Amanda

Hi Everyone,

We have been living in Auckland, New Zealand for the past 4 years (originally from London) and are thinking of moving to either Sydney or Melbourne. We have 4 children, ranging in ages from 11 to 11 months. Could anyone let me know their views on which city might be best for families and which areas are good to live in with good schooling?

Thanks for your help.

Mandy.

Sandra

Both cities will depend on whether you are planning on buying/renting and what sort of occupations you are in for work.

Both cities have their absolutely fabulous sides and the crappy too. Both are perfect for families depending on where you can afford to live. So I can only offer my totally biased perspective and say Sydney is the best and top it off with the specifics of living on the North Shore within 20 mins driving from the best beaches and schools and within an hour commute to Sydney CBD. You cannot beat going over the Harbor Bridge each morning to work.

I believe depending on the size of house you want you will be hard pushed to get something much under $900,000 for modern four bed that has a decent sized plot.

Have fun deciding

hubbard

We made the move from auckland to Sydney (also originally from London) in Oct 2005 after 3 yrs in NZ. Have to say do not miss Auckland at all Sydney offers us so much more the lifestyle we were looking for. Cost of living is cheaper (apart from property prices), weather is superb (have had summer from Nov 05 through to end of March 06, saying that it is forecast to be 29c this saturday so may not be over yet).

Have not been to Melbourne but we ruled it out after researching the climate and found it to be much more unsettled than Sydney and after living in NZ with its micro climates we were after much more settled weather with less rain. In Melbourne's favour though is property prices, sydney is expensive to get on housing ladder in the 'better' areas. Most people I know over in Sydney have pretty hefty mortgages so being mortgage free or having a minimal mortgage is unlikely to be realistic for most. We are living in the Eastern suburbs (Paddington) and love it but it is pricey. We are looking to buy this year and estimate taking on a mortgage of about $500k which equates to $1000 a week repayments - pretty scary but with the median price for a terrace house in the area being around the $900k - $1 million that's what you have to pay if you wish to live in the area, or buy a total renovation job but neither me or my husband has any interest in DIY.

As you are close by in NZ why not come over for a weekend visit to Melbourne and then to Sydney? Employment prospects are probably similiar in both cities. I would hope Sydney salaries are higher than Melbourne to compensate the property prices but I don't know for sure.

Wol

I've no doubt that I'll get shot down for saying this, and in any cases it's horses for curses, but IMO Sydney is a dump. We spent 5 months looking for a home, on a daily basis, and eventually just left the place - and have never looked back.

It's well known that there's little love lost between Sydney & Melbourne but we were shocked at how the former has gone downhill over the last 20-30 years.

Pomster

Having visited some UK friends in Auckland recently, you might find the move to Sydney too much of a culture shock!

Melbourne- house prices are OK, I think public transport is far superior and cheaper, and food is fabulous. City is much smaller, and beach areas are expensive or far away.

Schools- seem to be lots of them!

Amanda

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pomster

Having visited some UK friends in Auckland recently, you might find the move to Sydney too much of a culture shock!

Melbourne- house prices are OK, I think public transport is far superior and cheaper, and food is fabulous. City is much smaller, and beach areas are expensive or far away.

Schools- seem to be lots of them!

Thanks for the reply. I would be grateful if you could elaborate further on why you think we might find moving to Sydney a culture shock. Is that the experience of your UK friends currently in Auckland?

Without wishing to offend anybody (seriously) are there any other people who also think that NZ is a third world country (as nice as it is) and still has a lot of growing up to do?

Having been to Oz on holiday a couple of years ago, it seemed that it was a about 15-20 years ahead. Is this wrong and did we form the wrong impression from our limited time there?

Thanks,

D&M.

Pomster

More because Sydney is a very busy heaving city, with population of 4 million- I think it is a lot like London, while Auckland always seems very sleepy!

I used to live in London, and now find it too much after being in Melbourne for 6 years...I like visiting Sydney, but could not live there- I prefer the more relaxed pace of Melbourne. There again we all like very different things, and what I like may not be the right choice for you.

hubbard

Not sure about the food but agree with the rest but Sydney has, in my eyes a warmer, drier, more stable climate than Melbourne and that, to us, after three years in Auckland, outweighed cheaper housing and better transport links. I think to many new migrants it is a big pull factor to Sydney as a destination over Melbourne.

Milo

I agree with you to some extent Wol,

Just returned from dropping eldest daughter at Enmore TAFE, what a dump of an area, however, there are some equally beautiful areas here in Sydney, if you look in the inner city areas your not likely to find anything worth living in IMO. That is why we chose to go further south with only 30 mins of travelling by train to Sydney CBD and 10 mins to the beach, once you venture out and see these places I don't think you could put the whole city in the same catagory, and where we live there are plenty 4 bed properties under $900,000.

Southern highlands are beautiful but can be very cold in winter IMO

Marie