What is the name of the city, town or village where you live?
Brisbane
Why do you live there?
Brisbane is a sprawling subtropical contemporary metropolis with a laid-back country feel. Really more of a collection of leafy, parrot-dripping suburban villages surrounding an ultra-urbane center city, Brisbane is the financial and cultural centre of Australia’s alternative lifestyle movements and sunbelt industries.
What cultural opportunities do you have?
We get any act you’d get in a city the size of, say, Pittsburgh, in the USA, plus our very own high-quality, quirky productions to suit Australians’ taste for humourous sarcasm. Australia’s best art gallery and (soon) state library.
Brisbane is the home of many successful Australian bands, including Powderfinger, Savage Garden and even Punk godfathers such as The Saints.
What recreational opportunities do you have?
Moreton Bay — Moreton Island — Subtropical sand island with the world’s tallest sand dune, which you can slide down on a piece of masonite (which i’ve done).
Byron Bay — Where Australia’s celebs and natural lifestylers hang out. Perfect little subtropical seaside village in danger of being loved to death.
Noosa — Sophisticated little beachside hamlet, beside a national park. Great food, walks, surfing and swimming, even a nude (unofficial) beach. Who could ask for more?
Gold Coast
Where middle class Australia has its holidays. All the Worlds are here: Sea, Movie, Frozen. Surfers Paradise. Miami Beach, without hispanics or african americans, but lots of Japanese, American, U.K., Korean and Chinese tourists.
What do you like about it?
General laid back atmosphere. And Queensland has a lower cost of living than Sydney or Melbourne plus better weather.
What do you hate about it?
Somewhat redneck in the outer suburbs. Very redneck going further out. Unadventurous, no-nonsense no-frills state government needs to address emerging critical infrastructure issues, yet is sitting on hands. Danger of unplanned growth killing it.
What qualities really stand out? (good or bad)
Warm
Exotic wildlife
Beaches
Rainforest
Urban Bushland
Nice Cappuchinos
Somewhat autistic with regards to elsewhere
Insular business culture
Reputation as poor sister
Would you recommend it, and why?
I would recommend Southern Queensland - Northern New South Wales to any person from the U.K. or the United States (like me) looking for a nice, safe, warm spot to watch the world slowly go mad.
Asian peoples are also most welcome, as indeed is anyone else, provided you have something of value to the community. Unless you are an asylum seeker of course. Then we lock your ass up in one of our enormous deserts, where you can’t escape.
If I were to move there, what would I really need to know?
Don’t touch anything that looks like it could bite you because if it does, you will probably be dead. Heck, we even have shellfish that can kill, so be careful there too.
When the sign says "No Swimming", that’s what it means. If you swim there, you stand a good chance of dying. Lots of tourists do every year.
Bottom line: there are many, many ways to meet a gruesome death in Queensland. But don’t let that spoil your visit.
How is it different from other places you have been?
This is about a different as you could find from USA and Europe. Everything from the exotic landscape to the sunlight itself is different — harsher and more elemental. Yet culturally, it is not difficult for any english speaker to assimilate.
If you live in this location, why not add an entry of your own? What does this location mean to you?
