Moving from the Cape

[Guest Sunshine Sister]

Hey there everyone,

I have friends who are thinking of moving from Cape Town to Sydney. Now you all know I am a fan of this big ol' city of ours, but somehow I am a bit reluctant to encourage them in their move. They are a fabulous couple, both are born and bred Cape Townians. They don't really like the hustle and bustle of a big city, they enjoy living in the stunning natural surroundings they currently have and enjoy the wet climate of the Cape. Work isn't such a big problem as they are both in jobs that are in demand in Australia, they are still young and I suspect they will adapt easily, given the right setting.

Somehow I just have this picture in my mind that they will be better off in Melbourne. (Yes Mara, you win this round !! ). I'm thinking of advising Melbourne, the Cape-of-Australia, because of its weather/ climate, the European sophistication of the city, the lovely beaches, laid-back attitude and the beautiful surroundings which include the gorgeous wine lands. What do you think would be the best choice for them ? I would love to hear from all our Cape Town and surrounds forumites on where they have settled and whether they are enjoying it. I would also like to hear from our esteemed Melbournites (is this the correct term ??) on whether they think Melbourne is the closest thing to Cape Town that Australia has to offer.

Thanks a lot. I am looking forward to hearing your expert opinions on the subject.

Love

Sunshine Sister

[Mara]

Hi SS

Yes, yes, yes, Melbourne, yes, yes, yes. Sorry what was the question?

Shame, I do get a bit carried away sometimes, but at least I have learnt not to put Melbourne in capitals, it tends to upset some folks!

I often visited Cape Town, but never lived there, so I am not qualified to make a comparison. There must, however, be some Capetonians living in Melbourne, so I hope they reply.

Of course, I would recommend Melbourne, anyday to anybody. Did I tell you Melbourne is a great place to stay.

Now that I have over used the M word, I will just quietly slink away.....

Mara

[Annette]

I grew up in Cape Town for at least half my life (before being dragged away kicking and screaming at the age of 10). I find the climate here in Adelaide is virtually identical to there, plus the plants are very similar (you get a type of "fynbos" here which is related to the Cape fynbos and also germinates by fire). It's also the only other place I have ever been to which has the same spookily intense blue sky - must be the dryness of the air. It just doesn't have the wind - and Table Mountain of course! The food is similar - lots of fantastic fresh seafood, surrounded by vineyards, olive, almond, plum, peach, apricot and citrus groves and we even have the Southern Right whales that come down here to breed as well . A lot of things happening art and culture wise, with a VERY laid-back, friendly population . The only big negative for my hubbie is the lack of anything to do with rugby....

(Sorry, Mara! )

Edited October 6, 2006 by Annette

[Dedrei]

Hmmm, this is all very interesting, would love to also know where the capies make themselves home.

Some Capies might want a change of scenery and go live somewhere that might be totally different to what they are used to. Take us, we took a chance on Cairns, well it might not have started out good, but the weather is good here. Also need to say that we haven't experienced our summer here yet, that will be soon, so then I'd probably change my mind. Will see how we cope with the humidity everybody keeps warning us about and how terrible it is.

Sorry Mara, but hubby not big fan of Melbourne. He is sick of the 4 season's in one day type setup and doesn't want to get as cold as it gets in Cape Town. He says he can't work in the workshop if he can't feel his fingers from the cold.

Mara I love that website you gave that compares the big cities.

I am a bit worried about hubby and the humidity of Cairns in their workshop, time will only tell if he will be able to cope with it.

Me also likes the vibes of the cities. Like when we experienced Brissie two/three months ago. Felt so at home in a way. Just the vibe, can't compare it to a small town.

So I'd say maybe they should reevaluate what they are looking for in a new city/town. Do they want more or less the same or do they want some differences. Personally I'd opt for Brissie/Gold Coast or Sydney if I had to do the move all over again from home. Probably more Gold Coast for the surfer/kite surfer Cape Townians.

[Steve]

We are moving from Cape Town to Melbourne in November. We found it suited us the best weather wise and job opportunities. Chalk another one for Melbourne

[Mara]

Hey Steve!

You are my mate................I like you, sommer a lot!

The others on this topic that have not so good things to say about Melbourne..........you have ruined a good friendship!

I am just going to slink away quietly to the corner and lick my wounds!

Mara

[Dedrei]

Hey Mara, was nothing personal

Different strokes for different folkes I guess?

[Mara]

Hi Dedrei

Not to worry, I do understand, just having a bit of fun about Melbourne!

I have to, otherwise I would cry about the weather!

