Auckland to Melbourne Reccie
Apr 1st 2008, 1:02 am
#1
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Joined: Dec 2007
Location: NZ
Posts: 105
Auckland to Melbourne Reccie
Well ours was only a short reccie and as we are living in NZ a relatively short flight, although somehow we still managed to get jet lag! But as I love reading other peoples reports I thought I'd post a few of our observations.
We stayed in Brighton East and due to a miscalculation on my part, we were without a hire car (the miscalculation was to leave the hiring of the hire car to my OH!), but although it meant we didn't get to see many suburbs it did mean we got to see what Melbourne was like on foot and on public transport.
Melbourne - the city.
Well after Auckland, Melbourne had a great vibe; it had some really interesting architecture and just gave the impression that there was something to do in all those side streets. I can see why many people say it 'grows on you', as I suspect it would take a long time to discover everything it has to offer. This appeals to me but it made me realise that we would probably only visit the centre on a 'day trip' as big cities with small children and buggys don't mix that well. So it was instantly clear to us that we would need a reasonably self contained suburb that had quite a few facilities for children and we would save Melbourne central for the weekends.
Brighton
Well, like many, we loved Brighton and what our reccie helped us to understand is just how big Brighton is. When you look on a map you think "Oh I could live in Brighton East and take 15/20 minute walk to the beach", but in reality you have to cross the enormous Nepean highway, (we had to cross 5 sets of lights which the boys liked as they got to press lots of buttons), and then what looks like 15 minutes on a map is in fact 45 minutes with kids in tow. For me personally I don't want to live somewhere, where I have to drive to get to everything so this has helped us to cross a lot of places off our original list.
What I liked about Brighton was the wide tree lined streets, Church Street with its cafes & shops and the fact that it had a train station. (We don't have trains near us in Auckland and I miss them!).
I thought the beach was nice, but unlike NZ beaches, was a bit busier and had a lot of sunbathers. I also noticed people seemed to come for the day with mountains of stuff rather than popping by on the way back from the shops or for the kids to have a 10minute play. I liked the walkway that run alongside it and I imagine there is a very coastal walk along the bayside. The shared bike/walkers footpath was really irritating though and I bet neither group is happy, with cyclists feeling like the pedestrians are always in the way and pedestrians worried about getting run down. It’s very hard to explain to a toddler to stay on one side of the white line!
I wasn't so keen on the Brighton architecture, it was an inconsistent mix of old and new and very bad taste. I think Hyacinth Bucket would find plenty of places she'd like! I also noted a lot of the modern properties chose to fill the plot with hardly any garden, which meant that you could shake hands out of the window of your $2million property with the neighbour in their $2million property. I don't know if this is down to poor planning regs or whether aussies, like kiwis, have a different view on privacy to those from the UK.
Trams
Not as fun as I thought they'd be, as I found them a bit awkward with the buggy and I never had the right change.
Weather
Well we were really lucky, we arrived after the heatwave and just before things started to cool down - we had absolutely lovely weather! I did speak to someone who said that the heatwave had been difficult on many as very few homes had a/c so people tended to flock to the shopping centres to cool down.
People
Everyone I met was very nice and I met a real mix of people from all over. I really like the multicultural element of Melbourne and I think it certainly helps to settle somewhere where lots of people are in the same boat as you.
What a difference....
A day can make! One day we turned up and they were digging up all round Flinders Street station, the trams weren't running as normal, it was noisy, dusty and the kids were unhappy from having to do so much walking. We came in the back way to Flinders train station down the subway which smelt of wee and we had to carry the buggy down a large flight of stairs. Not the best first impression!
A couple of days later we arrived at the front of Flinders, came up in the lift to a nice modern part of the station which had shops and cafes. Then exited to find the trams were back running and most of the works had finished. We were all in a much better mood and had the energy to have a nice stroll round Federation Square.
It just goes to show how different your impression of the same place can be depending on what kind of day you turn up!
Shopping
Well coming from NZ, the shopping seemed great! Someone gave us the tip of eating at the foodcourt at Melbourne Central, as a kid friendly place and it was great! I must admit we are somewhat starved of shopping in our little part of NZ so maybe it was more impressive to us.
