Where to Live in Australia?

If you are one of those people who are hoping to make 2010 the year you move to Australia, where are you going to live when you get here?

There are over 100 large urban centres to choose from, these are towns and cities and localities with a population in excess of 10,000 people. Then there are hundreds, possibly more than 1000, small towns with far fewer people and in some cases, just a few people.

But most people when they move to Australia choose one of the major cities. These would be Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart and Darwin.

………Darwin!

I’m not sure how many people emigrate to Australia and move directly to Darwin, but I’m sure some do. I just had new neighbours move in behind my house who originally came from the north of England, in fact they still have strong northern accents. But they have moved down here to Brisbane from Darwin.

I’m not sure how long they lived in Darwin or what they thought of it, but in time I will find out. Until then, I can only guess what you’d have to get used to to live in Darwin.

• Very very hot weather.
• Mosquitoes the size of golf balls.
• Snakes and lots of them.
• Crocodiles, of course.
• Unswimmable seas full of killers.
• Torrential rains during the wet season.

And, today I find out about this……….

Darwin is ‘world’s broken jaw capital’

How about that? After all my posts on this blog arguing that Australia’s problems with alcohol related street violence on no more than moderate, I get “punched in the face” with this one.

biffo

According to the statistics, of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, you are more likely to get your jaw busted outside one of the Darwin ones.

“Royal Darwin Hospital treats 350 broken jaws a year, putting the rate at 17 per 10,000 population, which is well above anywhere else in the world,” said oral and maxillofacial surgeon Mahiban Thomas in an article on NT News. He went on to say “The injuries are mostly sustained outside pubs and clubs in the city centre Thursday and Friday nights.”

Hmmmm. Saturday night may be the best time to go for a quiet drink them.

I suppose there is an outside chance that Darwin doesn’t really have any worse an alcohol related street violence problem than anywhere else, but perhaps it is simply the home of a lot of people who have a very good punch.

But it does show that if you are thinking of moving to Australia, a bit of research before you choose where to live may well be worth the effort. Which leads me to my special announcement.