Anyone else in Sanctuary Lakes/Point Cook (Melbourne) area ?
 

We have been renting a house at Sanctuary Lakes for a few weeks now and wondered if there was anyone else on here in the area ? Would be nice to meet up for a bite at the cafe by the lake, or have a round of golf (I got the membership with the house).

Re: Anyone else in Sanctuary Lakes/Point Cook (Melbourne) area ?
 

We're in Williamstown....what are you doing Thursday or Friday? :)

Re: Anyone else in Sanctuary Lakes/Point Cook (Melbourne) area ?
 

Hi, i arrive in 2 weeks and am looking to rent in the sanctuary lakes area also, although i will initially be staying with my father in altona for a month or two.

Are you injoying living in SL, some of the houses available for rent look lovely for the money, do you know from your experience there if entry to the gym and pool are usually included in the rental price or not?

Nice to hear that there are expats in the area,

Cheers, ross........

Re: Anyone else in Sanctuary Lakes/Point Cook (Melbourne) area ?
 

Hi Bernard and Pam,
We are arriving in Melbourne on June 22nd and top of our list is Sanctuary Lakes. Can you tell us a little about it ?

What is the area like ? Western side

What are the schools like for an 8 year old ?

What are the best parts of Sanctuary Lakes ? Anywhere to avoid ie too noisy ?

How long does it take you to get into Melbourne ? My wife will be a Nurse at the Royal Melbourne.

Whats it been like for creepy crawlies ? :)

Are the walks near Skeleton Creek nice ?

What are the local shops like ?

Anything else?


Our aim is to rent on Sanctuary Lakes first, buy a plot of land and then build a house. We like golf communities in Florida so think this will suit. I play golf so will be up for a knock once we have settled in.

Dave, Karen and Caleb

Re: Anyone else in Sanctuary Lakes/Point Cook (Melbourne) area ?
 

Hi, have a safe trip :) I can answer some of your questions, but it's only my opinion.

The south west is quite sleepy generally. Areas that are not so nice are Laverton and Sunshine, but you shouldn't have much to do with them really. Shopping is great at Hopper's Crossing which is no more than a 10 minute drive from Sanctuary Lakes, and Werribee is a nice little suburb. I haven't been yet, but Werribee Zoo is meant to be good.

Travelling to the city varies greatly on what time you have to be there. For early shifts, your wife could get caught in traffic which can be quite heavy on the Princes Freeway and West Gate Freeway between 6.30am and 8.30am. An alternative route is to come off at Williamstown road and head through the docklands. The roads have estimated times to destinations on signs, and it averagely takes about 19 minutes from Hopper's Crossing to the city.

For genuine Sanctuary Lakes info, I can't really say.

Good luck

Carl

Re: Anyone else in Sanctuary Lakes/Point Cook (Melbourne) area ?
 

For realtime travel times into the City have a look at www.vicroads.vic.gov.au and click on the relevant link ...

Best regards.

Re: Anyone else in Sanctuary Lakes/Point Cook (Melbourne) area ?
 

West is variable, as mentioned it has its low lights but they are a long way from SL's. SL's and Williamstown are IMHO the highlights of the West.

There is a good sized shopping centre at the entrance to SL's with a very good supermarket (Coles New World), a baker, newsagent, chemist, delicatessen, take-aways, video/DVD hire shop etc. As mentioned Hoppers has more shops and the biggest shopping centre in Oz is planned for there in a few years time.

Good advice elsewhere on commute times, I'd reckon around 30 minutes most times to Royal Melbourne Hospital. The last 10% of the journey to the hospital could take as long as getting from SL's to nearby.

The best parts of SL's are the properties with water frontage, city views, close to the club house and recreation club. But then, most of the properties have water frontage, city views or are close to the central facilities! There aren't really 'poor' areas in the estate.

I haven't actually done the walks but they look OK and the estate is pleasant enough to walk around - there are strict building regulations, no overhead power cables, lots of communal garden areas, well maintained nature strips and plenty of greenery has been planted which will only get better with time. I have referred to it before as Florida style resort living so if that is what you like, it is what you will get. Security is good as well with regular patrols, CCTV's take the number plate of every car entering etc.

