dang11

First some qualifiers:

Having lived in more rural centres than most and also a few capitals (Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Townsville, Toowoomba, Moura, Biloela, Singleton, Newcastle, Dalby, Ballarat, Launceston and, probably, a few that I forgot to mention), I think it's fair to say that Toowoomba is no different to any other regional centre in Australia of comparable size.

Anybody saying that crime here is off the charts, or is profoundly worse than any other town of comparable size in this country, is either exaggerating the issue or has been a victim at some stage. If you are one of the latter, then I apologise, but you're likely experiencing a touch of confirmation bias. Like most country towns in Australia, Toowoomba has seen a dramatic upswing in illicit drug consumption and all of the knock on effects associated with it. Still, some of the worst suburbs from my childhood (Wilsonton, Rockville and Harlaxton - especially Harlaxton) seem better now than when I first left sixteen years ago. Walking down the street at night is no more daunting than anywhere else - put down your phones, pay attention, use an ounce of intuition and you'll be fine.

As for as people being cold and distant, racist or it being difficult to make friends here. It's no different than anywhere else, which is to say that everybody has their head buried in their mobiles, staring at <ironically, insert social media platform of your choice here> and is too busy discovering how to be thicc like Kim K. to pay attention to what's going on around them. I do somewhat agree with people saying that there's not a lot going on here too, which does further compound the issue by limiting the opportunities to meet new people. Realistically though, the vast majority of people make friends through work these days - as long as you're working, and aren't a complete social hand grenade, you'll be fine. If you live here and you think it's bad, you should try Newcastle, Ballarat or some of the... less affluent suburbs in Melbourne (for reference: I lived on the border of West Footscray and Sunshine for a year).

The weather is decent, maybe even great, and unless you're some kind of born and bred northerner, or spent most of your life living under a sheet of tin on the equator, the winter is nowhere near as brutal as Canberra or Melbourne (bonus points for not raining in winter) and the summer is child's play when compared with Townsville.

Racism... I'm not really sure how to address this one. Seeing as though I am a cis-gender, straight, white male - everybody's favourite blend at the moment - I'm clearly a billionaire, own ten houses and hate everything that isn't white. That being said, the community really seems to have diversified since I left (especially the suburbs surrounding the uni) and the small proportion of the population that was referred to in some previous posts as disliking the Sudanese community has probably all died of old age. If you're reading this in 2020, are some kind of minority and you're struggling to make friends, the Polynesian princess (she's not actually royalty, but you would think she was the queen of Samoa) that I'm engaged to and I would be glad to make new friends with stories that centre around something other than getting "maggot" at the local pub.

Elitism and classism is no worse than anywhere else. Opportunities for people who dwell more on the fringes of society to meet like minded individuals are going to be just as limited as anywhere else out side of capitals as well, but I doubt that you would be run out of town by crosswaving biblebashers armed with pitchforks for being a little different.

The university seems just as incompetent as any other university in this country (I'm currently completing post-graduate study at USQ).

Rental and housing prices are extortionate in the more sought after suburbs. Probably no worse than Townsville and better than Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne in terms of bang for your buck.

If you're moving from a capital, you'll probably appreciate not having to spend four hours commuting to and from work every day and, coming from a motorcyclist, the drivers are no less inattentive and dangerous than anywhere else (noticing a theme yet?).

Whoever it was that was complaining about there being quite a few roundabouts was correct. They're great and I love them - there's nothing worse than unnecessary traffic lights on every corner of a town.

I can't really comment on the schools, as I don't have any children of my own. If you have the money to buy your kids a leg up in life, there are dozens upon dozens of reasonably priced private schools dotted all over the town (Toowoomba serves as a hub for farmers out West to send their kids to bording school). If public schooling is more your speed, then Harristown State High School (despite it's reputation for being a little rough) churns out plenty of high achievers, is very well resourced and ranks among the best schools in Queensland for academic achievement.

I'm running out of steam at this point...

As for rough neighbourhoods. If you were to look at a map of Toowoomba, the suburbs East of Ruthven Street and South of Bridge Street tend to be decent to look at, if not a little passed their use by date. Everywhere else is littered with good and bad pockets. That being said, most of the public housing was sold in '90s and the riff-raff moved on, so a lot of the poorer suburbs are, for better or for worse, beginning to be gentrified - most notably Harlaxton.

One big negative that was accurately called out (this is entirely subjective though and may not bother some people at all) is the total lack of night life. The pubs and clubs are a shadow of their former selves and the CBD is practically dead, even on a Friday or Saturday night - my guess is that the kids all head to Brisbane to get cross-eyed and have a good time. For the most part, the cafes and restaurants are also fairly bland and not worth the time or money spent going to them. If you like to wear skinny jeans, flannelette shirts, drink soy lattes and expect to find cafe's that play music nobody has ever heard of and are also full of cats (looking at you Melbourne), you're also going to be sorely disappointed. That being said, for gigs, festivals and other big acts, heading down to Brisbane is a mostly painless, ninety-odd minute journey and could even be considered a point in Toowoomba's favour. All-in-all, I would say that even Townsville has better local pubs, clubs and restaurants, but this is easily rectified by a short trip to Brisbane and back.

As far as I'm concerned, the biggest negative for Toowoomba is that there's not a lot of jobs available, so I would probably advise against moving here if you don't already have work lined up or possess highly transferable skills that are always in demand, regardless of location. One caveat to this is aged care or disability services. If you have the qualifications required, and don't mind the pitiful wages, then you'll struggle to not find work in this field in Toowoomba

Very long story short: Toowoomba is just another large, Australian, rural centre. If you can't live without being packed into trains like cattle, hipster cafes and barbers, soy lattes on every corner, 24 hour K-Mart and spending a quarter of your life commuting, then move to Melbourne or Sydney. If your daily routine consists of work, followed by another mind-numbing session of MKR after dinner before heading to bed at 9PM, then Toowoomba may very well be the place for you.

For those looking for a recommendation for a place to live that didn't really have anywhere specific in mind, my vote would actually go to Canberra. It's big enough to have just about anything you will need, without being too big. It's not a huge amount of effort to head to Sydney or Melbourne to get your metro fix. The cafes and restaurants are (or were in 2010) top notch. Housing can be a little on the expensive side, but there are reasonably priced places around, provided you don't have a burning desire to live in the middle of the CBD. Winter can be brutal, but, for those who don't mind the cold, it's not anywhere near unbearabl and, finally, for those of you who can't bear to live within the same post code as a **gasp** conservative, it's a bastion of progressivism.

To any who made it this far, I wish you all the best in finding your own little utopia - even you unwashed liberals - and sincerely hope that this wall of text may prove useful to somebody along the way.

<3 Dan