wow, thanks for that john, brilliant post, much appreciated, we also have the same problem (a problem i,m glad we have ;-) ) we have 5 kids ranging from 2 next week and 22 years so we are trying to find somewhere that has something for all of them without much luck, we ruled out melbourne and adelaide simply becouse we are real sun worshipers (with precautions obviously) and from what we can gather those places aren,t quite as hot. i THINK we might opt for brisbane, again simply as some have commented that you can feel a bit isolated in Perth. also hubbie is a brickie and we have been led to believe there is slightly more work on the east coast for tradies, we are planning on getting a holiday rental when we make the move for 4-6 weeks in or around brisbane and then just taking a few weeks to decide where we actually want to settle, hubbie has spent 6 months in his younger days in oz but myself and the kids have never been, so as we haven,t a clue what to expect we think this is our best option ?