Manboobs, I too am from Scotland. Edinburgh to be precise. I arrived in Canberra at the start of July in what some are calling the worst winter in years. My take - it started off a bit below zero most days and by 11am the fog had cleared and it was up to around 7 degrees. Most days were crisp and sunny. Rarely strong wind or rain. If that's as bad as it gets, I'm in heaven. Of course, its all relative and I'm sure to a lot of born and bred Aussies it really was a bad winter. But for someone just arrived from Scotland...a beautiful, mild winter. (Actually I came from 2 years in south of China and even then I still think it as a great winter.)
Was here on my own for 3 months with no car. Wife and kids arrived Sep and we're just looking around for the right car now. We're close to buses and while they're not very frequent (hourly or half-hourly) they're clean, reasonable price and regular.
You'd still have a good life using bus and bike but I'd totally second what everyone else is saying - you'd also miss out on so much that you can really only conveniently discover by car. Both in Canberra and further afield. My take is we've travelled half way around the world and we're going to explore as much of Australia as we can. A car will make that much easier. But we won't be using it to go to the shops that are 10 or 15 mins walk away.
Oh and getting to the airport is a challenge from various places without a car. Especially for early morning flights and late returns.
Welcome to Canberra!
cheers,
Scott
