Canberra - not all bad

Winter hasn't been too bad here this year, or perhaps I'm just getting used to it. Can't be such a bad place if views like this can be found a few minutes walk from the office.

A fair bit of discussion at the moment about new city plans. I'm not convinced that we need to push constant growth here. Its never going to be like Sydney or Melbourne. One of the last proposals put up included a monorail. I would love to see some type of light rail system here to link the 70's era town centers. We all live in one town centre and commute to another, increasing our dependency on cars. When traveling O/S I have generally enjoyed moving about cities that have a rail or subway network - the system is visible and much easier to use than bus networks.

Of course another option for Canberra would be for people to live near where they work. Though that doesn't really work with two job households such as mine, nor if there are school aged children. Then there is one of my pet hates - the actual cost in fees and stamp duties to buy and sell a house - at least $10000 to $20000 these days - a real disincentive to move and rather environmentally unsound I suggest.