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Hey there! I posted this in the Ventura County, California forum but I wasn't sure which forum would be more appropriate for my question, so I apologise for the duplicate thread!
I was raised in SB County and have moved over to Australia for my master's. I've heard that Perth is a comparable/sister city to San Diego, but what about Santa Barbara? I'm living in Melbourne, which is pretty much the San Francisco of Australia, and miss the Santa Barbara "vibe" and beachy culture. If anyone has any ideas who has travel or living experience in Aus, that would be great!
I only stayed in Sydney for a week, but the general vibe is much more like Los Angeles. Sydney has the beaches, it's very much a melting pot, good overall weather, and most people who live outside of Sydney claim it's pretentious and superficial (which is how many people feel towards L.A.) Also, Sydney and LA have similar public transport infrastructure which is essentially nil!
Melbourne has the exact same weather as San Francisco: it's grey and very chilly/blustery during fall and winter, warms up a bit in the spring, and is finally sunny in the summer. It also has the same public transportation, abundant trams and a solid system. It's very cosmopolitan and attracts a hipster crowd, and Melbournians pride themselves on their cafe/restaurant culture and arts. They like to think they're European or at the least New York-esque, but in reality it's very much like SF. It's very much a culture city, like Frisco, although you could debate Sydney is as well (though again, it's like having a debate between L.A. and Frisco on which city is more cultured, it's your subjective perception of culture and what you value).
Thank you! I appreciate the specificity. From how I've heard people talk about Noosa, I could see how it would be comparable to SB. Generally, I've heard it's quite upscale, beachy, with older "yuppie" types.
I only stayed in Sydney for a week, but the general vibe is much more like Los Angeles. Sydney has the beaches, it's very much a melting pot, good overall weather, and most people who live outside of Sydney claim it's pretentious and superficial (which is how many people feel towards L.A.) Also, Sydney and LA have similar public transport infrastructure which is essentially nil!
Melbourne has the exact same weather as San Francisco: it's grey and very chilly/blustery during fall and winter, warms up a bit in the spring, and is finally sunny in the summer. It also has the same public transportation, abundant trams and a solid system. It's very cosmopolitan and attracts a hipster crowd, and Melbournians pride themselves on their cafe/restaurant culture and arts. They like to think they're European or at the least New York-esque, but in reality it's very much like SF. It's very much a culture city, like Frisco, although you could debate Sydney is as well (though again, it's like having a debate between L.A. and Frisco on which city is more cultured, it's your subjective perception of culture and what you value).
I don't think Sydney and LA are really that similar at all. It's mainly just the beach culture, and multiculturalism, but that can be said about any city in Australia. Sydney is like SF in it's setting, the strong Chinese presence, but Melbourne is like SF in terms of arts/culture, being quite liberal and bookish, with a lot of hipsters. Melbourne isn't as Euro as it used to be: it's always had that Chinese presence too but nowadays it's overwhelming if you go to the CBD and some of the suburbs. Sometimes more than half the people you see walking around are Asian, in parts almost everyone, and in some restaurants most people are speaking Mandarin. We boast that Melbourne has the 'oldest continuously operated Chinatown in the world' since the SF Chinatown, a few years older, was largely destroyed by the 1906 earthquake.
Melbourne's averages are similar to SF but we have hotter, wetter summers. Spring is Melbourne's wettest, stormiest season, fall is comparatively dry, and wintry weather can persist into early December (well all year round really). Our tram network is way more extensive and not just a tourist thing like SF's cable cars.
Well what about the SB vibe are you look for here? Aside from it being in the news for the wrong reasons, I think SB was featured in Vertigo, is Katy Perry's hometown, and is known for it's Spanish colonial style architecture. It's a wealthy coastal community. Maybe Coff's Harbour? But really, Coffs is very different in terms of landscape, climate, culture.etc.
Just curious...... Why go to Australia if you're going to look for a town exactly like where you're from?
Seems kinda pointless to go to the other side of the world only to look for a place like where you're from. If u want Santa Barbara just go back to Santa Barbara? Am I off base here?
I don't know where that "European" tag came from. Perhaps from the influx of European migrants in the 1950s to 70s....just like every other city in Australia
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