My wife and I are arriving in Melbourne on 21st May and have just been offered a job in Box Hill. Don't know anything about this area. Can anyone out there give some comments on this area (what it is like etc) and how easy it is to get to/from the centre e.g. Albert Park or similar.

Any help is appreciated.

Box Hill is meant to be an up and coming area. I think it is a bit 1960's concrete style shopping centre ...but there is money being spend there and house prices are on the increase.

A new tram link was completed about 2 years ago, which goes directly into the city (not sure how long it would take) and the train station is premium, so it has a lot of express trains with limited stops, but they all stop at Box Hill. Nice areas abound just around Box Hill- Blackburn, Mont Albert, and away from the train station to the north are lots of nice housing areas.

Good luck

20mins(?) down the Highway in the OPPOSITE direction to main traffic flow.

It is typical of a kind of affluent, but otherwise, ordinary inner-outer suburb.

ie. It is not cheap by the standards of the new areas further out. It is not hideously expensive like the inner city, or established suburbs further in. Exactly middle of the road.

Box Hill looks okay, but nothing special. It has a very large Chinese/Vietnamese community, and so one finds branches of Chinese stores there and a fantastic array of eateries and Chinese bakeries etc.. I really like going there.

Neil

Will go for drive to let you know travel time - where in Box hill? Albert Park?

We arrived last week (Friday) and are staying in South Yarra. We are due to pop over to Boxhill with my wifes godfather for Yum Cha. Will try and take digital camera.
You have a Melways?
Kiwi

Its a bit seedy round the station/shopping precinct but my wife who went to Boxhill Tech tells me it always been like that. There was a random murder on the station platform a few months ago by some nutter (from Kilsyth).

It always was lower to middle class area - south yarra is a lot nicer (& pricier)

Lived there many years ago. Quite a lot of Chinese so some interesting restaurants around. Good train link to the city. Nice big public pool complex. Fair few cement blocks. Shopping complex, French creperie, outdoor market on Sundays.

At that time, Boxhill was a designated dry-zone due to some 100 year old Anglican ruling, so no pubs, no alcohol in any restaurant and no bottleshops either. Maybe you could check up on that if you like a bevy.

On the whole, I would rank it a notch or two above inoffensive.

Just remembered the best part of Boxhill - huge furniture auction house with bargains galor.

I think Box Hill is ok but a bit of a way out. It's probably 45 minutes from the centre by car, and I know it takes about 45 minutes to drive there from Elsternwick where I live (near St Kilda). If you want to live nearer the centre but within striking distance of work, there's loads of good areas, though it depends on your price range. Ivanhoe is ok with good access to the Eastern Freeway and further south Camberwell is great but can be a bit pricy. Mount Waverley is also a really nice suburb, and the schools in Mount Waverley are among the best in the state, if you have kids to consider.

Box Hill itself is typically leafy off the main roads (Maroondah Highway which takes you straight out to the Yarra Valley and all the good wine estates ) but a bit tacky in the centre. There's a large ethnic Chinese population and growing Vietnamese and Sri Lankan populations.

Good luck

Wierd this thread appeared today, i was looking for gymnastic clubs for my teen and Boxhill is the only one who has replied

Thanks to everyone who replied. Sounds like it will be OK for work/visit but not really where we want to be living. We will have to look into this a bit more when we arrive.

Hopefully we can find somewhere nearer to the city with train links to Box Hill.

Two things come to mind for me:

1 - It has an excellent burger/kebab/fish&chip shop which stays open very late

and

2 - I had to go to the hospital to get stiches due to a sport injury and had to wait 7 hours to be treated.

We live in Box Hill, it is okay but not somewhere we would live permanently (needed somewhere desperately when we arrived) I would recommend areas such as Surrey Hills, Mont Albert, Balwyn, Kew, Canterbury, Camberwell - these are the more affluent areas but still commutable to Box Hill. If these prove to be a bit expensive then you can try areas such as Laburnum, Blackburn, Doncaster which are a bit more reasonably priced and still good areas.

Hope this helps

My son goes to McLeod YMCA gym and he is really enjoying it.

HTH

On4e other thing to note and that it is a dry council. I only found that one out after signing up for a 1 year lease. It is a reasonable area and as somebody said earlier it has an awful lot of good places to eat.