ukecadet

It's good being able to warm your bollocks by the fire though.I could never do that in Perth.

Jason mears

Ukecadet
I guess after -16 here in the UK, my nuts are warm enough (-;

ukecadet

yeah...well you might find you'll be dangling your nuts in an esky full of ice come summer in Perth.

Jason mears

We will see, thanks
Things are changing daily

Buzzy--Bee

Totally totally agree.

You won't know what you're going to miss about the UK until you get here and many people are very happy in Perth I'm sure but I love the seasons here and I have to smile when I see people's updates from places like Perth saying they miss the UK seasons, or crisp autumn days or something.

BB

GeordieGeek

We have been on a fact finding mission in the St Kilda, Mornington area for the last 2 weeks and these are my thoughts / rants which might be of some use to someone. Obviously these are all IMHO:

• Melbourne is still hot now on sunny days in Autumn - 22c is like a good UK day up North where I am from! Summer would probably be too much for my Mrs and I personally would prefer 4 seasons over 30c+ every day in the like of Perth / Gold Coast etc
• Melbourne is tied with Hong Kong as my favourite city in the World. It has a great feel and I genuinely love it but it would be no good to live in the city with kids as even in the burbs there are only little patches of green.
• Property is in a HUGE bubble over here and it feels like 2006 in the UK all over again. Every little town must be 50% estate agents and there are property magazines / articles spewing out of every newspaper and information box. 9 x income mortgages are available apparently!!!
• Fresh produce, meat and the general cost of living is much higher than the UK.
• All the little towns feel the same and bore me. The formula seems to be precincts of shops next to a main road through the town then another 10km to the same thing and repeat.
• There are no pubs - I realise the small English country pubs could not be replicated over here but the hotels / drive through bottle shops etc are simply not the same as being able to pull up in any town and get a good beer and have a sensible chat.
• I HATE MOSQUITOES - It's autumn and I must have 30 bites!
• The opportunities for kids outside of school and the school buildings are great here - definitely better than the UK. This is the main reason we came over here but the standard of living we would have in any jobs / house that I have seen and think we could have in the next 3-4 years whilst your housing bubble and economy slowly deflate means we are likely to stay in the UK
• There are a lot of Chinese people here. Before anyone starts shouting racist etc I am not bothered by this but find it fascinating as it shows the Chinese are really interested in Australia as a place to live / invest not just consume everything you have buried in the ground.
• Apparently the unions are wanting to have minimum wage over here to be $380 per week which at current exchange rates makes it over £10 hour. This highlights the different stages of boom and bust the UK and AUS are in perfectly.
• The time for Brits to move across and have enough cash to risk on starting a fresh life was when we were last here on 2.5 - 3 AUS $ to the £

Jason mears

Buzzy bee
I was in Australia some years ago, 1995 ,playing rugby for a team in NSW for a season, I loved the weather and didn't miss the seasons at all, but I understand what some people mean by missing crisp mornings in autumn

ozzieeagle

Thats the only dot point I will take you up on.. Plenty of Good pubs around Brunswick/Fitzroy and Carlton. The best places are more Bars than Pubs though... try the Brunswick Green. A lot of places like this around here.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps/place...87885412838436

Not a damn pokie to be seen, in the good pubs.

Where you see Pokies you have a sterile crap hole.

The Crow

Yes, I was also going to comment on that - there are a number of 'proper' pubs around the Dandenong Ranges - I have two within walking distance

Also, there are plenty of large green wedges in suburbia - but obviously you have only touched the tip of the iceberg and were unfortunate not to find any. We are on the edge of the Ranges, so that's a bit different. However, there are some lovely area close into the city, such as the Yarra Bend park to name but one.

hevs

Agreed. When we move up to the hills we will have a couple of pups on our door step and a great live music bar thingy

There are so many parks in the burbs, I'm amazed by just how many there are

GG, where did you base your explorations? But have to agree with you on most other points

Buzzy--Bee

Yep. We've got about 5 within walking distance. And its a 5 min drive to one that is 316 hectares!

BB

hevs

You can take Badge jogging round there We will have 4 within walking distance (actually the same as we have now in the burbs!) BUT one of those "Parks" will be Sherbrooke Forest Soooo excited

GeordieGeek

Glad I haven't been shot down in flames for the majority of my points

I appreciate that there are nice parks around the city but that wouldn't be enough for me and my family - I want sea + countryside + easy access to the city in somewhere that has some character and history... I think! I have never lived in a city and as great as Melbourne is I guess city living isn't for me.

I also understand there are bound to be some exceptions to the pub point I also made but I would like soulless bars / hotel bars to be the exception not the norm.

We said before we came over for this second time (previously drove around most of Oz 5 years ago) that we would both need to be really excited / wowed to give up everything we have in the UK and so far we haven't.

We are off to Tasmania next which might give us the feeling we are after but at this stage I am happy to finally settle properly in the UK after a worldwide search of where I want to raise my family.

fish.01

I can add some trivia to this

In Brisbane a high-set is usually a raised 1940's to 70's home with the main living, kitchen and bedrooms upstairs and often a garage underneath - and sometimes a retrofitted rumpus room, teenage bedroom next to the garage. Pre 1945 queenslanders on stumps are often called high-sets as well as they broadly fit this criteria.

When the modern two storey houses arrived in the 80's with the living and kitchen downstairs and the bedrooms upstairs they were, and are, known as a 'double storey house' or more commonly now a 'two storey house'.

Rambi

I think Melbourne and its surrounds is a great place to bring up kids.

For younger kids the beaches on the bay are perfect. Obviously no good for surfing but great for everything else. There are tons of parks, playgrounds and wilderness. In winter the snow is not that far away and for snowballs and snowmen, sometimes it can be as close as the Dandenongs.

Could do with more skating rinks.