Verdict
I think Melbourne fits the category of being halfway between Auckland and London in style; it seems an interesting, easy going, city. As the suburbs of Melbourne are so big I feel fairly sure that we can find a little part that will suit us. Having already emigrated once to NZ I think we have already got use to a lot of the differences between the Northern and Southern hemisphere and so I expect this move will be a lot easier than the first one.
That said, even a weekend trip to Melbourne exhausted us and reminded me just how hard it is to do anything with young kids in tow. So we will wait a year or two until our youngest is a bit more cooperative, I think being nearer this time means it seems less of a big deal. We can take it at our own pace and pop back for another visit if we want; in the meantime we will continue to collect as much info as possible to make the move as smooth as possible when it does happen!
Thanks to all those who helped with tips and advice before we went!
WithIce x
We stayed in Brighton East and due to a miscalculation on my part, we were without a hire car (the miscalculation was to leave the hiring of the hire car to my OH!), but although it meant we didn't get to see many suburbs it did mean we got to see what Melbourne was like on foot and on public transport.
Melbourne - the city.
Well after Auckland, Melbourne had a great vibe; it had some really interesting architecture and just gave the impression that there was something to do in all those side streets. I can see why many people say it 'grows on you', as I suspect it would take a long time to discover everything it has to offer. This appeals to me but it made me realise that we would probably only visit the centre on a 'day trip' as big cities with small children and buggys don't mix that well. So it was instantly clear to us that we would need a reasonably self contained suburb that had quite a few facilities for children and we would save Melbourne central for the weekends.
Brighton
Well, like many, we loved Brighton and what our reccie helped us to understand is just how big Brighton is. When you look on a map you think "Oh I could live in Brighton East and take 15/20 minute walk to the beach", but in reality you have to cross the enormous Nepean highway, (we had to cross 5 sets of lights which the boys liked as they got to press lots of buttons), and then what looks like 15 minutes on a map is in fact 45 minutes with kids in tow. For me personally I don't want to live somewhere, where I have to drive to get to everything so this has helped us to cross a lot of places off our original list.
What I liked about Brighton was the wide tree lined streets, Church Street with its cafes & shops and the fact that it had a train station. (We don't have trains near us in Auckland and I miss them!).
I thought the beach was nice, but unlike NZ beaches, was a bit busier and had a lot of sunbathers. I also noticed people seemed to come for the day with mountains of stuff rather than popping by on the way back from the shops or for the kids to have a 10minute play. I liked the walkway that run alongside it and I imagine there is a very coastal walk along the bayside. The shared bike/walkers footpath was really irritating though and I bet neither group is happy, with cyclists feeling like the pedestrians are always in the way and pedestrians worried about getting run down. It’s very hard to explain to a toddler to stay on one side of the white line!
I wasn't so keen on the Brighton architecture, it was an inconsistent mix of old and new and very bad taste. I think Hyacinth Bucket would find plenty of places she'd like! I also noted a lot of the modern properties chose to fill the plot with hardly any garden, which meant that you could shake hands out of the window of your $2million property with the neighbour in their $2million property. I don't know if this is down to poor planning regs or whether aussies, like kiwis, have a different view on privacy to those from the UK.
Trams
Not as fun as I thought they'd be, as I found them a bit awkward with the buggy and I never had the right change.
Weather
Well we were really lucky, we arrived after the heatwave and just before things started to cool down - we had absolutely lovely weather! I did speak to someone who said that the heatwave had been difficult on many as very few homes had a/c so people tended to flock to the shopping centres to cool down.
People
Everyone I met was very nice and I met a real mix of people from all over. I really like the multicultural element of Melbourne and I think it certainly helps to settle somewhere where lots of people are in the same boat as you.
What a difference....
A day can make! One day we turned up and they were digging up all round Flinders Street station, the trams weren't running as normal, it was noisy, dusty and the kids were unhappy from having to do so much walking. We came in the back way to Flinders train station down the subway which smelt of wee and we had to carry the buggy down a large flight of stairs. Not the best first impression!
