Canberra - aka the Hotel California

RuffnReady said :

I’m so freakin sick of Canberra-haters. Don’t like it here, move, and STFU about how much you hate the place already. You haters are pathetic – you whine, but do nothing about it. Shut up and act for once in your life, and leave our beautiful city in peace.

I’ve lived in Sydney, a small country town in the UK (near London), Naha Okinawa (a conurbation of about a million), and traveled extensively, and I have never come across a place as easy and peaceful to live in as Canberra. We have everything a big city has and more (especially the natural setting and wonderful four-season climate), without most of the hassles attached to the rat race. Canberra is the best kept secret in the world. Haters should just suck it up and f$ck off already as far as I’m concerned.

syriana – the darkness in the suburbs means that you can actually see the stars at night unlike most cities, there are plenty of excellent cheap eats in this town (and a number of threads on RiotACT about them), and the people are plenty warm if you try to befriend them. Are you a taxi driver? That job can make anyone into a hater.

Are you one of these ‘warm people’? Telling people to ‘suck it up and f$ck off’ for having an opinion you disagree with makes me think you may not be. And frankly, I’m with Syriana. As nice as stars are, I’d rather not drive around the centre of Canberra wondering if I’ve woken up as the only person left on Planet Earth.

“He followed his girlfriend to melbourne, and he now lives in geelong, because they couldnt afford to buy in melbourne unless they wanted a crappy house in a crappy neighbourhood.”

Ha ha, your friend fails badly. I moved from Canberra to Melbourne in 2007, sold my 3 bedder in Ngunnawal for $350K and bought a 5 year old 4 beddy place on a twice as big block in a nice neighbourhood for $320K, only 25km from the city, not 70km as Geelong is.

I grew up in Canberra and have plenty of respect and admiration for it, but as someone who has spent 18 months living in Melbourne now I feel that I’ve moved on to something more suited to me, and I haven’t looked back.

It really depends on your individual situation.

i have an ex canberran friend, who many years ago, after living in sydney for a bit, came back and said “why would you live anywhere else, canberra has everything you need, sydney is shite, blah blah blah”. He followed his girlfriend to melbourne, and he now lives in geelong, because they couldnt afford to buy in melbourne unless they wanted a crappy house in a crappy neighbourhood. he now says to me “when are you moving out of canberra, its so boring there”. how fickle people are!

its all subjective. I have lived all over the place, and if there is anywhere i would move now, it would be brisbane/sunny coast, but then again, i dont like humidity so i probably wont. they are nice places to visit, and everything’s good when you are on holidays, its a different story living there. you get stuck in the same ruts, whether you have palm trees or frost in your front garden.

i have no plans to move, but i cannot stand people who bag out canberra. if you dont like it, F#$% off. you could not pay me enough money to live in sydney, i’ve done melbourne twice, and enjoyed it but still end up coming home.

i just tell people “its what you make of it”.

The Stepford citizens of the ACT are indeed a mighty force. Luckily, I am able to entertain two opposing beliefs at the same time and overcome their narrow ultimatums. (ie love it or leave!)

Today, for instance, it is BEAUTIFUL! I walked up Mt Ainslie early in the morning, saw a lovely variety of wild flowers, met nice people who greeted me on the way up and down, and stood at the top of the mountain surveying the wide expanse of the Brindabellas as they seem to hug the horizon. Lovely.

But then a strong wind blew, and I could feel the possibility of a mid summer’s day. The feeling of standing in a hot oven for months at a time, the dusty air, the dirt pond that is my back yard, the dark browns and greys of the rain starved plants, the far distance of everything…erk.

I’m so freakin sick of Canberra-haters. Don’t like it here, move, and STFU about how much you hate the place already. You haters are pathetic – you whine, but do nothing about it. Shut up and act for once in your life, and leave our beautiful city in peace.

