Living in Australia - things I'm looking forward to

[BendigoBoy]

14 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

I like Bendigo but I think it would be too hot for me.

That's a fair comment.  I am a bit of a heat baby, so it works for me.

I'd kill to be able to be a bit closer to Melbourne in an ideal world.  But I'll be buggered if I'm lumbering myself with a mortgage to buy a shoebox anywhere near the Arts Precinct.

[Marisawright]

On 30/08/2023 at 13:26, Tychen said:

• Real sand beaches nearby, that you can enjoy even in so-called winter. We live in the inner west, miles from the ocean, but the little river beaches nearby at places like Gladesville or Putney or Cabarita are perfect for small kids.

@FirstWorldProblems, this reminds me.   I know you're attracted to the leafy northern burbs, but I hope you'll take a close look at the Canada Bay area.  Concord, Breakfast Point etc. 

I lived there and commuted to Macquarie Uni and occasionally Pennant Hills.  It was always an easy run across the Concord Bridge (Ryde Bridge), half an hour to Pennant Hills. Proximity to the river means it doesn't feel like urban sprawl.  

I suggest it because it's an area that would be 'cool' enough for 20-something kids to contemplate living in, while still being within comfortable reach of Castle Hill.   Whereas if you choose the Upper North Shore, the kids will be too embarrassed to live there.  Even my 45-year-old stepdaughter turned her nose up at it as "strictly for old fogeys". 

Lots of cycling options too

https://www.bikenorth.org.au/2020/07/15/concord-to-the-bay-run-plan/

[Rallyman]

52 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

I'm in Melbourne where everyone moans about the traffic, yet I still find it dramatically better than the motorways in the South of England.

Traffic is bad across all of uk. Sydney is a giant car park and getting smashed by road tolls and don’t mention parking fees 

while the op had some great stuff on the list reality is very different unfortunately. 

[InnerVoice]

47 minutes ago, BendigoBoy said:

I'd kill to be able to be a bit closer to Melbourne in an ideal world.  But I'll be buggered if I'm lumbering myself with a mortgage to buy a shoebox anywhere near the Arts Precinct.

The 'Arts Precinct' - how wonderfully pretentious 

[Bulya]

7 hours ago, BendigoBoy said:

Simple life for me.

- Being within a thirty minute walk and twenty minute roll along the ground to the local winery

- Being able to finish dinner, open the patio doors, and sit under the verandah watching the kookaburras in the evening

- Fresh plums, pears, apples, cherries, peaches, almonds, lemons, limes, kumquats, guava, strawberries, raspberries, jostaberries, boysenberries, kaffir limes, oranges, tangerines, olives from the garden (and that's not even starting on the herbs or veg)

- Neighbours over on a weekly basis for a light lunch or dinner party

Just not the sort of thing you get in Kilmarnock, really...

Living, not existing…

[FirstWorldProblems]

6 hours ago, Marisawright said:

@FirstWorldProblems, this reminds me.   I know you're attracted to the leafy northern burbs, but I hope you'll take a close look at the Canada Bay area.  Concord, Breakfast Point etc. 

I lived there and commuted to Macquarie Uni and occasionally Pennant Hills.  It was always an easy run across the Concord Bridge (Ryde Bridge), half an hour to Pennant Hills. Proximity to the river means it doesn't feel like urban sprawl.  

I suggest it because it's an area that would be 'cool' enough for 20-something kids to contemplate living in, while still being within comfortable reach of Castle Hill.   Whereas if you choose the Upper North Shore, the kids will be too embarrassed to live there.  Even my 45-year-old stepdaughter turned her nose up at it as "strictly for old fogeys". 

Lots of cycling options too

https://www.bikenorth.org.au/2020/07/15/concord-to-the-bay-run-plan/

Thank you.  I spent 6 months in neighbouring Five Dock and would go back there in an instant if it was affordable.  It somehow managed a small town feel despite being close to the CBD.  I will go look at the ones you mentioned, see if I think we can stretch to it. 

[InnerVoice]

Another thing to look forward to is the music.

