brisbane or perth?

hello!! im a bricklayer,and my wife and girls and i are trying to decide which city would be best to move to,i am also a keen surfer.i was hoping that you good people could offer us some advice on good and bad things of both places please.which areas are good for the kids to grow up in? many thanks

[dad2girls]

Hiya
We are in the same boat. dont know whether to move to perth or brisbane. My hubby is a Joiner and we have 2 daughters, they are only toddlers at the moment tho. Anyway hope you get some help cos i need it too. Jo
X

[surhythms]

Hey there

Im looking for the same information - I was thinking Brisbane but now a few people said to me that Perth is great too!!

I guess it involves alot of surfing the web

Suzanne

[clairer]

Brisbane!!!!! I live in Brisbane - the work for trades men here is through the roof there is more work then people to do it! Seriously!! I heard Perth was slower (but not sure I have never been) And with Surfers paradise down the round I'd say thats win win!! i have a younge family too and its a fab place to raise them!! State school here is great!

[ed2001]

Hi everybody,

I am new in this forum. I find the discussions here very helpful with regards to our application process to OZ. I posted the same question (whether to choose Brisbane or Perth) in Yahoo. Just click on Yahoo "Answers". It is in the left hand side of the Yahoo homepage. Then in the search box, just type in the key words "Brisbane Perth" and all the past answers related to Brisbane and Perth will be shown to you.

Regards,

[ed2001]

Hi,

Just to show you an example, I got this answer through Yahoo Answers from a certain lady named Mini. Hope this can help.

----0000-----
Hi,

Let me state the similarities between Brisbane and Perth followed by the best things about each cities then you can decide which city suits more to your lifestyle :-)

Brisbane and Perth are 5.5 hrs flight away and you have to transit in another Australian city (i.e. Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide) to get to each other

Both Brisbane and Perth:
- Have a very nice all year round weather (tropical therefore warm)

- Similar size of cities and very cosmopolitan and not as big as Sydney/melbourne

- Have nice beaches - long coastal white sand beaches

- House prices are similar (they're all in the rise)

Brisbane
- located on the east coast of Australia in a state called Queensland
- A lot more tourist visiting the states and the city because of the beach holidays.
- It has the holiday feeling/beach feeling
- Lots of retirees move to this city (retirees from the east coast cities of Australia such as Sydney, Melbourne)
- Closer towards other Australian cities such as Sydney (approx 1 hr flight), Canberra (1.5 hrs flight) and Melbourne (approx 2 hrs flight)
- Both multicultural cities

Perth:
- Located on the west coast of Australia in a state called Western Australia
- The nearest major capital Australia city is 3.5-4 hrs flight away called Adelaide
- Lots of family live here and they have better schools (highschool and universities)
- Closer towards Asia (approx 6 hrs flight away)
- People who moves to Perth tend to work in the mining. Western Australian state is rich of natural resources and mining.
- Western Australia has better suburbs as well (due to the family living style)
- There's a possibility to get a bargain house in suburban perth (you prob score a bargain apartment in Brisbane).

So depending on the job opportunities of my profession, whether I wanna live like a retire or consider my family life to be more important, these may influence the way I choose between Perth and Brisbane.

Good luck :-). You'll love immigrating to Australia :-)

[nickkkau]

