically the Mornington Peninsula) in 2003 and love the City and area, but for us the Gold or Sunshine Coast suits us better in terms of outdoor life, camping, fishing, having a boat etc etc and also that "holiday" atmosphere which we like (although it can get all too much!) Of course, you can do those things in Melb but the winters can get a bit chilly, and we didn't think it felt so laid back.

And it is a long way between Melbourne and Brissie but we are mad enough have driven it (stopped overnight twice I think.)

The decision will be very personal though, and having relatives in one area may help with the settling in more than you can imagine.

Debbie

Jim&Sus

Tho' I suppose your impression of 'chilly' is a bit different to ours, back here in Scotland??!

Saying that... it's been sunny here for the last couple of days - even reached around 27C (not expected to last the week tho'!)

katie_w

i've lived in Melbourne and have visited Brisbane and agree with most of whats been said.

Melbourne gets pretty cold in winter, great city tho. fab culture, lots of variation. you can enjoy benefit of gorgeous summer weather, winters quite miserable but you can go skiing to break it up and theres plenty of indoor attractions too

We loved Brisbane when we visited, possibly more laid back. Lovely climate, lots to do outdoors. Probably the australia most of us dream of, beautiful beaches, warm seas etc.

depends what you like really or do for a living?

k

ali south

what work will you be looking for?
Tara

Jim&Sus

I'm a qualified complementary therapist so would hope to either get something part time in a salon, or start up a business myself.

At the moment I work in admin, but am crying out for a change, so would like not to have to be in another office environment if I can help it!

Bordy

Depends how big you like your spiders. Here in Melbourne they are big but nothing compared to the Qld ones.

I came from Scotland to Susan & the Winter here in Melbourne is about the same temperature us Scots used to go to the beach in.

Juliecabs

Hi,
We stayed in both cities while on holiday there last year.
Both are fantastic places, but for us the choice was easy. We have decided on Brisbane not only as we have family there but also Melbourne has similar weather to here but back to front. Granted the summers are hotter in Melbourne but the winters are cold and damp generally. We wanted the chance of better weather all year round to do more "outdoorsy" things, (although it's been raining a lot in Brisbane lately I believe).

It took us about 11 hours to drive between Melbourne and Sydney and then about another 10 hours to drive between Sydney and Brisbane. The flight duration between Melbourne and Brisbane is about 2.5 hours.

Pootle

We are in Melbourne. Sorry cannot comment on Brisbane as have never been there (yet). Melbourne is really much nicer than I thought before we came, loads of places to visit, lots of parks etc. Regarding the weather its been very dry in the last 6 months that we've been here. I can count on one hand the number of rainy days. Went to the zoo the other day, was blue skies, around 16 degrees and very pleasant in the sunshine. We didn't know before we came if we would settle in Melbourne and at some time we would like to visit some of the other cities in Australia. I'm sure they're all nice in different aspects, just depends what you like.
Ruth