Canberra with kids?

[Hgsrh]

We have a possibility of moving to Canberra with a 1 and 3 year old... What do you think?? My partner is Aussie and has lived there before, I've visited - my concern is the lack of things to do compared to London (where we live now) & lack of diversity - but work will be better for him and I'm sure I'd find something.

What's it like to live there? Will it be difficult to get into full time daycare? Where are the good places to live near good schools? Will we regret the move?

So Canberra is interesting. It used to be godawful, but it has definitely improved. If you’re used to a big city like London you may find it desperately dull and run out of things to do quickly. There are lots of things to do, lots of museums, nice parks etc but I’m from Sydney and even I would consider it not lively enough.

The other problem with it is that it’s in the middle of nowhere. 3 hours to Sydney for example, probably a couple of hours to the coast. It’s boiling hot in summer and freezing in the winter.

So that’s the downsides. The upsides are, it’s a compact city with not too much traffic, it’s easy to do stuff, get into good restaurants, park anywhere. There are nice restaurants and it’s a city full of highly educated people so there’s normally stuff going on. It can be a bit transient because of the nature of the jobs (government and defence) but it’s a nice place to live. It’s not too expensive and you can get a nice house with a pool for much cheaper than Sydney.

There are excellent schools - I know Radford is a good one but if you google best schools in Canberra you can find out the info you need. The best areas to live are probably around Yaralumla but anywhere central is good.

It’s probably pretty diverse, most cities in Aus are, but I don’t know. Probably not as much as Sydney.

No chance of a visit before you commit?

Sorry, I saw you have visited before.

Im on the fence with Canberra. I like Sydney because it feels so much more lively and bigger and I also love the beach, waterways and the bush whereas Canberra is a bit too inland for me.

If you are outdoorsy it’s a great place to live. People tend to be fairly educated and it’s a reasonably easy place to make friends because everyone has moved there for work.

Australia is multicultural but in a different way to London. For “city” things like musicals, concerts etc you’ll need to go to Sydney/Melbourne.

Thank you. It's like it would be a whole new way of life really - v hard decision

It's a city of less than 400,000 people, so of course it won't have as much to do as London. If you think of it as a large country town that's also the nation's capital, then you'll be closer to the mark.

My view is of someone who lives outside Canberra, but it is my closest big town.

It’s called the bush capital and a country town for a reason. How many capital cities do you know with such a comparatively small population (400,000)?

That said, it is a great place to raise kids. Good schools, lots of festivals and activities going on, and a very easy to access outdoor lifestyle. You are never more than 20minutes away from anything.

There are great travelling exhibits at the Australian Museum and National Gallery of Australia in addition to their permanent collections. There is also Questacon (science museum for kids), the National Library, National Portrait Gallery, and Australian War Memorial. So it ticks the boxes for capital city museums.

Theatre in Australia is very different to London’s West End, even in Sydney and Zmelbourne. It is all a bit more like a regional rep theatre. There is a theatre in Canberra as well as a couple on the university campuses. There are 2 main universities in Canberra with outposts of a few others.

There are lots of outdoorsy activities to do but they are not coastal which I personally miss. That said, there are places to sail (Lake Burley Griffey) and lots of places you can swim safely (beaches by the riverside - Casuarina Sands for example).

The airport is crap - very few direct flights to destinations outside of Australia. Actually, not that many direct flights within Australia either considering it is the capital.

The shops are fairly boring and suburban compared to Sydney and Melbourne.

There are lots of good restaurants but they are pricey - for those on parliamentary expenses, I guess. Definitely easy to get a reservation in non-sitting weeks. The greater Canberra region is known for cool climate wines and there are loads of wineries around with cellar doors you can visit. Decent olive groves too. And multiple farmers markets every weekend.

It is safe and easy to get around and very family oriented. As the kids get older, we will probably move closer for decent schools.

I'm just outside Canberra although grew up in Canberra after spending my late 20s in London.

Canberra has good public schools (State schools) and good private schools which aren't the top end of town for prices.

There is lots and lots to do in Canberra with kids. Plenty of parks and facilities plus good services and reasonable health care.

That being said I love living just outside Canberra as we have even more space.

I'm in Canberra with my DH and 3 DC.
It can be a really a great place to raise children, and we've chosen to do so for a number of reasons. It can also be a potentially challenging place to live depending on your lifestyle preferences.

Canberra is not densely populated - it is a very spread out city. This means there are plenty of open spaces and it is comparatively very affordable to buy a family home with a good sized garden compared to many other cities. But it also means the amenities are very spread out and the public transport doesn't have brilliant coverage, so consequently it is very challenging to get around to lots of locations in the city without a car, unless you choose where you live VERY carefully and are also happy to supplement with taxis/ uber as needed.

Schools are generally good. We're using state schools only for our 3 DC (can't afford 3 x private) and are quite happy with our experiences so far. There is a teacher shortage in the state system at the moment so there are some gaps but broadly the schools are very safe, competent, caring and well managed in our experience. My kids are all enjoying school.