OzTennis :)

Re: Anyone else in Sanctuary Lakes/Point Cook (Melbourne) area ?
 

Phew, questions, questions :D. Our intention is also to rent first and decide if we like the area and then either buy land and build or just buy a house.

We have been in Sanctaury Lakes for a month now and so far it is working out really well. I had found it on the web about a year ago and had it on the top of my list to look at as I liked the look of the houses for the money, as well as the golf and other facilities. Even though we are renting the use of the pool and gym is included. I was very lucky to get the golf membership, it is the only house where I have seen it included.

I played my first round on the course yesterday and it is very good, very links like and it can get a bit windy so will definately some varied golf. The gym at the moment is fine, I use it in the mornings when it is quiet, although it gets busy in the evenings apparently. I haven't used the pool, but looking at it is very much designed as a lap pool. The good news is that a new rec centre is planned and the building may start sooner than originally planned. We went to the first meeting of the sports and social club a couple of weeks ago and they are planning a sports day and BBQ in a couple of weeks. They are planning to do regular events for adults, families and kids sports which is really nice.

We haven't been over to Skeleton Creek yet, but I can say that the walk around the lake is nice, and there is a small beach, BBQ area and playground on the opposite side from the rec club. We will check out the Creek next weekend.

Creepy crawly wise, there are a lot of small spiders, but nothing to get freaked out by. It may just be the cold weather, but I haven't really seen anything else, the only other wildlife being the hares dashing around the golf course.

The local shopping centre is better than I expected. The main shop is Coles, with a baker, butcher and deli. There is also a chemist and medical centre, which is very handy. The Chinese restaurant is nice, we have eaten there a couple of times, and there is a chippy and roast chicken shop. Looking at Melways it shows a proposed Point Cook town centre, I am not sure when it is due to be done, but it is not very far at all. The nearest big shopping centre is Werribee Plaza which has Coles, Safeway, KMart and Big W, along with the usual variety of clothes shops, mobile phone places, foodcourt etc. It also has a 10 screen cinema, nightclub and a couple of places to eat.

Pam works in the CBD and the arrangement has been that I drop her at Laverton station (which is zone 1, instead of Aircraft which is zone 2) between 7.30 and 7.45. The train takes 30 mins approx to get to Flagstaff. I had heard a lot about getting out to the freeway on Point Cook road being a nightmare in the mornings, but we have found that the journey to the freeway junction doesn't take more than 20 minutes.

I can't tell you much about the schools I'm afraid, other than there are a couple of primary schools close by with more being built as Point Cook grows.

So far, I like Sanctuary Lakes. All the houses have a monitored alarm system, the facitilies are good (Waterstones Cafe at the rec club is excellent and we haven't been to the restaurant at the clubhouse yet), there are parks for the kids and, if the sports and social club takes off, there will also be organised activities. The 5 * hotel that is going to be built sounds like a good thing, and there is a huge new shopping centre proposed for Hoppers Crossing (I got that info from this forum). Without traffic the city is only a 20 minute drive and I hear that the Great Ocean Road is definately worth a trip (when the weather gets a bit hotter I think).

Sorry for the rambling, any other questions feel free to ask.

Re: Anyone else in Sanctuary Lakes/Point Cook (Melbourne) area ?
 

Wow, thanks for the replies, I didn't realise that there was a few people from around the area. Thanks for the replies!!

We really like the idea of Sanctuary Lakes, it is really close for Karen and I am a Managing/Manufacturing Director and it sounds as though I would have a better chance of employment on the west side. The Florida type estates are perfect for us, we holiday in Orlando a lot and we love this kind of living.

We arrive on the 22nd of June and are staying in the Marriott in the CBD for five days, our first port of call will be to pick up a new car but later in the day we will head for SL. Hopefully we will like it and will be able to get a rental quickly.

How long does it take to move into a rental ?
Does/has anyone hire furniture ? we need it for 8-9 weeks? what is the cost ?