I know it's subjective but the music you hear in public places in Australia is better than it is in the UK in my opinion, not to mention randomly listening to music on the radio which I still enjoy doing, despite Spotify and all that malarkey. In the UK I recall radio stations playing whatever is in vogue, plus some other stuff to tick various boxes. Over here you tend to get a really good mix of 'everything that most people would consider is good music' over the last 50 years. I was in Woolies earlier and they were playing the disco version of 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' and I heard three people humming/singing it. You know, in that muffled, reserved way that people do in supermarkets. Yes, I admit to being one of them.

[BobHatton]

Car park spaces that modern cars actually fit into? You haven't spent much time in Australian carparks I take it?

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, BobHatton said:

Car park spaces that modern cars actually fit into? You haven't spent much time in Australian carparks I take it?

They're still big compared to British ones.  I remember the council or supermarket carparks in places along the South Coast (Bournemouth, Poole etc) in 2015/16.  There often wasn't enough room to open the passenger door once you'd parked, so I'd have to get out of the car before my hubby parked it.  And our car was a Ford Focus, not a big car. 

Anyone with a car the size of a Ford Focus wouldn't have any trouble parking in Australia. But of course, Australians are buying bigger and bigger cars in spite of complaining about the price of petrol.

Edited October 29, 2023 by Marisawright

[FirstWorldProblems]

10 hours ago, BobHatton said:

Car park spaces that modern cars actually fit into? You haven't spent much time in Australian carparks I take it?

I have and compared to the U.K. they are huge.  Granted I drive an obnoxiously large car here in the U.K. but if I was a fatty I wouldn’t have a hope of getting out of the thing down at Sainsburys. 

[InnerVoice]

21 hours ago, BobHatton said:

Car park spaces that modern cars actually fit into? You haven't spent much time in Australian carparks I take it?

Most of our parking spaces are definitely a bit bigger than UK parking spaces, and due to the fact that are a lot more of them than people (at least here in QLD) I can nearly always find a space that isn't next to another vehicle, so I can throw open my door with wild abandon!

Not to mention that I can't remember last time I had to pay for parking - what's not to love about Australian parking spaces?

[Quoll]

1 hour ago, InnerVoice said:

 

Not to mention that I can't remember last time I had to pay for parking - what's not to love about Australian parking spaces?

Golly, don't come to Canberra then. I had to pay $5 for 5 minutes on Saturday night! I think the Aussies went for wider parking spaces because back in the day reverse angle parking was the thing. Still see it in some country towns like Bombala which has barely moved into C21

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, Quoll said:

Golly, don't come to Canberra then. I had to pay $5 for 5 minutes on Saturday night! I think the Aussies went for wider parking spaces because back in the day reverse angle parking was the thing. Still see it in some country towns like Bombala which has barely moved into C21

Inner city parking is horrendously expensive in Melbourne and Sydney too,  but then that's true of large British cities as well.  I don't think the wider spaces has anything to do with reverse angle parking, it's just that English cities are so much denser in population so space is at more of a premium.  

[ramot]

We certainly can’t find a street parking space for love or money in Bristol, anywhere  near our rental  and when you do eventually find one on your at least  3rd attempt, you get your tyres let down overnight by the eco idiots, even though it’s a hybrid., and your car can face either direction when parked. City centre parking wasn’t cheap, and best not mention the 20 mile speed restriction. We couldn’t leave fast enough.

[BendigoBoy]

38 minutes ago, ramot said:

We certainly can’t find a street parking space for love or money in Bristol, anywhere  near our rental  and when you do eventually find one on your at least  3rd attempt, you get your tyres let down overnight by the eco idiots, even though it’s a hybrid., and your car can face either direction when parked. City centre parking wasn’t cheap, and best not mention the 20 mile speed restriction. We couldn’t leave fast enough.

I remember Cabot Circus parking being pretty cheap back in 2016 before I left.  They ramp the prices up?

[ramot]

17 minutes ago, BendigoBoy said:

I remember Cabot Circus parking being pretty cheap back in 2016 before I left.  They ramp the prices up?