There are plenty of opportunities for things to do with kids- lots of sports and extra curricular offerings as well as museums, playgrounds, swimming pools etc. But as above, you'll almost certainly be getting in the car to get them to their activities, unless you choose a private school that has them on site after school (and I don't know enough about the private schools to know which schools offer what).

Canberra has in one sense a very outdoorsy lifestyle but also a very indoorsy attitude to shopping and civic life. Instead of high streets and corner shops and pubs, there are various 'town centres' spread across the city, in the middle of a group of suburbs, which have the major supermarkets, office blocks, library, banks, bus interchange station, cinemas, restaurants, retail stores etc for that area, usually in an indoor shopping mall sort of format.
Then there are smaller shopping centres in the satellite suburbs, some have the sort of equivalent businesses of a local high street,others are a very small number of random businesses grouped together. It's a bit of a lottery of what you'll get in any given suburb. Some are very comprehensive and have absolutely everything you need in five minutes' walk from your house, for others you will again need to get in the car to get milk and bread or see a Dr. There are some very nice bustle-y lively areas if you choose well and aren't too financially constrained.

Healthcare works differently to the UK - if you're considering moving definitely look into it. It will almost certainly cost more. Feel free to ask any qs.

Unlike London or New York or Sydney, Canberra is based mostly around government rather than private industry, so doesn't have the sort of ultra high net worth cohort that is obvious in those cities. Canberra has plenty of highly educated people on very good salaries, but not the extreme displays of wealth you see elsewhere. Very limited on glamour and celebrity! You can have a very nice meal out and you won't need to be waiting 3 months for a reservation to anywhere. But nor can you easily go and treat yourself to a day looking in high end designer boutiques - shopping is very easy here and has a reasonable range of international brands like uniqlo and h&m, but it's pretty limited compared to proper big cities.

Also just as an fyi the architecture is a bit confronting when you're used to Europe. Nothing is proper 'old' - the Canberra city has only been around for 100 years, and the bulk of it was built in the 1960s-1980s so a lot of it ain't very pretty!

Really it's more of a modern (ish) regional city. Friendly, safe, and affordable compared to many other capital cities, but also smaller, and as a PP said, quite different from Australia's proper 'international' cities like Sydney and Melbourne. We don't get some of the major touring productions / music acts etc as we don't have a big enough population base. And there is very limited 'quirkiness' in shopping etc again due to smaller population. But on the other hand you can drive anywhere across the entire city in under half an hour, and it's quite safe for teens to be out and about shopping etc and on public transport.

This has turned into a bit of an epic post already so I'll stop now. If there's anything you want to know, please ask!

Wow thanks that's so helpful. Which suburbs do you recommend looking at? We'd be after a 3/4 bed and I guess would rent initially, but then would want to buy for around $1m I think - priority to be near good state primary and daycare options.
On renting, it seems like rentals are quite expensive compared to buying but obviously we'd need to rent for 6-12 months initially

Try Realestate.com.au or Zango.com.au

Pretty much everything gets listed there. There is a bit of a north/south divide (with the lake as the dividing point) and I think suburbs largely have their own identities so it really comes down to personal choice.

Does your DH already have a potential job lined up and/or family in Canberra? I would definitely recommend living moderately close to where you both work and/or your family help if at all possible, or at least with reasonable transport between (good roads / decent bus route), especially if you are hoping to run only 1 car.
And I'd suggest also jumping on the Canberra Mums Facebook page, particularly for recommendations about childcare - mine are all well past that age and we used childcare near my workplace so I'm not going to be much help on that front.

But if you don't already have a particular area of Canberra you want to be in/near, you could start by taking a look at eg Curtin/Lyons, Aranda/Cook/Macquarie, Weetangera/Weston, Crace/Palmerston areas as places that have good links to likely workplaces, well established schools and shops, etc at the upper-mid range of your budget. You are very unlikely to be be able to get a nice 4 bed detached house with good sized garden for $1m in most of those suburbs (we were looking for a similar thing!) but you might find a 3 bed or townhouse that works for you.

If we were really really flush I'd love to live in Forrest,Campbell or Yarralumla. Next tier for me would be Curtin or Aranda. We can't manage any of those (need a biggish 4 bed and garden to fit all the DC) so we are a bit further out - your money will obviously go a lot further if you head outwards, but of course any commutes to other areas get longer, and access to major amenities and local shops/services become a bit more variable so you would want to think about your priorities. But there are plenty of nice places all over Canberra- again I'd ask on the Canberra Mums Facebook for recs/reviews when you've started looking into particular areas.

Hackett/Watson also lovely

Sorry to revive an old thread but @Hgsrh did you make the move? If so any recommendations from your experience in termS of areas etc? Looking at possibly moving with 5yo and 18 month old and just trying to get an understanding of what to expect 🤗

Oh this is popping up for me.

Are you already in Australia? Are you moving to Canberra from a big city? Are you hoping for space or city vibe?
Are you renting or buying?