Re: Melbourne - any problem areas?
 

Yep, totally concur and you can add Dandenong, Broadmeadows and Footscray to your list of 'best avoided' suburbs. I know Footscray has been cleaned up a lot in the last few years but inevitably it just means the drug problem moves elsewhere.

You can get suburb profiles, including crime statistics, median real estate prices, age profile, occupation profile at www.domain.com.au and I think www.realestate.com.au (but you may have to pay for some of the stats). Lilydale/Mooroolbark etc is well away from the aforementioned burbs as HP has mentioned.

OzTennis:)

Thanks OzTennis. Thanks for the links too.

As for the "bad" areas. How bad are they? I mean, do they compare to "bad" areas in the UK, or are they not quite so "bad"?

I wonder if those bad areas have adopted the dress code we seem to have over here (well, in the North-west of England, at least). The dress code I mean is the scruffy baseball cap perched aloft a shaven head, tracksuit legs tucked into dirty socks and the obligatory Tommy Hilfiger\Matalan striped top. A new style is also emerging. It is clothing with a graffiti font through it. I think it'll be big this summer.

There's also a trendy new passtime I've seen in these parts. It seems to be a new sport of scally-jaywalking. They walk in the road and give you the "deliverance stare", trying to look big and hard cos they are dicing with death, walking in the road. They also show contempt for the cars. How dare we have the audacity to drive our cars on the roads they want to walk on? Shame on us!

I sound bitter, don't I? hehe Sorry, I'm not. I am dismayed at the way things are going though.

No two ways about it these bad areas can be bad but if you don't mind me saying I don't think quite as bad as the worst areas of London, Manchester or Liverpool if that's any consolation.

Essentially it is the same problem of drugs, and all the things that go with it such as burglary, prostitution etc as well as bored teenagers, gangs (particularly on 'ethnic lines'). You have to be careful in certain parts of the CBD too, particularly at night. Bourke Street between Russell Streets and Exhibition Streets is quite well known in this respect. Don't go using an ATM by yourself late at night for example as you may suddenly find someone with a dirty needle behind you wanting the money, card and PIN number!

I think the identification of trouble makers goes something like this - what they wear in L.A. or Chicago appears a little later in Britain and then later still in Australia. The hooded top, baseball cap, baggy trousers, designer labels etc are common. And speaking of the 'graffiti top' how do those people at French Connection United Kingdom (and their imitators such as Officers Club, Matalan etc) get away with the words that appear on some of their clothing? **** I ask you!!

OzTennis:)

**** are over-priced pap. No offense to those who have **** in their wardrobe :)

I should know this, but do the police carry guns as standard in Oz?

grafitti font down under? look no further than Billabong t-shirts

jay walking will get you killed in Melbourne!! Cars rule, cheap petrol, lots of p plate hoons driving big V8 cars. They'll drive at you......

I have a lot of problems with motorist attitudes towards cyclists - how day they ride their bikes on the roads we want to drive on :rolleyes: horses for courses.

I would feel no safer travelling through Springvale at night than I would Toxteth or Moss Side to be honest. Car jackings happen in the city and there was a spate of incidents recently of bricks through tram windows - even in nice areas like Elsternwick. Again, horses for courses....good and bad all over

What brought you back to Cheshire, HP?

Melbourne not for you, or were you homesick?

1st baby due next month.
wasn't homesick, just opted for family support with 1st baby (altho I do have a sister in Vic). Saying that, not really a city person - we would have moved out of Melbourne itself if we hadn't gone back to UK.

Oh great!! Yes, I can imagine why you would want family around you. Especially as this is your first child.

I know my sister found it very difficult when she had her first in Melbourne.

Roy

and of course I just couldn't face being heavily pregnant in 40 degrees of Melbourne summer :D . So I decided to skip summer completely and come back just in time for UK winter :( :( :(

ouch!

I wonder what impact it will have on you, going a whole year without experiencing a summer!?

Do u know whether you are having a boy or a girl? I always thought Roy was a good name for a boy ;)

Roy

Its the wood, oh god, the wood:scared:

"Down town Dandy" reminds me of the poo hole of Birmingham and would not go there at night , ever!
However all the shops, including the big names,(harvey Norman etc) are cheaper there and great for big electrical purchases. I luurrvvee my new stove which i got there yesturday, in broad day light and with an armed body guard of course:D

Hevs,

I'll bring you all sorts of lettuce when I come over tomorrow!!!

Roy,

Have to say I haven't seen any elephants in Chirnside recently, but then again I have only been to the shopping centre and out on the road through to Warrandyte!! It's got really built up recently and they've put up a big golf village complex called The Heritage Golf Club. Bit like Stepford wives up there and the locals don't seem to keen on it. I think they're now having trouble selling the houses.

Lilydale and Mooroolbark have their good areas, esp top end Cardigan Rd, Edinburgh and Belfast Rds which is where Lilydale and Mooroolbark join. The 'main drag' isn't quite as good, bit daggy really and yes cars get broken into at the station a lot. The train takes an hr and costs $12 return. We prefer this area as not being city people it only takes us a few mins to either be in the Yarra Valley or up in the Dandenongs.

and some gardening gloves to help shift my wood?:D
And your bathers if its hot, so you can have a dip in the pool. x

Kilsyth
 

Hi Sausage

I live in Kilsyth and love the place. It's my childhood hangout too. My parents are still living in the same house after 30 years of being here.

We're probably going to try and find a house a bit further out, but still close enough to my daughter's school, which is in Mooroolbark.

Love the lifestyle out in the eastern suburbs, plenty of trees, lots of birds and a great view of the mountain.

As Suffolk Diva mentioned, it's very close to the Yarra Valley, so winery trips are a cert if nothing else.

Regards