15 minutes from the city

Go to any train or tram stop fifteen minutes from any of Australia’s major cities at peak hour and you will find fifty somethings with designer clothes and shoes and smart phones alongside twenty somethings with piercings, tattoos and smartphones. Suburbs which once housed the warehouses and industries which drove the cities have been gentrified.  Old depots become trendy apartments, warehouses display  wooden beams above Italian marble kitchen benches and the terrace houses where merchants used to live are share houses with bikes along the corridors and surfboards out the back. The world has changed and the baby boomers want to taste that edgy, vibrant energy in bustling cafes and eclectic fashion boutiques without giving away too many of their creature comforts. Yet, by moving into the new apartment blocks and townhouses, often paying over the odds for the accommodation, they are squeezing out the twenty somethings who created the hipster culture they crave! Where are the twenty somethings going: back to the suburbs they grew up in at the end of the train line!

Relocation consultants who have been assisting corporates to find rental  homes in their new destination city are reporting that for older executives whose families are grown up there is much more demand for hugging the city fringes and abandoning the backyard and extra bedrooms in favour of cutting edge apartments, converted industrial buildings and renovated workers cottages. This demand pushes rental prices up and makes it tough on up and coming youngsters who don’t want huge taxi fares getting back from nightclubs at the weekend.


Part of this obsession with being close to the city is that Australian cities have reinvented themselves and are now a hive of activity at weekends with festivals, parades, markets and sporting events which carry the collective enthusiasm of the community. Events are for everyone so it is no surprise that baby boomers want to be close at hand. The cafes and restaurants and yogurt and ice cream parlours set up for a different  demographic are just as seductive places for young and older to hang out and watch the world go by ….with their smartphone close at hand! 

Relocation in the digital age

In a digital age where Facebook ‘friends’ and linked in connections are often numbered in hundreds, where speed is of the essence and we seemingly know every thought, every movement, every happening around us, it can be a lonely place out there especially for newcomers. Australia is encouraging and driving its digital revolution with great innovation and flair but as new technologies explode onto the Australia market and more people communicate with clicks and touch than spoken words there is something else happening, something all embracing which in successful in part because of Australia’s climate, in part to do with our multiculturalism and in part to do with the intrinsic values that have honed a nation. Australia’s young cities have invested in community: real physical connection, magnificent human gatherings to celebrate almost anything, assuring our many newcomers that they belong as much as the next man.

 With each oohh and ahhh as the fireworks catapult through the sky there is a wave of certainty in the commonality of the experience. The crowd holds its breath while the tightrope walker teeters high between the buildings and the people below reach out to each other with gasps and murmurs of admiration. It is addictive, that togetherness, that belonging to community and Australia does it so well!
Every weekend, all over Australia there are festivals, fairs, community markets, events which in other countries would not happen or be so well attended merely because the weather prevents such experiences happening with such regularity. We are lucky in Australia, that it can be cold, it can be wet, it can be windy and it can be incredibly hot but the chances of good weather are relatively high for a good portion of the day.
If you are new you can guarantee that you will be able to wander along to any number of events, often at almost no cost, and that the people will be genuinely friendly! This collective experience will be made up of peoples from almost every nationality because Australia is truly a melting pot of many nations and so, as well as often connecting with people because of the communality of having relocated, it is not unusual to strike up conversation with people from your home country! Even if you don’t meet other newcomers, there is a deep sense of connection n Australia which sits at the heart of its values: reaching out to others, helping ‘mates’ whether you know them or not, genuinely being interested in others. This is something as old as Australian time when aboriginal culture instilled community values and passed them down generation after generation. But there is something more than this happening as well.

Australia is taking its vibrant and dynamic art and culture into the community. Recently Melbourne staged White Night where almost half a million people descended on the city to take part in one of the most spectacular artistic triumphs in Australia. The experience was mind boggling and even as the crowd jostled to see more and more of the city on show there was a sense of collective pride. Over 300 artists across the city made Melbourne visible on an international scale but most importantly reinforced the drawing together of locals. Recent newcomers felt as much a art of the dazzling spectacle as old timers! Australia really understands taking art to the people, drawing a crowd and harnessing community energy.
The Sydney Festival, Australia’s spectacular arts and cultural festival showcases  music, theatre, dance and other events right across Sydney while every major city is doing the same thing. And then there is food! Every city has it’s community markets, farmers markets where everybody gets to know the stallholders and there is an easy opportunity to catch up with new found friends with no pressure.

You will also find that different nationalities have celebrations around the cities and this is usually a food fest as much as anything else. Again a great opportunity to meet up with others. And we mustn’t forget sport: wonderful events from triathlons to team sport to horse racing and the list goes on: Australia does it with enormous flair. There is a craving for more and more coming together in ways which are reminiscent of past ages but offer amazing opportunities to connect and Australia is right ahead of the game.

Private Schools in Australia: is it worth it?

Whether you are moving to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth or anywhere else in Australia, if you have children you will be wondering about the education system in Australia. One of your questions may be ‘Is it worth putting my children in a private school?’ It is a big investment. Some elite private schools can cost over $30,000 a year for some grades. You want to do the best you can for your children and when you see results tables, facilities, a who’s who of success stories who went through the school you may think that this is a must have option. But is it?

Some parents forget that not all schools suit all children and knowing what is the best school for your child is not always a case of throwing a lot of money at it. Private schools usually, but not always, have smaller classes, usually but not always have better facilities and usually but not always have really good teachers. The four main things to decide are whether a school suits your child intellectually, socially, emotionally and physically.  If your child is not at all academic, for example, but an amazing sportsperson they may feel crushed by a private school on a tiny campus that is driven by academic results. There may be a state school in the same area which runs terrific sports programs, has great sports fields and would allow your child to thrive in an environment where there are lots of sporty children enjoying great camaraderie. Not all private schools will tick off all the boxes for your child.

While all schools follow the same curriculum set down by the state, teaching styles can be wildly different and this too is a factor. Check this carefully. Also do not assume that every child who goes to private school will get fantastic marks as universities are full of students who did not go to private school and yet received great final scores. Make sure you have a good look at the school in action, look at how the teachers address the students and the relationship the students have with the teachers. Also take note of how the students treat each other, how they care for the environment they are in, what is up on the walls, what clubs and after school activities they offer and whether they are encouraged to give back to the community. Is this a community which encourages parental involvement or not. How are international students treat? Would you like your child to turn out like the children you see at the school? Are the students happy?

Before deciding on the private school environment also check what opportunities your child will have to use the wonderful facilities. Very often the sports and music facilities will only be used when the child gets into secondary school and so your fee is also paying for something which your child has no access to. Make a point of finding out about the state schools in the area where you would like to live and ask the same questions. Even though the building might not look so beautiful you may find that they run amazing programs which would suit your child’s needs really well. Your child will also be making friends with children who are local to your home whereas private schools have children who are coming to school from a much wider area.

Australia has some amazing private schools which stand up against the world’s best but it also has some amazing state schools which also stand up to the world’s best. Bottom line: do your homework!