Has anyone lived in both Perth and Brisbane?

Question

I'm from the UK, but moving to Australia next year. After a lot of research and couple of trips, I've narrowed it down to Perth or Brisbane, but without living in each place a couple of years, it's really difficult to choose between them. Has anyone else lived in both cities that could make a comparison? I'm particularly interested in climate, IT job opportunities, cafe/beach culture, housing costs, public transport... Thanks...

Answer 1

No i havnt but from my experience:

Perth: Great Climate, Great IT jobs (mining boom remember), Great cafe/beach culture.

Sucky housing costs and the public transport will get you where you need to go but i cant say its fantastic.

Brisbane:

Sucky Climate (tropical) then i couldnt make a good comment about the other catergories as I have only been there twice.

Answer 2

I've lived in both.

Trying to be impartial is difficult, but I preferred Brisbane, particularly that it is so close to 'activities', such as Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay and its dozens of islands, and mountains/forest close by. On the other hand, Perth seems more isolated, although there are many interesting places outside of Perth also -- massive forests to the south, Fremantle, amazingly rugged coastlines and empty beaches,.

I would say that I found climate to actually be reasonably similar. I did not use public transport much, but there seemed to be plenty of buses, trains etc in both cities.

Cafe & beach culture abounds in both cities.

Cheers.

PS: IT jobs would probably be more available in Brisbane, with branches of large firms being there from Sydney & Melbourne.