Hi = Ex British Airways type here; when we migrated back in 1973 our choice like yours' was between Perth and Brisbane we did the tour = the whole country on staff airline tickets two-years before we came here to live; (been in Perth since the age of Comets 64-y'o'-now) and never looked back, biggest differences between Perth and Brisbane seem to be that >
In summer Perth has low humidity due to overnight easterly winds that blow off the desert, or a screaming 10-20 knot sea breeze that cools the place down: typically by mid-day (earlier if very hot) so the place gets hot for only a few hours a day typically; hence the "fabric" of the houses on the coast seldom gets hot ; Inland suburbs can get seriously hot with slower wind speeds. I've lived in the same house at Scarborough (a beach suburb) the last 24 years and did a mini survey for a few years to see if I really needed Air-Conditioning; it worked out I needed it = 8-4-10-31days only: in the four years I bothered with my mini-survey) Scorcher the last year with unrelenting easterly winds'. We have great fine-sand beaches: some surf: not too big typically in the metro area' but can be "massive-massive" further south, (we also have "the southern hemispheres only warm water ocean current".= kinda important ?,) it's worth noting that Western Australia is about one third the size of either Europe or the USA. yet has only about two million people. (the National unemployment rate is about 4.2%, Perth is slightly lower) lots of fly in fly out with Mining companies paying great money (and you need great money to buy a house here now = like anywhere?). The definitive parameters for me have always been > "you must live where you recreate - you'll always travel to work???" Sunshine' cheap great food' and warmth' if you don't have to fight the climate and the sun says "Another beautiful day=enjoy" the consequence is of course that all the top-coats: disappear' and life is lived in lightweight casual/leisure clothing, just an utterly different lifestyle.
Far more than in the UK "very precisely where you live dictates much", so go slow on buying property, If you live somewhere humid; you'll get mozzies and bugs? in desert and semi-desert=Perth; you won't. Locally (***from the "ocean to the hills is 20 miles" of self-draining sand-dunes on which all houses are built, But still no-one leaves pots buckets etc' in the garden that might fill with water and allow mozzies to breed.***)
Brisbane is much more humid: and has mangrove swamps that go out to the mud-flats beyond which is the ocean which I've never actually seen from the city; no-one swims in the ocean close to Brisbane; but there are good beaches to the north and further south at the Gold-Coast = about 60 miles, which attract lots of tourists: domestic and flyins'' (Go-Google ) It will show you the mud-flats and the beaches: but not the mosquitoes???; Include dengue fever and malaria in your thinking particularly in the north of Queensland and to a lesser degree in the north of Western Australia, they say it will come as far south as as Sydney by 2020 ???) Climate change ? has resulted in both massive flooding and ongoing drought in different area of the bush on the east coast; with seemingly eternal cloud cover on the East-coast-beaches this last summer: Winter is the East-coasts sunniest weather; Coastal hotels and motels have had a really tough time of it this summer: as those guests that come: have little reason to stay, resulting in poor occupancy rates. It's (April-08-now) winter here now of course; but my suggestion would be to both look at >
www-realestate-com-au/ for an insight into housing styles and costs in different areas' and >
www-coastalwatch-com-au (sorry can't post URLs' yet) and open lots of windows on surf club cameras' so you can check "Is it sunny" and "Is anyone in the water" what's the water doing, is the beach blown out (windy)?
Remember also the issue of latitude; the "Brisbane to Sydney strip" would run from Casablanca to Rabat if it were transposed to the Atlantic coast. That Perth is on the same latitude as Jerusalem (and just as hot and dry). That relative to the poles: the "whole of the UK" is closer to the Pole than "any part of New-Zealand"; all of which is closer than "any part of Australia"; go-check ?
I hope this contributes something ) Every success with your decision.
= John; Scarborough WA.

[compp]

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 ?

[nickkkau]

Wherever you choose to live. It is important it is your own choice as it is far easier to live with your own mistakes than someone else's; General; Two points ?; regards the lady who found south Perth too hot' = it is no hotter than Adelaide the big difference from my perspective is that Perth is on the Indian Ocean with warm water and Adelaide is on the Southern Ocean with cold water; Both cities can be variously pleasant or too hot; Perth at least does not have insuperable water problems; albeit we now have one water desalination plant (Brisbane has massive water problems) . General. As far as arriving in any city is concerned; the question is > does what you find on that day suit you; your headspace; your wardrobe; and your pocket. How emotionally and physically prepared anyone is for that initial encounter with the stuff of a completely different latitude and culture (and although Australia speaks English; I maintain, it thinks Italian, culturally, it is not England) to find yourself standing in the streets of Perth/Rabat, or Brisbane/Accra being variously high or low humidity cities; wearing clothing bought in northern Europe; would feel challenging from too many dimensions at once, No car?, and No local knowledge; unsure about schools; which areas to live; which areas have massive amounts of new building, requiring able experienced builders, it's a new world and a marvellous game in understanding, don't expect all the answers at once. hence from this perspective there may be advantage in thinking of the move as being to another latitude: rather than to Australia, without the any of the expectations that might attach a move to a faraway suburb. You mention your husband is a bricklayer, again that opens, two lines of thought; one of the plumber who long ago migrated to Rhodesia; and on a long flight changed from being a plumber to being a fully qualified drainage engineer in consequence of a conversation with fellow traveller on the flight and on arrival knowing enough to keep a team of 120 local drainage labourers working productively and without creating inter-tribal competition by belonging to any of local tribes worked happily in his new role for years. The second relates directly to your husband's position as a bricklayer, presumably with some length of experience in that role, while stressing that I am massively out of date with regard the UK; it occurs that in the UK if he was looking for additional work or new work; he might look in the paper, or go to the local employment office, in Australia. He might ignore both; and be advantaged by telephoning building companies directly with a view to gaining employment variously as a bricklayer or with a view to what other prospects the larger builders may be in a position to offer him; because with the very low unemployment rates and some level of drug use by young people: here it is almost impossible to get decent staff, in consequence a clean skin, after the briefest of orientations may well find himself coordinating and supervising others and liaising directly with the builder or builders office; (bricklaying has never been for idiots; they have to fix their own mistakes; and idiots don't survive in that trade) again best wishes, John