Adelaide vs the other Aussie cities

[leorl]

How much of a smaller scale is Adelaide from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane? I'm trying to pick my 2nd choice, and since the quality of education is pretty much the same, it comes down to location.

1) which is closer to melbourne: Adelaide or Sydney?

2) how big is sporting life there (particularly water sports) - do they have prominent teams?

3) how quiet is Adelaide? Is it like some small town in the middle of Ohio or does it have a bigger feel than that?

Thanks much! I'm a city girl, and while I'm leaning towards flinders as a 2nd choice, I'm not exactly certain.

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[Winged Scapula]

Melbourne is about equi-distant from Adelaide and Sydney - both about 8-9 hours away by car.

The sporting life in Adelaide is quite brisk - water sports (assuming you are speaking professionally) aren't as popular but try to find a more active footy or cricket group of fans than those in Adelaide. The local footy club were national champs several years running. Being in a bay, Adelaide doesn't get as good of surf as does Perth or Sydney so surfing isn't as popular and because the beaches aren't nearly the tourist meccas that Bondi or other Sydney beaches are so you don't have the preponderance of boats for rent, parasailing, etc.

Adelaide is nearly 1.5 million people so I would hardly compare it to a small town in Ohio. That said there are some small town features, namely the restriction on shopping hours. In the suburbs stores are not open on Sundays and generally close before 6 pm except for "late night" shopping on Thursdays until 9 pm. You will rarely find a 24-hour store and few, if any, things like 7-11s (Melbourne and Sydney have many, although not nearly as many as in the US). Adelaide is not as cosmopolitan as either Melbourne or Sydney but I found it rather lovely to live in.

I'm not sure what you're looking for in a city - Adelaide has more restaurants per capita than any other Australian city, more cafes and pubs, the largest movie theatre in the Western hemisphere, lots of clubs and performing arts as well as sports. Had I been able to afford (on student loans - remember the exchange rate when I was there was much worse than it is now) to live in Sydney or Melbourne I very well may have chosen to do so, but I loved Adelaide. Perhaps a trip down under is in order to make up your mind?

 

[leorl]

Thanks kim! That helps, yeh dublin is the same in that stores close pretty early except on Thursday nights, so maybe I can equate Adelaide to being more on par with Dublin. Sound like a great place. It'll be tough to choose!

 

[The Pill Counter]

I'm in Brisbane, but I've visited Melbourne and Sydney. Obviously, the latter two are more cosmopolitan than either Brisbane or Adelaide. I can't speak for Adelaide or their program, but Brisbane is about the same size as Adelaide (1.6 million), but we're a sub-tropical city with much warmer weather than Adelaide, Melbourne or Sydney. Mind you, it can get cold down south during winter. Here, it's rare to go below 20 degrees during the day, ever. Plus, we've got the Gold Coast, Surfer's Paradise and the Sunshine Coast within our reach. Mind you, our program is the largest in Australia (250 people) but with two distinct hospital campuses. You divide up in second year and never see half your class again.
Something scary about Sydney to remember, no exams till end of second year (and no, that's not a good thing)

 

[leorl]

noooooo you changed your name!!! ooooh brisbane sounds very appealing too, but it's the furthest north. How far is brisbane from melbourne?

The reason I'm asking location is cuz my twin has already been accepted into Melbourne for grad school in forensic psychology, and she's definitely going. So while I really want to get into Melbourne, they only accept 10 international students, and i'm trying to figure out a best alternative if I don't get in, and if I miss the Irish deadline.

 

[Winged Scapula]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by PnkJnky:
•Kimberli- When you say you couldn't afford Sydney, do you mean loans wouldn't cover it? Or simply that you didn't want to go that far into debt? My parents (I think) will pay if they absolutely need to, but I don't think they will if I can get it covered by loans, assuming I can get in. Thanks, Chad•••••Chad - I meant that loans wouldn't cover the cost of living and the tuition. I"m a bit over 30 yo and wouldn't have felt comfortable asking my parents for money if I didn't have to. At time the time I was a student there, the exchange rate was around 80 cents to the dollar, so it was a fair bit more expensive than it is now. My US government loans were just about enough to pay for tuition each year; supplemental loans covered by $1,000 a month living expenses and the cost of a flight or two home each year, plus books. With the cost of living in Sydney twice that of Adelaide (mostly due to housing costs) I felt that I was cutting it close on loans. As it was I couldn't afford to go home very often as compared to my friends who had families who helped to support them.

 

[Winged Scapula]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by leorl:
•noooooo you changed your name!!! ooooh brisbane sounds very appealing too, but it's the furthest north. How far is brisbane from melbourne?

