So I might be coming to Australia next year with my friend Kristin and her friend Bryan. We are looking in to work visas. Where should I go? What should I do? And more importantly, who wants to hang out with us?

Tuek, meet Murphy...

I'd be down, I always wanted to meet that guy, heh. To bad I don't think he plays anymore.

Donno... what city are you thinking about?

I know Melbourne and Sydney's a safe bet but living costs are higher than the rest of the country.

Yeah, Arin is pretty correct with that, Sydney and Melbourne are high in the living costs, but they're the more attractive ones, Adelaide is okay-ish, they don't really have much interesting, but that might just be because I've lived here, and it's boring to me. Darwin can be good, though the tropical weather might be a bit eh-ish, and I'm not too sure about Perth, it's all the way by itself.

Kristin wants to go to Sydney because she wants a "city", though she doesn't know really anything much at all about Australia (neither do I particularly though), I suggested Melbourne as a possibility too.

Where is the scene at, so to speak?

And I'm not to worried about cost of living... I was born on Maui and I've lived in Tokyo, I'm used to it.

If you want a 'city', stick to Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane; if a slightly smaller city is acceptable then Adelaide, Canberra and Newcastle should be fine also.

It really depends what you want to see. For iconic Australia, you can't go past Sydney (think the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.) For culture, you want Melbourne - theatre, live music, etc. Both are very easy to get around, Melbourne slightly moreso. For beach-holidaying+city, you want Brisbane/the Gold Coast: beautiful beaches, essentially tropical weather, awesome theme parks. For the full-on tropical beach holiday including the Barrier Reef, somewhere in north-east Queensland, probably Cairns.

I'll give a special mention to Adelaide, because it's where I live. I really like it there, but it's a bit 'sprawled' for its population - the suburbs go a full hour and a half out to the south, and good hour to the north. The beaches are nice - cold in winter - and there's some prettiness up in the hills.

I don't know very much about Perth. It's bigger than Adelaide but smaller than Melbourne, it's doing particularly well out of the minerals boom so it's very busy and there's lots of construction, and it's a temperate climate.

You should also definitely check out whitsundays island. My older brother went there for vacation and this is how he described it to me: "Imagine paradise." .. "Ok" .. "Now imagine the paradise of paradise."

And from the pictures he sent me, it's a pretty apt description.

Whitsundays was good, spent five days paddling around it. Bring sunnies or you won't be able to walk on some of the beaches without being blinded. Really white sand.

You can also (although it's expensive) go and live in the Daintree for a bit. Cape Tribulation has some nice spots, and it's great if you want to visit the reef (which is also great, and something I fully recommend).

More down south? Not sure, I live here so it's kind of tinted by that. There's some impressive places in the Blue Mountains, though - Wentworth Falls, the Jenolan Caves, the Katoomba Scenic Railway / Skylift, the Three Sisters, all of that.

No love for Brisbane (Except you Okin <3) even bands bypass us, ugh!

We are inconicish too without the crime rate of Melbourne and Sydney, there is also a lower cost of living and proximity to Gold and Sunshine Coast.

I would avoid Western Australia altogther though, the east coast is more...interesting.

I went to Perth for a hols about a year and half back. I have to say even the CBD has many shops closed and it's a bit of a hole (sorry any WA'ers). I think it's a good place to visit but probably too boring to live.

I agree with Okin in which Melbourne is definitely the cultural centre of Australia. It has better nightlife, cultural attractions and definitely better food.

Sydney is really typical Australia. I like the city probably because I generally grew up here. There's some pretty cool beaches and the people, I feel, are somewhat nicer than Melbournites.

South Australia has the highest mass-murder rates BTW.

MASS-murder: we don't have more murderers, they're just really good at what they do.

Sadly, neither of us are joking.

This thread should become a memorial for when all our Aussies brothers and sisters are hidden beyond the veil of government censorship...

Oh, don't worry. The censorship plan is a joke for something like this. It won't even block peer-to-peer networking.

Unfortunately, we're the lowest now. Something like 0.8 to most others being 1.x%. Heard the report about it a few weeks back.

It does come down to what you want to do though, Adelaide's speciality is food and alchohol, in particular restaurants, chocolate, wine and beer. Oh and the scenery is nice too.


That was taken in the CBD.

Shameless bump.

Melburnian here, any other Aussies about? Mainly just to talk to during our primetime (when about 30 people are online)

I is a Sydney person!

Let's hope that we don't get an outbreak of swine flu...