northlondoner

Hi,

I am deciding whether to move to Sydney or Melbourne - I know this has been done to death but I had a few specific questions:

1) Weather: part of the appeal of moving to Australia for me is the sun; I have read that people say there are 4 seasons in a day sometimes in Melbourne, which is what I hear people here say about the UK...but for those of you who have lived in the UK, what is the weather really like in Melbourne? I know Sydney has a reputation for better weather.

2)People: I don't believe in making generalisations as there are obviously friendly people in both Melb and Sydney, but is there a noticeable difference with regards to friendliness?

3) Beaches: I have heard bad things about Melbourne beaches, but as someone who is used to the likes of Brighton beach, I somehow do not believe those things and I have looked at videos of Melbourne beaches and they look just great...what is the hype about Melbourne not having amazing beaches?

4) Cost of Living: Are Melbourne and Sydney practically equal with regards to this?

5) Transport: would you recommend a Car for both of these cities?

6) Poms: finally, how often do you get called pom? does this really depend on how much one whinges?

JoeBloggs80

You'll get differing opinions on this. My 2 cents:

1) Sydney wins for me, although it is more humid and gets more rain overall. Melbourne gets stinking hot in summer and a bit chilly in winter. You'll have many more 'beach days' in Sydney per year though for sure.

2) Not really. You get diamonds and dickheads everywhere.

3) Melbourne does have some good beaches. St Kilda reminds me a lot of Brighton in the UK in terms of vibe. I think overall it has less of a 'beach culture' though in terms of people living/meeting up/going out around the beach.

4) Think Melbourne rents are a bit cheaper. Sydney generally has better wages though.

5) Depends where you live. You can get by perfectly fine without one in either city.

6) Rarely, and only when bantering, never in a nasty way

jad n rich

We moved down to melb from qld so as a new arrival ...

Melb weather. SUmmer can be hot as hell. Not every day. but it can be. From QLD i found summer very hot ( it was a mild one too ) but being in a crowded city magnifies the heat. Cools down rapidly once you get to APril, cool is rarely below 8C at night, and teens in day at worse usually. Much warmer than UK most of year.

People. There are complete ass... in every city in Australia and the world. And nice people. In our first week in melb we had a burglary next door, some idiots on the train called my kid "white C---" and we also met the most lovely lady in the real estate, a lovely Macedonian neighbour family, helpful Indian family who lend us screwdrivers and such and a nut on the reception desk who is a cage fighter in her spare time. Diverse population indeed. Would be the same in sydney or anywhere.

Beaches obvioulsy a huge let down compared to QLD. But I love the wild rugged victorian coastline as well.

Cost of living. Melb has 2 extremes, crazy insane property prices and some of the cheapest food I have seen in Australia ( at the markets in the Vietnamese suburbs, ditto dining, $9 for excellent food, or $100 for excellent food. Jobs are hard to come by right now. Australia wide I imagine, not just melb, the economy.

My 18 year old (uni student ) right this minute is in a interview its taken 2 months to even get an interview!!!! ( he has worked from 15, excellent refs, speaks 2 languages, nobody hiring even students.

Transport. In qld we had 4 vehicles. In melb we get the car out twice a week. if your going to the city just forget it, only the insane would drive in.

Poms. havent met any Mostly asian, lebanese, greek, some african nations, macedonian, vietnamese,chinese. My middle sons girlfriend is from South Korea, my doctor in melb is from Sri Lanka, he was totally impressed with my accent from the British Empire as he called it. Never been called a pom in melb, son as I say was called much worse. Think we stand out a bit

Sydney will have the same mix, diverse, more expensive, more beachy ( if your rich ) hot and sometimes stormy weather.

I actually prefer melbourne for all its rough edges. But coming from QLD we didnt want sun and beaches, been there done that.

xizzles

Just to help the discussion along here, I think it's quite important to decide whereabouts in Sydney and similarly, Melbourne, you'd be interested in moving to - because the suburbs can be quite different, each with its own distinct vibe and unique flavour.

As an example, an apartment in the Lower North Shore could, for all intents and purposes, be on a different planet, when compared to a house in Annandale, and again, would be different if you're thinking of places like Kellyville or Campbelltown.

astera

The word "pom" has become more mainstream, especially amongst British expats themselves. When used internally (by poms) it usually signifies a fellow Brit in OZ, as in you wouldn't use it to describe someone in the UK (though Aussies would). So you might say "I know a few poms in Sydney" to just say you know some fellow Brits living there.