A couple of days later we arrived at the front of Flinders, came up in the lift to a nice modern part of the station which had shops and cafes. Then exited to find the trams were back running and most of the works had finished. We were all in a much better mood and had the energy to have a nice stroll round Federation Square.
It just goes to show how different your impression of the same place can be depending on what kind of day you turn up!
Shopping
Well coming from NZ, the shopping seemed great! Someone gave us the tip of eating at the foodcourt at Melbourne Central, as a kid friendly place and it was great! I must admit we are somewhat starved of shopping in our little part of NZ so maybe it was more impressive to us.
Verdict
I think Melbourne fits the category of being halfway between Auckland and London in style; it seems an interesting, easy going, city. As the suburbs of Melbourne are so big I feel fairly sure that we can find a little part that will suit us. Having already emigrated once to NZ I think we have already got use to a lot of the differences between the Northern and Southern hemisphere and so I expect this move will be a lot easier than the first one.
That said, even a weekend trip to Melbourne exhausted us and reminded me just how hard it is to do anything with young kids in tow. So we will wait a year or two until our youngest is a bit more cooperative, I think being nearer this time means it seems less of a big deal. We can take it at our own pace and pop back for another visit if we want; in the meantime we will continue to collect as much info as possible to make the move as smooth as possible when it does happen!
Thanks to all those who helped with tips and advice before we went!
WithIce x
Apr 1st 2008, 1:31 am
#2
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Re: Auckland to Melbourne Reccie
Great post - thanks for sharing.
Apr 1st 2008, 10:38 pm
#3
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Joined: Dec 2007
Location: NZ
Posts: 105
Re: Auckland to Melbourne Reccie
Thanks I will freckle!
I wasn't sure if I'd get any replies as I think you view things slightly differently when you are coming from NZ. I guess its a bit more like moving to Spain from the UK.
Also a lot of the major differences that people notice coming from the UK I've already got use to when we first emigrated to NZ.
We didn't reccie at all for NZ as it was just too far and expensive so its nice to have the luxury of being able to 'pop' over. Although because of all the biosecurity issues it still takes a whole day travelling and its also very expensive.
WithIce x
I wasn't sure if I'd get any replies as I think you view things slightly differently when you are coming from NZ. I guess its a bit more like moving to Spain from the UK.
Also a lot of the major differences that people notice coming from the UK I've already got use to when we first emigrated to NZ.
We didn't reccie at all for NZ as it was just too far and expensive so its nice to have the luxury of being able to 'pop' over. Although because of all the biosecurity issues it still takes a whole day travelling and its also very expensive.
WithIce x
Apr 1st 2008, 11:06 pm
#4
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Joined: Apr 2005
Location: On the edge of the Dandenongs, Melbourne
Posts: 2,387
Re: Auckland to Melbourne Reccie
I know exactly what you mean about the city and toddlers! When we arrived our girls were 2 & almost 4. I took them into the city on my own fairly regularly, but it wasn't easy with trains and trams (especially as the youngest used to have about 6 tantrums a day 
). However, now they are 4 & 6, the city is easy and they love going there.
Best wishes
). However, now they are 4 & 6, the city is easy and they love going there.Best wishes
Apr 2nd 2008, 1:03 am
#5
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Joined: Jul 2007
Location: Center Parcs, WA
Posts: 1,322
Re: Auckland to Melbourne Reccie
Can I ask what made you choose Auckland in the first place?
Apr 5th 2008, 11:15 pm
#6
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 34
Re: Auckland to Melbourne Reccie
Well ours was only a short reccie and as we are living in NZ a relatively short flight, although somehow we still managed to get jet lag! But as I love reading other peoples reports I thought I'd post a few of our observations.
We stayed in Brighton East and due to a miscalculation on my part, we were without a hire car (the miscalculation was to leave the hiring of the hire car to my OH!), but although it meant we didn't get to see many suburbs it did mean we got to see what Melbourne was like on foot and on public transport.
Melbourne - the city.
Well after Auckland, Melbourne had a great vibe; it had some really interesting architecture and just gave the impression that there was something to do in all those side streets. I can see why many people say it 'grows on you', as I suspect it would take a long time to discover everything it has to offer. This appeals to me but it made me realise that we would probably only visit the centre on a 'day trip' as big cities with small children and buggys don't mix that well. So it was instantly clear to us that we would need a reasonably self contained suburb that had quite a few facilities for children and we would save Melbourne central for the weekends.