I’ve lived in Sydney, a small country town in the UK (near London), Naha Okinawa (a conurbation of about a million), and traveled extensively, and I have never come across a place as easy and peaceful to live in as Canberra. We have everything a big city has and more (especially the natural setting and wonderful four-season climate), without most of the hassles attached to the rat race. Canberra is the best kept secret in the world. Haters should just suck it up and f$ck off already as far as I’m concerned.

syriana – the darkness in the suburbs means that you can actually see the stars at night unlike most cities, there are plenty of excellent cheap eats in this town (and a number of threads on RiotACT about them), and the people are plenty warm if you try to befriend them. Are you a taxi driver? That job can make anyone into a hater.

I came for the degree and stayed for the abundance of jobs thanks to outsourcing. Now I’m stuck a bit because of the job security demands of my wife chosen profession and after 10 years of IT I seem to have not acquired the right experience in the right tools to hit the next level.

But the minute I do, I’m out of here.

You certainly need to find where the fun stuff’s hiding.

Try The Phoenix on a monday night, check out what’s happening at The Front in Lyneham, get involved with things people are doing on this site.

You never know, you just might find out you like it.

the fact is – this place is depressing.

it’s hard to find things to do, there’s hardly anyone walking about on the streets, it’s so dark in the suburbs at night (i HATE having to flash the highbeams on letter boxes trying to find a street number), people aren’t all that warm, and good cheap and cheerful eateries are hard to find.

rosebud, i feel for you.

i hate canberra so much that i’ve even googled ‘i hate canberra’ trying to find like-minded souls.

my excuse – i love my job and my colleagues…but in a year’s time i’m out of here.

you should think about it. seriously.

This is our third year in Canberra after living in Brisbane since birth. We rented our first year here to ensure ‘we could survive the winter’ then gladly purchased and settled in. We seem to get spoiled here and occasionally complain about a 5 minute drive that takes 10 or 15 due to some holdup. We then fly back to Brisbane to visit the relatives and it can take 20 minutes just to get out of the airport and through the Gateway Arterial roundabout! One summer we occasionally complained about the heat here but then went back to Brisbane where we were dripping in sweat from the humidity just taking a walk to the local playground across the road!

So I think yes maybe we do have it good here despite the issues sometimes raised on the Riot. It is all a mater of perspective I guess, all cities have their advantages and disadvantages depending on what you are after from life…

It’s not a bad city and I’m not at all sure why people are so down on it. Four seasons? Check. Open spaces? Check. Low crime? Check. Things to do? Check. Good local beer? Increasingly, check check check. So what’s wrong with Canberra? Especially for kids, Canberra seems like it would be a fine place to grow up.

At least it’s not Queanbeyan.

OH SNAP

With you, emd – the last few years have seen a few of the good things about Canberra left to slide (or have been closed/infilled/over-developed) – it is not a ‘better city’ than, say, five years ago, as the ALP keep trying to sell us. That said, however, it is still better than most of Sydney. Let’s face it, most Sydneysiders live nowhere near a beach! Whereas we have the coast, the bush AND the snow.

So long as I don’t get planes flying overhead or a block of flats/dual occupancy next door, and they direct taxpayers’ funds towards real stuff like roads, hospitals and schools and not waste it on daft, pie in the sky stuff like the ‘model’ poo purification plant and the Arboretum, I will remain reasonably content.

Funny though, several people I know have upped sticks for Melbourne over the last year. Melbourne does have a rep for being ‘liveable’ . . .

I’ve lived in Sydney, and I now live in Canberra. I like both, but for different reasons. I think it’s silly to compare the two – they are both so dissimilar, it’s kind of futile to square one off against the other as an “either/or” argument.

I always ponder on why on earth anyone would subject themselves to living in Sydney. I’ve not arrived at a satisfactory conclusion yet. I imagine the way of thinking of those who choose to live in places like Sydney is the same mode of thought that terms Canberra a bad place to live.

like swaggie, i have had o/s visitors commend the city and declare it a tempting destination; the last just a week or so ago. i deal with international interlocutors with my job and almost to a man (as the phrase goes) they see, when they lob here, the city’s manifold plusses about which we have gone on ad infinitum in other threads herein.

apart from its grammar, old ben kenobi’s wisdom is pretty much on the money. if you think there are places you’re rather live and in which you’d find yourself happier, why are you here rosebud? make your own list of what you would miss if you were forced to leave canberra, make another about what you want from wherever you might otherwise be – sinney, melbourne, adelaide, woy woy – and then make a list of what attracts you thither, then sit down and compare them.

if nothing else, it will provide you with a document you can hand out to the next tranche of visitors who pester you for your reason for being in this glorious town…

Aurelius said :

Those who live in that big horrible place down the road with the big bridge and the opera house believe they live in a far superior place. But we know they’re deluded. Or are we?

