Quality of Life in Brisbane, Australia

Brisbane, and in general Australia, became remarkably expensive and unfriendly the last years.

BRISBANE is like a giant steamy hot, ghetto shacks on hills, crime afflicted, full of mystery meat hapas, and other muttifieds, Brazil type zone.

But without anything cool like a giant art-deco Jesus statue.

I am well acquainted with Brisbane and am well acquainted with sites that purport to rate things - restaurants, tourist spots, hotels etc. One thing I know is that finding a place that is a well kept secret is something we all seek - because once a place gets overrun then it usually loses the quality that made it good in the first place. And so you have to realise that some people will deliberately trash a place simply to try and dissuade the hordes from descending on the place and ruining it. Queensland is full of places like that and unless it is a close friend I am talking to I will almost always avoid giving an honest appraisal of a place that I know would likely not survive becoming 'popular'. SE Queensland is now a broad region of linked urban centres extending from the NSW Coast out to the range and north to Noosa. Closing in on 4 million people across the entire region covering pristine beaches, rain forest, farm land, skyscrapers, cool hinterlands, lakes and rivers, hills and mountains with modern metropolises with skyscrapers to quaint little hinterland villages selling local produce. Trying to typecast such a region as being 'full of bogans' is as ridiculous as saying New York is full of muggers. Best to look at the stats which reveal that crime in SE Qld is remarkably low compared to comparable western cities. I have lived all over the place (Canada, the US, Australia, the UK etc) and aside from Canada I would rate Australia, generally, and Brisbane, specifically, as one of the safest, most agreeable places anywhere.