AboutIan Smith Expertise Very good knowledge of N.S.W. from beach to bush to Broken Hill. Have also travelled in a lot in Victoria, Queensland (to Townsville), Tasmania, South Australia and a few weeks in southern W.A. Used to be Hunter Valley Tourist Officer. Contact me for sights to see, not which disco or pub to recommend.
Have also spent months in Europe, particularly the following: Italy, Germany, Spain, England, Scotland, Belgium, Holland, Austria and Czech Republic.
I am a retiree and have a Winnebago Motorhome which I plan to use over the next few years (and have done some trips already).
Experience I have surfed, raced motorcycles, ordinary cycles and a bit of fishing through much of the area as well as working there selling 5 days a week. I also have many photographs which I am currently working at putting on the computer. I have an extensive catalogue of where I've travelled at virtualtourist.com under "iandsmith".
Organizations Hunter Valley Veterans Cycling Club
Publications REVS, Surfing World, Soccer Weekly, Australian Motor Cycle News, Womens Weekly.
Question I have a chance to select a city to live and work in australia in the Hospitality
industry. Since I am from Hawaii, I am tired of the beach scene and I want a
change of pace and prefer a city that caters to skiing, arts & entertainment,
etc. I am also in my late thirties so I want a hip and cool area where there are
singles and a place to live that you can walk around and meet people that
have cafes, restaurants etc. I like the european flair in cities, not too much
traffic etc. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Answer Mmm, obviously you haven't looked too closely at a demographic map of Australia otherwise you would have known that 90% of the population live on or near the coast.
As for European flair in cities, better you should go to Europe for that because Australia has a flavour all its own.
Having said all that, if you want the ski areas then you will be looking mainly at N.S.W., places such as Jindabyne and Thredbo are as close to what you seek as we can offer. Jindabyne is the biggest but it's only a country town with distinctive Aussie flavour.
There's no thriving art community but you'll certainly meet some singles there. Our ski season is very limited however. It starts (supposedly) on the June long weekend and finishes October long weekend but late July and August are really the only times for reliable snow.
Falls Creek is the largest of the Victorian fields but our structures are nothing like you get in the States or Europe.
The best city for cafes etc. with a European bent is Melbourne for what that's worth.
Since it's actually situated on a bay and not the ocean they have a different culture to Sydney and the ethnic community is well entrenched, particularly in places like Lygon Street.
Hope this has been of some help and, if you want any further info, please do not hesitate to ask.
Cheers, Ian
