nobody is choosing a place in WA?

If WA then around Margaret River area.....there you go a WA answer!

I'd love to live in Singapore for a while, do you want to swap with me on the Mornington Peninsula?

I think you'll find anywhere quiet after Sing! I used to dream of living in quiet rural places but once you do it then I find I miss the buzz...weird! So now until I get much older would reconsider certain places in Oz to live.

As you are in Sing then humidity will be no problem but don't know QLD that well although I liked the Sunshine Coast as not too far from Brissie for city fixes although Brissie seemed pretty quiet but it's been a few years.

Sydney, Northern or Southern Beaches... a nice pad in Bower St in Manly would do me just fine

Sylvania is lovely lots of big houses and access to the water but you would need megabucks to live there and there is no train station nearby, the buses aren't great so it's lots of cars and negative equity for many at present!

Humidity doesn't bother me any more to be honest, I get it every day here... I think I'm even starting to like it in fact.

Can't swim in the sea around Darwin? Is that to do with crocs? Wow, seems strange to live by the coast and not be able to take a dip. About the redneck thing - does that make Darwin quite a rowdy place, can I expect to see the landlord fixing broken chairs in the morning at my local pub?

Queensland seems ideal but I think I would look to the bigger cities there. Are there any coastal suburbs of Brisbane that are both safe and lively, as well as being good for kids in terms of schools/activities?

I will also give those other cities in Queensland a look. Cairns seems like it would be a perfect match climate-wise.

It is not strickly true that you can't swim in Darwin. Mid year is fine. I used to swim a lot of evenings at Mindall Beach and Fanny Bay from May through to about September without an issue. The problem being the stingers.
Darwin is rather expensive owing to location but I found a likeable city. I was only there half a year as well and that was back in 97..and it has developed a lot since then.

The centre is quite lively with folk, a fair number being tourists from around the world.
It is small and long term it wouldn't be the place for me long term and coming from Singapore you may well find it too limiting depending on your interests.

I am surprised nobody has mentioned Melbourne, supposely one of the top life style cities in the world.

Then again you could always move North of where you are presently located and set up in Melaka, Kuantan or Pennang? Location not being an issue.
I am not sure how good it is for kids

There is a crocodile risk on all the beaches in Darwin. Having sailed around Darwin I can say with 100% certainty they are in the waters there. I wouldn't risk it. The pools are nice. When I say red neck just don't expect decent conversation and a good dose of complaining about the aboriginals and boat people.

I agree with Troubadour. Why Australia? Malaysia and Indonesia would offer much more. Exciting and cheap cost of living.

Husband currently doing a 12 month contract in KL and can't wait to get back to Australia. Dirty, smelly, backward and many more expletives I can't print here. Even makes London look good, his words not mine.

Mmmmm....

Sydney is as far south as I'm willing to go, so Melbourne isn't on the radar.

I've been giving a number of other countries a look, Bournemouth and Poole in the UK are always going to be high up on my list. Checked out Vancouver, Canada, and although it's nice it just isn't up my alley as a place to live. Too bland, not a happenin' place at all for a city of that size.

Apart from Singapore I'm not sure I'd want to settle anywhere else in the region like Indonesia or Malaysia. If I was single I'd already be at the Hard Rock Hotel in Bali on a special long-stay rate, but with the family it's either staying in Singapore or moving to Australia.

We're keen on giving Australia a go with the kids, just not sure if I should stick to Sydney or be a bit more adventurous and head up north or north-west.

Hong Kong

I'm in fantasy land here so I wasn't planning on working (so no cares about the trains/buses!!). I'll have Jeeves drive me wherever I want to go.

Fine then, I'll work at home if I have to...

If I only needed the internet to work I'm not sure that Australia would be my choice of place to live at all?

I could be tempted to live in a little cottage in Cumbria - or perhaps Snowdonia... or may be a small village in rural Dorset/Wiltshire?...

Of course all this would be subject to finding a school that I trust for my kids and having sufficient income to sustain myself - it would seem to me that getting a AU$ income and spending in GBP would be ideal.

That said - this convesation is about as useful as the whole "What would you do if you won $20M on powerball" conversation that happens every now and then....

The reality is than any job *will* require a certain amount of contact hours and will not pay sufficiently for wife to give up her job - so we're stuck living on the urban fringe sucking on the employment teat and trying to find a balance between needing things in cities (jobs and schools) and wanting to escape things in cities (people, traffic, noise, overpriced housing)...

Denmark WA

Denmark's lovely and I loved Esperance as well but probably would need a city fix once a month if I lived there. Even down where I live ideally I'd love to be able to afford a city pad as well, partly that's down to work as it would be nice not to have 1 hour plus drive home after a wedding some nights.

I still think a nice pad on the Northern Beaches of Sydney is ideal, lovely beaches but not too far from civilization ......just need the lotto win to fund it but then I wouldn't have to work

I used to tell the wife that when i was working in Asia