PityTheFool Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Started this as a reply to another thread but it became a vent so though it best to start a new thread! Anyway, we moved to Melbourne a year ago from England (East Midlands) and are not sure we chose the right place, here's why; The weather is pretty bad, summer was nice but not for long, the was a week of 40+ which was a shock to the system but other than that it's been pretty poor. I'd say in the last year there has been prob 2 months that had the weather we expected, the rest of the time it's been very similar to England just not as cold. Saying that it's colder at night coz the houses just aren't insulated like in the uk, if it's cold outside it's cold inside!! Based on my experience the work situation is very bad! (I'm an electrical engineer). Very, very small industry and almost impossible to crack - I was refused one interview because I was from England!! Everyone wants local experience but no one wants to get you the chance to get any. Melbourne may be big but everybody knows everybody, not what I expected and very different to the UK, very much who you know not what you know!! Work life balance, what's that all about, Aussies are very happy to work all week and in some cases the weekend, 12 hour days are normal and in most cases necessary to cope with the workload they expect you to handle. Beaches - nice but nothing special. Our favourite is Mt Martha which is very nice, although I'm sure there are far better around Oz, well, I know there are coz we've been to some of them. People - not as friendly as we'd have hoped. We are 33 and 30 with two boys 8 and 7, being young with children of our age is pretty much unheard of in Melbourne, people in the city are either single or couples without children, however they are the same age as me and my wife. The vast majority if the parents at our boys' school are mid to late 40's, with children the same age as ours. Not saying this is a bad thing, just very different for the UK, generally speaking Aussies don't have children in their early to mid twenties like people do in the Uk. I commute an hour each way to work on the trains - which are shocking!! I thought public transport in the UK was unreliable, this takes the biscuit!! Melbourne is great for sport. Our boys love the AFL, which is far more accessible to the average family than English football, a family ticket to a big game at the MCG is $50, about £25-30!! The boys play way more sport here than they ever did in England, especially basketball which they love. In terms of money; cost of living is higher but then so are salaries (although they make you work for it!) we are far better off now than we were in England. We don't have to be careful with money like we did in England and still have some left over for savings. The outdoors is amazing, national parks, wildlife, etc. I'll never get bored of seeing kangaroos and koalas!! The prob with Melbourne is it's always to cold or raining to enjoy it!! our experience hasn't been all negative, just not as expected. Would we go back to England - no definitely not (despite the above Australia is much better), would we conserved anywhere else in Oz - definitely! We've started to discuss other cities, possibly Brisbane but the boys and their experience, i.e. changing schools too often is a big concern, we feel we can prob get away with one more move so who knows!! Anyway commute over....comments / experiences would be appreciated.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 It sounds like you are very level-headed and a year in have a realistic view of Melbourne and what you like and don't like. It sounds like Perth in lots of respects but you would get much better weather there - Spring and Autumn go on and on and are just wonderful, Summer was too hot for me, you get maybe a month of 40 degree plus weather. I know what you mean about being concerned about moving again with children, after 5 years in Perth we concluded it wasn't ticking our boxes and if it wasn't for our 10 year old (who was keen to go back to the UK anyway) we may have given NZ a try or even Melbourne but felt it was too risky and we did have other factors calling us home. It sounds like you're sure you want to stay in Australia - the work situation will probably be pretty much the same in all the major cities, the cost of living varies but then so do the salaries so it probably evens out. The weather though varies enormously - do bear in mind Brisbane is much more humid. Good luck with your next move Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thediggler Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I can relate to most of that. I've been here in Melbourne for coming up to a year now and am flying back to the UK with my wife and two young girls 3 weeks from today. Aside from a bit of rain over the past few weeks I think the weather has been pretty good since we've been here. Obviously, the 40+ heat in January was a killer but we managed to get through it unscathed! I come from quite a wet part of the UK though so perhaps my opinion will be different from yours! Agree totally regarding the housing though, I've actually felt warmer outside sometimes and can't wait to get back into a brick built house with proper insulation and CARPETS!!! Oh how I've missed carpets!! I managed to get a job lined up before I came so haven't had to go through the rigmarole of sending out my CV and attending interviews. It was one of the conditions my wife and I agreed before we came out here, as