Archi_Lots

Hi,

My partner and I are considering Canberra as a location to move to from UK. We are two architects in our early thirties. Whats it like? Where are the best places to live?

quoll

It's like any other modern designed first world city. If you have to live in Australia it's as good a place as any though anyone who's never lived in Canberra will tell you that's it's as boring as batshit and noone in their right mind would ever want to live there. It's the bush capital and it used to be said that you could see the bush from anywhere in town - there's been a shed last of inner city development over the last decade especially so there are spots where bush isn't a feature but it in the burbs you get more of a bush view. Check out Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahoney, they designed it - very little predates 1900.

It's a pretty cosmopolitan place (as is much of the rest of city Australia) and quite insular. There are plenty of things to do if you have time and money. It's inland so it's a 2 hour drive to the beach, equally it's a 2 hour drive to the snow in winter. Most families need to be dual income because the cost of housing is ridiculous.

"Best" is subjective but the most expensive houses are in place like O'Malley, Yarralumla, Mugga Way.where they are eye wateringly expensive but generally if you can find something Inner North of Inner South you'd be into a good thing. Most people choose where to live based on their job location - even though ACT is only about 50km top to bottom (probably more than that now, I've been away a while) you don't want to be living at one end and working at the other.

It's well endowed with facilities although Canberrans are good at whingeing about their entitlements. It's a very left PC place so if you're vaguely conservative its not very pleasant. It has 4 distinct seasons which is nice but winters can be bloody cold (the houses aren't built for it) and in the summer it can be bloody hot (the houses aren't built for it). At the moment our air quality is amongst the worst in the world because of the smoke from distant bushfires and we all look chic in our P2 masks. We have been attacked by bushfires in the past (I would avoid all Western suburbs up to 3 suburbs in because of that, it's usually where the fires come) and at the moment we are in drought - happens regularly.

You could do much worse. We arrived here over 40 years ago and it's changed a lot but I still prefer it to the huge cities - it's a cross between a big country town and a city.


View from Mt Ainslie south (not at the moment though - too much smoke)

Retirednow

City is booming, and one notices nearly everybody comes from somewhere else. Big food and covfefe scene. A 4WD is a must to get to all the ‘good’ areas. People I know moved from Adelaide and can’t believe how much more their is to do here. Same with the wife’s sister who desperately wants to move up from Melbourne. Spending school holidays here is the best she and the kids can do. For anything specific you can PM me.

thaiing

"If you have to live in Australia it's as good a place as any though anyone who's never lived in Canberra will tell you that's it's as boring as batshit and noone in their right mind would ever want to live there. "
"People I know moved from Adelaide and can’t believe how much more their is to do here. "

2 quotes from the above 2 posts I agree with. Canberra is only slightly less boring than Adelaide. Sydney if you want a big warm beach side city, Melbourne if you want a more European feel and cooler climate or Brisbane if you want a warmer smaller city feel and less costly. Note only Sydney is really on the coast.

Beoz

I like it for a weekend in winter when its nice and crisp. Take the kids to Questecon, Corrin Forest, etc. Plenty for kids. Not so much for architects. Then again, Australia traditionally has been pretty bad for architecture. It has started to get a little bit more creative in the last 5 years.

quoll

Dunno, given some of the monstrosities we’re being subjected to at the moment, a few good architects could come in handy!
Wonder if the OP ever made the leap!

Retirednow

You don’t know Canberra well then.
Boring it isn’t ..

paulry

Are you referring to that new office block next to the Legislative Assembly?

paulry

As an aside, have you checked what the job market is like in Canberra for architects? The reason I ask is a good friend who is also an architect moved to Canberra several years ago and couldn't find work in that profession at all, and had to do other jobs instead. Six years later he and his family moved to Melbourne so that he could get back into it.

garyjames8

Hi folks,

I am a former Britishexpats.com user from 2007-2010 and this forum helped me significantly in being able to figure out how to emigrate from the UK to Australia.

I am returning to the forum as I am looking for a place to move to after 11 years in Darwin, NT.

I am considering Canberra as it appears that the job market might be reasonably okay.

Can anyone give advice on how easy it is to find a job in Canberra at the moment? Or PM if they prefer privacy.

Of course, it quite often depends on the resume of the individual. So here are some basic points: I have 11 year working for the NT Government full-time (Social Housing, Remote Housing, Tenancy Management & Property Management), as well as weekend jobs at Bunnings (4 years) and the Quality Hotel (6 years). I am a former teacher and former bookkeeper. I have a strong interest in ICT. Looking ahead I am looking at getting a business broker & real estate licence in the NT, which could be transferred to other states with reasonable ease.

Any advice on how to find a job in Canberra would be greatly appeciated. (On the flip side, if anybody is looking at going the other way - ie. to Darwin, NT - and wants similar advice about Darwin, feel free to PM me).

Kind Regards,

Gary

quoll

https://www.jobs.act.gov.au/opportunities/all for ACT government jobs
https://www.apsjobs.gov.au/s/job-search?offset=15 for APS jobs

Otherwise any of the regular job search sites like Seek or check out the Canberra Times (long time since I've bought the CT but Saturday used to be job advertising day).

No idea how easy the PS job market is at the mo I'm afraid but getting a job of some description is probably not that hard.