Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?
 

Hello!
We may be looking at a possible relocation to either Melbourne or Brisbane with my husband's job (because of the nature of his work, we could potentially live in either). I was just wondering if anyone living in those areas could maybe help me?
- Which would you say is better for three young children?
- Which is safer?
- Any good primary schools anyone can recommend?
- Do people dislike British people generally in Australia?
- We would look to live about 45 minutes (to an hour) from the city but would like to live within half an hour from the coast so we can see the sea regularly...any suggestions as to nice towns to live? Maybe a clean, safe town not far from a major town so we can get shopping easily etc.?

Many thanks! Any help will be really appreciated:)

Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?
 

Personally - Brisbane. But then I live here and have had enough of cold weather

I don't like Poms, and I'm a Pom. Seriously don't get too worried about this, unless you take everything said as an offence.

I'll leave it to others on the school/location place as I am too biased

TD

Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?
 

Either city would be great for 3 young children.

We chose Melbourne over Brisbane because of -

- better work prospects
- better beaches within commuting distance of the city
- just fell in love with it.

Australians as a whole will accept anyone from anywhere, provided you make an effort to integrate. This means embracing the differences in Australia and enjoying the different experiences, and never complaining about things in Australia and not going on about how things were better in England.

Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?
 

Thank you both! Toe Dipper...you can be bias about schools! If there's some you know of that are great then please say!:)
I don't take things personally unless they're said in a non joking way. If it's all good fun then I can take it and have a laugh. That's fine:) I was more worried about the children at school, if they may be bullied because of their accents or if there were any general feelings around of "bloody more poms coming to live here" type thing:) Would love to know how you find life there. Any worries about earthquakes? Crime? How's the food - less variety or expensive? Any fun things to do for children? (We do a lot at the moment - toddler music groups, indoor soft play, forest school etc., Beavers...so if there are any clubs (and sports clubs) that you know if that would be great! Where do you think are the best places on the outskirts of Brisbane and Melbourne? (Within an hour's commute)? Do schools do much in the way of after school or lunch time clubs? I've heard there are less activities for children from an Australian. We're able to iterate - we've lived in America, my husband is American, we like to travel and like to soak up the culture of wherever we go. We don't stick to our ways. Just want somewhere that's excellent for the children, the rest is secondary:) Just looking for a safe, fun, social, friendly, peaceful place to live that they'll love. Near the beach and with a great school for them to go to that's good academically but caring and inclusive (not a big school as they're used to a school with 180 children and with the huge upheaval of moving I'd just rather then not have to face to the challenge of a really large school). It's a lot to ask, I know...but I just want the children to be happy:)
Thanks so much so far!:)

Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?
 

errr earthquakes are pretty rare in Australia... are you confusing with New Zealand?

Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?
 

No:) I was reading some Australian news articles saying that they are becoming more frequent and while a "big one" is still relatively unlikely, (the last being Melbourne in 2012 which was big), that it shouldn't be ruled out as more and more are being recorded (8 in a week in Queensland that were on the smaller end but significant and the increased frequency was worrying scientists). So i didn't know if there was much concern amongst the general public but your reaction alone to my comment has put my mind at ease😊😊😊

Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?
 

There are a fair few quakes every month across Australia, but the vast majority go unnoticed and get no 'felt reports'. We have to monitor them for work and i can honestly say its very rare that there is anything above a 3.0, even rare to see one in a populated area. Damage reports are very scarce and they are not really a major concern here. Yes, one day there might be another big one like Newcastle, but its honestly not worth worrying over. New Zealand on the other hand is far more active in that area.

Earthquakes @ GA — Recent Earthquakes if you want to track the Aussie ones.

Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?
 

As a geologist, I can assure you, you need not worry about earth quakes. Australia is about as geologically stable a place on the planet and will remain so for a fair while yet (a couple of hundred million years).