Australians would use it to describe English people in general, but I wouldn't say it's derogatory any more. It's sort of moved up there with words like "kiwi" to describe sheep sha... I mean New Zealanders.

Of course if someone were to call you a "pommie b@$t@rd" then that would be an entirely different story altogether...

Beoz

Politics aside I think we agree.

I actually don't mind the weather in Melbourne despite its rep.

northlondoner

Thank you for your informative replies they've been very helpful! Pom is obviously just friendly banter haha

I was also wondering how much I would need to move out there and get myself started? I'm already a citizen so no costs (apart from the flight) there are an issue, but I was thinking more in terms of rent/food for the first few months until I find a job?

I'll be finishing uni next month and will get a job ASAP and commence the saving, and I'll also be selling my car.

From what I've read online it's been varied - have heard some say as little as $4000 AUD is sufficient but before reading that I thought I would need to save somewhere around the 7000 GBP mark which is around 13000 AUD - any advice re this would be much appreciated. I'm flexible and would be happy renting a room in a house until I am able to afford something better - ideally not in one of Melbourne's worst/roughest areas but from what I gather compared to London, the worst areas aren't too bad.

northlondoner

And I did read something on another forum about an employer calling his employee a "pommie bastard" which is probably where the pom question came from haha

OzTennis

How are ya going you old pommie b@$t@rd can be said in such a way as to be an endearment. i.e. it's the tone, the intent and who it comes from, not the words.

I once had a threatening conversation with a gentlemen from Belfast living in Scotland who I worked with soon after I arrived which went something like this:

He: How's it going Aussie?

Me: Good, how's it going Irishman?

He: (think Ian Paisley) I'm an ULSTERMAN and don't you forget it!!!

The way it was said and the bulging eyes were the clue to the intent, more than the words.

(I went off to seek clarification on the difference between someone from Ireland and someone from part of Ireland).

On a subsequent trip to the west coast of Ireland I saw this poignant graffiti: 32 + 6 = 1

Back to thread; I obviously prefer Melbourne to Sydney.

Visited for 3 months from 6th Jan - no days in 40's, a few days in 30's, most days in the very pleasant 20's and it rained on 4 days. Previous year, same 3 months, half a dozen days over 40 and a lot in the 30's. It's usually a dry heat compared to a Sydney humid heat i.e. 30 in Melbourne and 30 in Sydney aren't the same thing.

Great beaches at Williamstown and from Station Pier right around beyond Brighton - not sure where the poor beaches tag comes from.

Buzzy--Bee

I'd happily live in Sydney or Melbourne I reckon.

But for the last 8 years I've lived in Melbourne (from London).

Weather - like England but +10 degrees and sunnier.

Beaches - stunning stunning stunning. I went for a walk with my wife last night along our local beach (Parkdale if you want to google photos), watched the sun set into the sea, and thought "I am so lucky to live here".

BB

xizzles

That last sentence right there "I am so lucky to live here" - I think that's what it is all about! Good onya mate, and congratulations on making the move a success

bcworld

The temperature difference certainly isn't that big...well not in the case of London anyway. You can do the 'wiki-ing' yourself, but Melbourne has an average high across the year of 19.9C and London, 15.2C. The difference in average lows is even smaller, less than 3C.

Buzzy--Bee

Sure, I wasn't basing my statement on averages, just thinking that it gets to a maximum of 45 here which is about 10 degrees more than London's maximum, and gets to a minimum of 3 here, which is about 10 degrees more than London's minimum.

Regardless, the weather is great here. I love it. Even 4 degree mornings.

BB

GarryP

OK some pointers from my research before I came here.

Melbourne is approx 7C hotter than southern England at the same point in the year. It's RECORD low is -2C. It's RECORD high is 46-47C. Although people might complain, it's basically better than south of France weather. If that's not warm enough for yer...

The four seasons in one day thing is true, I've personally seen it move 15C in 20mins. However that makes it interesting - never ending hot days are boring and tiring - ask people in the tropics.

Friendliness = same. You will find people saying "hi" as you pass them walking much more than you would in the UK.

There are Melbourne beaches, but the bay is curiously ignored. There are also beaches on the Southern Ocean proper. Wouldn't give it too much thought.

Cost of Living in Melbourne is silly expensive for housing. Sydney is 10 times worse. Saying that, you can still get more for your money than the UK if you are smart and don't go where the Australians go.

Poms? Just give it back and don't stand down. Hell, half the people you meet doing stuff with be ex-Brits anyway. The majority of Aussies seem to be bogans; which is a whole other subject.

astera

Just curious - have you ever been to Queensland?