Martin J

Accepted the position in Melbourne from my company last week! Sooo excited about the whole thing! I officially start my new role on Sept 1st, but will be travelling a few weeks earlier to get the detail sorted on rented property, bank etc.

I think i asked this before, but is it best to just pitch up in a hotel for a couple of weeks then go looking for a rented property or can i do it from here? Some of the websites such as realestate.com.au look reputable enough but not sure if they would trust anyone coming from the UK unless they were in Oz already.

The house is the main one. I already opened a Westpac account so no worries there.

Any advice on the house front folks?

Bix da Boss

Hi Martin
Congrats on job - bet you are really excited and so you should be!
On the house rental front, in our opinion, it wld be better to stay in a hotel/apartment for a few weeks and research the areas you want to rent in and see it for yourself before committing, unless, you have a friend already in Melbourne who cld do it for you. When viewing 'online' it is impossible to see what the street is like, whats around it, the real state of the property etc! We have been there a few times and def glad we viewed before sigining the dotted line!

Good luck for Sept 1st!

Gill

Martin J

Gill, we have friends there already. I would like to see it myself though and so the hotel, apartment idea is a good one.

When we visited last year, we stayed at Langhams Hotel. Simply gorgeous, maybe we could manage a week or so there and recover from the jetlag in style!

We are concentrating on the South East suburbs such as St Kilda, Elwood, Sandringham, Brighton, Hampton Moorabbin etc.

I think being close to the sea will help with homesickness in the first 12 months (well thats my excuse anyway )

Martin J

Cripes, just read some of the posts on beasties!! I am ridiculoously phobic about spiders or anything that is likely to take a bite out of my bum!

I am planning on some hypnotherapy to help me get over the worst of it.

Better than that, I am a 6ft 2", 16st male!! Play rugby and soccer and lift weights for fun! Yet the minute i see anything crawling near me, I just about pass out!! Full on panic attacks!

Why on earth are you coming to Australia then? I hear you say...but surely they cant be at epidemic proportions if you take the right precautions?

I will need to read up on which ones to really look out for and what to do if i meet one in a dark alley!

Bix da Boss

Martin, now now B4 arriving in Cairns I too was/am absolutely spider phobic believe me!! Stories, stories stories, you hear them all the time, but generally most people dont see that many !! Melbourne might be diff dont know, never been there.

Dont let it put you off - besides, you are bigger than they are

Gill