Hi
We moved out here just over 11 months ago,as we had family in Canberra. We have moved from rental have had our own house built. We live in the northern suburb of Harrison/Gungahlin (which they all cal they arse end of no-where - because they don't like to travel more than 10 mins to work but will travel 8 hrs for a weekend!!).
Gungahlin/Harrison is the next suburb on from Belconnen, and I work in Belconnen at Calvary Hospital. It take me roughly 10-15mins drive which in the UK would have taken30-40 mins due to traffic.
The only problem I find is that gardens are not very big - BUT i can understabd why - it is winter and we are on stage 3 water restrictions, which means no watering of lawns and strict regs over watering anything else, so no point in have a big lawn as it dies after a couple of weeks without water. On, there are no 'local' pubs like in UK, so unless you live on their dorrsteps, it's a drive to the local 'club' (similar to UK social clubs - but posher, and with about 20 TVs all tuned to the footy(rugby), and 100's of pokies (bandits))
The general concesus is people either hate Canberra or love it, there aren't many in between. It is a very family friendly place and has all the amenities of many cities but doesn't have a big city feel. It's very multi-cultural, and diverse in many ways. There are always activites (free or very inexpensive)going off for the family.
We have found people very friendly,(except when behind the wheel of a car, and then they all turn into rally drivers without manners), much more than people in the UK, but when you speak to the Aussies they find people in Canberra generally more unfriendly than people elsewhere, which I have been told is because of the concentration of Public workers (?).
I miss my friends and family at times (understandibly), but there isn't much else that I do miss (apart from UK choc - not quite the same here, and Peparamis!!). And things can be frustrating because they are different - usually on a really stressful day when all you want is to know where to buy wellies/'gum boots' from so we can landscape our new garden without ruining our 'proper' shoes, when on the only day in the year it rains do all the aussies go out and buy a pair!! (my own frustration i think!?) BUT I would not consider moving back to UK as in the summer months (most of the year) it is sunny and warm, people/environments are friendly, the amount of traffic is far less, and only 2 hours from the beautiful coast. The best of both world in my opinion!!
If I can be of any more help, please contact me, it would be good to hear from more fellow poms in Canberra.
Lisa