in my opinion it can be financial suicide migrating to Australia without having any work lined up first. Sky high rental prices mean money can drain from your bank account like water through your hands. We've been to the beach a few times but I'd swap it tomorrow for one of Britain's many national parks. We were members of the National Trust back home and used to enjoy driving out at the weekend to some of the various trust locations and spend time walking round forests or nature reserves with the girls. One thing I will miss however is the great children's parks they have here, they're dotted all over the place and it's clear Australia invests more in kids play facilities compared with the UK. There's also less vandalism (aside from the bloody graffiti) which has been refreshing. With regards the people, I can pretty much take or leave Australians the same way I could with folks back in the UK. Customer service is pretty bad here and the majority of call centre workers and shop assistants I've had to speak to come across either bored or sarcastic. It's p*ssed me off quite a bit to be honest although I tend to give as good as I get! Commuting hasn't been a problem for me as I live in Bayside and drive down Beach Rd to work in South Melbourne, about a 25 min drive each day. I think i'm fortunate to be honest as the prospect of travelling to work every day by train would have got on my nerves quickly. Moneywise, we've actually done a lot better than we expected and are looking at going home with around $20,000 more than we came with. This is due to us being careful with money and not going mad buying cars, etc when we first got here. We have friends who came here with no jobs, limited funds and one of the first things they did when they landed was to spend $15,000 on a huge 4x4 which they clearly don't need. We managed to get two cars for several thousand dollars less than that and have been pretty lucky that nothing drastic has gone wrong with them since we've been here. It's all about living to your means really. If you can't be seen dead in anything less than a BMW or huge Chelsea tractor then that's cool, but you're gonna pay the price for it! I'm also careful when I go shopping and took over duties from my wife who was spending (in my opinion) far too much when she went out to Coles each week. An average weeks shopping probably costs somewhere between $200 and $250 (although on some occasions I've managed it for around $150 actually) which is comparable with what we were spending back home so I can't complain really. I am a tight git though and always go for the special deals on offer rather than just put any old crap in my trolley! Overall, whilst the experience has definitely been a testing one for us, it has brought us together more as a family and I think we'll be more appreciative of things we took for granted when we get back home. I know some people will disagree with my comments and have their own opinions, but as I've said before on another post, Australia is like Marmite. You'll either love it or hate it, and everyone's experience will differ depending on the type of lifestyle they left in the UK. For us, we were happier and generally better off back home and we realise now what matters most to us. I wouldn't want to go back and change anything we've done even if I could, as in my opinion life is for living and you'll never know what could have been unless you experience things for yourself. The only real worry I have now is finding work back home and getting my eldest girl settled into school, although i'm hoping those things will sort themselves out over the next couple of months. Anyway, I enjoyed reading your post. Good luck for the future and hope it all works out for you, whatever you decide to do in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PityTheFool Posted July 1, 2014 Author Share Posted July 1, 2014 Thanks for the replies. @thediggler Sorry to hear your heading back - did you considered anywhere else in Oz before deciding or was enough enough?!? For us it's I think it's just not worked out as we'd have hoped, don't get me wrong I know the grass isn't always greener and same sh!t different place, etc. but we were hoping for a more relaxed lifestyle and attitude to life generally. At the minute we're doubting whether Melbourne is able to offer what we're looking for. It would be awesome to have more sun, spend more time at the beach, surf (the water around Melbourne is freezing, even in summer), basically work to live and not live to work!! I work in the city and we live in the burbs, in some respects it's good but at the minute is seems all I do is work and then spend the weekends wishing it was sunny - not too dissimilar to the UK. We read that Melbourne is very European and I'd def agree, maybe we should have taken more notice!! We came here to experience the Aussie way!! Has anybody moved from Melbourne to Brisbane and if so can you offer any advice / comparisons??