Verbatim, this is how I see it.

[Gizmo]

Without wanting to take away from your main point which I think has some validity just thought I would mention that Brisbane did not get hotter temperatures for longer. I think you are thinking of western Sydney. Humidity yes, hotter temps, no...Brisbane hadn't had a 39c day for a decade. You can argue whether lower temps with humidity, or much higher temps without, are better or worse but that is personal preference I think.

Sorry for the confustion - my reference specifically said the East Coast. The Sydney, Brissie etc behind that in brackets was to qualify which side I meant for those who are not yet up to speed on the Geography of Aus. The heatwave was mostly in NSW, but it did extend outside of NSW (from the news at the time).

[Gizmo]

Useless info about Sydney weather:

We have been here for 4 years. In that time we have switched the aircon on exactly 3 times. First time was about 2 years ago when there was a record breaking day, it was something crazy like 30C at midnight still. This Jan we switched it on twice, for a few hours around the kids (1&3) bed times to make sleeping more pleasant for them. Today, for the second time in less than a week, we are dresssed for winter and making pancakes for some forum friends.

Ps. I left a empty bucket out on the deck last weekend. Rain filled it to the brim in two days. Just saying.

I don't know how you survived that couple of "hell weeks" in Sydney just after Chrissie without your aircon? The temperatures in Sydney were higher than Perth has every experienced and the previous week when we had the heatwave, I had my aircon on 24/7! Anyhow - what you said illustrates my point exactly re LSD trips. Had someone gone over for a trip during that heatwave period, they would have walked away with completely the wrong impression of Sydney weather, which as a whole is very comfortable climate!

[Gizmo]

PS - Brisbane & GC as dull as ditch-water - really?

I hate being quoted out of context. I said that I know my impression was incorrect.

If you want the history - I went over with a friend and my then 5 year old for 10 days. It rained constantly and was extremely humid. Having a kidlet in tow meant that my focus was outdoor play, but, the weather didn't play along, hence the comment that we found it "dull as ditchwater". I was quite clear that my trip was an example of how a trip is just a snapshot in time and that I know that my impression of Brissie was unfortunate and not the norm (I know this because close friends of mine live there).

The point of my post was not to say which state/city is better. At the start, I qualified that I haven't lived in Brissie, Sydney, Melbourne etc, so my impressions would be warped to the moment in time that I was there. The point was just to caution people preparing to move not to place too much value on LSD trips as they are too fleeting and can give the wrong impression. Nevermind the different states - bring the scale down to just one City and depending where you are in the City, you could have vastly different impressions. For example, somebody staying in Perth in the Northern suburbs, close to the sea may complain that its windy as hell and there are no trees (depending which northern suburb you are in), whereas someone staying just 20km away in the east in the hills may complain that although you are living in beautiful forests, there is not a breath of a breeze and its hot as hell. I am not sure about the other Cities, but in Perth, the landscape varies so much as does the micro-climate, depending on where you are. Everything changes - the architecture - newer suburbs have big modern houses that take up almost the whole block, the older suburbs have charming cosy federation style architecture. Totally different.

Anyhow - off my soap box now... :-P

[MarcK]

Was just having a go at you Gizmo....thought your simile was funny!!

On a more serious note when we first came to Aus on a LSD we were settled on Sydney. Perth was a definite no-no - but since settling in Brisbane I have been lucky enough to visit Perth twice and I have to say it is a lovely city.

Personally if I had to move anywhere else in Aus it would be to Perth before Sydney and Melbourne. But on the whole would be happy anywhere if it puts food on the table and a roof over my head! Just lucky to be living here regardless of where..

Um...except maybe Darrimbindi....

Edited February 3, 2013 by MarcK

[Sharon]

Marc be careful. You're going to have Janine jumping down your throat!

[AndreaL]

I tend to agree with Gizmo that a short trip gives you no indication of the liveability of a city. I suspect that your air con and tumble dryer will be used more often in Brisbane than in Perth and that you might need some sort of heater for the winter in Perth.

I believe that most people base their choice of city on work prospects or proximity of family and friends and then through time decide where they would like to holiday or retire.

Australia's climate is quite varied and dependent on climatic conditions and topography, but obviously has the same seasons as South Africa, so the time of year you visit can impact on your first impressions.

Personally, I really like Queensland more than WA, but was happy enough when I lived there, much as I was fairly happy in most of the places I lived in South Africa.

At the end of the day we are all very different, with different priorities and wants, so one mans Eden is another mans hell. You only get to understand the differences in culture, politics, attitude etc once you have lived here for sometime, the rest is cosmetic, as it would be if you did a whistle stop tour of South Africa.

I found Jaques impressions very interesting, but it is nice that he has the freedom of choice rather than, " there's your job, you"ll be living there".

[C&GJBay]

I'm really glad we never had to choose a place to live & that we had to come to where the job was. It's such a huge adjustment & decision just to immigrate, I think my head would have exploded if I had to make another life-changing decision at the time!

