Mummy

Anyone got an opinion? Have seen many messages about Perth versus Brisbane but not Melbourne Vs Sydney.

I have been to Sydney, lived in Newtown for 4 months in a house above a music shop that never opened, and had a strange landlord called Tony Clifford who lived in the shop behind a screen:scared: . He played harmonica.

Have not been to Melbourne.

As we have the baby now we are not so much interested in the nightlife or even the restaurants etc but more the lifestyle and things for kids

ajec

I always thought I'd prefer Sydney to anywhere else, but having lived in Perth with young children, I think it's just great - loads of open space, parks, etc and more affordable housing. Our kids don't know how lucky they are!

miriam

We have a son of 20 months and are planning on Melbourne - london has become impossible with a kid.

Both cities are great but housing in Melbourne is more affordable and my friends living there quote great transport/parks/easy to leave the city as preferable to Sydney.

But it all depends ultimately on where you get a job!

how old is your baby?

Miriam

OzTennis

Not a bad choice to have and I would be happy to live in Sydney, my second choice out of the 2. Sydney is in my opinion a more beautiful location and probably more vibrant; Melbourne is slightly more European in feel and it is the sporting, financial and cultural capital of Australia (IMHO). There's more than enough for your kids to do in both cities. I would also say, completely unbiased, that you will get more 'weirdo's' like your harmonica playing landlord in Sydney too.

OzTennis

OzTennis

Yep, the other post reminded me that property is a lot more affordable in Melbourne than Sydney (but it's cheaper in all the other capitals than these 2).

OzTennis

Mummy

Baby is currently 9 weeks old - had his first injections yesterday so not a happy bunny!

The problem that I see is that when we pack up and leave the UK we need to ship our stuff to somewhere so if we can't get a job until we get there we need to decide beforehand where to send it.

Though the consensus at the moment seems to be in favour of Melbourne because it is cheaper to live.

mozzie

Melbourne does get a bad press from people in other Aussie cities. Jokes like "She's got two children - one living and one in Melbourne." But it is a great place to live IMO. In 2002, "The Economist" did a survey among expats around the world which ranked Melbourne equal first with Vancouver. You can see the results here. Or for a UK perspective, here's a BBC article on the survey: link

sjn2003

Well I'm voting for Sydney. Coming from London, I am used to and like big cities and I hope there will be more job opportunities (accountancy). If it turns out to be way too expensive to live somewhere nice then we can always try Melbourne next.

The BIG plus for Sydney though is that I am not going to the other side of the world for drizzle...yes,yes,yes I have read the other thread but I do not rely on "average rainfall charts" - they said Manchester was the driest city in England last year and if you believe that you will believe anything !!

walaj

only if you can get a job , unless you have savings to live off

For us, a large part of the decision has been that Sydney has more of the companies based there that will have the kind of jobs my husband seeks.

Try doing a for and against list for each city, it may shed some light on which one suits you best.

miriam

mommy - when are you planning on going to oz - we are going in May and are going to put our stuff into storage and spend some time in each city before we decide - travel round for a couple of months in camper van - then get the stuff shipped over....thats the plan! still haven't decided where we're going to live though!

kerrylm

No competition - it would be Sydney Everytime!

We hae two young kids and initally thought Melbourne the place - but no research can really prepare you for visiting and when we went to Melbourne we knew it wasn't for us. Sydney and its surrounds, is a fantastic place, and of course, it has the weather. that said, obviously it IS expensive. but as was said previously, we two are not prepared to go all that way for similar weather to here!

Aussiepeter

I have lived in both cities and its great to see trees in the street and not just in parks.
Melbourne is the place for me.

bondipom

Sydney is warmer than Melbournes, especially in the winter, and the sea temperatures are higher. Melbourne is an hours drive from the ocean although if you want flat water there is the bay.

Sydney also has the harbour which is one of the most beautiful settings for a city but also divides the city in half. Sydney has everything Melbourne has plus more but is more expensive. Sydney is also more white collar than Melbourne.

Melbourne regards itself as more sophisticated and European but I have found this is limited to their dress. If you like black Melbourne is great

HUP

From what I have seen of the two I prefer Melbourne. We live 35km from the CBD and we feel like we are in the country thought there is a wealth of facilities around us.

I prefer the roads in Melbourne to Sydney as they feel more spacious. The areas we drove around in Sydney there were a lot of "dual carriageways" with no divide between them which were quite bendy. It's pretty hairy going around these bends with bloody huge trucks either side of you.

I preferred the climate in Melbourne to as while I like a bit of heat I found it a lot more humid in Sydney.

Sydney city centre was brilliant and we had a ball there. We loved the harbour bridge area and there was loads to do. Funnily enough we havn't even been into central Melbourne yet.

Petrol was more expensive as was housing in Sydney.

As a footnote I would say that my experience of Sydney is not that expansive and these were my first impressions. The impression I went away was "Nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there". We saw some beautiful sites travelling up the coast of NSW on the Princes Highway and we will definitley be venturing up there again.

bondipom

Traffic is a problem in Sydney. The nice areas to live are North Shore and Eastern Burbs which are expensive but their proxmity to the Ocean and the City is fantastic. The roads in and out of town do not bring you into the better areas, especially if you are coming from the West down the Parra road.