What is the most underrated and overrated place you have seen in Australia?

Sundy

04072511 wrote: »

That’s funny. I saw way more GAA jerseys around Northbridge than I have seen anywhere in Melbourne (that’s not to say you don’t see them floating around here also). This has been backed up by a friend who lived for 12 months in Perth and has now been in Melbourne 3 months. He said there is no comparison in this regard between the 2 cities, and that Perth is full of people sporting their county colours.

Usually a lot of the people who defend Perth on these threads come out with very generic things like beaches, hiking, walking, tennis etc etc. Seriously, clutching at straws much. You can find this stuff in almost any city in the world. I’m sure Perth is a lovely place to settle down in and have kids, but my opinions of the place are solely as a traveller. There is very little, if anything interesting in Perth to see, and almost nothing that is unique to Perth. Sydney has its harbour, Melbourne its sporting culture, Adelaide its Victorian Buildings, Rio de Janeiro its amazing surrounding landscape and urban forestland, Stockholm the fact the city is build on numerous tiny islands, Nashville it’s amazing music tradition. San Francisco has its iconic hills and the golden gate bridge. Kyoto has its ancient temples, Cusco its incan history. What on earth does Perth have? I struggle to think of a more boring location for a tourist to visit. Yes Kings Park is nice, but every city in Australia has parks and gardens. Fremantle is worth a visit but IMO it lags behind Glenelg, Adelaide’s equivalent, and you can see convict sites all over Australia. The buildings are ugly, the streets have no buzz whatsoever, the place is generally expensive, and it is packed with drunken Irish!

Straight up theres your problem, comparing perth to some of the most popular tourist cities in the world. It not exactly somewhere on the '101 places to visit before you die' list. Dont know why you would even make the comparison.

Not many cities in the world have the range of unspoilt beaches that, come on be honest.

One thing perth has that many other cities doesnt have and that is mining. give me a job , good weather and good lifestyle over a few old buildings anyday.

Pisco Sour

Sundy wrote: »

Straight up theres your problem, comparing perth to some of the most popular tourist cities in the world. It not exactly somewhere on the '101 places to visit before you die' list. Dont know why you would even make the comparison.

Not many cities in the world have the range of unspoilt beaches that, come on be honest.

One thing perth has that many other cities doesnt have and that is mining. give me a job , good weather and good lifestyle over a few old buildings anyday.

I already said that my opinions of Perth are solely as a traveller. I have never lived there (though I would find it far too quiet, and I'm not a big drinker these days, but I like a city to have a buzz around the streets). But as a tourist destination there is no doubt the place is uninspiring. The amount of tourists/ backpackers who will include Perth in their travel plans, yet ignore the rest of WA (the best state in Oz IMO) is crazy! So in that regard I would consider Perth overrrated, and WA in general underrated.

Cookie_Monster

Underated: Turn 9 of the Melbourne GP

Overated: everything else

:pac:

irishmover

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Underated: Turn 9 of the Melbourne GP

Overated: everything else

:pac:

It's my favorite track. Pissed right off back to work Sunday so can't venture down from brisbane for it. Always next year.

jackbhoy

04072511 wrote: »

Sundy wrote: »

Straight up theres your problem, comparing perth to some of the most popular tourist cities in the world. It not exactly somewhere on the '101 places to visit before you die' list. Dont know why you would even make the comparison.

Not many cities in the world have the range of unspoilt beaches that, come on be honest.

One thing perth has that many other cities doesnt have and that is mining. give me a job , good weather and good lifestyle over a few old buildings anyday.

I already said that my opinions of Perth are solely as a traveller. I have never lived there (though I would find it far too quiet, and I'm not a big drinker these days, but I like a city to have a buzz around the streets). But as a tourist destination there is no doubt the place is uninspiring. The amount of tourists/ backpackers who will include Perth in their travel plans, yet ignore the rest of WA (the best state in Oz IMO) is crazy! So in that regard I would consider Perth overrrated, and WA in general underrated.

You have to compare like with like though. Perth is a regional city and not a massive tourist destination in its own right, most cities in the world stack up poorly compared to kyoto, Rio etc but when you compare Perth to similar Japanese/Brazilian cities its not that bad imo.

