jimmyay1

My partner's also lived in Sydney for years but got totally over the trashy, transient side of it, and the shallow, materialistic nature of many people (and the rain and humidity). Apart from the Harbour and city beaches (none of which have are really accessible to park near if you're travelling by car, or served by any public transport other than a crappy bus ) there's not much to recommend it as a place to live. Lot of jobs based there but then there are in Melbourne too - i had no problem finding work . Sydney's bad to travel around due to its geography, it's not cycling friendly either which if you're a cyclist is a shame. All these factors combined make it quite a stressful place to live for many people, which is a pity, it has suffered through underinvestment in infrastructure for decades and now feels very overcrowded and often chaotic in a way that melbourne never does. having lived in Melbourne now i can firmly say i think i would probably struggle to live in Sydney and enjoy as good a quality of life - my perception is thatlife is generally a bit easier in Melbourne, there's a lot more space, property is better value and the city flows better. Also the bay beaches in Melb are never packed and you can always find a quiet spot in the parks. culturally there's just as much if not more happening in Melbourne than in Sydney. There's a great urban arty scene and for fashion sport and food there's nowhere better in my humble opinion.

Emigration is expensive. We put pressure on ourselves and only booked 14 days car hire and 14 days short term accommodation when we came and didnt have to bring pets etc. Luckily it was easy to find a flat to live in and there is decent public transport in the part of Melbourne we live in so a car was not necessary for many months. Having said that it was dear but in just 9 months we've more than made back what it cost us to move here and in addition been able to put away more in savings than we had before we embarked on the whole process in the first place. You might also have some luck! :-)

You're the racist mate!

Should have come to Melbourne. Despite rumours to the contrary the weather here is much drier and the summers sunnier than in Sydney! And we don't get humidity either!

i know the sun is strong in oz but its not so bad in Melbourne - 6 months of the year you really don't need sunscreen and it's beautiful. but i think the shock of realising it will only be 20 degrees + on a decent day for 4 months of the year, and most of the year its gonna be 5-15 degrees at best, might be enough to send you back to oz! As i got older i couldnt cope with the gloom and coolness of the uk and am glad to have left that behind to be honest.

I've almost forgotten what the summer was like here in Melbourne - had to scrape ice off the windscreen of the car this morning , the smell of woodsmoke from people's fires and clear crisp air this evening made me feel like i was in the middle of the UK countryside in winter! i am really enjoying this time of year 5 degrees in the morning , clearing to a sunny 14 for the next few days and no harmful UV rays to worry about either this time of year.

Had to scrape ice of the windscreen this morning - never thought i''d be doing that in Australia!

i got laughed at at work when i asked if anyone had a plaster for a cut finger!

You can exist cheaply in London in your day to day life but it's the housing costs and the generally poor quality of housing that makes it expensive. Australian cities don't have rock bottom fruit/ veg and other food prices from markets etc like you can get in some parts of London which is a bit of a shame, but i find the quality of produce here of a higher quality so it's swings and roundabouts. There are economies of scale inherent due to London's position and size which can't be replicated in Australian cities. Yes you can go out and get cheap eats in London but generally the quality is not good, certainly not as good in Melbourne where i am constantly surprised and delighted by the quality of even some very unlikely places. Yes a bit more expensive and I sometimes wish there were more cheaper casual dining and drinking options here but it's just not the way it is. And I've also come to realise that you tend to get what you pay for and that £30 meal for 2 in a restaurant like Carluccios or many other London chain eateries really isn't all that great, with accountant-like control of portion sizes and the predictability of each dish. You still need to pay a lot in London to have a high quality dining experience, something that stands out as exceptional . I feel like i have much more of this type of experience here. And rent is dear in London , and you need a very high salary to buy a modest flat , never mind a family house, which are rarities as a %age of total housing stock.

I don't get why people "need" to be 2 minutes from a beach. Surely 20 is fine? And the school is better.

You will probably stop worrying about "wasting" sunshine. I had to stop myself last summer rushing outside every day to make the best of it as it might not last! After several weeks of blue skies the penny started to drop..... Not sure if i have changed much, probably not more chilled, work is hectic and i work as long hours as i did in the uk (if not longer!). But weekends are more chilled and its easy to find somewhere to yourself rather than engaging in a mass communal drive to the coast with several million other people as always happens on a nice weekend in the UK. I still don't own a pair of flip-flops though. I left behind a large group of friends in the UK and a very established carry-on in terms of a social network gathered over 20 years. Now i have no friends who live locally in Australia. So my life is quite different, socially a lot quieter. Me and OH are happy with each other's company, though with working rostas we spend half the week apart. so i think i should probably feel a bit lonely, without the support of friends and family close at hand but i don't . I guess i am still getting used to being here and getting into routines of work, job and responsibilities to worry too much about making friends at the moment. i take the view that it will probably happen by itself later on and friendships will develop over time. And the life long friends i have in the UK and other places are just that, they are still my friends although i live in Australia.

why wouldnt you really "make a go of it " if you listen to UK news? Don't see how it prevents you making a go.

