Living in Canberra? Maybe moving

[butterflyladyof2]

Hi!

I wrote about 6 months ago regarding where to live around Sydney, because my husband was going for a job there. We curently live in Colorado, USA. We were excited, but nervous about moving away from all our family, though some are in Ireland, but it would be a big move for our children. Well the job fell through, so we thought that was the end of it. Well another one has popped up, but it is in Canberra. I do not know anything about this area.

Since it will be a major move for us, I was hoping to get some insight on the area. We have 3 children, 6, 3, 7months. If are any websites that you wouldn't mind suggesting, or any information in general to give me some insight, it would be greatly appreciated.

Some of the topics I am interested in are schools, housing, safety, parks?, diversity, overall vibe.

It's just in its preliminary stage, so this one can fall through also, but I want to try to have enough info to make an informed decision for the family.

Thank you in advance!

Angela O

[amychin]

Hi Angela,
I grew up in Canberra and we have recently transferred back after 12 years moving countries every 2-3 yrs around the world with DH's work. We also have 3 children, although when we left it was just the 2 of us 8-), so I understand the challenges of moving countries and being far from family, but we also found many plusses and would do it all again without hesitation.
Canberra is a beautiful city, quite small but well planned with v good infrastructure, and fantastic for young families. The public and private schools are all good to excellent, parks are lovely with good facilities, it's probably as safe as you can get living in any city, housing is a bit on the expensive side but no where is very far from anywhere here. Since it is the Capital city, it is well looked after, there is a strong public service and University town feel to it, so the general vibe is "middle class cosmopolitan large country town" (feel free to add/disagree anyone 8-). Some people find it a little too small (ie boring, eg for a big gig you need to travel to Sydney) but especially with younger kids, there is PLENTY to do. Also the mountains and beach are a couple of hours drive away.
www.canberrakids.com.au/ can give you an idea of stuff.
Are you on the [e-mail] group (I am but rarely read since we moved back) - it is useful for AP families who are moving countries. As there are quite a few diplomats and defence people here, there is also quite a strong expat community, which is always nice to hook into.
All the best, feel free to ask more questions,
Amy

[amychin]

Forgot to add:
http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/foru...p/t394240.html

[elonwy]

I just found out we might be moving to Canberra too, though towards the end of the year. I'm pregnant now, so we'd be moving with an infant. I lived in Queensland when I was a little kid (Age 2-4) so I have no real practical memories of Australia. I appreciate the links and any advice as well. I'm a little worried about getting isolated by having an infant and not really knowing anyone. I think it's funny what you said about the rents though, cause we currently live in the San Francisco area and I was looking at rents in Canberra and thinking they were really cheap, comparatively. Heh. 

We're also looking at bringing our cats, which is a huge involved process, but I cannot conceive of abandoning them.