The reason I'm asking location is cuz my twin has already been accepted into Melbourne for grad school in forensic psychology, and she's definitely going. So while I really want to get into Melbourne, they only accept 10 international students, and i'm trying to figure out a best alternative if I don't get in, and if I miss the Irish deadline.•••••Brissy is a fair ways from Melbourne - its several hours by car north of Sydney, or about a 4 hour flight I believe. Remember that Australia is the same size as the US and the major cities are spread out pretty far. Brissy is wonderful - a few years ago the school hadn't qualified for US government student loans but perhaps that has changed. Its definitely warmer than either Adelaide or Melbourne. Melbourne is the coldest of the cities, can get very windy during the winter. Adelaide doesn't get much colder than say the 50s during the day; rarely will it get down in the 30s overnight during the winter. I would say its fairly mild. Of course, Adelaide gets pretty darn hot in the summer - can get around low 100s and for some reason some of the houses don't have air conditioning (check for that if deciding to choose Adelaide).

You've got a tough decision - either Adelaide or Sydney will be the same distance from your twin. Brisbane will be a lot farther away - both in distance and feel. Brisbane definitely feels more laid-back than any of the other 3.

 

[The Pill Counter]

Brisbane's about two hour flight from Melbourne, one and half hour from Sydney. Melbourne to Sydney was about an hour. I think Adelaide to Melbourne is the same. Kim, I'm surprised after four year in Australia that the metric system didn't rub off on you! We don't use farenheit here! Leorl: apply to Flinders independently, make Melbourne your first choice on the ACER app, and pick one of Sydney or Brisbane for the second choice. Speaking to students in other years, Melbourne is more science-focused, then us at UQ, whereas Flinders and Sydney are heavy on the psycho-social stuff. We do alot of it as well. Good luck.

 

[leorl]

How much are plane tickets between cities, or about how much would it cost to rent a car per day?

THANKS for your answers, guys/gals. they're very helpful!

 

[The Pill Counter]

Trust me, you're not going to be driving between cities. Flights are in the neighbourhood of 100-150 aussie dollars one way. All depends when you book and if you're willing to go mid-week.
The price war is starting to wind down, so the deals aren't as good as they once were (so I've been told).

 

[Winged Scapula]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by The Pill Counter:
• Kim, I'm surprised after four year in Australia that the metric system didn't rub off on you! We don't use farenheit here!•••••Don't worry - it did. However, the OP is NOT used to the metric system (we Americans were apparently to dumb or stubborn to make the change), so in deference to leorl I used Farenheit!

Car rentals are about the same as in the US, but The Pill Counter is right - you really don't want to be driving between the cities (especially if you don't regularly drive. Remember its left hand drive in Australia.)

I recall flights being expensive - very little competition - compared to the US. However, perhaps they have come down (did Virgin ever come to Oz?), and the exchange rate is much better than it used to be.

 

[The Pill Counter]

Yup, Virgin Blue operates between all the capital cities and are keeping Qantas honest. Ansett is gone for good, so it's a two-horse town (country). Between the capitals, expect a flight to be about $175-$275 AUD round trip, price depending when you book. That works out to about a hundred bucks US per round trip. Not bad...
On a side note KC, was it much trouble switching to American scales (for example cholesterol, mmols/L vs. mg/dL)?

 

[leorl]

what ? a dL ? a deciLiter? muahaha. I thought those sorts of things were fairly standard, especially mg/mL. Then we just say mig per mil. Does that change to mig per dil? somehow, doesn't have quite the same ring to it

hehe. But I would have to say, as American skewl kids we do learn to handle mmol/L with fair ease after all, it comes up in research fairly often and everyone should at least be solid on stoichiometric unit conversion eh?

 

[jimjones]

I've been to all 4 cities, lived in Sidney for a few months. Each has it's own character. I liked Brisbane the least, but I was only there for a couple of days. It is warmer there and there is surfing, however. Adelaide is a pleasant place, but perhaps less exciting as Sidney or Mebourne, not sure what's important to you. Between Sidney and Melbourne.... Sidney seems a warmer, cleaner, more uplifting city, but maybe Melbourne has more character? I guess it's all a matter of opinion. I think you can't go wrong with all 4.

You've been to Dublin... can you tell me some nice places to live there? What are some of the southern areas like, like Rathgar or Ranelagh?

 

[leorl]

Both Ranelagh and Rathgar are very popular student places, you won't go wrong either way. I'd choose Ranelagh simply because Rathgar is farther away from city centre. From Ranelagh, it'll take you about 20-25 minutes to walk to city centre/trinity, which seems like a long time but really isn't, since there are many interesting sights along the way. Ranelagh is also very convenient, since there's a grocery store/optometrist/video stores/internet cafe right there. McDonald's, Pizza Hut and post office too . I lived in Ranelagh actually . The houses there are rather small, but they make do with what they've got. I lived with my twin and shared a flat with 2 other irish girls, and we had ample room. Only the ceilings are a little bit low :wink: .

Enjoy Dublin, you are definitely going to UCD? Oh right...In Ranelagh, there's the Portobello Bar right across Portobello college that is a HUGE UCD hang out :wink: . If you've got anymore questions, please lemme know!