mohogony

Lots of good places nearby like the Great ocean road, Grampian mountains and Melbounre, Ballarat does get cold in winter.

sarree1981

that helps alot lisa thanks, yeah ive heard some really nice things about alfredton.
Nice to hear somebody else took their dogs too!!! people keep telling me to leave them as its too much for them , ive had a couple of quotes from petair and others. some include quarentine on the other side and a whole package and some just do the pick-ups/drop offs etc. who did you use? and roughly what did you pay? i know its a while back so prices would have more than likely rocketed since!!
im really excited and want to come NOW! my husband is a builder as i mentioned before and is just looking into courses to get the relevant certification for the visa. (skilled migrant) just need to pay up some debts and sort of hoping on the english house prices going up a bit aswell!!
i'll definately keep you posted about schools etc.

Many Many thanks, you've been great

sarah x

sarree1981

how cold is cold????/ lol

deb68

Lol, my thoughts exactly

mohogony

The winter average day temperature for ballarat is 10.9c degrees, overnight it can fall as low as -5 degrees with snow or frost. It has the same winter climate as Nice France

oliverandlisa

oh my its a hard one to answer... whenever anyone hears we are from ballarat we get "oh its soooo cold there..." but really it isnt... our friends who have lived here all their lives say that 20 + years ago that statement was correct but now with global warming and all Ballarat really has a great climate but people dont realise that if they have nt been here in recent years. Where we live (which is just outside B) we have had snow once in the last 3 years, in fact it was 3 years ago and the kids at the village school i taught in from Prep to grade 6 were all delighted as apart from the 11 year olds none had any recollection of seeing snow in their whole lives. It fell and lasted about 20 minutes. Last winter i didnt wear a coat but the winter before I wore a light waterproof jacket and scarf and this is with taking a pram out for a walk every day. Winter over here doesnt go on forever like it does in the UK but we do get chilly weather however the sun is out every day so its not that greyness you see in the UK either. If you are really concerned then the best thing i can suggest is to look up weather temps online but do so in comparison with daily sunshine hours and then make the comparion to the UK or wherever. We love ballarat including its climate which is perfect for us!

oliverandlisa

I wish i could remember who the dogs came out with... It was recommended on BE though and we really liked them. I will see if i can dig out some paperwork.

I think having the dogs out here will help your kids with the homesickness too, i know it did with me! Its totally worth it!

Lisa.xx

sofielarson

Hi,
I'm a 25 year-old Swedish girl who just moved to Ballarat after living in Brighton, UK for nearly 2 years. I'm here on a spouse visa with my aussie boyfriend who is from Ballarat.

Trying to find some new friends in the area as I know nobody except my bf:s family.

Anyone fancy catching up?

username02

Not from Ballarat, but we'll almost certainly be going there!

My wife's sister and her family emigrated there nearly 6 years ago (they live in Alfredton) and we've spent two (UK) summers there in 2007 (holiday) and 2009 (validation trip). In 2007 we were there for 5 1/2 weeks, and last year for the whole of August.

Since we managed to hit the middle of winter there both times, I can safely say it's not as bad as people, and nothing compared to British winters. It did get cold, but only jumper/jacket cold, not like the winter just gone here!

quoll

LOL - Ballarat is one of the coldest places I know! I was there at Christmas one year and we had sleet! (Bushfire in Canberra the same day!) I can never get the Ballarat weather right - have had to buy quite a few cardigans from Target because I thought I wouldnt need them and it can get really bitter. The wind comes straight up from the South Pole - but it wouldnt bother a Scandinavian that's for sure! It can also get uncomfortably hot in summer - more extreme than Melbourne down on the coast that's for sure.