If you can't live in the second ranked city in the world, it may be time to look in the mirror and have a long talk with yourself.
Take it from a guy who moved to Sydney after 22 years in the states. There is nothing I've seen in the states[1] or even heard of which compares to the quality of life here. Not by a long shot.
[1]based on living in NYC, Miami, St. Louis, Chicago, San Fran and visiting countless points in between.
You don't understand his specific rationale or the social strata that he may be involved. Furthermore, how do rankings by old conservative institutions reflect on the preferred life balance of a hacker?
But why would that be worth posting?
I'm trying to argue the more general view of how amazing this country is and how _that_ is the consensus view and the OP is in the minority.
He could be a miserable sod for all I know. But again, that's not my problem or that interesting to anyone on HN.
The awesomeness of Oz on the other hand? There's a lot of supporting material for that position.
I was simply trying to balance the picture for other HNers who have never been to Oz.
Adelaide is boring and Canberra is a freezing public service ghetto; Sydney has them well beaten.
The quality of life you guys have is ridiculous. I don't know if a lot of Aussies get that.
(Grass is greener etc).
the climate: Just amazing. look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney#Climate and marvel. Tons of sunlight, moderate temperatures but you still get seasons (so no San Diego syndrome of 70-degrees year round).
the people: unbelievably friendly and easy going. take small-town midwest hospitality and invert the xenophobia. common decency, they wait in lines for the buses, but if someone cuts in line (doesn't know or is just being a dick) everyone kind of just mutters and shakes their heads. In Chicago, someone would have gotten stabbed. But who am I kidding, no one would line up in the first place and they would just mob the entrance. I almost took a guy's eye out surfing, his response? "no worries mate, my fault" (it wasn't).
scenery / the outdoors: Sydney is the most naturally beautiful I've ever seen. I take a ferry ride for 30 minutes every morning through the harbor. This week there were whales breaching in the background and a couple of little penguins [1] swimming around screaming their heads off looking for their mother. It's like living in a Disney movie. I wouldn't be surprised one morning to look out and see a Koala riding a dolphin and giving me the thumbs up. It's just unreal. On the way home? sun setting behind the harbor bridge and opera house.
miscellaneous things:
-a lot less religious extremism, it's very european in regard to the general secularism.
-the mainstream brands of beer are really really good. you don't have to rely on microbrews like you do in the states.
-the proto Sydney girl is tall, fit, blonde, blue-eyed and can probably drink you under the table.
-coffee - this was the big surprise, my god they're crazy about good coffee here. in the states you had to hunt for a decent espresso and then fail-over to starbucks. here you can walk into any cafe and get an amazing espresso. I've never seen anything like it outside of Milan.
In summation I'd say, imagine an english speaking country with a mediteranean climate, lots of european influences in food and drink and midwest levels of decency but in a +4 million person city with a major economy. And then put it in the most amazing natural setting you can imagine.
Rather off-topic, but do you or any other fellow HNers have suggestions for places to meet other hackers or like-minded people?
In Vienna there's Metalab [2], a very nice hackerspace populated by lots of creative people. I just found out about a place called Robodino [3] in Sydney. Are there any other meetups?
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_most_livable_cities
I'm in northern europe now and while the espresso bug has hit them, it's all only just a bit better than Starbucks at this point.
I live in Sydney, have a reasonable, but not high salary and live a pretty comfortable life. I don't own my home, but will do in 7 years or so. I drink reasonable wines and have whatever toys (phones etc...) I want. I have a dependent partner but no children as yet.
When all you have to complain about is that the houses and wine are expensive, you cant get a seat on the train/bus, imported goods cost more then local and digital content isn't as cheap as other markets your life really isn't that bad.
I've always thought Australia to have pretty darned good public transport, relatively speaking. That is to say that the US has (generally) fucking terrible public transport, outside of NYC and some small commuter services.
If it was cheaper I wouldn't mind, but $50 a week to stand in a non air-conditioned/non-heated dirty train isn't what I consider a good deal.
Sydney public transport sucks, it is very expensive, each ticket counts for only one trip. The trains are ok, the buses are very bad. The roads are awful in Sydney, and too much congestion. The state governments response to this is to build more roads, because they are too scared to make proper decisions.
Melbourne has the best public transport, but as with all Australian cities, it is too spread out (not as bad as Adelaide).
That said, the internet in Australia was so slow and expensive I'm not sure censorship should be the primary worry.
The 'huge tax on wine' is because you can get four litres of cask wine for $4 - or sometimes less. Oh, how onerous! I actually find it amusing that wine-lovers are screaming bloody murder because their preferential treatment over other alcohol types is coming to an end. Wine isn't being 'super-taxed', it's being equalised.
High prices for imported items? Traditionally it was because we had a weak dollar, and prices haven't caught up to the strong dollar - but that's okay, because we can order online with ease now. Our dollar hasn't been strong for very long at all, only a couple of years. General pricing moves slowly.
Ridiculous house prices I'll give you (and no politician will sign their own resignation by doing anyhting about it), but moving to another country merely to avoid those things you list? You're cutting off your nose to spite your face. If you like US culture (or wherever), then sure, move there. I know a guy that moved to Canada and won't stop raving about it.
But be familiar with the culture before you jump ship - you may be suffering from 'grass is greener' syndrome. The US has plenty of problems as well; they may suit you better, they may suit you worse.