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thediggler Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Thanks for the replies. @thediggler Sorry to hear your heading back - did you considered anywhere else in Oz before deciding or was enough enough?!? For us it's I think it's just not worked out as we'd have hoped, don't get me wrong I know the grass isn't always greener and same sh!t different place, etc. but we were hoping for a more relaxed lifestyle and attitude to life generally. At the minute we're doubting whether Melbourne is able to offer what we're looking for. It would be awesome to have more sun, spend more time at the beach, surf (the water around Melbourne is freezing, even in summer), basically work to live and not live to work!! I work in the city and we live in the burbs, in some respects it's good but at the minute is seems all I do is work and then spend the weekends wishing it was sunny - not too dissimilar to the UK. We read that Melbourne is very European and I'd def agree, maybe we should have taken more notice!! We came here to experience the Aussie way!! Has anybody moved from Melbourne to Brisbane and if so can you offer any advice / comparisons??? Mate, I've been to pretty much every major city in Australia (aside from Alice Springs and Darwin) and Melbourne is the only place I feel we could have any chance of settling. Brisbane was too humid for us, Perth is too isolated, Sydney is a bit harsh and expensive and Adelaide is too quiet (again, this is just my opinion!). I think the longer we stay here the harder it would be, particularly for my girls, to integrate back into the lifestyle we had back home. It would also be more difficult to get a mortgage and even perhaps find work so I don't see any benefit in staying here any longer than what we need to now. I think in regards lifestyle, the problem I've found with Melbourne or perhaps Victoria is that it's like living in a small country, and if you want to go to another state you might as well be travelling from England to say somewhere like Spain or Italy, such is the size of the country. That can be quite frustrating when you've already exhausted pretty much everything you can do with kids in Melbourne (i.e. we've been to all the parks, zoos, museums, farms, etc). There was definitely more to keep us entertained back home and every weekend feels like Groundhog Day here now because we're doing the same things over and over again. Maybe some of that is because my youngest girl is only 2 years old so we can't exactly do as much as say a family with older kids. Personally, I think once you've got past the sea, sun and sand, Melbourne doesn't offer us anything over the lifestyle we had in the UK, less in fact hence why we're returning home. And I know this will sound like i'm a whinging pom (maybe I am!) but to be honest I got bored of all the sunshine in the summer and was pining for some cold weather come March! Too much of a good thing can put you off it, and that's how I felt about the heat over Christmas. Another issue for us is throwing money down the drain by renting over here, $2,300 a month for a weatherboard shack that's about 50 years old, riddled with ants and freezing in the winter. I could get a lovely 4-5 bed newish detached home for that price back home! So in summary, I've been here, got the t-shirt and now can't wait to get home. There's a few mates waiting for me at the bar with a pint at the ready..........!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinkla Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 I agree with much of these comments. The weather. Weather in Melbourne is not what migants might expect. It does get cold in winter and houses are almost impossible to heat. But you get used to it. The weather will eventually just become part of life. Employment. It is different and Australians tend to work long but not always productive hours. I do wish people could take the European attitude of focusing on doing only what adds value and focusing on outcomes, then going home and focusing on family life. Instead, it seems to be a competition to see who can stay at work the longest whilst batting away work because it is "not my job". Also, jobs seem to be much less secure than in the UK, but maybe that's just my sector (and my wife's sector). Customer service. Sucks. It is a culture shock to see how even legitimate complaints get driven off into the long grass. Write a letter and you'll get a standard reply back. Or be asked to fill in a long form supported by lots of evidence. Or be told to try to resolve the issue before complaining. Costs. Australia is expensive, but trying to replicate UK life is going to be especially expensive. There are work arounds and often there are cheap options (e.g. clothes in K-Mart are very cheap whilst in Country Road they are very expensive; books in shops are expensive but can be bought cheaply by mail order). As others note, wages are also higher. After a while, it all starts to feel normal. Also, many of the 4x4 cars you see around are much older than they look - people make the very expensive vehicles last longer. People. I think Australia is quite a nation of introverts, despite the image overseas. People tend to hand around with their schoolmates and are not usually looking for new friends. They live their lives behind high fences and will wave at neighbours but don't really want much more interaction. Travel. In Melbourne, public transport is actually pretty good. Trains run on time and although they are slow, they are reliable. OK, occasionally something goes very badly wrong and a line gets suspended, but it is rarer than I remember in the UK. I would take reliable public transport over faster but less reliable transport all the time. And in Melbourne it is very cheap. Things to do. We do struggle to find things to do of a weekend. The real issue is that Melbourne, like other Australian cities, is isolated and focused on the central CBD. Once you know the CBD, the suburbs offer limited oportunities. The nearby towns are small and not really nearby. They have wineries and cafes, but not much