Australia - Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne - Best climate?

Question

I am based in the UK, but intend to relocate to Australia, to one of the main cities. Would really appreciate help from you guys that live there about location - My main and foremost criteria being climate as I believe this is one of the key foundations of our quality of life (I will be taking early retirement so work availability or cost of living are not my primary concerns).

My personal ideal is a place where it rains on as few days as possible and for as few hours per day as possible when it does rain, temperature relatively stable throughout the year in the 20's, humidity on the lower side if possible and as many clear sky days as possible (don't like it overcast, too much of that in UK). I know there is nowhere that's perfect all year round, but what's the best compromise in your opinion based on what I'm looking for? Any opinions you have would be gratefully received, particularly if you live in one of these cities and can speak from first hand knowledge....

Answer 1

Mate you don't want much. No matter where you live you get the good with the bad. Perth is ok but it is in the **** end of no where. Adelaide is ok but it is half way to no where. Forget about the top end of Aus from Brisbane up as the humidity is high and places like Darwin and Port Douglas and the like only have two seasons, wet or dry. Melbourne is ok but its weather is always iffy. Tasmania is cold. New south wales has the best weather. I would suggest the North Coast but seeing as you don't like it too hot, too cold, too wet, then Goldilocks how about the south coast of New South Wales. It is less in population but has some ok places such as Jervis Bay/Hussikson, Mollymook, Ulladulla and Batemens bay. Check that area out as it may suit you best.

Answer 2

Perth - Too hot, bush fires, common heat waves, otherwise not too bad.

Sydney - Occasional weird weather periods, i.e. the wet and cool summer we just had, generally good weather all year round.

Brisbane - Too hot in summer, tropical weather lots of summer rain and monsoons.

Adelaide - **** place to live who cares about the weather, much like Sydney perhaps a tad colder.

Melbourne - Bush fires, freezing winters, 4 seasons in 1 day, unpredictable.

I would suggest either the north or south coasts of NSW, beautiful locations for retirement. Cities are too busy and hectic, there are beautiful towns within an easy travel to Sydney but out of the everyday stress. One example would be Wollongong/Illawarra region.

Feel free to email me via the link on my profile if you have any questions.

Answer 3

Perth.

Perfect weather all yr round.....if you like it warm.

It rains a little in winter but not for weeks and weeks on end.

Summers can get hot but its the same.....its not consistently hot for weeks.  There is always a break in the weather no matter what the season.  Even most days during winter the sun still shines.

And spring and autumn are beautiful.

This time of the year is a little humid but not unbearable.  

I have a lot of friends from the UK and they LOVE it here.

As you can tell from others...perth gets a bad rap but thats ignorance from people from the east.

I was born and bred in the east and finally had enuf of everyone with their heads up their own butts and moved to WA 10 yrs ago.  It was the best thing i ever did.

Life is a little slower paced and there is only late night shopping on a Thursday.  Shops are shut on public holidays....meaning most people actually get the holiday off!

Cost of living can be a little higher due to freight costs etc but wages are higher so it balances out.

If it wasnt for family in the east, I would never leave WA

Answer 4

Hi I live in one of the best rated cities in the world.Come and retire and live near Sydney harbour.Summers are warm we have the best beaches like Bondi-Dee why many many more.Winter gets a little cooler but we can also travel about 1 hour up the freeway and then we can catch some snow in Katoomba the blue mountains.Night life is great in Darling Harbour.Heaps of work and the city is always alive.

Answer 5

Just taking a quick glance at what you have written - out of those choices I'd say that Perth's the place for you!  

It has a fairly moderate temperature and is nice and sunny.

It does rain, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere that doesn't rain at some stage during the year!!

Being from Melbourne myself I can tell you that you don't want to come here.  You may as well stay in the UK for all the rain and dreary days we have here!!

Answer 6

perth doesn't rain very much and it's not very humid.  it's sunny most of spring, summer, autumn but does get a bit gloomy and overcast in winter (but our winter days have more hours of sunlight than yours)

when it does rain, it usually chucks it down for about half an hour, then stops.  very different from the constant drizzle some places in the UK!

the temperature range does vary somewhat from about 1 or 2C on the very coldest winters nights (ie only a couple of days a year) to 41 42C on a couple of days the very hottest days of the year.  otherwise, you are looking on average:

winter day 18C, night 7C

summer day 30C, night 21C

this is how i think the weather FEELS first hand, but if you look up the median temperatures in perth, it may be a little different.

the downside is that perth has just become a very expensive place to be as far as real estate is concerned.  and no one knows how to use a roundabout or merge!!

the uk population in perth is fairly large.  some northern seaside suburbs have about 25% residents that are UK born.