Xavi6

04072511 wrote: »

That’s funny. I saw way more GAA jerseys around Northbridge than I have seen anywhere in Melbourne (that’s not to say you don’t see them floating around here also). This has been backed up by a friend who lived for 12 months in Perth and has now been in Melbourne 3 months. He said there is no comparison in this regard between the 2 cities, and that Perth is full of people sporting their county colours.

Usually a lot of the people who defend Perth on these threads come out with very generic things like beaches, hiking, walking, tennis etc etc. Seriously, clutching at straws much. You can find this stuff in almost any city in the world. I’m sure Perth is a lovely place to settle down in and have kids, but my opinions of the place are solely as a traveller. There is very little, if anything interesting in Perth to see, and almost nothing that is unique to Perth. Sydney has its harbour, Melbourne its sporting culture, Adelaide its Victorian Buildings, Rio de Janeiro its amazing surrounding landscape and urban forestland, Stockholm the fact the city is build on numerous tiny islands, Nashville it’s amazing music tradition. San Francisco has its iconic hills and the golden gate bridge. Kyoto has its ancient temples, Cusco its incan history. What on earth does Perth have? I struggle to think of a more boring location for a tourist to visit. Yes Kings Park is nice, but every city in Australia has parks and gardens. Fremantle is worth a visit but IMO it lags behind Glenelg, Adelaide’s equivalent, and you can see convict sites all over Australia. The buildings are ugly, the streets have no buzz whatsoever, the place is generally expensive, and it is packed with drunken Irish!

As already said, you're not even remotely comparing like with like.

In terms of quality of life Perth is fantastic and I think it would up there with the best, however for tourists like yourself I can understand why it would be 'boring' (I use inverted commas as it's too simple a term but puts the jist across).

Categorising Perth with the cities you mentioned is pretty unfair imo.

Tigerandahalf

Oz is a great place to see as are many places around the world. The thing for me is that it's so far away the chances to see and explore it are pretty small. So when you have the chance take it. Every place will have its good and bad points and everyone sees things differently. I wouldn't pick out any place in particular as I thought all the places I saw had a lot to offer. Perhaps when you are touring it all in one go, you will get tired of looking at gorges and more gorges etc.
I'd love to see a bit more of the Aboriginal culture. Them people should be encouraged to build up their communities and offer tourists a glimpse of their traditions and culture. I liked seeing that in Kakadu. I never got to go to Arnhem Land. It's difficult as you need a pass to get in there but I would say it is very unspoilt.
Cairns is what it is. It's targeted towards the drinking tourist so don't expect anything better.
I thought Darwin was nice, if you are willing to get away from the centre backpacking places.
Fraser Island is unique and not overcrowded which is nice. A fisherman would have a great time casting on the beach there.
Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney are lovely cities. They all have beautiful parks and gardens and great places to eat and drink coffee and just chill out. I was never in Perth.
Tasmania is nice and you could do it all in 5 days. Hobart is quite homely.

If I was to say anything was overrated it would probably be the weather. I'm not a huge heat person and I found it too uncomfortable at times. Fine if you are at the beach but when you are working day in day out it can be uncomfortable. I wouldn't like to be working out in the summer heat.
I also thought the pub/club scene was pretty poor. Maybe it takes a while to get to know the right bars and clubs but some places are very hard to get into.

Mellor

04072511 wrote: »

San Francisco has its iconic hills and the golden gate bridge!

I hated the hills in San Francisco. Prob the worst thing of about the city for me.


As for Oz, the weather this year has certainly been a low for me. Not sure if i'd say underated. As other eyars have been fine. But certainly a let down this year. I wonder how people who jsut got here find it?

CiaranC

Xavi6 wrote: »

As already said, you're not even remotely comparing like with like.

In terms of quality of life Perth is fantastic and I think it would up there with the best

What does 'quality of life' actually mean though? I live a 10 minute walk from my job in Wellington, right on the bay - there is are three amazing theatres close by, an arthouse cinema on my street, a buzzing craft beer bar scene, a vibrant coffeehouse culture, endless brilliant ethnic restaurants, three great music venues, a city beach five minute walk from the main drag, the stadium in the city, the list goes on and on. Life is quality here cos there is always something happening to get involved in and the place is full of life.