more. The countryside is pretty but not very varied. And where we live, the beach is a 2 hour drive. The UK does have so much all so close at hand. There are positives too. You will probably have more living space than in the UK. Native trees keep their leaves all year round. When the sun shines (and it can shine in winter too), the light is fantastic. There is a plentiful supply of good wine. Farmers markets bring joy to life. Higher wages mean higher standards of living. Kangaroos are fun. People do spend more time outdoors. People look after their front gardens which makes the place look pretty. Melbourne has excellent restaurants. It's all a balance. I found I had about 2-3 months of honeymoon; about 2-3 years of severe culture shock; and have now had about 1-2 years of feeling quite zen-like. Mostly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 It is the middle of winter, you do realise ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PityTheFool Posted July 1, 2014 Author Share Posted July 1, 2014 Employment. It is different and Australians tend to work long but not always productive hours. I do wish people could take the European attitude of focusing on doing only what adds value and focusing on outcomes, then going home and focusing on family life. Instead, it seems to be a competition to see who can stay at work the longest whilst batting away work because it is "not my job". Also, jobs seem to be much less secure than in the UK, but maybe that's just my sector (and my wife's sector). Couldn't agree more (with all of the above)!! Glad I'm not the only one struggling with the employment issue. A few weeks back someone summed it up to me nicely, he said the Aussie are just busy fools, they do loads of work but do a sh!t job of it they then spend the next few months sorting out their fu*k ups, whereas the English way is to do it once and do it right!! Being an engineer methodical could be my middle name (and that doesn't mean I'm slow, just thorough) the Aussies couldn't care less, get it done, out of the door and move on that's all they care about!! You need a degree to get a job in my industry so for us to get over here it was a five year plan (that's no exaggeration!). The frustrating part is that I've worked hard to get a good degree and now feel like it was worthless, how they can demand a degree is beyond me, the work they produce is all about quantity not quality!! as you say it's all about how long you spend at work and not what you actually achieve - I came here to enjoy life with my family not send myself to any early grave!! I don't know the answer to that one though, maybe become a surf instructor - just gotta learn how to surf!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PityTheFool Posted July 1, 2014 Author Share Posted July 1, 2014 It is the middle of winter, you do realise ? Yeah for sure but I don't remember a long summer, people also say that spring and autumn are the best seasons but in my mind they're very similar to the UK just a bit warmer, it's still cold, raining and overcast!! Oh and very very windy!! obviously these are all opinions and it's each to their own but I just think it's useful for other readers to see the real Melbourne rather than being told it's 'the worlds most liveable city'!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 I've lived here for 35 years and it doesn't sound right to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PityTheFool Posted July 1, 2014 Author Share Posted July 1, 2014 Maybe we've just experienced a bad year (weather wise)??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 I expect so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaggieMay24 Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 I think this last year was the same as the one previously, so based on a sample size of 2, this was a typical year :-) I can't compare Australia to the UK as I'm from Canada, but the 2 main things that struck me about your posts - you talk about Australians working so hard, and yet I've been so frustrated that I've wanted to go to a shop or get a pedicure, and everything closes so damn early! 5pm or 6pm on a weekday and places are closing, or mid-afternoon on a Saturday. I gather that's largely due to council laws and penalty rates, but was a surprise. And I've never had anything except great customer service in stores, but maybe I haven't shopped around enough (perhaps because the places are closed when I want to shop, lol). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Brisbane weather always pretty nice apart from occasionally wet and humid in Summer. Went to the beach a month or so ago and the water was still warmer than when I was in Sydney in summer. You would have to suffer the Lions like me for your AFL fix though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flybyknight Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 love the opening to this thread, i was going to write a 1 year in bit; but i don't need to now! thanks (don't agree with everything, but for the most part completely accurate ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 The job market has always been the same in Melbourne if you have a job know people no problem. If you are new to the State then it takes a lot longer. When I was single I moved with friends from Sydney to Melbourne and experienced exactly what you experienced then. No-one wants to give people a go without local experience. Of course this is not in all industries or work places but definitely in some professions