Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne

jessicaxxx

Just back from 2 years in australia was on a working holiday visa and wanted to share my views on the three citys myself and my boyfriend (both 24) lived in. We lived and worked in each city for 6 months brisbane was my fav and i didnt like melbourne. these are just my personal views and hope they might help someone trying to decide where to go. So heres my views on the three!

Sydney:

Sydney was our first taste of australian life after doing our farmwork. we moved into a share house in surrey hills which is a lovely area about 15 mins from cbd with 9 other people as we wanted to meet people. we lived with irish, english, danish and german. we rented from furnishedproperty company and paid $300 for a double room including bills.
we both found good paying jobs within 2 weeks. Sydney is a really good place to live but it is hetic. Public transport is excellent and good value for money. Lots to do from all the beaches, night life, good resaturants, musumes, concerts, shopping, tourist day trips, sightseeing etc we were never stuck for something to do at weekends. it is expensive but wages are high and its free to enjoy parks, go for a walk around darling harbour etc. Its easy to meet people from all over the world and have friends for life. Weather is good but can get cold and wet in winter.

Brisbane:

Brisbane is alot smaller than sydney. we lived in a 1 bed apartment with gym and swimming pool for $460 a week excluding bills in fortitude valley ( not the best area to live as its party central but on the flip side 10 min walk to cbd) we found it very hard to get work here and it took me 5 weeks to get something, work is hard to find especially for people on whvs. It is cheaper than sydney but wags less and you dont have the beaches within walking distance but what i loved is its just a short drive to gold coast for some of the best beaches in the world. I find people in brisbane very friendly nice to work for, even people on the street seem happy and it is a really laid back city.
Good public transport system i only used buses but always on time. Not as much to do as in sydney but was easy to meet people. the weather is extreme in brisbane gets very hot and humid and when it rains it rains!! felt safe here.

Melbourne
Lived in a older apartment in south yarra (nice area close to chapel street mix of older and young people in the area 15 min tram ride to cbd) for $380 excluding bills. I found work within 2 weeks my boyfrind found it more difficult again the visa was an issue. Melbourne has lots of good restaurants, cafes and nightlife but for me that where it ends i did not feel safe here.i found people unfriendly i would even say rude and some very racist i had more than a few rude comments about being irish. The public transport is a joke never on time, cancel trains most morings or evenings, break downs expensive and myki is a joke. the weather in autumn and winter is terrible rains and can be a cold as home. we found it hard to meet people. cost of living about the same as sydney. We found not much to do at weekends and the weater did not help.

danotroy

jessicaxxx wrote: »

Melbourne
i did not feel safe here.

i had more than a few rude comments about being irish.

myki is a joke.

the weather in autumn and winter is terrible rains and can be a cold as home.

Melbourne is one of the safest cities in the world. hence why it won Worlds most livable city.

I have had heaps of rude comments about 'the irish' i cant blame them, the majorty of trouble i witness is from drunk irish people. Last week my roomate came home from work and on the tram he said an irish guy got sick in the tram filmed by his friends.


Myki is a joke, an absolute joke but on the whole melbourne's transport system is is exponentially better than sydneys. One ticket does bus, tram and train. IIRC in sydney to get to bondi to visit a mate it was 3 different tickets and a whole lot more expensive.



Your right on the weather but it is Melbourne afterall it never claimed to be anything else we dont even have a proper beach here!

markymark21

You couldn't find anything to do in Melbourne at the weekend's?! You kidding? In the last month alone I've been to the food and wine festival, grand prix, micro brewers showcase, wine showcase, comedy festival and went to the mornington peninsula!

There is always something happening in Melbourne. If you keep an eye on everguide or the local papers you'll see there is always something happening on any given day.

colman1212

jessicaxxx wrote: »

Brisbane:

Brisbane is alot smaller than sydney. we lived in a 1 bed apartment with gym and swimming pool for $460 a week excluding bills in fortitude valley ( not the best area to live as its party central but on the flip side 10 min walk to cbd) we found it very hard to get work here and it took me 5 weeks to get something, work is hard to find especially for people on whvs. It is cheaper than sydney but wags less and you dont have the beaches within walking distance but what i loved is its just a short drive to gold coast for some of the best beaches in the world. I find people in brisbane very friendly nice to work for, even people on the street seem happy and it is a really laid back city.
Good public transport system i only used buses but always on time. Not as much to do as in sydney but was easy to meet people. the weather is extreme in brisbane gets very hot and humid and when it rains it rains!! felt safe here.