Like any part of the world, it does get tremors, these are small, localized and generally people don't even feel them. Very rarely, there will be one that causes some damage such as one that occurred in Kalgoorlie some years ago. But it only caused damage because the buildings are very old. The chances of Australia having a large earth quake is zero as that only occurs in areas close to plate boundaries and Australia itself isn't.

Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?
 

That's great on the earthquake front - thank you:)
Now if there's any information on great towns near great schools within maybe an hour's commute of Melbourne or Brisbane then I'd welcome all the information you have! Looking for really good schools academically but also that are caring for our three young children. Town wise, we hope to find a peaceful, safe town that's very, very close to somewhere with lots of shops and stuff going on:)
Many thanks!

Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?
 

Can't help there I'm afraid - quakes and other disasters are easy, schools are trickier :lol::sneaky:

Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?
 

An hour's commute from Melbourne's CBD will still be Melbourne. It's a mammoth place, area-wise. Similarly, an hour from the centre of Brisbane will probably only take you to the outskirts of Brisbane in most directions.

Do you really mean you're looking for suburbs within an hour's commute? Because if you really do want a separate town away from Melbourne/Brisbane you will be looking at travelling for longer than an hour.

Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?
 

Hello Nicky!
Well, I was using google maps and looking at what's around (Geelong and the equivalent distance on the east side of the CBD I guess and any nice places around those areas) although I'm obviously not taking into account traffic etc. Where we currently live in the UK we're about an hour and a half outside of central London by car and we are on the coast in a town of 20,000 which is just outside a city of 250,000 so we have good access to shops etc. not only where we live (naybe 10 big chain restaurants within a 10 minute drive plus cinema, bowling and a few international big brand shops), but then there's our nearest city which is 15 minutes away and has more than we need by way of big brand shops, restaurants, cinemas, bars etc. I'm not someone (and we're not as a family) who has to have things "just like home" so it's not at all like that but I guess I was looking for somewhere that's out enough from the city so it doesn't feel like the city but somewhere that's perhaps near a VERY large town that's within an hour of the CBD but we'd like to live a little ways out further still (maybe 15/20 minutes) so that we can live somewhere with less pollution, somewhere safe and peaceful but near a really big town so we could get everything we needed there. Same would apply Brisbane way - somewhere near a really big town but just tucked out enough that it's safe and fairly quiet. If that makes sense:) Yes coastal would be great but it's not a deal breaker:) More than anything just somewhere peaceful but because it's close to a large town/small city it would have things to do for the children. I hope that makes sense. Just thinking somewhere the size of Melbourbe or Brisbane must have some smallish cities near them (within an hour or so) or very large towns and perhaps we could be lucky enough to find a nice little place to live close to this:)
Many thanks for your help so far:)

Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?
 

P.S. I guess if Melbourne I'd be looking at, or wondering if there were any other places like Geelong and what nice towns might be within about 15-20 minutes of Geelong (or like I said, if there's somewhere the equivalent of Geelong?) - whichever might be safest. And if we're talking Brisbane, then perhaps somewhere 15-20 minutes of somewhere like Chermside (if you/anyone knows of any towns near Chermside or if there's somewhere the equivalent to Chermside for shops etc. and so a town 15-20 of there if there is one. If that all makes sense😊

Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?
 

15 to 20 minutes from Chermside (assuming you mean Westfield Chermside) and you are still in the outer suburbs of Brisbane these days. There are no towns near Chermside cos its just another north Brisbane suburb, merged into all the other suburbs around it. Its not like the UK where you quickly leave the city and find little market towns outside. Suburban sprawl here goes on for miles and miles. There are several Westfield monstrosities around Brisbane, but once you get outside into really rural towns you find nothing like that.

Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?
 

Australia doesn't really work like this.

You have the big cities, you drive to the edge of the big city and then there's pretty much nothing at all until the next big city 12 hours later. There's the odd rural town eg Bendigo / Ballarat near Melbourne, both would be 1.5 - 2 hours drive from Melbourne.

Geelong would seem to fit your requirements but with the closure of the car industry there I'm not sure how living there will be over the next few years.