I sometimes listen to Today although its a bit parochial, world service is better. But i do browse the telegraph and sometimes mail for a laugh, most days. It doesnt make me feel homesick, but i enjoy keeping up with what's going on in the UK ? Why not? I think maybe i will lose interest in UK affairs as time goes by but who knows. Don't think it is preventing me from settling here. i find i get more international news from uk press and the likes of the BBC than is available through aussie outlets. Don't think it's anything to feel guilty about or "not committing" to Australia.

That happened to me in WA once. Nearly missed the small sign on the restaurant door saying "dinner - 630-8pm".... otherwise it would have been a long hungry night in the middle of nowhere.

that's exactly what i thought when i went there. I wondered since if i'd missed something hip or had taken a wrong turn.

I've spent a little while in Perth on a holiday i took in WA a couple of years ago and i thought it was a decent place, though to be fair we didnt stay long in the city but travelled a bit. I'd go back to WA for another holiday, the sheer amount of space and the size of the state and the landscapes i find fascinating. Could i live in Perth. Dunno. When i first visited i thought i could, and was probably thinking of "weather" as being a factor. Now i realise it's pretty irrelevant what the weather's doing as you're at work most of the time anyway and not lazing around. I 'm more of a mind that i'd actually prefer not to live in Perth at all if i was going to live in WA, but perhaps have a complete lifestyle change and live somewhere like Margaret River , and run an olive farm, or something! But reading this board has definitely put me off even considering moving to Perth in the near future. I'm sticking with Melbourne. Although i think living sucessfully in Perth and WA in general is a state of mind thing . You need to be comfortable with the isolation and the limitations, and actually embrace them, to make a go of it. Clearly though if odds are stacked against you (too expensive, no work) it will be hard to get on, wherever you live. ​

I think that Patrick Mercer story is about 2 years old, do you really trawl the internet all day looking for stories about David Cameron. The obsession is quite worrying........ I have a friend that's like this. Constantly putting updates on Facebook about "bloody Tories" this that and the other, all day, cluttering up my inbox on every latest cause, ranting into cyberspace. Never once does he get off his backside to do anything to help make the country a better place, like you know, perhaps running for a council or Parliament. The only thing he does is spam the internet with moans. ​Glad i'm away from all that nonsense. Get involved and change things yourself and quit being a keyboard warrior if you're so bothered.

The "rich" earning over 40k would pay more tax anyway, by virtue of earning more money. Why should the rate also increase? Flat rates are fairer.

I'm sure there are many that have done just that. Just the drip, drip of tax increases, the politically inspired fostering of jealously and denigration of success amongst the population, the little jbes, the class consciousness and the politics of envy. It all just gets so tedious.

God, it looks lovely, but more like early April than mid May. Little growth in the grass, leaves only just appearing on the trees. Phoned up my dad yesterday in Yorkshire and he reported it was sleeting at lunchtime. On 14th May. What's going on with the climate there?

As someone who works in the property industry and trained in the valuation of property investments albeit commercial ones i find the whole concept of "investing" in a negatively geared residential property completely baffling, but many seem to do it here. I think it's nuts but then i'm probably the fool, seemingly only silly people look at stuff like cashflow and yield when buying residential investments ( i kid you not, this was said by a "property expert" in an article in The Age the other day).

Amazed that you knew after a week that you couldnt make it work. I know you were terribly homesick but your reaction after a week - fine - but i don't think you can say you gave it a real go. You just made a snap judgement, (which you're happy with). Sorry if that sounds harsh. Glad you've realised where your happiest though , it wasn't a wasted experience.

have done it business & first class and it's not been bad. my experience doing it economy, is not good however, too confining and boring. if you can afford to upgrade, do it as it's a far nicer experience.

I love London, lived there for most of my adult life before moving down here 6 months ago. It's possible to love it and appreciate it and also appreciate other great cities too. It can be a hard place to live though - even dyed in the wool born and bred Londoners have their days when they absolutely hate the place and find it infuriating living there. But this is balanced with great days too. It does have an energy that's unique to itself. But also, some people believe it's the only / best city in the world but the truth is other places excel too, in a different way. It has become a city of extremes though more recently,of wealth and poverty, and i think that's sad. I worked based in Mayfair for years but also for years worked in the poorest areas of London, and have seen both sides. What you can say about London is that it's an endlessly fascinating place because it's always changing, and changes fast - and its hard to ever know all there is to know, or experience everything there is to experience there - which can't be said about too many cities.

i''m guessing 60 days at or more than 20 degrees in London