Thats cool. I'm living in brisbane too and loving it here. Living in the valley too actually, lived on berwick street at first but managed to find a great place with a pool on robertson street. Such a great area around the valley/new farm/james street. I think being irish in brisbane has a different meaning to being irish in sydney or melbourne. In brisbane it seems like being irish is a good thing and people are always real friendly. Didn't really find the same in sydney or melbourne..

The_Hustler

danotroy wrote: »

Myki is a joke, an absolute joke but on the whole melbourne's transport system is is exponentially better than sydneys. One ticket does bus, tram and train. IIRC in sydney to get to bondi to visit a mate it was 3 different tickets and a whole lot more expensive.

When I lived in Sydney, one weekly ticket did bus, tram, train and boat across the harbour, it was around the same price as a week myki pass. A one day ticket however was very pricey at around $20. Sydney gets expensive for transport when you pay for journeys individually as there is no daily cap or 2 hour window like in Melbourne.

I like Melbourne, lots of multicultural festivals, sporting events, the night market, and fed square often has something on.
The weather has been great too but is getting cooler now. I can't handle 40 degree weather all the time anyway.

I just found Sydney almost too big, took ages to get around.

jessicaxxx

I just want to clarify from my original post im not trying to put anyone off living in melbourne what so ever that was just what i felt while living there and iv friends who live there and love it so much and most people iv met think its the best city in oz.
Re the safety i think timing was a main thing i lived there when jill meagher was murdered, the attck on the french girl on the bus, my boyfriend had his phone and wallet stolen on the way to work and there were a few more incidents at the time in the news around melbourne. I know these kind of things can happen in any city but at the time it made me feel very unsafe.

colman1212 have to agree with you new farm is a fantastic place would recommened it to anyone to live there and such a lovely park for relaxing days in the sun, i agree with being irish not seen as a bad thing here and i really hope it stays this way.

colman1212

Out of interest, Are you glad you moved home?!

Cooperspale

Horses for courses.

All of the things that you listed to do in Sydney except going to an ocean beach are easily done in Melbourne. In fact the shopping is supposed to be better in Melbourne than in Sydney.
You shared with 9 others in Sydney. Sharing with 9 other people means that you don't necessarily have to plan stuff yourself as someone of those 9 will always have ideas about what to do.
Public transport is more expensive in Sydney. The Myki system has been a bit of a fiasco, I prefer the metcard system; you knew exactly what fares were left. Pensioners and non computer savvy who use the system infrequently complain most about it because they have no idea what fare is on the card until they 'touch on'. The trams and trains running on time is another story, but for the most part it works.
In winter most places south of Brisbane are wet and cooler the further south that you go. Sydney tends to be wetter than Melbourne though last winter Melbourne did got a fair bit.
Looking at the BOM website was interesting, for the year 2012
Melbourne's average temperature was 20.8c and its total rainfall was 877mm
Sydney's average temp was 22.7c and its total rainfall was 1215mm
Brisbane's average temp was 20.8c and its total rainfall in 2012 was 1379mm.
Melbourne tends to have long dry summers with most of the rain happening May through Oct.
Sydney and Brisbane have rain through most of their seasons, though in Sydney a lot falls in Dec-July.
Compare that to Ireland where the east coast gets 750-1000mm and west coast gets 1000-1400mm.

In any big city in the world, it can be difficult to make friends.
I experienced that in Dublin after going to Uni overseas for 5 years. It took a year to have a group of friends to go out with there and I'm Irish.

AngryHippie

colman1212 wrote: »

Thats cool. I'm living in brisbane too and loving it here. Living in the valley too actually, lived on berwick street at first but managed to find a great place with a pool on robertson street. Such a great area around the valley/new farm/james street. I think being irish in brisbane has a different meaning to being irish in sydney or melbourne. In brisbane it seems like being irish is a good thing and people are always real friendly. Didn't really find the same in sydney or melbourne..

SSSH. Don't tell everyone

I've lived here for nearly 5 years now, In the Valley for a year, CBD (just off Roma st. for 6 months, Western Suburbs for a year, Paddington for a year and a half and I've been in Newstead for nearly a year now.
You're dead right about the attitude towards us here. I think it's because most late night pis$ ups end in the valley, which is full of basket cases, pis$heads and party animals off their heads, the sort of crowd where a couple of dozen drunken Irish can blend into without raising the profile too much.
It does suck a bit that its always a drive to the beach, but swings and roundabouts, there is a better selection of beaches within an hours drive of Brisbane CBD than of Sydneys (Gold Coast -> D'Bah) (Sunshine Coast ->Mooloolaba)
There is still plenty to do, but wheels are pretty much essential to make the most of your time.