So we ended up in regional Queensland, where we would never ever have considered living & we love it. It's pretty hot & dry (you hear 320+ days of sunshine a year & think that is awesome ... Until you haven't seen a drop of rain or a cloud for 3 months! ), there is no sea to surf in or beach to play on like we've had all our lives. BUT it's australia, we're on our way to living our dream & the beach is only a few hours away.

Wherever you live, I think it's at least 70% what you make of it.

[Lynnie]

Brisbane ROCKS :ilikeit: :ilikeit:

[Tebbutts]

Great post Jacques! Very entertaining! You did have a disclaimer at the beginning which I appreciate.......so, I am still moving to Perth!

[vaughanroe]

What a fantastic post of your experience!!

I did indeed like the way you put things and it was interesting to see how you rated certain things. Very thourough according to your experience.

I would tend to disagree about your rating of Perth. I can only presume it was at the end of the trip and varying factors might have needed to be taken into account I guess. If for instance you were guests of a family then perhaps what they presented to you is the experience you would have had (and I am not knocking anyone personally) or funds may have been an issue, I dont know.

Your point regarding the mining industry is spot on and a fact that many who do not work in the mining/energy sector often mention is the differing salary levels. a 2 speed economy if you will.

As far as things to do in Perth goes, I dont know what all you looked at or even what area you stayed in to be able to compare things but the parks are plentiful and that sunshine is never far away.

One gets used to the heat and as someone who had lived in London for 9 years before moving to Perth I can assure you it beats cold. Suprisingly it rained more than I expected in winters. All in all though there is always something happening in Perth and something going on to keep busy with.

When I first came to Perth on holiday in 2005 i liked it enough but did not say to myself that it was where I had to be... However when my wife and I had our first child there was no real debate of where we wanted to live and thus made plans to move to Aus and Perth in particular. To date we have never questioned whether we did the right thing. Our life here has with all its challenges been fantastic and i must have done something good once to be loving things this much.

I wish you well with your plans and decisions.

P.S. What do you mean our beaches are nothing special? ;-) If you ever get a chance to go to Albany in WA and spend just one day soaking up the sun and relaxing at a place call Little Beach (Two Peoples Bay), I think it would be enough to relax the most stressed mind.

[maxi]

Little beach must be the best beach I have ever seen, been there only once and could not believe we where the only family there

BTW, the hot weather is back this weekend. 38 on Saturday and 40 on Sunday . It is expected to get to 42 in Gosnells area .

Edited February 7, 2013 by maxi

[OubaasDik]

Little beach must be the best beach I have ever seen, been there only once and could not believe we where the only family there

BTW, the hot weather is back this weekend. 38 on Saturday and 40 on Sunday . It is expected to get to 42 in Gosnells area .

You can keep it, thanks.

[debbieschutte]

Hi Jacques - thanks for the post - it was interesting reading and I nearly laughed myself into a fit where you told the part about the customs guy saying "catch ya later" - (laughing your head off all alone in an office isn't cool ) that was so funny -

Thanks again.

[Jacques Voogt]

Hi All,

Thanks for all your comments and opinions, they are all constructive towards rational debate and I am sure no one is offended in any way.

For some reason I cannot edit my previous posts to add some pictures so here is a link to some of the thousands of pictures we took.

Flickr

I agree that one cannot base these major decisions purely on a single day or week spent in any place. We have also not visited all possible places but at some point one has to aim for something and then go for it. This decision is based around a whole bunch of statistics and experiences.

With no kids yet, I think it makes things a hell of a lot easier to start something new. But at some point, we will have kids to worry about and we would not want to start again in a couple of years, but we would need an income to make a start at all.

What our trip did show us, was the small little every day things that make the big difference between RSA and AUS as a whole.

It has also created an urge to get to AUS asap.

So we have come to the conclusion that in order to make a new start we would be dependent on some form of income, hence we would need to be able to find work and as result go where the job is, for now. There are also a lot more homes available than jobs, so we may just have to look for the right place to live within the city where we find work.

We are both fortunate to have very specialized skill sets. For these skill sets I did a few searches and came up with these statistics of percentage per city of total available jobs for our skill sets.

Sydney 42.90%

Melbourne 21.81%

Brisbane 13.99%

Perth 11.73%

Adelaide 3.61%

Canberra 3.41%

Darwin 1.2%

Gold Coast 0.7%

Hobart 0.6%

Clearly our skill sets are not in the mining industry. If we had to choose between Perth and Brisbane with similar employment prospects, Brisbane would be the preferred choice.

The unfortunate thing is that I know we would be 3 times more likely to find work in Sydney than in Brisbane but I also know we would be in the middle of the rat race again.

[AndreaL]

And Sydney would quite possibly be way more expensive to live in, so any gains in employment might be lost due to cost of living.

What is your skill set......stats.......lol

[Jacques Voogt]

Yeah, would be interesting to see occupation next to the posts in the profile.

