As an international student, is Sydney or Melbourne a better city to live in?

G’day,

If you read Yahoo Answer in Travel – Australia, you’ll see so many arguments abt which of the 2 cities is the best to live in 🙂 I have visited Sydney so many times (for holidays and visiting friends/relatives) but cannot find Sydney suitable for me to live. Sydney is bigger than Melbourne, so busier and noisier, also warmer climate compared to Melbourne. I used to be an international student in Australia in Melbourne (and now living in Melbourne), so my opinion is rather biased. But this is what I like abt Melbourne:

1. First of all… some people do not like the weather in Melbourne (you can have 4 seasons in one day). However, if you read the first article from The Age newspaper, you will find out that the weather is still more preferable than the other cities. Sure you can have 42C day in summer, but almost immediately you’ll get a much cooler weather pretty soon afterwards. It is very rarely that you got 2 or 3 consecutive days of hot weathers (unlike Sydney, Brisbane or Perth).

2. Melbourne is a city of diversity. If you are a newcomer, and you do not look ‘Anglo-Saxon’, you do not feel like an ‘alien’, since you can find almost every race in the world walking in the city. They are both immigrants and overseas students.

3. THE FOOD!! Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Thai, All-you-can-eat, African, Lebanese, Mexican, Sea Food… anything else? All available and lots of them in a very-very-very affordable price

4. Pretty good public transport system. With one ticket, you can switch from train, tram and bus. They do not always come on-time, but still reliable and improving (www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au). Good for students, since you can’t always afford to buy a car.

5. SHOPPING!!! Original branded clothing sold very cheap. There are even shopping tour, where the participants are taken to retails outlets just for shopping. Big temptations for ladies.

6. Crime rates… just read the second article on the bottom.

7. Cost of Living… I’ll say it’s second most expensive city after Sydney. Altho I have to say that some cities in Queensland can be more expensive to live.

8. Tourist attraction. This is the area that I think Sydney is better than Melbourne, since it has most of it’s attraction within its suburbs. Most Melbourne attraction are pretty much out of Melbourne, such as the gold mines in the cities of Bendigo and Ballarat, The Great Ocean Road, Lakes Entrance, Grampians, skiing in Mt. Buller etc.

Welcome to Australia and enjoy.

well not perth, since it doesnt have much people which causes a bit of racism (been there) sydney is a great choice but a part time job would not work there, (been there),and melbourne? perfect. not to over crowded to avoid good jobs, and no racism. very friendly people. (im living there)