colman1212

AngryHippie wrote: »

SSSH. Don't tell everyone

I've lived here for nearly 5 years now, In the Valley for a year, CBD (just off Roma st. for 6 months, Western Suburbs for a year, Paddington for a year and a half and I've been in Newstead for nearly a year now.
You're dead right about the attitude towards us here. I think it's because most late night pis$ ups end in the valley, which is full of basket cases, pis$heads and party animals off their heads, the sort of crowd where a couple of dozen drunken Irish can blend into without raising the profile too much.
It does suck a bit that its always a drive to the beach, but swings and roundabouts, there is a better selection of beaches within an hours drive of Brisbane CBD than of Sydneys (Gold Coast -> D'Bah) (Sunshine Coast ->Mooloolaba)
There is still plenty to do, but wheels are pretty much essential to make the most of your time.

Yeah I think its also down to the fact that irish people here don't seem to hang out in big groups of irish lads/girls like they do in sydney & melbourne. I live with an irish lad but besides that all my mates are kiwi/oz/english. i think its the same for a lot of irish here in brisbane.

MrCreosote

Melbourne would have the highest hipster concentration out of the three cities, which is important to be aware of.

Kiith

I've only been in Melbourne for 2 and a bit months, but i love it. It's got a great feel to the city, and has some fantastic areas for cafes and bars. Not once have i ever felt unsafe, though i've stuck to the main areas. There's tons of stuff to do, with loads of weekend events happening since i arrived (White Night was brilliant).

If only it wasn't as pricey (though that's a country wide thing i suppose...).

FernandoTorres

I've been in Melbourne a couple of months and love it. I've found loads to do at the weekends and a lot of free things too which is good. What is people's issue with Myki? Haven't used it that much but seems simple enough no?

Weather has been amazing since I got here so can't really comment on winter but always find it amusing hearing Irish people give out about rain in winter!

danotroy

FernandoTorres wrote: »

I've been in Melbourne a couple of months and love it. I've found loads to do at the weekends and a lot of free things too which is good. What is people's issue with Myki? Haven't used it that much but seems simple enough no?

Weather has been amazing since I got here so can't really comment on winter but always find it amusing hearing Irish people give out about rain in winter!

I put 30 dollars on my miki last week. used it a bit over the past week got on the tram this morning and i had innsufficient funds, i should of noticed but i dont look at the reader eveytime i get on/off. There was inspectors on the tram, they saw me and let me get off to top up my miki which was fine except there is no miki top up point within a 15 minute walk. basically if i was to top up my miki today i would of had to walk 10 minutes to the nearest train startion or 7 eleven and then walk 15 back to the tram.

its not easy to use. surely there should be an app where you can transfer money right there and then. or machines on each tram. The fundamentals behind any tram system are the ease of its use a hop on hop off system. however in many cases its a walk 5 minutes top up walk 5 minutes hop on hop off system.

Kiith

I generally feel like i'm the only person who actually pays for the trams in Melbourne. No one seems to swipe on anymore, at least not on the St Kilda road line. I had insufficient funds for the last two days, so didn't swipe on...felt like a rebel :P

Dats_rite

http://www.myki.com.au/MYKIcvm/topup/index.html

Bottom of Page

How can a new system take 24 hours to process a payment?

What if mobile phone top up was like this

markymark21

In fairness I topped up using the myki website and it only took 15 minutes so there's no excuse lads!

danotroy

trips within a city are sporadic and frequent, however with myki you cant simply hop on a tram. you have to ensure your myki is topped up by running to a 7/11 and asking them to put money on your card which can take up to 5 minutes depending on the queue at busy periods.

Traq

danotroy wrote: »

trips within a city are sporadic and frequent, however with myki you cant simply hop on a tram. you have to ensure your myki is topped up by running to a 7/11 and asking them to put money on your card which can take up to 5 minutes depending on the queue at busy periods.

Or you just register your myki online and set an auto top up amount on it so that if your balance ever falls below a certain amount your card automatically gets topped up by a preset amount. It's all very straightforward and saves you having to go looking for a 7/11.

messymess

Kiith wrote: »

I generally feel like i'm the only person who actually pays for the trams in Melbourne. No one seems to swipe on anymore, at least not on the St Kilda road line. I had insufficient funds for the last two days, so didn't swipe on...felt like a rebel :P

A lot of people will have monthly or a yearly pass. I don't bother swiping on/off but it doesn't matter due to the fact that you use the transport as much as you like within that time frame.

danotroy

messymess wrote: »

A lot of people will have monthly or a yearly pass. I don't bother swiping on/off but it doesn't matter due to the fact that you use the transport as much as you like within that time frame.

can you buy a monthly myki pass?

messymess

I heard from my housemate you could ... I have a yearly myki myself.

edit - this was last year, so she may have actually been referring to the met card. I never clarified!

jackbhoy

messymess wrote: »

I heard from my housemate you could ... I have a yearly myki myself.

edit - this was last year, so she may have actually been referring to the met card. I never clarified!

