Sydney Or Melbourne?

Question

Which city is better to live in, Sydney or Melbourne? Please take into consideration these questions:

1) My profession is a Diversional Therapist. Which city offers an abundance of career opportunities in my field? Which city has the largest Diversional Therapy Association? Which city's association and/or members give a lot of support in the Diversional Therapy industry?

2) Which city has better inexpensive house prices and land prices in the suburbs? Which city provides more new home developments? Which city provides more housing options such as single family homes, townhomes and condos?

3) Which city has more ethnic diversity?

4) Which city has more culture such as performing arts, shopping, art museums, concerts, sports, festivals, cultural events, ect? Which city supports the arts more such as film, television, visual artist, performing artist, writers, ect?

5) Which city has better transportation system such as a subway and/or monorail? Does it travel to suburbs

Answer 1

1) I can't answer this as I have no idea what a Diversional Therapist is. It seems to be something different from an Occupational Therapist, but I can't find clear info on the differences. If it is something different, are you sure you will be able to come to Australia and work, as DT doesn't appear on the list of required occupations for obtaining a work visa? My apologies if I've misunderstood your situation. If I haven't, you should check out:

http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/index.htm

http://www.immi.gov.au/asri/a-z.htm#a

2) Sydney is by far the most expensive city in Australia for housing and land and is considerably more expensive than Melbourne, particularly in close to the CBD. Both cities would have a similar selection of housing options although Sydney may have more high rise apartment buildings (what I think you call 'condos'), but Melbourne has them too.

3) Both cities have great ethnic diversity and regardless of your race or country of origin, you will be welcome in either.

4) Even though Sydney is larger than Melbourne, Melbourne  has a far more solid reputation for being the cultural and sporting centre of Australia. There is probably more film and television production in Sydney, but in the other arts, Melbourne is the place to be.

5) Both cities have good public transportation systems which extend out into the suburbs. I've always found Melbourne's public transport to be superior as they have a vast integrated network of trams (Sydney has no trams), trains and buses.

I don't live in either city, but visit both several times a year for weeks at a time. Sydney is a great city, but I very much prefer Melbourne as a place to live. You didn't mention it, but Melbourne is superb for dining out and IMO, is better than Sydney in that respect.

EDIT:

Some more investigation turned up job descriptions for Diversional Therapists so I now know what you do. Searches on our main job sites indicates that the opportunities are about even in the two cities as present.

http://www.seek.com.au

http://www.careerone.com.au/

http://jobsearch.gov.au/default.aspx