Brighton
Well, like many, we loved Brighton and what our reccie helped us to understand is just how big Brighton is. When you look on a map you think "Oh I could live in Brighton East and take 15/20 minute walk to the beach", but in reality you have to cross the enormous Nepean highway, (we had to cross 5 sets of lights which the boys liked as they got to press lots of buttons), and then what looks like 15 minutes on a map is in fact 45 minutes with kids in tow. For me personally I don't want to live somewhere, where I have to drive to get to everything so this has helped us to cross a lot of places off our original list.
What I liked about Brighton was the wide tree lined streets, Church Street with its cafes & shops and the fact that it had a train station. (We don't have trains near us in Auckland and I miss them!).
I thought the beach was nice, but unlike NZ beaches, was a bit busier and had a lot of sunbathers. I also noticed people seemed to come for the day with mountains of stuff rather than popping by on the way back from the shops or for the kids to have a 10minute play. I liked the walkway that run alongside it and I imagine there is a very coastal walk along the bayside. The shared bike/walkers footpath was really irritating though and I bet neither group is happy, with cyclists feeling like the pedestrians are always in the way and pedestrians worried about getting run down. It’s very hard to explain to a toddler to stay on one side of the white line!
I wasn't so keen on the Brighton architecture, it was an inconsistent mix of old and new and very bad taste. I think Hyacinth Bucket would find plenty of places she'd like! I also noted a lot of the modern properties chose to fill the plot with hardly any garden, which meant that you could shake hands out of the window of your $2million property with the neighbour in their $2million property. I don't know if this is down to poor planning regs or whether aussies, like kiwis, have a different view on privacy to those from the UK.
Trams
Not as fun as I thought they'd be, as I found them a bit awkward with the buggy and I never had the right change.
Weather
Well we were really lucky, we arrived after the heatwave and just before things started to cool down - we had absolutely lovely weather! I did speak to someone who said that the heatwave had been difficult on many as very few homes had a/c so people tended to flock to the shopping centres to cool down.
People
Everyone I met was very nice and I met a real mix of people from all over. I really like the multicultural element of Melbourne and I think it certainly helps to settle somewhere where lots of people are in the same boat as you.
What a difference....
A day can make! One day we turned up and they were digging up all round Flinders Street station, the trams weren't running as normal, it was noisy, dusty and the kids were unhappy from having to do so much walking. We came in the back way to Flinders train station down the subway which smelt of wee and we had to carry the buggy down a large flight of stairs. Not the best first impression!
A couple of days later we arrived at the front of Flinders, came up in the lift to a nice modern part of the station which had shops and cafes. Then exited to find the trams were back running and most of the works had finished. We were all in a much better mood and had the energy to have a nice stroll round Federation Square.
It just goes to show how different your impression of the same place can be depending on what kind of day you turn up!
Shopping
Well coming from NZ, the shopping seemed great! Someone gave us the tip of eating at the foodcourt at Melbourne Central, as a kid friendly place and it was great! I must admit we are somewhat starved of shopping in our little part of NZ so maybe it was more impressive to us.
Verdict
I think Melbourne fits the category of being halfway between Auckland and London in style; it seems an interesting, easy going, city. As the suburbs of Melbourne are so big I feel fairly sure that we can find a little part that will suit us. Having already emigrated once to NZ I think we have already got use to a lot of the differences between the Northern and Southern hemisphere and so I expect this move will be a lot easier than the first one.
That said, even a weekend trip to Melbourne exhausted us and reminded me just how hard it is to do anything with young kids in tow. So we will wait a year or two until our youngest is a bit more cooperative, I think being nearer this time means it seems less of a big deal. We can take it at our own pace and pop back for another visit if we want; in the meantime we will continue to collect as much info as possible to make the move as smooth as possible when it does happen!
Thanks to all those who helped with tips and advice before we went!