etc. Even Aussies from interstate experience this. As for the weather as its warmer than the UK we found the weather lovely, similar seasons with warmer weather and fortunately we have always had climate control. One of my friends and her husband moved to Brisbane 15 years ago and they are finally coming back to Victoria. He is a civil engineer and has worked for so many companies which disappear, amalgamate etc over those years. He has always said its a hard one to crack in Brisbane if you do not know anyone. I would get the job first before moving interstate anywhere really best not to burn bridges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinkla Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 you talk about Australians working so hard, and yet I've been so frustrated that I've wanted to go to a shop or get a pedicure, and everything closes so damn early! 5pm or 6pm on a weekday and places are closing, or mid-afternoon on a Saturday. Actually, I was talking about working long hours rather than working hard. I know shops shut at frustrating times, but you can bet all the staff are still there behind the locked doors for many hours, shuffling papers and dusting the stockroom well after closing time, none wanting to be the first to leave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 I think your first couple of paragraphs summed it up, you moved to the wrong City if you wanted decent weather and good beaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Thanks for the replies. @thediggler Sorry to hear your heading back - did you considered anywhere else in Oz before deciding or was enough enough?!? For us it's I think it's just not worked out as we'd have hoped, don't get me wrong I know the grass isn't always greener and same sh!t different place, etc. but we were hoping for a more relaxed lifestyle and attitude to life generally. At the minute we're doubting whether Melbourne is able to offer what we're looking for. It would be awesome to have more sun, spend more time at the beach, surf (the water around Melbourne is freezing, even in summer), basically work to live and not live to work!! I work in the city and we live in the burbs, in some respects it's good but at the minute is seems all I do is work and then spend the weekends wishing it was sunny - not too dissimilar to the UK. We read that Melbourne is very European and I'd def agree, maybe we should have taken more notice!! We came here to experience the Aussie way!! Has anybody moved from Melbourne to Brisbane and if so can you offer any advice / comparisons??? Have you considered Perth mate? I see the Digglers comments above about Perth being too isolated and I've never got why people put that. Every major City in AUs is isolated and tbh how many times do you travel far from where you live, no matter where that is? Perth for us has been everything we dreamed of and it sounds like we had the same dream as you. More relaxed lifestyle, close to gorgeous beaches (walking distance), not near a City (never liked living too close to Cities, hate shopping), stuff for the kids to do, surf, find people with the same interests. I, like you work close to the City and live in the burbs. The burb we live in is great though and we researched pretty thoroughly when we got here, rented for a year, but knew we wanted to be close to a beach still. My wife nearly talked me out of it as we rented near the River and she quite liked it there. Luckily it was a bit out of our reach, price wise, at the time and we both love it here now. We have never got fed up with the warm weather and the beach though and still spend as much, if not more, time there as we did when we first moved here. That's probably because we joined the local surf lifesaving club when our eldest was 7. You sort of get pressured into joining in and I ended up as their age group coach for a few years, my wife started doing sporty stuff too, the youngest also joined as soon as he could and most of the friends we have now we met through the club. Like your kids ours have taken to the AFL and both played auskick (coach there too), the eldest had a go at soccer, modcross too but went back to AFL. His major sport was always surf club and surf carnivals though and loved competing for the club. We went over East for the national championships a couple of times and he got a few trips with the Surf Club to compete at Manly and Freshwater carnivals. While I like Brissie too it's a long way to any beaches from the City and unless you live on the Gold coast or Sunshine Coast it's a good car ride to get to decent beaches, you wouldn't be wanting to do it every weekend. If you could get work in either the Sunshine or Gold Coast then it would match what you are looking for, if you end up in Brissie itself then probably not. Where we live we can walk to a brilliant beach in 10 minutes, it's less than 2 minutes by car, there's heaps of free parking there and even in the height of summer you can get a space. The beach is so long it very rarely feels busy, the only exception to that is Christmas Day when it's an absolutely brilliant atmosphere there. Obviously weather is a lot better in Perth. Lady R says you can have a month of above 40 degrees but that is not a whole month of 40+. You might get a few days together then a break to mid 30's, then back up again. I love summer, spring and autumn too. Even winter is not too bad. We were down the beach this past weekend and in the sea. The sea is a bit cold at the moment but it was a brilliant blue sky day on Sunday and