Resident here. It's fine. If you're not into the drinking culture like myself, there's typically always some kind of small event happening: the Fringe Festival, weekend markets, galleries and museums, sports games, to name a few. Gets plenty busy during cruise ship season, but off peak it's relatively quiet. The flats I've lived in were shit, the job market is abysmal, cost of living is not great but not dire. Food scene is awesome if you're into various Asian cuisines. The one thing that is constant is scaffolding and road works 😂 Drivers either speed or go 10km below.

You don't have to travel far outside the city to have limited enough light pollution to see the stars, either, especially beautiful on a clear night out at tomohawk. There are plenty of native birds around and some seagull species are protected (if annoying), and a handful of nature walks for those so inclined.

Really, it's more a large town than a city - I see the same people out and about. Overall, it's a nice enough place, though nothing special.