“A lot of the truths we cling to depend on a certain point of view” (Obiwan Kenobi)

“You certainly have a way of cutting through the felbercarb.” (Lt. Starbuck)

I moved to Canberra 14 years ago and I’m quite happy to stay. Actually, I tried living in a bigger city for a while, but came back to Canberra as my permanent home. I like the green spaces, decent block sizes, nice people (mostly). I don’t like some of the changes I’ve seen in recent years, but there’s an election soon so I’m hoping for better education and health and local development policies after that.

Likewise, I came here intending to do 3 years at uni and then take on the world. After 22 years I’m still here with wife, house, mortgage and two kids.

Mrs Deano and I have contemplated moving to be closer to family and better job opportunities. What keeps us here – well, Newsradio for one. Every morning we wake up to Newsradio (103.9 FM) and it has regular traffic reports for all of the major cities in Australia. Every report details numerous accidents, traffic jams and delays, except when they get to Canberra where the report is usually ‘nothing happening in Canberra’ – just the way we like it.

Those who live in that big horrible place down the road with the big bridge and the opera house believe they live in a far superior place. But we know they’re deluded. Or are we?

“A lot of the truths we cling to depend on a certain point of view” (Obiwan Kenobi)

rosie_bubz said :

so if u can never leave, where’s your friend gone??

Woy Woy!

so if u can never leave, where’s your friend gone??

Now that’s just lazy. If you want to move badly enough, make it happen. Save up a “moving fund”. Get onto a job site and find an appealing job in your preferred destination. Apply for it.

Spend a few days in the city you want to live in. Get a feel for what suburbs you’d like to live in. Tour a few real estate agents to see if you’re being realistic about it.

Once you have a job lined up, bundle up the family and make a go of it. You can live in a caravan park to start off with if you have to. That’s what my uncle, aunt and their three kids did when they moved from a tiny 2 br house in western Sydney to the Sunshine Coast (except they didn’t sort out jobs first). Best thing they ever did as their quality of life is so much higher.

Yes, it will be stressful and scary in the leadup to the big move, but in a month, you’ll probably be so settled into your new life the upheaval will be forgotten. That’s what I’m telling myself. My move is not for a couple of years yet, but being a planner I have a fair idea of how it will go down.

Stop whining and make a new five year plan. Then execute it.

You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave.
Out. You can check out any time you like. Geeze, if you’re going to make references to classic songs, at least get them right 😛

That aside, I grew up and went to uni here and, like many, did indeed leave for a few years after I graduated. Took me 3 years before I couldn’t handle the noise, crowds, pollution and general crappiness (in my completely subjective opinion) of the bigger cities. Came back here and have no intention of leaving again for quite a while.

What have you used?
I can’t be arsed defending Canberra to people who knock it to me. If they want to live somewhere else, good luck to them. That’s the nice thing about a free society. All the more Canberra for me, I say.

As for you, rosebud, if you don’t like it here you should move. If you do, then why on earth would people’s criticism depress you? Whenever anyone takes “pity” on me for living here, I just laugh – internally and externally. Suckers don’t know what they’re missing.

“Has anyone here ever had a visitor say, “wow, how lucky are YOU to live here! I wish I could!”

I had that very thing happen today. I was fishing down on LBG, uncrowded, a few fish, wonderful weather and these 2 visitors came wandering past and stopped for a chat after watching me land another fish. They were both from the UK, appreciated the space we have out here and the scenery. Naturally they love the climate (as anyone from the UK would do) and commented on how relaxed everyone seemed. It made me appreciate what we have and sometimes lose sight of and they were both keen to come and live out here.