Do most Australians actually go into the cities much?

Question

Although roughly 80% of Australians live within the metropolitan areas of Australia's major cities, some can live up to 2-3 hours away from the CBD and still be considered to live in the city.

Take this scenario, someone lives in a suburb of Sydney, roughly 1 hour 1/2 drive or train journey into the CBD. How often would they make this journey, would it be a regular journey, or would it be infrequent?

I used to live in New York, and people who lived an hour from New York very rarely actually went into New York itself, and didn't really consider themselves to be that close to the city, they didn't really view going into New York as being a realistic trip.

A bit of a weird question, but I'm interested to know how most Australians view it.

Thanks

Answer 1

The large suburban malls offer everything that the City offers apart from cultural stuff like concerts, museums and art galleries.  If you aren't into cultural stuff and do not work in the CBD there is no real reason to go there, and many people don't.

Answer 2

We try to fit it into our busy schedules....That is, we go to the cities, when we're not busy wrestling crocs, riding kangaroos in the outback, searching for koalas & throwing shrimp on the barbie.

Answer 3

A lot of Western Australians now live more than 500km from a city.

I grew up 500kms from the capital city but we went there about four times a year or more.

Answer 4

I only live 22kms away from the city and I make a point of avoiding it at all costs, traffic on the way in, nasty, traffic on the way out, same, train takes too long, bus is good but if you want to shop it's hard to get it all home.  I would rather drive 35 kms the other way and watch Wallabies on Wayne's front veranda.

Answer 5

Good Question, i lived in Sydney but rarely went in to the city as the suburbs have most things you need there.

My son lives in Brisbane, again when i visit there are lots of things to do without going in to the city

I live in Western Australia, Perth used to have a lot of shops ect, but now its mostly office businesses , they have moved shops ect out in to the suburbs and are building huge centres. i live in Mandurah now and rarely go up to Perth these days its all there , that is an hours drive south of Perth moved there 10 years ago and love it

Answer 6

If you lived 2 - 3  hours from the city you are in the bush mate!

I was 1 and a half hours  of freeway driving from sydney to a place called Cessnock and it is definately country . A lot of people drove and still do to newcastle and back everyday (or catch a train) Newcastle is also an 1 and a half hour drive that is what we do in Australia, Up north in the Territory or parts of Queensland (every state excepting Tasmania actually) it takes some people 5 hours just to get to their front gate

Answer 7

Well it really depends on the individual.  Some people specifically live 2-3 hours away from the cities because they prefer their space... so for them it is unlikely that they will travel to the city unless they really need to.  

Take my parents-in-law for example - they live 3 hours from brisbane so (apart from hospital visits) they would only venture into Brisbane 1-2 times a year.  

My parents, however used to live 45 mins-1 hour from the city when I was growing up - so we used to go into the city at least once a month.  That was pretty common to travel that distance frequently.  (Dad worked in the city so he did it every day)  Now they live 2 hours away from Brisbane - but they live in a bigish city still - so there is not so much need to travel to Brisbane anymore.  They still do sometimes and would probably make a trip into Brisbane (apart from hospital visits) about once every 3-4 months.

Generally, Australians are used to making long trips - most people I know have made the day trip between Brisbane and Sydney at least a few times (which is a 10 hour trip without stops).  Though more people are using planes these days with the cost of fuel being so high.

So to answer your question - Some people do make the trips into the cities fairly often, and some don't!  It just depends.

Answer 8

It is a good question. It does not take that 2-3 hours though, unless peak hour. Still I found when I lived in Sydney I rarley took advantage of what the city had to offer because it was just too hard. I realised at some stage that I was paying high real estate prices but my day to day life was no different if I was to live in a smaller city with less stress. So I left. There was no real benefit when doing cost vs reward analysis. Would be different if multi millionaire of course!

I find by living in a smaller city my life is more varied. I can go downtown in 7 minutes, go boating, go country drives, hiking in 20 mins. I have more variety of restaurants to choose from than most typical Sydney suburbs.

Then I jump on a plane to Sydney now and then and actually experience it's majesty far more often than when I actually lived there.

Answer 9

Good question actually.

I live about 45 min away from the city (Brisbane) and for the whole 2 and a half years i have been living here i have probably only been into the city about 4 times. Once for a specialist doc appointment, twice when family were here for a visit and once when i first moved here just because i had never been before.

It was the same when i lives about 45 min away from Adelaide. I only used to go when i made special plans with friends (birthdays dinners and night out) and that was about 5 times a year. i never realised how little i visited until u mentioned that.

Everything i need is located outside the city in the towns and outer suburbs, so i don't really see the need to hustle my way through all that traffic just to go somewhere that has all the same options that the smaller towns have.