People who live in cities do so because they like living in cities, not because they like going to deserted beaches or hanging out with people they already know in some gigantic suburb. I couldnt give a toss about deserted beaches. Perth closes at 5pm.

jank

CiaranC wrote: »

I dont buy this "real Australia" crap, what are Sydney & Melbourne, fake?

Underrated - Tasmania. Class spot - beautiful, easy to travel and see everything, nice people.

Overrated - Perth. The most dismal western city I have ever had the displeasure of being to. Makes Canberra seem lively and cultured.

Christ, I forgot completely I was in Tasmania. Nice place alright, but not a patch on NZ. Which is why I kinda forgot about it. Hobart is nice though and Launceston is a very nice town.

jank

Martin Walker wrote: »

Meh. Look around this forum its all here. I cant be bothered to go into great detail about every aspect of Australian life.

My that attitude sums you up more than you know.

irishmover

Mellor wrote: »

04072511 wrote: »

San Francisco has its iconic hills and the golden gate bridge!

I hated the hills in San Francisco. Prob the worst thing of about the city for me.


As for Oz, the weather this year has certainly been a low for me. Not sure if i'd say underated. As other eyars have been fine. But certainly a let down this year. I wonder how people who jsut got here find it?

I've been off work 6 weeks because of the weather (rain around cooper basin/further into central SA). Got here in October. Baffling me! Going back to work Sunday though...

Pisco Sour

Xavi6 wrote: »

As already said, you're not even remotely comparing like with like.

In terms of quality of life Perth is fantastic and I think it would up there with the best, however for tourists like yourself I can understand why it would be 'boring' (I use inverted commas as it's too simple a term but puts the jist across).

Categorising Perth with the cities you mentioned is pretty unfair imo.

Just using the other cities to illustrate that to a tourist, Perth offers very little. I can understand somebody flying a long distance to Perth if it is a starting point to exploring the West Coast, but I can’t understand for the life of me why somebody would spend all that money travelling there just to see Perth and nothing else. It’s bizarre the amount of people (mainly Irish) I have met who after travelling down the goon trail from Cairns to Sydney then went over to Perth for 4 or 5 days “to see the west”, ignoring the rest of the amazing state of WA in the process. You may aswell be in San Diego or any other generic big soulless city. Why people feel the need to travel long distances just to see a place that has very little interesting to see is beyond me.

jank

hussey wrote: »

A lot of my friends and family think I am living in the lad of milk and honey, where money is flowing, jobs are endless and it is summer all year.
So I think it is overrated in that sence.

CiaranC - Totally agree with food scene, some real gems in Sydney that can compete with any city. A lot of chefs in Australia head over to Europe on travel visas and work in the top places in Europe, then come over here and set up.
If anyone likes meat, head to Porteno in Surry hills, No Reseverations just finished filming there, place is amazing

Been meaning to get there for ages, I live only 4 minutes away from it. Once I come back from my trip home and Africa, me and the GF are going to set a date every week or two to go and do a new restaurant in Sydney. The choice and quality is unbelievable, although the best places can be pricey!

Sundy

CiaranC wrote: »

Perth closes at 5pm.

No it doesnt.

Xavi6

CiaranC wrote: »

What does 'quality of life' actually mean though? I live a 10 minute walk from my job in Wellington, right on the bay - there is are three amazing theatres close by, an arthouse cinema on my street, a buzzing craft beer bar scene, a vibrant coffeehouse culture, endless brilliant ethnic restaurants, three great music venues, a city beach five minute walk from the main drag, the stadium in the city, the list goes on and on. Life is quality here cos there is always something happening to get involved in and the place is full of life.

It means pretty much what you've described, and for me Perth ticks all the boxes you've put there (music venues, theatres, right on the river, close to great beaches, two stadiums within walking distance from the main streets, some fantastic bars and restaurants etc). Plus it has a long period of consistently good weather which sets it apart from a lot of other places.