IT and IT auditing in financial services sector.

Yes, On average, Sydney would be about 40% more expensive in terms of cost of living, with only 20% higher salaries but has 3 times more work opportunities.

Remember, we are foreigners, with a foreign accent, qualifications and experience and we come from a place where our employment is scarce and our livelihood is under threat. We have no guarantees in this turbulent economic environment and therefore feel that we need to maximize our chances for success.

To me the prospect of sitting without income is the worst part of this immigration process.

There is no point in going to Alice Springs as a marine biologist. One simply would not find suitable employment and would soon be without food and home.

If I could choose, I'd go live in Brisbane or a farm in QLD, perhaps one day when I retire and no longer need to worry about silly little things such as paying rent and having food on the table.

[Jacques Voogt]

Below is a couple of additional memories:


During our stay we also spent a week in Gold Coast.
It was quite clear during our stay that we would not have any job opportunities there unless we start selling Ice Cream or something similar. So I did not bother to even consider it as a place to immigrate to.
This is of course highlighted by the above statistics.

This was the best part of our trip and a proper holiday instead of just exploring the city.
Incidentally during our stay, we met some South Africans in a coles or woolies by simply saying "Veertig Rand?!?!, sjoe" (I might have said something else instead of "sjoe")
Not long after stating occupation, I was handed a business card and instruction to contact them when we have our visa as they are always looking for good workers.

They had a business in related industries as my diploma.




In Brisbane, we met up with a contact through an international social club.
This proved to be invaluable and gave us a very good idea of where to find what within Brisbane and the region.

Thanks Felicia for showing us around.




In Sydney, on our way to the Blue Mountains we had to get off one train and wait for the next one. Everyone else got off and exited the station while we had a look at the time table. The next moment, a station attendant was next to us asking if we are alright and where we are going.
Clearly only the tourists consult the timetable and Aussies offer to assist where possible. Unlike RSA where you have to look for someone working there, then look for someone working there with an actual brain.

[Fish]

Hi All,

...

We are both fortunate to have very specialized skill sets. For these skill sets I did a few searches and came up with these statistics of percentage per city of total available jobs for our skill sets.

Sydney 42.90%

Melbourne 21.81%

Brisbane 13.99%

Perth 11.73%

Adelaide 3.61%

Canberra 3.41%

Darwin 1.2%

Gold Coast 0.7%

Hobart 0.6%

Clearly our skill sets are not in the mining industry. If we had to choose between Perth and Brisbane with similar employment prospects, Brisbane would be the preferred choice.

The unfortunate thing is that I know we would be 3 times more likely to find work in Sydney than in Brisbane but I also know we would be in the middle of the rat race again.

I imagine as well as a higher percentage of jobs available the bigger the city the higher number of applicants as well? Specially Syd/Mel that draw way above their natural share of applicants I would imagine given people are drawn (and directed to) the the jobs available number with the applicant number rarely mentioned ?

Edited April 9, 2013 by Fish

[Miley]

Thought I would just add that Perth is fantastic for kitesurfing and Stand up paddle boarding.

[Fish]

Thought I would just add that Perth is fantastic for kitesurfing and Stand up paddle boarding.

And has lots of nice beaches...

Edited April 9, 2013 by Fish

[Jacques Voogt]

Correct Fish.

Bigger pond, more food on the surface, but more competition for same piece of food.

When the time comes, I'll send my CV everywhere.

[Brad76]

And has lots of nice beaches...

That it has!

[MannyT]

That it has!

Lived in Brisbane/ Westlake - loved it - beautiful beaches north and south of the city, but a far distance away - affordable housing (in relative terms)

Lived in Adelaide/Urrbrae - loved it - beautiful beaches - great place to raise a family - affordable housing (in relative terms)

Now living on the Sunshine Coast/Peregian Springs - absolutely love it - BEAUTIFUL beaches - beautiful countryside - affordable housing (in relative terms)- But employment opportunities are limited unless you are in hospitality or cares services (health and/or age).

I would postulate that most people that visit the Sunshine Coast/Noosa region would love to live there...........It does not get better...:) Employment opportunities are however limited - unless you are a reasonably wealthy retiree then it is paradise....:)

Having said that my delightful wife was able to find work relatively easy......:)

There are so many beautiful areas/parts of Australia and having lived or visited all the major mainland cities I could quite happilly live in any of them - all the towns/cities have their own particular appeal and attractive areas (and some not so attractive).....so if you need to work (as most of us do), you go where the money is....:)

Enjoy!

Manny

[AndreaL]

Too right Manny T, go where the money or the job is and build towards one day living in the place you would like to retire. How many South Africans live in the major cities and holiday at the coast and plan to retire there one day.....it is the same here in some ways.

The coastal towns, especially up the eastern side, are built on tourism, if that is your field, all good and well.

[AnnelizeK]

Thanks for this post - it really shed some light on a whole bunch of questions. The photo's are great - thanks again