Mara

[Sam]

Hi SS

Yip, Melbourne weather will suit Cape Tonians very well. I'd say Adelaide is also a good choice cause it's similar but without the 4 seasons in one day extremes. I'd live in Adelaide any day if I had the chance.

[Guest B H]

WOW Sam said:-

' Yip, Melbourne weather will suit Cape Tonians very well. I'd say Adelaide is also a good choice cause it's similar but without the 4 seasons in one day extremes. I'd live in Adelaide any day if I had the chance.'.

That is very good to hear

We are going to love it there!

Bronwyn

[Andie]

Yip, Melbourne weather will suit Cape Tonians very well. I'd say Adelaide is also a good choice cause it's similar but without the 4 seasons in one day extremes.

I'd live in Adelaide any day if I had the chance.

Tell us why you would live in Adelaide given the chance?? / i]

[Guest B H]

Hi Andie - I hope Sam answers you, but in the meanwhile I have brought a previous thread forward for you to read under General - 'Adelaide Question - where to go?'.

Bronwyn

PS. If you are interested you can type in 'Adelaide' under the keywords search and you'll get lots of views.

Edited October 10, 2006 by B H

[Mara]

Sunshine Sister

Phew! Thank goodness, somebody is helping me fight the Melbourne fight, at last! Thought I was completely alone in this quest!

Look forward to that 'wyntjie' - a bottle with two straws!

Mara

[Shandell]

Hello SS

I am from Cape Town and must admit that I've never been to Melbourne, but believe it is a fantastic place and the weather will suit Capetonians.

We are currently in Brisbane and I must say I love it here, Brisbane's weather is like Durban's more humid and not very nice 2 months of the year (because it is so bleddy hot !!!)

I must be honest though that I think Brisbane is most suited, just the lifestyle here is "to me" like Cape Town

Queensland has it all - Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast beautiful beaches, great wine farms, beautiful scenery and so on and so on......

It is the sunshine state after all !!!

Now - that did not help at all did it..

Shandell

[Guest Sunshine Sister]

Hi there everyone,

Thanks very much for your interesting contributions. I was very surprized by the comparison between Cape Town and Adelaide !! Who knew !! It does have some of the elements that they like as it is has less hustle and bustle than Sydney, and of course the wine lands and beaches as they are used to. Dedrei, thanks for that, I think in their case it is probably best if they stick to recreating a more "familiar" climate and setting in Australia, as they are new to immigration and should try to limit the unknowns as far as possible. Sydney is also very expensive and as they are thinking of starting a family I don't even want to pile all of those costs on top of the general cost of living here.

Thanks everyone, *phew* by the looks of it Mara and I will need to start working together against this new Addie-force developing. Hehehehe, Mara my girl, we will need to strategize over some wine and figure this one out !!

Love

SS

[Pippa]

Dear Andie,

Herewith the threads that B H refers to:

Adelaide question - where to go?

Why so many mixed opinions on Adelaide?

Bye, Pippa

[Annette]

Thanks everyone, *phew* by the looks of it Mara and I will need to start working together against this new Addie-force developing. Hehehehe, Mara my girl, we will need to strategize over some wine and figure this one out !!

Love

SS

Not a chance! You don't know what you're up against, girls!

Mara, LOL, sounds like you're enjoying that botteltjie with the two straws already, tee hee....

May the force be with you....

[Olly]

We are from Cape Towns southern suburbs. We have not been anywhere else in Australia so can't really compare, but we LOVE Perth. It has the Fremantle doctor (Cape doctor) that blows in the afternoon in the summer and makes the hotter days more bearable. There is Rottnest Island (Robbin Island) which is a favourite tourist attraction. Sorry, no mountains, but instead we have the river. The well known travel author Bill Bryson said Perth has the weather California thinks it has.

Also Perth has more millionaires than anywhere else in Australia, and you would think with all that money they could live anywhere they like.

[Mara]

Hi All

After Annette's comment I knew my posting had to be somewhere, hehe! So I went and searched for it, found it and had to have a chuckle to myself, seeing that I repeated myself three times!!!!

When I did the posting, and clicked the button to end, the silly thing just disappeared.....and believe me, it was not appearing anywhere else, I searched hi and low!

So.......I have fixed my ramblings now, but even so, Melbourne rules!

Mara

[Annette]

LOL, Mara. I'm glad you took it in the spirit is was intended....

Olly, I have to agree with you. We've been to Perth as well and it's really beautiful, plus the weather is reputedly the best in all of OZ (never too hot, nor too cold, not to dry, or too wet). The only things that would stop us from moving there is that it's way too expensive (we could NEVER afford a house or a lifestyle like the one we have here in Adelaide there), plus a bit too urbanised and slick for us (we're country bumpkins by heart ). Other than that, it's stunning...

