Where do you think is the best place(city) to live all things considered? I for one favor Australia but do not have the means to live there just yet.
General Questions is for questions with factual answers. IMHO is for opinions and polls. I’ll move this to IMHO for you.
Off to IMHO.
DrMatrix - General Questions Moderator
It’s a toss up between here (Melbourne, Australia) and somewhere in the middle of Africa, away from all civilization and surrounded by nature.
I’ve lived in Melbourne my entire life and of all the other cities I’ve visited, none have even come close to having the beauty and carefree-ness of this place. One of my favourite things about Melbourne is that we’ve got these little stereotypical clique things happening - there’s the “Flinders St Station Goths” (as they’re oh-so-affectionately known), and the emo-ridden Brunswick St, and the communists that are at various points in the city 3 times a week, and the bikie end of Queen St… and it all meshes. There’s a general respect for everyone, and it’s kind of comforting to see the goth corner of Flinders St Station always occupied, and people not caring. And the motorbikes lined up on the pavement with groups of leather clad gorilla kind of men with their sheilas smoking and being rednecks etc… 
And we have TRAMS!, and a pretty decent train system, a beautiful public library, a non-conservative state government, a zoo where the animals usually look happy, and we’re not overridden with tourist shops selling little purses made of kangaroo scrotum (like many sections of other cities of Australia are).
But sometimes I’d really like to get away from everything and everyone and make myself a little tribe in the heart of Africa. It would be nice.
If I could spend half the year in Oz and the other half in NYC, I’d be a happy camper.
If you want an Australian city, it depends what you like. We only have two cities in the multi-millions of population, and they are Sydney and Melbourne. Both are sprawling-suburbia LA-style places. Sydney would be a better choice if you can afford to live in one of the wealthier suburbs by the beaches or harbour. If you want to live in the 'burbs, then Melbourne is worth a look. Melbourne is more laid-back, and is a bit more “Australian” in attitude. Sydney has pretentions of being a vibrant, world-class, international metropolis. Melbourne has pretentions of being cultured and grand. The truth is somewhere in the middle, and you’d need to check them out for yourself. Melbourne can get a bit nippy in winter, but the weather is generally ok in both places.
We have several smaller cities around and below the million mark in population. They have their own personalities, and are much cheaper, cleaner (and probably safer) places to live than the big two. Brisbane is commonly known as “a big country town”. Well, it used to be. It’s very much a city, if a small one. It’s sub-tropical and relaxed, and is close to the Gold Coast, which is full of surf beaches, retirees living in high rise apartments, and theme parks (a bit like what I imagine Florida to be). Adelaide is the “City of Churches”, and is quiet and conservative. Perth, on the west coast, is the world’s most isolated city, and has a character of it’s own. It’s got a little bit of the flavour of all the others, and is small but modern and very liveable (so I hear - I haven’t been there, but most people I know who have seem to like it).
I favour england I was born there but now live in Scotland. FInd me a job and I am on my way back lol.
I lived in Melbourne for a bit and loved it. Best place I have been yet. I am sure I would love Sydney as well. I plan to eventually live in Australia and maybe have some property here in the states as well. I miss St. Kilda- fun place to hang out.
What about US cities? Which is the best and why?
In Australia - definitely Brisbane for family life. Easy going, friendly, excellent weather most of the time, close to beaches and the Great Dividing Range and national parks etc.
Access to everything you could want socially and economically (well mostly)
Not to mention all those magnificent old Queenslanders (tropical style houses to the uninitiated) with their verandahs, high ceilings, intricate woodwork and stained glass, not to mention being ‘up on stumps’ (high set).
Then there are the islands in Moreton Bay (I live on one), all within commuting distance to the city.
Melbourne is pretty cool as well, but I found Sydney dirty, smelly, noisy and not at all attractive unless you could afford to live in one of the upper class northern beaches suburbs.
I guess you will get more US input when the country wakes up
From what I have heard of Sydney, I would not like it. But most of what I have heard if from a friend in Melbourne. His descriptions of Sydney reminded me of LA, a place I really and truly dislike. Smelly, dirty, too much traffic, and I’m simply allergic to the air!
I grew up in in the San Francisco Bay Area, and god willing, I’ll be able to live there again someday. Ann Arbor is very nice, but home is home is home is home, you know? Cold mornings year round, rolling hills that are green in the winter and gold in the summer, Spanish place names, every other tree a eucalyptus or a redwood, knowing you won’t offend a Republican by making fun of George Bush because there aren’t any Republicans within 100 miles, and the Golden Gate shrouded in fog on a July evening.
Maybe someday I’ll write with similar sentiment about southeastern Michigan…the way traffic becomes a nightmare on Saturdays in the fall, the summer thunderstorms, the art fair, the beautiful brick houses that no one would dare build in California… We’ll see.
Now I’m homesick.
Florida’s gulf coast.
Haven’t you people been to Madrid???
Wow, so far we have allot of support for Australia. Any other opinions on US cities? I am already convinced Oz is great but how bout the good ole’ US? I am not so sure there are many places left that are all that great to live.
I’m sitting here looking out over 50 acres of cotton and cattle grazing in a neighboring field. IMHO it beats Africa, because I’m not too far from a mall or large city and there aren’t such things as tsetse flies to bother with. There are many, many great places to live in this world. Personally I’d go for living in the Canary Islands, but that is too far from where our children are living. I agree with Madrid being a wonderful place, but people will tell you that other cities in Spain are nicer. France and Spain are great places to live. England is great, if you can learn to live with the weather (holiday in the Canary Islands is one way to do it). The Channel Islands are nice, but they are so short on space that they don’t exactly welcome people who want to live there.
Good question, with lots more answers than Australia. Personally one reason I don’t want to live there is because it is so “in”.
Re Africa, I grew up in the Sudan and while it was interesting from a world travel perspective, IMO, it does not have a lot to recommend it as a permanent place of residence if you have a choice. In the hinterlands of 3rd world locales romantic notions of bush life wear off quickly in the midst of starvation, pestilence and ethnic violence.