WithIce x
We stayed in Brighton East and due to a miscalculation on my part, we were without a hire car (the miscalculation was to leave the hiring of the hire car to my OH!), but although it meant we didn't get to see many suburbs it did mean we got to see what Melbourne was like on foot and on public transport.
Melbourne - the city.
Well after Auckland, Melbourne had a great vibe; it had some really interesting architecture and just gave the impression that there was something to do in all those side streets. I can see why many people say it 'grows on you', as I suspect it would take a long time to discover everything it has to offer. This appeals to me but it made me realise that we would probably only visit the centre on a 'day trip' as big cities with small children and buggys don't mix that well. So it was instantly clear to us that we would need a reasonably self contained suburb that had quite a few facilities for children and we would save Melbourne central for the weekends.
Brighton
Well, like many, we loved Brighton and what our reccie helped us to understand is just how big Brighton is. When you look on a map you think "Oh I could live in Brighton East and take 15/20 minute walk to the beach", but in reality you have to cross the enormous Nepean highway, (we had to cross 5 sets of lights which the boys liked as they got to press lots of buttons), and then what looks like 15 minutes on a map is in fact 45 minutes with kids in tow. For me personally I don't want to live somewhere, where I have to drive to get to everything so this has helped us to cross a lot of places off our original list.
What I liked about Brighton was the wide tree lined streets, Church Street with its cafes & shops and the fact that it had a train station. (We don't have trains near us in Auckland and I miss them!).
I thought the beach was nice, but unlike NZ beaches, was a bit busier and had a lot of sunbathers. I also noticed people seemed to come for the day with mountains of stuff rather than popping by on the way back from the shops or for the kids to have a 10minute play. I liked the walkway that run alongside it and I imagine there is a very coastal walk along the bayside. The shared bike/walkers footpath was really irritating though and I bet neither group is happy, with cyclists feeling like the pedestrians are always in the way and pedestrians worried about getting run down. It’s very hard to explain to a toddler to stay on one side of the white line!
I wasn't so keen on the Brighton architecture, it was an inconsistent mix of old and new and very bad taste. I think Hyacinth Bucket would find plenty of places she'd like! I also noted a lot of the modern properties chose to fill the plot with hardly any garden, which meant that you could shake hands out of the window of your $2million property with the neighbour in their $2million property. I don't know if this is down to poor planning regs or whether aussies, like kiwis, have a different view on privacy to those from the UK.
Trams
Not as fun as I thought they'd be, as I found them a bit awkward with the buggy and I never had the right change.
Weather
Well we were really lucky, we arrived after the heatwave and just before things started to cool down - we had absolutely lovely weather! I did speak to someone who said that the heatwave had been difficult on many as very few homes had a/c so people tended to flock to the shopping centres to cool down.
People
Everyone I met was very nice and I met a real mix of people from all over. I really like the multicultural element of Melbourne and I think it certainly helps to settle somewhere where lots of people are in the same boat as you.
What a difference....
A day can make! One day we turned up and they were digging up all round Flinders Street station, the trams weren't running as normal, it was noisy, dusty and the kids were unhappy from having to do so much walking. We came in the back way to Flinders train station down the subway which smelt of wee and we had to carry the buggy down a large flight of stairs. Not the best first impression!
A couple of days later we arrived at the front of Flinders, came up in the lift to a nice modern part of the station which had shops and cafes. Then exited to find the trams were back running and most of the works had finished. We were all in a much better mood and had the energy to have a nice stroll round Federation Square.
It just goes to show how different your impression of the same place can be depending on what kind of day you turn up!
Shopping
Well coming from NZ, the shopping seemed great! Someone gave us the tip of eating at the foodcourt at Melbourne Central, as a kid friendly place and it was great! I must admit we are somewhat starved of shopping in our little part of NZ so maybe it was more impressive to us.
Verdict
I think Melbourne fits the category of being halfway between Auckland and London in style; it seems an interesting, easy going, city. As the suburbs of Melbourne are so big I feel fairly sure that we can find a little part that will suit us. Having already emigrated once to NZ I think we have already got use to a lot of the differences between the Northern and Southern hemisphere and so I expect this move will be a lot easier than the first one.
