Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The great american SW is a great place to live. There are some big metro areas like Phoenix, Albuquerque and Las Vegas in its limits. Albuquerque has a fantastic all season weather and is mostly dry and sunny! Really not much harsh weather. People are pretty friendly and you are reminded of the american Indian culture. The cost of living is reasonable or rather low. The state's geomorphology is very diverse from the flat great plains to the east to the Chihuahuan desert in the south and alpine forests to the north. It might be the spot for you and it should provide and easy transition from someone used to open spaces...check it out!
We are a family from Australia and we have won a Greencard in the Diversity Lotto (just waiting to get processed). In 2012, we visited the USA for 8 months. We purchased an RV and did a road trip covering 30 States and a some of Canada. We loved it so much, we decided to move to the US.
We currently live in a small town in the bush in Victoria 50 miles from Melbourne and have large acreage around us. Although it's a high bushfire risk area, we love having the wildlife all around us. I have been researching for months on where to live in the USA and we were set on Colorado. But we think it may not be the best place and are now focussing on Texas, somewhere north or Dallas.
Here are the things we would like - I work in a Corporate job and need to be able to commute to a City, we love small towns and farmland, good schools, good friendly areas, nice clean air
Here is my thinking so far:
- Ideally it would be good to be out of the hurricane areas (I know North of Dallas and has hurricanes)
- California is too expensive and too many people
- Portland and Seattle are too wet
- Northern States are too cold and there are not many large Cities
- Have considered Chicago, but it may be too big a City and too cold and windy
- East Coast has a high population
- South is too humid
- Everyone was so friendly in Texas and the cost of living is good
I know we sound really fussy but we really want to find a place we are happy living in. We visited some beautiful places on our trip but we were certainly not looking at places to live when we were there.
Any ideas or thoughts wou,ld be greatly appreciated. If you don't agree with my rationale on choosing a place to live, I would love your feedback.
Thanks very much!
Dallas Texas is hot and humid just like the rest of the south. Just wondering why not Colorado??? it is very popular, and beautiful. Denver is a growing city. Some cities that are really nice IMO around the US, first Ashville North Carolina is in the southern Appalachian mountains and it is very scenic plus it is cooler and less humid than the rest of the south. Flagstaff Arizona is beautiful, in the shadow of the mountains and its greener than the rest of AZ. Nashville TN is hot and humid but its a very nice city, as is Atlanta Georgia. I think Chicago would shock you because of its climate. It snowed there today I hear. The nicest city in the far north IMO is Minneapolis MN, very nice place but VERY cold. The US has a very diverse landscape. From green forests and lakes to desert and cactus you can find it all. I think you would find the southwest most similar to Australia. Most different??? Probably the upper Midwest/great lakes region. Alaska and Hawaii are extreme, one tropical the other cold and both are expensive. California is very expensive, as is the northeast states. The cheapest part of the country to live in is the south or Midwest. Make sure you research crime rates in any areas you choose, sadly we have far more crime than Australia. It would be a shame if your experience in the USA was ruined by moving to some crime ridden city, this site has all those stats available. Even good US metros have parts of town to avoid, you can search crime records by zip code. On a positive note I believe the US is a great place to live if you know what your getting into and choose the right area. Ive never been to Australia (id love to see it one day) so I don't know how living there compares to anywhere in the US, but I think you will find the people here welcoming to you. Good luck on your grand adventure.
You're kidding me, really? You have no idea how many men I know that dream of having what you have, myself included. Moving to Australia and having a piece of land. And the Australian shelias?
This place looks good on TV but living here is something else. Try coming here again and spend an extended amount of time in one or two of the places you've considered living. I'm not surprised you liked Texas. Parts of Arizona may be good for you also.
You're kidding me, really? You have no idea how many men I know that dream of having what you have, myself included. Moving to Australia and having a piece of land. And the Australian shelias?
This place looks good on TV but living here is something else. Try coming here again and spend an extended amount of time in one or two of the places you've considered living. I'm not surprised you liked Texas. Parts of Arizona may be good for you also.
Good luck!!!
