Information about Canberra

Area Code: 02
Time Zone: EST
Population: 313,000

Introduction

The majority of Canberra's residents choose to live in Canberra due to it's cosmopolitan feel, the relaxed lifestyle and the natural beauty of its parks, gardens and numerous lakes. As Canberra is a planned city, it has been designed to provide locals with easy access to schools, shopping, national attractions and recreational facilities.

Canberra is often referred to as 'the bush capital' because pockets of bushland extend almost to the city centre and over half the land is classified as national park or nature reserve. Canberra is Australia's largest inland city and is located 300kms from Sydney and 655kms from Melbourne. Canberra is also only two hours drive to the South Coast or to the Snowy Mountains.

Climate

Canberra is known for its four distinct seasons. Temperatures can get as low as -8'C in winter and high into the thirties in summer. Due to this wide variance in climate, you will need heavy coats, gloves and scarves in winter, as well as light clothes and bedding for summer.

Things to do and places to go

The Canberra lifestyle is unique with many world-class attractions located in the city such as the National Art Gallery, the National Museum and the Australian War Memorial. On the weekends Canberrans can be seen enjoying a coffee in Manuka, alfresco dining (care of heaters during winter) in Civic, watching a movie under the stars, enjoying opera in the Botanical Gardens or simply shopping in one of the many centres.

Education

Canberra has a wide mix of public and private schools for all levels. Primary school caters for children from five years of age and High School encompasses Years 7 to 10. Colleges specialise in the teaching of Years 11 and 12. It is important to note that in order to book your children into school you need to have a Canberra residential address first.

Canberra has the highest school retention rate in Australia, mainly due to colleges offering a wide range of academic and vocational courses. Colleges are less formal in structure than High schools, with most college students not required to wear uniforms.

Within the capital, there are six tertiary institutions:

Australian National University,
University of Canberra,
Australian Defence Force Academy,
Australian Catholic University,
Canberra Institute of Technology, and
The International Hotel School.

Canberra Services

Canberra has all the infrastructure that you would expect in a large city whilst still retaining the feel of a big country town. There is an excellent health and community services system, with two public hospitals and five private hospitals. Due to a large proportion of working families in Canberra, a number of government funded and private child-care facilities are in existence. Being the regional hub for the south eastern part of NSW, there are a wide range of other social services that are available to Canberra residents and those living in the region.

One of the major benefits of Canberra is the road network. It takes under 40 minutes to drive wherever you need to go with an average travelling time of ten to fifteen minutes for many trips. There is a public bus system which operates every day to most suburbs. There are even specially designed cycle paths around the city and suburbs so that families can ride safely.

Housing

As a well spaced city, the range of housing is varied, with a predominance of freestanding modern dwellings. DHA manages over 1,400 properties in Canberra. Many of the older houses have been replaced with newer dwellings and in recent years, new suburbs have been created to cater for an expanding population.

Apart from Civic, Canberra is divided into four main 'town centres'- Woden, Tuggeranong, Gungahlin and Belconnen. Each have a bus interchange, with buses from each interchange going to and from all parts of the city, various community amenities and major shopping centres.

Suburbs near Lake Burley Griffin are Kingston and Yarralumla, with Kingston having a particularly high concentration of apartment living. All of the houses have heating, but you are encouraged to bring extra heaters to give you versatility and fans for the warm summer months.

It's important to note that Canberra has a very tight rental market with only around a two percent rental vacancy. Therefore if planning to organise private rental it is a good idea to start looking long before you are due to arrive.

Canberra HMC

The Canberra HMC is located at 26 Mort Street, Braddon. The HMC is your first point of contact for housing services including housing allocations, rent assistance and house maintenance.

Defence locations

The majority of Defence offices are located at Russell and Campbell Park. Nearby are the Royal Military College Duntroon, the Australian Defence Force Academy, HMAS Harman and RAAF Base Fairbairn. The new Tri-Service College is located in Weston. ADF buses run between these locations.