About to move permanently to (Sydney-Aust OR Vancouver-Canada). ??

Question

We are a young family of four. I am a pharmacist & my wife is an IT Project Coordinator. If you have lived in both Australia and Canada, pls tell me which one do you think would be a better destination to settle & WHY ?

- We like Canadian Culture & close to the rest of the world but apprehensive of snow/cold/long winters, crime rate & possibly recession starting next year.

- We like the outdoorsy Australian lifestyle & friendly Australian attitude, but are apprehensive of poisonous insects/summer heat, possible droughts & of high prices of homes and being so far away.

Pls help!!!! Thanks.

Answer 1

Go to Canada. I'm neither Australian or Canadian, but know that Canadians are far more socially and culturally aware and more welcoming towards outsiders.

Your money goes further there, it is safer and much more connected to the rest of the world. Australia is insular and isolated with little else except beaches and sport.

Answer 2

Of course, Australians are going to say come here and Canadians are going to say, go there. Perhaps if we scotch some of your misconceptions you'll decide to come to Oz.

Poisonous insects

I've lived in Australia for 6 decades from the tropics to the southern temperate zone and I've NEVER seen a poisonous insect. Most Australians will be able to say the same thing. I have no idea where this 'poisonous insect' idea came from: I can only think it must be travel writers (Bill Bryson et al) attempting to make their books more interesting. Australia does have some nasty creatures, that's a fact. The most important fact though, is that they are uncommon and that normal, ordinary Australians living in normal ordinary places, are not bothered by them. And you won't be either!

Why are you worried about droughts? Yes, we have droughts, but everyone still has plenty of water in their homes for showers, baths, washing, dishwashers, drinking etc etc etc. Farmers are badly affected by drought: town and city dwellers must contend with some minor water restrictions, but we still have more than enough water for our needs.

Summer heat is a fact. I'm not sure what I can say about that except to say that our houses are built to handle the summer heat and all of our businesses and shops are air conditioned and so are our cars. Come and enjoy it - don't fear it! Don't you like the idea of a winter where you can still enjoy going outdoors? Where I live in Brisbane (southeast Queensland), people still go to the beach in the middle of winter (though it's quite cold to the acclimatised). I'm sitting in front of an open window at 11:19pm in a t-shirt in the exact middle of winter. Tomorrow, it will be 23C from about 10.30am until 3.30 pm or so, though the early mornings and nights are cold (to us anyway - not to you).

Housing is expensive in many (but not all) areas, but salaries are high to compensate. One of the reasons for high house prices is the sheer size of many houses and if you're prepared to live in the type of house you have probably come from, you may be surprised to find that it's not at all expensive.

Our economy is booming, particularly in Queensland and Western Australia. Anyone who wants a job can have one and there is heaps of work for pharmacists and IT people. Our economy is based on our incredibly rich mineral wealth for which there is a huge and continuing international demand and our government budgets have consistently large surpluses. We live the good life!

EDIT:

Another answerer said that Brisbane was more humid than Sydney, but that's actually not so and it's borne out by the statistics.

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/t...   (Brisbane stats.)

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/t... (Sydney stats.)

Answer 3

Well I live in Aus and I have been to (and love) Canada.  Vancouver is definately more beautiful than Sydney - no doubt about that.  And I found people in Canada to be very similar to people in Australia.  Sydney is not too bad as far as heat goes... it is a much drier heat than here in brisbane... it is the humidity that makes it unbearable and Sydney (generally) is not too bad in that regard.  Anyway, there's always aircon which is in pretty much every house these days!

As far as weather - well you can't get much better than Australia for weather!  I was only in Canada for a week so the weather was thankfully great while we were there - but from what I hear it can get pretty dreadful!

As far as poisonous insects - well you don't really need to worry about that (unless you are in the habbit of picking up redback spiders when you see them?!)  I have only known one person to be bitten by a poisonous spider - and they live out on a farm.  I have only known one person to be bitten by a snake too - and he was out on acreage as well.  It is very rare to be in any 'danger' if you live in the built up areas.

As far as house prices go - Sydney is pretty expensive - but generally the pay from the jobs makes up for it.  If you are really worried about this then I would not recommend coming to brisbane... because unfortunately our house prices keep going up (with an influx of people migrating from the south), however our pay packets are not increasing to the same extent.  If you are out of the heart of Sydney you can still find some half reasonably priced properties.

I am not particularly a fan of Sydney myself as I do not like the really busy city life - however I believe it to still be one of the nicer cities in the world.  I also think Vancouver is beautiful and such a pretty city - but I definately agree with you on the issue about the weather!  Not much of a winter person myself!