JUST MOVED HERE?

Canberra can sometimes feel like a “difficult nut to crack” when you first move here. It’s sometimes hard to imagine where you’re going to fit in and find community in the midst of so much other change.

Moving to a new place can be daunting, and we’d love to get you plugged into the community so you thrive here. Below are some headings to help get you started.

Housing

Canberra, like many Australian cities, has a range of housing styles from suburban homes, town houses and high-density apartments. Because Canberra is a capital city and building hasn’t kept up with demand, housing can be relatively expensive compared to other cities around the world. But there is help finding a place that will suit you.

If you’re looking to buy or rent in Canberra, the best place to start is allhomes.com.au. It is the most popular place to list houses in the Canberra region.

EATING OUT & SHOPPING

Canberra has a thriving restaurant culture with everything from cheap eats to fine dining. There are also regular food festivals. Find out more here

The city is dotted with supermarkets, butchers, fruit and veg grocers, international grocers and farmers’ markets. There’s also wholefood sellers and a Costco.

EDUCATION

Canberra’s schools are amongst the best in the world – be they public or private. Because it’s a smaller education system, it’s easier for Canberra schools to experiment to get the best out of their kids.

The one major difference between Canberra and other Australian education systems is College for years 11 and 12. Rather than one large exam session at the end of year 12, students undertake majors and minors with semester-long subjects that build to either a Tertiary or Accredited qualification.

For more information on the various school systems, head to the ACT Department of Education and Training, the Association of Independent Schools or the Catholic Education Office

Canberra also has a host of Tertiary Education providers (CIT, The Australian National University, University of Canberra, and others). If you’re moving to Canberra for study we’d love to connect with you.

Getting places

Canberra is a delight to get around (and yes – we’ve heard ALL the roundabout jokes). Traffic moves easily, even in peak times and driving from the outskirts of the city into the centre usually takes no longer than 25mins.

Canberra is a cyclist’s dream with hundreds of kilometres of dedicated bike paths and 50kms of bike trails around Canberra.

Canberra doesn’t have an internal rail network, and light rail doesn’t yet fully connect the city. Our Bus system is our main form of public transport. For more information, head to Transport Canberra.

You can also use Taxis and Uber, but Canberra is a spread-out city and taxi rides can, therefore, be expensive.

Whats on

In terms of entertainment sometimes hard to keep tabs on what’s going on in town. Canberra has plenty of the standard things (Cinemas, museums, parks, pubs, live music, etc.) but we also have heaps of seasonal events and entertainment.

Once you get the hang of the city, you find yourself building your year around Enlighten, the Multicultural Festival, the Folk Festival, Skyfire, the Balloon Festival and heaps of other things. Find out more here.