You have 2 options Money or Pass.

Money is simply topping by cash amount and cash fare value is deducted for every trip you take.

Pass is buying consecutive days of travel. I cycle to work so not very familiar with this option but as far as I can remember you don't really get very much saving by buying a longer term pass (> 28 days), like you would with say a monthly or yearly dublin bus pass.

There is no yearly pass as such but you can buy 365 days credit for your card. Some employers offer this as salary packaging/salary forgone option as perk i.e. value is take from gross salary so significant saving on tax.

messymess

Yeah, mines employer provided. It'd be a massive pain in the hole otherwise.

The_Hustler

danotroy wrote: »

can you buy a monthly myki pass?

You just choose the number of days once it's over 28. It saves about $6 a week I think.
You can time it so that it starts on a Monday and ends on a Friday, so then you just pay the cheap fare that weekend or not use it at all if you are only using it to get to work.

Hail 2 Da Thief

FernandoTorres wrote: »

I've been in Melbourne a couple of months and love it.

Weather has been amazing since I got here so can't really comment on winter but always find it amusing hearing Irish people give out about rain in winter!

Don't speak too soon!!!

Ozeire

I have lived in Sydney and now Melb . I think Sydney is more of a party city for young people and Melb is more laid back and chilled out . Yeah the weather isn't as good here as in Sydney . That's why they say in Melb you can have 4 seasons in one day. You always have to carry a jacket, umbrella and sunnies cause you never know what they day will do but coming from Ireland it's no was as bad as there. At least there is summer to look forward to and winter isn't all that bad. There is always a load to do at the weekends whatever you’re into. Plus we get the F1

As for the MMetro and infamous Myki well there are lots of delays but you get use to them . Train runs at worst every 15 mins and they’re trying to get it so that will be every 5 mins . Don’t know if that will ever happen . The Myki is fine don’t see what everyone was giving out about I’ve been using it for nearly 2 years now . As other have said you can use MykiPass of MykiMoney.
If you using every day for commuting to and from work MykiPass is best . Min top-up on this is 7 days next is 28 days then anything up to 365 days. You really don’t save much getting 7 days MykiPass compared to using MykiMoney for 5 days of the week. On 7 day MykiPass you just get Sat n Sun for the same price as you pay for the MykiMoney for 5 days if that makes any since . This is using in zone 1 & 2 . Where you do save is if you top-up for 28 days and more on MykiPass. This also saves you having to touch on and off at some stations unless there are barriers like the city . All you have to do is touch on to activate it and remember when you have to top-up again. So that’s save some times. Another great little saver is, from the start of everyday up until 07:15 travel is free on Metro, saves me a grand every year.

danotroy

Ozeire wrote: »

. Another great little saver is, from the start of everyday up until 07:15 travel is free on Metro, saves me a grand every year.

are you sure its actually free can you provide link? out of interest as i get the train home some nights at 7 am after work.

Ozeire

You can see it here

http://www.myki.com.au/Fares/myki-money

Under

Early Bird train travel
Travel is free using myki on the electrified train network before 7.00am on a weekday when you touch on and off.

The end of the trip and touch off has to be before 07:00 they say they give 15 min leway for delays so would be 07:15

I've been doing it the last while and yes it is free if you touch off before 07:00

dirtynelly

Kiith wrote: »

I've only been in Melbourne for 2 and a bit months, but i love it. It's got a great feel to the city, and has some fantastic areas for cafes and bars. Not once have i ever felt unsafe, though i've stuck to the main areas. There's tons of stuff to do, with loads of weekend events happening since i arrived (White Night was brilliant).

If only it wasn't as pricey (though that's a country wide thing i suppose...).

hey kiith -did it take you long to get work ? thats the only thing im a little apprehensive about really have a place to stay for first week or two so that will help a bit im sure.

any info appreciated

---

kyia

Hi jessicaxxx

What line of work were you doing? Myself and a friend are heading to Melbourne in June.

Also Whats the worst area too live in and a good/ok place too live?