Real experience - Canberra
Swedish pathologist Dr Pia Waldenback and her family lived in Canberra 2007-2009. They found that Canberra exceeded all their expectations. Read her story below.
It was a sheer coincidence that we ended up in Canberra. The original plan was to settle either somewhere along the Australian east coast, or in one of the major metropolitan cities of Australia.
However, Canberra turned out to be a very pleasant surprise for all the family members; it exceeded all our expectations. In fact, I fell in love with the scenery of Canberra from day one, with its dreamy blue Mountains and deep musty red earth.
Canberra is quite a unique place with its small town feel at the same time as it offers all the benefits of a big city. It’s a great place to live for families with fantastic schools and universities as well as great medical facilities.
Everything in Canberra is very accessible, regardless of where you are in Canberra you always close to amenities and never far away from anything. There is always something on and the best part is that you don’t have to sit in traffic or on public transport to get there. The fact that Canberra is also very close to Sydney, the snowy mountains and the south coast beaches also meant that we easily could make day trips to the coast or mountains on the weekends.
I was very impressed with the schools in Canberra and so was my husband who works as a principal in Sweden. Our four youngest boys all went to public schools in Canberra and both me and my husband thought that that there seemed to be more choices and opportunities in the schools in Canberra compared to what we are used to in Sweden. Our boys settled in quickly and it did not take them long before they had their own groups of friends.
Being the capital, Canberra attracts a diversity of people and our family made friends with people from all over the world. I found people in Canberra very open and friendly, there is a great sense of community. I think that this openness has a lot to do with the fact that there are so many people from overseas in Canberra and that moving interstate seems to be a common thing to do in this country.
Due to the international flavour of Canberra, my children gained a lot of international contacts. For example is my son, who is nineteen, planning a round the world trip and will be visiting friends he got to know in Canberra. Thanks to our stay in Canberra he now has reliable accommodation in places like New York, Argentina, Columbia, Chile, Nicaragua, Mexico, Malaysia, China, Ghana and most of the European countries!
For us as a family it was never an option to migrate, we had a house in Sweden and I and my husband were both were happy in our jobs. We had decided before going to Australia that we were after new experiences and an adventure but we all knew that it was only going to be temporary. However, having said that, I can easily relate to those who decide to make the move permanently, Canberra, and Australia for that matter, is such an amazing place!
Being back in Sweden I often think about Australia and I still keep in contact with friends over there. Sometimes when the sky is overcast and the lack of light in winter here get on top of me, I feel that I would do anything to be back in Canberra and wake up to one of those frequent blue crispy days that are so typical for Canberra, surrounded by spectacular blue Mountains.
But I will come back; we have so many friends to visit.
Related Pages
GP jobs in Canberra and its surroundings
Discover Canberra
Photo gallery of Canberra
Aster Medical, providing a holistic, ethical recruitment service
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