which city do we move to?so confused

[australliamove]

we want to move to australlia asap but the problem is deciding where to go!! my husband is talking about perth, ive done reserch and kinda thinking spearwood, fremantle or butler areas. anyone know what they are like?

also we would be open to going to eastern australlia like melbourne or sydney but wondering are they too big for us and suitable for 2 young childern.

what id like to would be somewhere peaceful but close to somewhere with a bit of a buzz about it. somewhere safe. near parks for kids, beaches, schools and somewhere that my husband can get a job :-)
im really lost. its such a bit place. dont want anywhere too hot and huimid and areas where their is freak weather if you know what i mean. thanks in advance for any help.x

Well we are on the Central Coast which is north of Sydney. We are really happy here - have 2 children 11 and 9 and they are happy at the local school.
We use the cheap family train tickets on a Sunday and often travel down to Sydney for the day.
HTH a little.

thanks for your reply. whats the weather like? and is it quite a built up area? sorry what is HTH? thank you

No not built up - the weather is cold as it is winter - it is 18 ish degrees C.
We have had a lot of rain.

I like the weather here . HTH = hope that helped !

For fun I googled Central coast, NSW on images and got a lot of nice pics!

My blog is www.bonzablue.blogspot.com It is a bit out of date as I have not updated it for ages but has pics of our move here ...

Your wish list sounds like where we live in Auckland NZ!

I'm sure others will be along who know Australia better but for what it's worth DH is from Perth so I have been a regular visitor over the last ten years.

If money was no option I would choose to live in Fremantle or Floreat (great beach alongside park for young kids & closer to Perth CBD.) I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the other suburbs you mention. MIL lives in northern suburbs and Hilary's is another good spot for young kids.

Perth is not humid but it does get HOT - I have sweated through a few Christmases in 40 plus degrees C. It is also pretty expensive in my opinion / experience but I don't really know how this compares it to the rest of Aus

Hope this helps (HTH)

I live in Melbourne. Perth according to my friends is very child friendly - lots of young families and parks, outdoor stuff etc. It can feel very isolated there from the rest of Australia. It is a 4 hour flight to Melbourne or Sydney. It can get very hot in summer - a very dry heat that is quite searing.
I would recommend Adelaide - population about 1 million, lots to do, (also very dry heat). Melbourne is great to live in if you like cities. Both Melbourne and Sydney are dealing with increasing populations with congested roads but have many pockets which are just gorgeous to live in.
You might think about living in the smaller cities outside the big ones; such as Ballarat or Geelong near Melbourne or Newcastle or Wollongong outside Sydney, Housing is much cheaper - it depends what field your DH is looking for a job in.

A friend of mine is from Fremantle, and some English friends spent a year there with their three young kids a couple of years back, it sounds a bit like Brighton - a bit arty, lots happening, quite laid back, nice beaches - I've always fancied it actually.

We are in Sydney which I think is THE most beautiful city on earth. I fell in love with it over 20 years ago and finally managed to come back permanently four years ago. We have three kids aged 8-18 who are all really happy and thriving here. It is bloody expensive though so a lot depends on what kind of job/s you and your DH do.

We're in Sydney - DH born here and me raised here. Its a great city with lots going for it, but TBH I don't know that we will stay long term because of the cost. DH works at a professional white collar job with decent pay, but I'm not working (kids are 7,5 and 2 and expecting number 4 in 6 weeks), and its hard to make ends meet if you want to live in a reasonable area (our area is by no means posh, but a nice, safe area) and within easy reach of the city (we are about 45-60 mins away by public transport, 20 mins drive if there is no traffic).

Not that I want to turn you off Sydney, but do think carefully about your budget before coming here - rents are very high, house prices even higher, you must have a car because the city is very sprrawling, and food is expensive (as it is everywhere).

thanks very much for all your replies. yous have been very helpful. i will show this page to my husband when he comes home and see what he thinkg. thanks again.

Happy to answer any questions (or provide opinions you can take or leave!).

Let me put in a plug for Adelaide. Dry heat not humid (which Sydney is), although it does get to 40+ in midsummer - but then so does Perth. Smaller, so if you live right in the centre you're about 20-25 minutes from the beach and the same (in the other direction) from the hills, which feels nice and countrysidey and has sheep and wineries and whatnot. I think it's currently listed as the cheapest capital city to live in in terms of the relationship between wages and property prices. No 'freak weather', unlike the East Coast.

I live in the Hills, which is 30 minutes from the centre of town (40 in peak hour) and I live walking distance from wineries, an alpaca farm, local cheesewrights and historic buildings. Loads of parks and outdoor swimming pools. The crime rate where I live, which is not a particularly posh part of the Hills at all, is almost zero. I regularly leave my doors unlocked.

There is a decent art gallery and cinemas and theatre and things, but not as much as there is in Melbourne/Sydney - we always hit the galleries when we go to those places because they're so much bigger and better. Big live acts come here, but not all of them, so if you're real music buffs you're better off in Melb/Syd/Bris. It's big enough to have big shopping centres and big name shops and an IKEA and things, but again, doesn't compare to Sydney/Melbourne in that regard at all. But to me, shopping and art galleries and big live events are things that I think are worth travelling for rather than paying the huge extra rental price to live near.

Ditto Adelaide! Excellent lifestyle, great weather. Could not be happier with our decision to move here 2 years ago.

Another Adelaide plug too. We moved here two months ago and did live in Melbourne in 2009 for a year. Adelaide is way better than Melbourne.
We love it and are very happy.

Another Auckland plug. I think it has a better climate and is more affordable than central Sydney or Melbourne. Most commutes are short and you can live in a good school zone reasonably.

But it depends on what you do for a living as to affordability.

We are currently in Brisbane - DH arrived 10 days after the floods in January!

As you say that you are not asfter a tropical are, I wouldn't recommend Brissie, but I was really surprised how expensive everything is out here. Our home (which is lovely, but still) is over $900 per week.

Have you had a read of this thread?

It has lots of good info about Australia as a whole.