Lets sex up Canberra!

john87_no1 said :

I like Canberra, lived here for 15 years now, but there is really very little to do.

I have always said: Canberra is a great place to raise kids, be a kid or go to die.

I tend to think that’s the argument of a boring person. There’s a load of stuff to do here but you’ve got to go and find it/do it. If you’re a boring person it’s likely that you’ll be bored wherever you live.

john87_no1 said :

3 of those venues don’t exist anymore?

….but they did when JB wrote that six years ago.

johnboy said :

Toast, Trinity, Phoenix, Hippo, Street Theatre, Green Room. Filthy’s.

What we need is a campaign to make the fun stuff accessible.

let the hidden ciy cast off its disguise.

3 of those venues don’t exist anymore? And the remaining ones you mentions give the vibe that they are trying too hard to be something they aren’t. I like Canberra, lived here for 15 years now, but there is really very little to do.

I have always said: Canberra is a great place to raise kids, be a kid or go to die.

braddonboy said :

So, what’s new? The right of passage when leaving school here in the 60’s and 70’s was to leave Canberra to head for more exotic places. I, and most of my mates did, and most of us eventually came back to settle.

I guess that right’s been taken away.

So, what’s new? The right of passage when leaving school here in the 60’s and 70’s was to leave Canberra to head for more exotic places. I, and most of my mates did, and most of us eventually came back to settle.

Canberra shouldn’t be trying to be sexy and edgy – it’s a relaxing and affluent place to raise a family.

I had probably better not comment. Everyone knows I hate Canberra. And before you pipe up VG, for personal reasons, I CAN’T leave. (IE I don’t hate Canberra as much as I love my daughter, and I can’t take her with me).

So I guess I’ll just shut up….. Fuck it. (NB, it has nothing to do with the “unsexiness” of the place).

If you want edgy, come to Queanbeyan on a Friday night.

Only if we can then have a cultural revolution and rip down and the ugly deathtraps that were built.

Well given how ugly our town centres are I don’t think rigid planning has done us much good.

Better yet let them build without approval but make them tear it down if they turn out to have broken the rules.

reduce all planning approvals within suitable zones to a simple yes/no within 5 working days, step back and let a thousand flowers bloom.

Only if we can then have a cultural revolution and rip down and the ugly deathtraps that were built.

Wow… two of my pet peeves in one item. Ok, stand back.

I have travelled a fair bit and still come back here or to at least this area. I like it here.

And what gives with all this Generation X and Y, “Sex in the City” lifestyle “phenomenon” crap. I live here because I don’t WANT that quasi-American lifestyle. If I want that, I will not move to Sydney… I will move to New York (and it wont be so I can do nothing but drone on and on about new shoes to my friends).

I like it that my quasi “gansta” boys that live in the Bus Interchanges around here, seem to go back home to their 3 bedroom, double garage “ghettoes” in Kambah or Belconnen. I can just imagine a few of our local “hommies” meeting a bunch of Crypts or Bloods on a dark night in Civic. (oh ..ya know why they call ’em hommies here? Cause if they aint home by 11 PM…..! hehehe)

I like that we can wear Ugh boots, not because its trendy BUT because its bloody cold.

I grew up in a small town down the road from here with no gameboy/pc/x-box/playstation (we had one pinball parlour and a space invaders stand up machine at the pizza place), we had no internet (we had a library), we had no walkman (we had parties and played records… mind you back then we listened to bands that played the music… not the guys who get lauded for how well they can play records in clubs). I managed ok with the idea of any part of the world seeming to blow up at any given time (the Black September and IRA and PLO’s now forgotten pre-terrorism terrorism), through one of the longest droughts in living history (that directly effected the area I lived in) and finally the recession we had to have. In any case, my point is that for all that I (now seemingly) lacked, I seem to have grown up pretty well adjusted.

Half the town I grew up with had no desire to move to Oxford street just to learn how to order a “hazelnut or caramel macchiato“.

As a matter of fact most of those who left town, moved to Canberra.

I so enjoy the stories my Sydney and Melbourne friends regale me with of their 1.5 hr drives to work, or the hour trip jam-packed on a train.

Great places to visit but wouldnt wanna live there. I love this place. If you truly don’t like it then don’t let the fear hold you back, leave.

I did and am so much happier to be here. Having done some extensive world-wide travel, as well as living o/s through my job, I can tell you that there’s no place I’d rather be. Sure, it can be a little boring sometimes, but isn’t that better than being 100% on the go all the time?

This city’s great, I’ll probably travel a bit, but I’m sure I’ll always return here for the long term.

I’d like to see a bit more to do out in the satellite cities, namely Tuggeranong, but I guess the businesses have to go where they can make a quid. It’s only a 20 minute drive into the city anyway.

reduce all planning approvals within suitable zones to a simple yes/no within 5 working days, step back and let a thousand flowers bloom.

good idea johnboy….. any suggestions?

Toast, Trinity, Phoenix, Hippo, Street Theatre, Green Room. Filthy’s.

What we need is a campaign to make the fun stuff accessible.

let the hidden ciy cast off its disguise.

Yeah yeah, that last part was somewhat facetious. That said, I also liked Canberra just fine when it had only 200,000 people – much as I hate to agree with politicians, I’m a bit against the whole “growth for growth’s sake” thing. But I’m not advocating everyone packing up and leaving so that I can have the whole place to myself…as tempting as that sounds on the face of it…

If people move away Spectra, wouldn’t there be less Canberra? Less shops, less business, less incentive to stay…

I’m with you, Blossy – I love this place. Like the people the article talks about, I headed off for the big smoke of Melbourne once I finished my degree. I lasted 3 years before I got sick of the people, the noise and the crowds. Let ’em move away – all the more Canberra for me 🙂

I guess it depends what you mean by really cool and off the wall.

But I’m probably not the best person to ask, I even love traipsing around Parliament House 🙂

I dunno, might be a fair comment – where are the really cool, interesting, off-the-wall places in Canberra? I can think of plenty in Sydney, but none here.

(Don’t take this as bagging the place, I ask for information and interest).

I see it like that. Canberra is conservative, sterile and, generally speaking, rubbish.

Only 300,000 people might disagree with me. Another 1.7 million would agree.

Take a drive around Fyshwick after dark, Canberra is plenty SEXy enough!