Just as we have many people here who wish to move to the other Anglo nations (Australia, Canada, Britain, New Zealand), many people in those countries wish to move to the US. Just as many of us are fascinated by those nations, many over there are fascinated with ours. For some reason the immigration laws of all the English speaking nations do not favor other English speaking nations residents so it is very difficult to move around the English speaking world. If is easier for a Mexican or Cuban to get into the US than it is for our brothers from England, Canada or Australia to get in. This guy really got lucky getting approved, most don't. Personally I think the English speaking nations need an immigration treaty which allows those who want to do something like this an easier time doing it. We all lived under the British empire once together, but now we treat each other as totally foreign people when it comes to immigration. This does not make sense, after all an Australian will do far better in the USA than someone from other part of the world will simply because they really are not that foreign, and already speak our language. Same goes for Americans in Australia, Canada or England.
Thanks everyone for your replies, you have all been very helpful. Yes Australia is beautiful and it's a great place to live. But we have lived here all our lives and there is so much more to see in the World. As mentioned, we loved the US and want to see more. We are bored and have seen so much of Australia, it's time to live somewhere else. I have attached some photos of the view from our front door and wildlife around the house. It will give you some idea on the landscape we live in, hence it would be good to live somewhere green in the US. The wallaby we hand feed and the King Parrots are always chirping for their dinner. We will miss the wildlife here.
Well I uploaded the photos but don't know where they are, sorry.
Last edited by Aussiegemma; 10-06-2014 at 02:44 AM..
Reason: Photos??
You're kidding me, really? You have no idea how many men I know that dream of having what you have, myself included. Moving to Australia and having a piece of land. And the Australian shelias?
This place looks good on TV but living here is something else. Try coming here again and spend an extended amount of time in one or two of the places you've considered living. I'm not surprised you liked Texas. Parts of Arizona may be good for you also.
Good luck!!!
Yes Australia is beautiful everywhere especially the beaches. Bronzed Aussies on beaches especially Bondi in Sydney and further North in Queensland is usual. You will have to come for a holiday and see for yourself! We have some amazing wildlife here too.
We spent 8 months driving around the US so we have some idea of different places. We spent some time in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada but it was so good to get back to the green of California before heading North.
Just as we have many people here who wish to move to the other Anglo nations (Australia, Canada, Britain, New Zealand), many people in those countries wish to move to the US. Just as many of us are fascinated by those nations, many over there are fascinated with ours. For some reason the immigration laws of all the English speaking nations do not favor other English speaking nations residents so it is very difficult to move around the English speaking world. If is easier for a Mexican or Cuban to get into the US than it is for our brothers from England, Canada or Australia to get in. This guy really got lucky getting approved, most don't. Personally I think the English speaking nations need an immigration treaty which allows those who want to do something like this an easier time doing it. We all lived under the British empire once together, but now we treat each other as totally foreign people when it comes to immigration. This does not make sense, after all an Australian will do far better in the USA than someone from other part of the world will simply because they really are not that foreign, and already speak our language. Same goes for Americans in Australia, Canada or England.
Great post, thanks. Yes everyone has their reason on why they want to immigrate to another country. It would be good if it was easy for English speaking people to immigrate to other English speaking countries. There are 9.3 million people that apply for the Diversity Lotto and only 50,000 issues. We are fortunate our number came up and we can make plans to move. Just need to work out where!
Yes Chicago is My favorite Big city. But since most of Australia has by our standards very mild winters? probably a mild US state also?
We never see snow here and it very rarely goes below zero (32 f). We have a few ski resorts that have snow for a while in Winter. I think we would freeze in Chicago, although we are reconsidering Colorado.
The great american SW is a great place to live. There are some big metro areas like Phoenix, Albuquerque and Las Vegas in its limits. Albuquerque has a fantastic all season weather and is mostly dry and sunny! Really not much harsh weather. People are pretty friendly and you are reminded of the american Indian culture. The cost of living is reasonable or rather low. The state's geomorphology is very diverse from the flat great plains to the east to the Chihuahuan desert in the south and alpine forests to the north. It might be the spot for you and it should provide and easy transition from someone used to open spaces...check it out!
I'll check out Albuquerque thanks. Phoenix and Vegas get very hot, it was while we were there and it wasn't even Summer. Thanks, I will look into the areas you mentioned but I think they will not be green enough for me.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Australian Wildlife