[Mara]

Hi Annette

Ag well, actually, I did not want to admit that I had lost the straw, or was it the bottle, or both the straws, or the bottle and the straws, what the hell, I know I got the contents!

Mara

[Bob]

SS!

I shouldn't be sctatching my head too much about where to advise your mates to migrate to in Australia, as I reckon all cities here have their individual characteristics and charm. You just have to learn what these are and take in the respective lifestyle.

On hearing that they are still young and are wanting to start a family in the near future, that means they'll be wanting different facilities than if they were "twenty-somethings" and into the clubbing scene 24 / 7, whichever place having the night life that closes latest!

They'll focus more on quality schooling, kindergartens, play areas in the suburbs, access to shopping facilities, beaches and, more importantly, the most housing for their buck.

I can think of Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth for all these aspects.

Myself and Ginnie were at Annette's birthday party a couple of weeks ago, helping her kick on with her 21st birthday . . . . . (I think it was that age??) . . . . . . anyhow . . . . we got talking to a really entertaining couple from a couple of houses up the street from Annette . . . . . home-grown Aussies, of course . . . . and he just happened to mention that his work takes him from time to time to Melbourne and Sydney.

His outlook on Melbourne was very complimentary with the city having the grace, sophistication and charm that "old money" has.

Sydney is "new money".

I like both places, the climate in Sydney being warmer and having Rugby League in preference to Australian Rules football (although Melbourne did have its one Rugby League team in the NRL Grand Final last week!)

You get more housing for your buck in Adelaide than any other capital city in Australia and the climate is drier than Melbourne and warmer also.

Perth is the sunniest (10 hours average per day throughout the year!) and driest capital city and also one of the prettiest.

You can never quite transport all the same qualities of CT and plonk them into an Australian city, so your mates will just have to accept some degree of change in lifestyle, but I reckon the comments so far have been pretty accurate summaries of the places in Australia.

Tell them to gear up and hang on for the ride of their lives wherever they go. Just enjoy it.

[Guest Sunshine Sister]

Hi there gang,

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences. Wow, I really got to know a little more of all of the great cities out there and you have all in your own way now shown why as I already suspected Sydney wouldn't be the best choice ( I admit reluctantly). I think best would be for them to pack their straws and come see for themselves, including Perth, Mellies and Adelaide on their LSD itinerary.

Thanks a lot, you are such a fab bunch ! Annette congratulations on turning 21 ! Yay, finally the right side of 20 !! Hehehehe, really liked your comment, hehehehe, Mara, that was really very funny !

Thanks again.

Love

SS

[Andie]

happy "21" birthday Annette, catching up

on us hey??

hugs Andrea

[Sam]

Tell us why you would live in Adelaide given the chance?? / i]

Hi Andie and Bronwyn

We were in Adelaide for a few days and that's why I didn't reply sooner. We drove all the way by car (18 hours and 1900kms later) and had a great time. I love the fact that Adelaide also kind of reminds me of Pretoria. The days are warm and the air dry inland and the climate in the suburbs allows for beautiful gardens. The climate can also be compared to Cape Town when you consider the beautiful wineries, the wind over the hills and the everpresent Mount Lofty on the horizon toward the east.

Adelaide was my choice of city when we decided to emigrate and I won't say no if the opportunity comes along to live there. It is a very laid back, well planned and well developed city. Have a look at a map of Adelaide. It has few traffic problems and the flow in and out of the city in whichever direction is steady. The salaries are lower compared to Melbourne and Sydney, but the quality of life is high, affordable for SA's, houses are still affordable and it is overall just too much of a gem and has to be given consideration.

Even though I've been to Adelaide a few times I don't mind visiting the same places over and over. I just love Hahndorf, Stirling, Bridgewater, taking the tram to Glenelg and also walking around North terrace and along the River Torrens. It's nice to stroll through Rundle mall and also to see the beautiful Adelaide arcade. Central market is also my favourate market in all Australia. It is so colourful and buzy and variety galore. Maybe living there is different but it is my favourate Australian city to visit. There is just heaps to see and do.

I still love Melbourne very much and I can elaborate on that at another occation. Been to Sydney and Brisbane also but the heat and humidity is too much for me thanks. I should warn SA's on their way to Adelaide that it is very dry there at the moment. They say it is probably the dryest ever so don't be too disappointed when you get there and it is not very green.

Edited October 17, 2006 by Sam