sarx_czech

Hi there,

I obtained my Canadian PR 2 years ago and have spent 4 years living in Toronto. However since I spent many years in South Africa, I have always wondered about what it is like living in Australia - specifically Sydney.

If anyone has lived in both Australia and Canada, can you provide some opinions of what you preffer in Australia over Canada?

I am aware that cost of living and salaries are higher in Sydney, although taxes are quite high in Ontario.

Thanks,

scot47

I do not understand why spending time in South Africa makes you want to live in Australia.

Beoz

Buying a house in Sydney is expensive. If you can get over that and relish the fantastic opportunities that come with renting, Sydney is not really that more expensive than anywhere else of similar living standards.

Hope that helps sort out the internet hogwash.

sarx_czech

I know plenty of schoolfriends who made the move over, so I have heard alot of feedback. Obviously the relatively warm climate + beaches are huge positives too.

I was just interested in getting some perspective + opinions from people who have lived in both, thats all.

Pollyana

Relatively warm compared to what? A lot more to Sydney's weather than that...

msmyrtle

Ok I'll play.

Native Torontonian here, I spent the first 24 years of my life in t.o. I don't have experience living in Sydney but I spent time in Perth/FIFO in WA and Melbourne.

I moved to Australia from NZ purely for economic reasons. It was during a time when every third kiwi was moving to WA (~2010/2011). Both my then-partner and I found jobs at the height of the boom on resources projects. Me- FIFO, him- design work in Perth.

The weather in Oz is a lot warmer than Toronto (obviously). So instead of minus 30 wind chill, you have to deal with plus 30 (and 40) degree plus humidity weather.

I rented in Perth and in Melbourne so I don't know what home ownership is like. However I am in Toronto visiting my parents and I am shocked at the current real estate bubble. If you own property in Toronto you can probably sell up and buy something in Sydney.

Dorothy is another Canadian/Australian that posts regularly in this forum.

sarx_czech

Interesting post - thanks. The different climate is agiven - it would be similar to say Joburg clmate.

I am VERY well aware of the house prices in T.O and the GTA. It is absolutely crazy, especially taking into account only a small percentage of the workforce make a decent income (say >100k/pp/annum). We were leasing downtown so no I do not own property there as of yet, but we are now in Europe fo a while.

msmyrtle

To be honest, other than the weather, there's not a lot of difference between Toronto and Sydney. Whatever lifestyle you have in Toronto is most likely going to be the same in Sydney. For example I only have gone skiing a handful of times in my life. I tried surfing maybe three or four times then gave up. Unless you have a passion for one activity that is specific to the location, there's not a pull factor (for me anyway) to Australia or Canada.

I was lucky to go to a great public school in Canada and then onto uni. Similarly the University of Melbourne is an excellent institution. On the flip side, there are terrible schools in both Canada and Australia.

Dorothy

First off, do you qualify for a visa to live in Sydney? Without the visa everything else is moot.

sarx_czech

Yeah, that makes sense.

I am not a huge fan of the whole fishing, camping kind of life although the Lakes up north are quite cool to see once or twice.

I have heard that shopping options for fashion is better in Toronto - apparently there are not as many international designers in Sydney. I also imagine the food scene is still more diverse in T.O?

Beoz

I was going to point out I lived in Calgary a number of years back but I thought that would prove a useless point as Calgary and Toronto are as far removed from each other as Perth is to Sydney.

The only common thing Sydney has with Perth is beaches.

sarx_czech

I would visit first to check it out. Its not a perm move I would consider until I see Sydney for myself.

What is great about Canada is the very close proximity to the States, Caribbean and Europe which is a huge pro for me.

Dorothy

Fabulous. But you didn't answer whether you qualify for a visa. Have you looked into it?

sarx_czech

I am busy investigating the immigration route. I have an EU passport but the whole point of my question was to get some views from other people who may have lived in both cities.

teza

There's no such thing as EU passport nor would this help with visa, the reason people are asking is that if you don't qualify for visa, all your other questions are moot point and waste of time. Don't mean to be blunt but like the US forum of this site, we get countless questions like this and after hours of volunteering info we find out that you don't qualify for visa. So to save everyone's time, what is your occupation and age, are you possibly australian citizen or your spouse is?