People who live in cities do so because they like living in cities, not because they like going to deserted beaches or hanging out with people they already know in some gigantic suburb. I couldnt give a toss about deserted beaches. Perth closes at 5pm.

Out of curiosity, when were you last in Perth? Trading hours have changed considerably in the last year or so amongst other things.

04072511 wrote: »

Just using the other cities to illustrate that to a tourist, Perth offers very little. I can understand somebody flying a long distance to Perth if it is a starting point to exploring the West Coast, but I can’t understand for the life of me why somebody would spend all that money travelling there just to see Perth and nothing else. It’s bizarre the amount of people (mainly Irish) I have met who after travelling down the goon trail from Cairns to Sydney then went over to Perth for 4 or 5 days “to see the west”, ignoring the rest of the amazing state of WA in the process. You may aswell be in San Diego or any other generic big soulless city. Why people feel the need to travel long distances just to see a place that has very little interesting to see is beyond me.

No disagreement with most of that, I know people who came here, saw Perth for six months then flew east. A complete waste when outside of the metro area is pretty spectacular both north and south.

I do disagree with it being described as 'soulless' however, I love the atmosphere about the place in the summer.

jank

Sydney has pretty much all of what Perth offers, especially down Cronulla way or the Northern beaches. However, Sydney offers much much more imo. Perth may be a nice place to settle and have kids but i dont know, the place is very boring in some aspects.

mandrake04

I think Bondi is a bit overrated, although if the Australian government quit the WHV scheme I reckon it would be a great place.

http://youtu.be/1YXSyHxDunU

Cooperspale

From a purely tourist point of view,
Tasmania is under rated and Gold Coast is over rated.

pa_

Wollongong is highly rated by the Lonely Planet. When I went it seemed like a drab, boring industrial town with no atmosphere or activity in the city centre on a Saturday evening. It still isn't as overrated as Bondi though.

Sydney nightlife is overrated. Pubs are casinos where people lose money gambling resulting in grim depressing atmospheres. Others try too hard to be fancy and have rude staff and poor selections of drinks. Absolutely no comparison with the varied pub scene in places like Galway and Dublin.

The Sydney food scene is under rated. It is the best food city I've been to. Porteno as mentioned is a gem, along with countless asian places. Spice I am in Haymarket / Surry Hills comes to mind. The ability to eat healthy for food affordable prices is something that sadly isn't possible in Ireland.

hiromoto

Underrated- hydro
Overrated- kangaroos

Zambia

Who the hell is going around overrating Kangaroos ???

Seriously more veggies less hydro that stuff will do you severe damage in the long run.

markymark21

pa_ wrote: »

The ability to eat healthy for food affordable prices is something that sadly isn't possible in Ireland.

Ah here last time I checked fruit and veg wasn't expensive in Ireland - especially if you go to the markets

skipz

Over rated- Pubs of Northbridge with tales of endless cash in the world of the mines, seriously come off it now!
Under rated- Goldern Quest trail of the Goldfields, anyone ever do this? loved every bit of it!

pa_

markymark21 wrote: »

Ah here last time I checked fruit and veg wasn't expensive in Ireland - especially if you go to the markets

I realise that but I am talking about restaurants. Beside my work I can get a big, tasty, healthy and fresh asian lunch for $8.50, less than €7. That probably wouldn't buy you a Supermacs back home.

In Ireland your only alternative without paying more would be a bland, possibly stale carvery lunch which would cost well over €10. The only similarly priced options for a hot lunch/dinner in Ireland are hideously unhealthy. When you take wages into account Australia wins hands down.

CiaranC

pa_ wrote: »

I realise that but I am talking about restaurants. Beside my work I can get a big, tasty, healthy and fresh asian lunch for $8.50, less than €7. That probably wouldn't buy you a Supermacs back home.

In Ireland your only alternative without paying more would be a bland, possibly stale carvery lunch which would cost well over €10. The only similarly priced options for a hot lunch/dinner in Ireland are hideously unhealthy. When you take wages into account Australia wins hands down.

Theres plenty of equivalent asian meals to be had in north inner Dublin city