Can’t remember, was there last year. I’m used to the first 3 hours free in the Sunshine Plaza, plus extra free after that if you spend over a certain amount,, Chermside 2 hours free? and then the same, 

[InnerVoice]

10 hours ago, Quoll said:

Golly, don't come to Canberra then. I had to pay $5 for 5 minutes on Saturday night! I think the Aussies went for wider parking spaces because back in the day reverse angle parking was the thing. Still see it in some country towns like Bombala which has barely moved into C21

 

8 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Inner city parking is horrendously expensive in Melbourne and Sydney too,  but then that's true of large British cities as well.  I don't think the wider spaces has anything to do with reverse angle parking, it's just that English cities are so much denser in population so space is at more of a premium.  

All the more reason not to live in any of those places - life is good 'up north'

[Marisawright]

12 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

 

All the more reason not to live in any of those places - life is good 'up north'

On the other hand, public transport into the city is so good that you don't need to take your car.

[BendigoBoy]

6 hours ago, Marisawright said:

On the other hand, public transport into the city is so good that you don't need to take your car.

And that goes for "into the city" right around the state. After all, costs me the same to get the train in and back from Bendigo as it would to catch the tram from the suburbs into Melbourne CBD.

[Jon the Hat]

On 30/10/2023 at 05:46, InnerVoice said:

Most of our parking spaces are definitely a bit bigger than UK parking spaces, and due to the fact that are a lot more of them than people (at least here in QLD) I can nearly always find a space that isn't next to another vehicle, so I can throw open my door with wild abandon!

Not to mention that I can't remember last time I had to pay for parking - what's not to love about Australian parking spaces?

The insanity of charging for CBD parking when Westfields etc. are free and then wondering why city centre shopping is dying.

[InnerVoice]

3 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

The insanity of charging for CBD parking when Westfields etc. are free and then wondering why city centre shopping is dying.

I don't know whether city centre shopping has ever been such a big deal in Australia like it is in the UK. Sure, you can go to the CBD and find some fancy shops, but the vast majority of Aussies shop in the mall or shopping strip closest to their suburb. I have to admit that I fell in love with Launceston when I went to Tasmania earlier this year because it's one of the few places I've visited in Australia that has something which resembles an English town centre. Hobart and Devonport had a similar vibe in that respect.

I think you're in Brisbane, aren't you? When I lived there I used to park at the Spring Hill Woolworths if I ever wanted to do something in the city. They have free customer parking for 2 hours, so I used to leave my Woolworths shopping bags on the passenger seat in an act of subterfuge. I often stretched it to 3 hours and I never got a ticket. The car par is underground and goes down two levels, and there's usually plenty of parking. The entrance is on Perry Lane.

[Booma]

On 30/10/2023 at 10:04, Quoll said:

Golly, don't come to Canberra then. I had to pay $5 for 5 minutes on Saturday night! I think the Aussies went for wider parking spaces because back in the day reverse angle parking was the thing. Still see it in some country towns like Bombala which has barely moved into C21

Where on earth did you go that charges that much for parking lol?

[Quoll]

20 hours ago, Booma said:

Where on earth did you go that charges that much for parking lol?

Dinner at the QT - the Wilson car park beside it - just before the time for parking to finish but they advertise that they have CCTV monitoring.  It was the least amount I could get and didnt want to risk getting a ticket.  Wasnt cheap parking for dinner on London Circuit the other night too (parking charged to 10pm!!!) - just as well I rarely go anywhere to park, I walk and catch the bus when I can!!!

[Bulya]

10 hours ago, Quoll said:

Dinner at the QT - the Wilson car park beside it - just before the time for parking to finish but they advertise that they have CCTV monitoring.  It was the least amount I could get and didnt want to risk getting a ticket.  Wasnt cheap parking for dinner on London Circuit the other night too (parking charged to 10pm!!!) - just as well I rarely go anywhere to park, I walk and catch the bus when I can!!!

Cheap compared to Sydney!