RobClubley

"For some days now I’ve been in Brisbane, and it has been both a sobering and eye-opening experience. It has become blindingly clear why so many New Zealanders move to Australia. The cost of raising children tends to put overseas holidays down the list of importances. Well, it did for me. The last time I was in Australia was in 1997 (the day Princess Diana died, to be exact). The last time I was in Brisbane, a city once very familiar to me, was in 1984. Then, it was about the same size as Auckland and had much the same ambience. Now it has 1.9 million people (Queensland has 4.2 million, the same as New Zealand) and is palpably prosperous. Many of those people used to live in New Zealand."

Posted in International affairs, New Zealand Tagged: Australia, Brisbane


http://poneke.wordpress.com/2008/12/28/buzz/

irnbru14

Alas Brissy is a god awful place, full of mullets and unfriendly Aussies and lots of awful concrete, better off in Welly (or Melbourne) anyday IMHO

Kiwiprincess

I have to admit, Brisbane doesn't 'do it' for me. I have some good friends there but definitely prefer other places when we visit!

Actually, that part of the country doesn't do much for me. I can't stand the estates that have developed across Brisbane, the Gold Coast et al.

The Gold Goast is fun for a bit of a party. To live...no.

Tract housing, even nice tract housing will do my head in

I think the summers in Brisbane is what makes me dislike it. In the shoulder months I enjoy it.

In saying that, if a better job came up there I don't dislike it enough to not move. Just not my cuppa tea currently.

Vile

You do have to read the entire article to really see where the author is coming from, though. Other than an improved infrastructure (which is not always a good thing if it concretes over local neighbourhoods), much of the article is talking about the 'buzz'. Buzz is great if you're into that sort of thing - and at the moment I am, which is why I live in Hong Kong - but I personally don't see myself as being fond of crowded shopping malls in 10 years' time.

I think a lot of the negativity I see in NZ expat forums is down to the wrong expectations. Many people seem to be coming to NZ without really researching what to expect when they get there. Auckland certainly doesn't seem like Brisbane to me, and I haven't been to either, yet. Potential emigrants should really think long and hard about what they want and then choose their destination.

Batty

That's very true. I think Genesis said it on another thread - what some people love about New Zealand is what others hate. A 'buzz' is lovely when there's something in particular going on and everyone is focussed on the same thing but it gives me something akin to road rage when I have to experience it all the time.

eddie_nz

Melbourne is the only place worth living in in Austrailia, Sydney is like London with heat and bugs all the rest is where people gfo to die and don't get me started on Perth.

iwannagonow

Eddie....you make Oz sound soooo appealing!

eddie_nz

Well lets look at the details then

1) Sydney big very expensive, long commute (just like London with bugs and heat)

2) Gold coast, lets face it people go there to die, Bournemouth but hotter, the only employment is working at fun fairs or old people homes.

3) Adelaide the step before the gold coast.

4) Darwin, V Hot V humid no jobs

6) Perth, the most remote city on the planet, close to Singapore then Sydney. Really expensive and no jobs unless you work in the mines.

7) The mines, 3 days and yes I mean 3 days from a good coffee.

That leaves Melbourne which luckily it’s a stunning metropolitan city.

whitesand

I'd have thought Invercargil would have been the loneliest place on the planet! Seriously though, I like Perth and it doesn't seem isolated when you are there. I also think it has a special feel and colour that is not found over east.

Vile

Not to play devil's advocate or anything - well, ok, let's: that also leaves Brisbane ...

Though I hear you have to watch out for the cane toads on your garden path at night - squishy!

eddie_nz

Perth puts a new scale on the concept of isolated remeber its 2 time zones different from Sydney. Close to 4000 KM thats 2 days non stop at the NZ speed limit.

eddie_nz

1) Brisbane = Gold coast, see above "where people go to die"

2) Pretty much everything in OZ is poisonous if it bites you and most things do bite, the rest are just plan poisonous (cane toads).

whitesand

Eddie, that may be true about Perth, but it also has great beer at the Brass Monkey down in Northbridge.

Wooly_Cow

I used to live in Sydney and found it great but then someone else was paying for an apartment with harbour views and a V8 5 litre motor (and the fuel)

however what got to me even after a long time there was that it had 9 out of the top 10 most dangerous creatures living there...and I don't just mean in the outback either.

I had personal experience of the following nasties–

- Brown snake in our garage
- Funnel Web in the trash bins
- Swarms of Red Backs all over the children’s toys left in the garden (OK this was a mates house but you get the point)
- Red Belly Black snake being poked with a stick by a mentally handicapped kid (why his parents didn’t stop him I have no idea)
- Bluebottles when surfing – like having a bad nettle sting but peeling off the jelly bits made me want to heave
- Walking over carpets of Christmas bugs – thank God for boots
- Rats the size of small dogs roaming round kitchens in one fo the best restaurants in town
- And lastly …and most amusingly – a roach the size of a VW beetle (well almost) scaring the s—t out of my sleeping father in law

Yes I know I sound a wimp but I know where I prefer – even if it is quieter and colder!

Actually there was a nastier creature - the Sydney North Shore snob!!

Browner_

Yes, that lot puts me off Australia I must admit. After 2 nights, Im not sure I would ever get off to sleep with the thought of those funnelwebs scuttling around.