playing around on the surf ski and paddle board with the youngest was good fun. The wife has just got back from England on Friday night and she said the temperature was about the same as when she left. Perth and WA is a lot less humid than over East so when it is hot you don't sweat as much and feel anywhere near as uncomfortable. As regards lifestyle and time spent at work I guess that goes along with what your job is. I'm in IT so I guess I'm lucky in that I never work weekends and am home before 6:00 every night. In the summer I get up early and go for a ski paddle with friends before work. Even have time for a coffee in the beachside coffee shop and put the world to rights. Having said that the eldest is a sparkie and while he used to leave for work early he had been to the gym and was home the same time as me when he worked in town. He's FIFO now up in Port Hedland and works one week on one off and earns more than I do. He's worked the odd weekend since he's been qualified but that was usually by choice when he was saving up for something. He's knocked back lots of cashies as he would sooner have the time off at the weekends. Really mate I don't know anyone who works 12 hours a day, or would be expected to, it really is more relaxed here. I remember the climate here being compared to the Algarve when we were making enquiries about where to emigrate to and both me and the wife thought that will do us. Good luck with whatever you decide, Aus is a massive place with each City being different and offering different things. Our lifestyle was completely different when we live 30 minutes away near the River when we were renting. Even though it was still close to the beach there is nothing like being able to walk to one, so you just don't go as much.:cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Perth is the most isolated capital city in the world. Look it up. (which means it is the capital city farthest away from any other capital city). (worldwide). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinkla Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Perth is the most isolated capital city in the world. Look it up. But Paul's point (and it is a reasonable one) is that if you live in a capital city but never travel interstate then it is immaterial whether your nearest capital is an hour's flight away or four hours away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thediggler Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Have you considered Perth mate? I see the Digglers comments above about Perth being too isolated and I've never got why people put that. Every major City in AUs is isolated and tbh how many times do you travel far from where you live, no matter where that is? Yeah, I understand what you're saying @Paul1Perth. I think it's just the fact that you're thousands of miles away from any other major city unlike other places in Australia. It's not like in the UK where you can travel from say Liverpool to Manchester, and then onto Leeds all within the space of about 2 hours whilst experiencing different scenery and attractions along the way. I'm not saying that's possible in Victoria but at least you can drive to say Adelaide or Sydney if you wanted to (personally I wouldn't dream of it with my two kids, they'd have me in tears after 2 hours!). Aside from the location, the flies also got on my nerves in Perth when I was there a few years back and I don't think I could put up with the heat if i'm honest. I one of those sad bar-stuards who likes a bit of wind and rain now and again, must be my Pennine roots shining through!! Each to their own I guess but I suppose that's what makes the world go round. Good to hear you're enjoying yourself mate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sustain Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 Perth is the most isolated capital city in the world. Look it up. (which means it is the capital city farthest away from any other capital city). (worldwide). Which is relevant? for those that assume Melbourne and Sydney are different or more desirable 2,431 mi Distance from Perth WA to Singapore 4,885 mi Distance from Perth WA to Durban 1,631 mi Distance from Melbourne VIC to Auckland 3,765 mi Distance from Melbourne VIC to Singapore 1,961 mi Distance from Melbourne VIC to Port Moresby East coasts wins for more international destinations closer i.e. Auckland and Port Moresby But does that matter if you would prefer visiting South Africa or Asia? I would not consider proximity of Sydney and Melbourne as relevant as far too many wasted business trips between these cities are testament too. Relevance is for holidays of personal nature. I am somewhat interested by this close proximity to Singapore 5 hours flight time versus 8 hours from Melbourne. Bali being about 3 hours 40 minutes?? compared to Auckland?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinkla Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 I am somewhat interested by this close proximity to Singapore 5 hours flight time versus 8 hours from Melbourne. Bali being about 3 hours 40 minutes?? compared to Auckland?? These are clearly attractive. But what Perth lacks is the opportunity to fly somewhere affordable and attractive within the hour and a half range that would make it viable for a weekend away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 I still don't know why so many go to Perth rather than Sydney or Melbourne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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