If we like the area we plan to buy a plot of land, this will have to be with a mortgage until the house in the UK is sold. Hopefully if we get a reasonable amount we may be able to avoid a mortgage or have a very small one. This has been a main reason for coming.

Can you have Foxtel (satellite or cable) on the estate, in a rental ?

How quick was it to install broadband ? I need the essentials :)

I think it will all come down to schools, I am pretty confident we will like SL but we need resonable schools. If anyone knows about the local schools please reply.

Looking forward to seeing you all.

Dave, Karen and Caleb

Re: Anyone else in Sanctuary Lakes/Point Cook (Melbourne) area ?
 

Hi Ben and Pam,

We are a family of four and live in the Rose Grange estate in Tarneit which is quite close to the Weribee plaza.
We have been in Melbourne for 5 weeks and would love to meet up with other people in our area as well.
Maybe we should all get together and share our experiences so far.
Is there anybody else who would be interested?

Re: Anyone else in Sanctuary Lakes/Point Cook (Melbourne) area ?
 

Sorry, can't help with the broadband, Foxtel, etc questions but:

Schools - there is a primary school near the entrance to SL's (for 'Celtic supporters' - Lumen Christi Catholic PS) and a mile or so down the road there is a state primary school (for 'Rangers and Celtic supporters' Seabrook PS). There is a large state secondary school at Hoppers Crossing and there is also a good private school called Westbourne GS - the secondary part is in Sayers Rd beyond Hoppers and they have a primary school on The Strand in Williamstown. Westbourne boasts a 100% VCE pass rate!!

Guest's hire out furniture - as you will know if you watch Location, Location! It seems to cost anything from $3K to $5K for the month or so of a campaign to sell a house but that is usually a house full of furniture. Won't there be furnished rental property also?

OzTennis :)

Re: Anyone else in Sanctuary Lakes/Point Cook (Melbourne) area ?
 

I meant to say there is also a Catholic secondary school to be built next to the shopping centre on one side and the primary school on the other - at the entrance to SL's. And:

http://www.cecv.melb.catholic.edu.au...earchfor=E1374

For searching on government schools:

http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/schoolsonline/

OzTennis :)

Re: Anyone else in Sanctuary Lakes/Point Cook (Melbourne) area ?
 

Don't know much about furniture renatal, but there is Mr Rentals in Altona that deals with that stuff.

http://mrrentals.com.au/default.asp

There are loads of Broadband packages which have pro's and con's. We're with Telstra, it took a couple of weeks for them to install it so was with dial-up for that time. It's a bit slow, but not bad. I've heard good and bad about optus and Dodo. You might want to start a thread about it :)

Can't see why you wouldn't be able to have Foxtel.

Take it easy

Carl

Re: Anyone else in Sanctuary Lakes/Point Cook (Melbourne) area ?
 

My wife works just round the corner at the Mercy Hospital, at Hopper's Crossing :) If you want to arrange a meet outside, it should be soon as the weather is getting colder...we'd be interested :)

Carl

Re: Anyone else in Sanctuary Lakes/Point Cook (Melbourne) area ?
 

The only thing we have rented is a washing machine from Ken Bruce for $50 per month until our container arrives. We are living with the bare minimum of furniture until the rest arrives. There are plenty of companies that hire furniture if you search the internet, it comes down to how much you want to spend.

Regarding the car, I would rent one for a week or two to give you a chance to go round the dealers and get the best deal. We went with Rent a bomb, but ended up getting one of their new cars due to the mileage we were doing in the first couple of weeks (we stayed with friends who live 40km north of the City).

I am still waiting for broadband to be installed, the main delay seems to be Telstra checking the phone line for ADSL compatibility. When we applied to iinet (read good things about them on here) we were told the process would take 15 days !

It seems the only way to get Foxtel here at SL is via satellite, and I think getting a dish installed is down to your landload agreeing to you having one fitted to the house. It is something we may look at soon as the weather is getting a bit colder and the nights are longer.