That said, even a weekend trip to Melbourne exhausted us and reminded me just how hard it is to do anything with young kids in tow. So we will wait a year or two until our youngest is a bit more cooperative, I think being nearer this time means it seems less of a big deal. We can take it at our own pace and pop back for another visit if we want; in the meantime we will continue to collect as much info as possible to make the move as smooth as possible when it does happen!
Thanks to all those who helped with tips and advice before we went!
WithIce x
We also have young children nearly 5 and 18 months, how old are yours? How long have you been in New Zealand for? What visa are you applying for? Do you think you'll head to Melbourne?
What do you do?
When are you hoping to jump the ditch?
Amber
Apr 6th 2008, 10:42 pm
#7
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2007
Location: NZ
Posts: 105
Re: Auckland to Melbourne Reccie
I know exactly what you mean about the city and toddlers! When we arrived our girls were 2 & almost 4. I took them into the city on my own fairly regularly, but it wasn't easy with trains and trams (especially as the youngest used to have about 6 tantrums a day ). However, now they are 4 & 6, the city is easy and they love going there.
Best wishes
). However, now they are 4 & 6, the city is easy and they love going there.Best wishes
Great report, really interesting to read, we are going on our reccie to Melbourne in a bit less than 3 weeks.
We also have young children nearly 5 and 18 months, how old are yours? How long have you been in New Zealand for? What visa are you applying for? Do you think you'll head to Melbourne?
What do you do?
When are you hoping to jump the ditch?
Amber
We also have young children nearly 5 and 18 months, how old are yours? How long have you been in New Zealand for? What visa are you applying for? Do you think you'll head to Melbourne?
What do you do?
When are you hoping to jump the ditch?
Amber
We've been in NZ for a couple of years and probably wouldn't move for a year or so but when we do it will be Melbourne, as its the area that works for everyone in our family (OH is in IT).
I take it you are in NZ? Are you just checking Melbourne out or do you know thats where you want to go?
WithIce x
Apr 7th 2008, 10:15 pm
#8
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 34
Re: Auckland to Melbourne Reccie
Yes can't wait to reach that stage, when I can finally ditch the buggy!
I'm probably not your typical NZ immigrant as I'm a city girl at heart, that combined with the job market meant that Auckland was the best choice. TBH I find Auckland fine and we've got ourselves a nice group of friends, I'm just not sure about it in the long term.
My kids are 6, 4 & 1. Have fun on your reccie, the Museum has a lovely kiddies bit which would be great for both your kids. Check out your flights, if you are on one of the International flights, to/from LA, you will get a big plane which has the seat back TV/Games, but one word of warning, we had to stand in a queue for over an hour to check into that flight.
We've been in NZ for a couple of years and probably wouldn't move for a year or so but when we do it will be Melbourne, as its the area that works for everyone in our family (OH is in IT).
I take it you are in NZ? Are you just checking Melbourne out or do you know thats where you want to go?
WithIce x
I'm probably not your typical NZ immigrant as I'm a city girl at heart, that combined with the job market meant that Auckland was the best choice. TBH I find Auckland fine and we've got ourselves a nice group of friends, I'm just not sure about it in the long term.
My kids are 6, 4 & 1. Have fun on your reccie, the Museum has a lovely kiddies bit which would be great for both your kids. Check out your flights, if you are on one of the International flights, to/from LA, you will get a big plane which has the seat back TV/Games, but one word of warning, we had to stand in a queue for over an hour to check into that flight.
We've been in NZ for a couple of years and probably wouldn't move for a year or so but when we do it will be Melbourne, as its the area that works for everyone in our family (OH is in IT).
I take it you are in NZ? Are you just checking Melbourne out or do you know thats where you want to go?
WithIce x
We are in Wellington at the mo, not particularly keen. I came over on false pretenses from my employer, so we are making a move, probably to melbourne, to be confirmed after our recce, but because we have only been here since Oct we have to do all the visa application again. Easier this time as it will be sponsored by my employer (hospital). But there is still all the other stuff to do, furniture and car shipment, currency exchange, ? dog shipment etc.
Are you at home with the children? Do you have family here? Do you have NZ citizenship?
Amber
