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Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

Old Jun 12th 2017, 8:51 pm
  #16  
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Default Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

Yeah looking online and I've slowly started to realise that😳 Do you know anything about Redcliffe at all by chance? That "looks" quite nice with seemingly low crime. I guess if it was a peaceful place that was safe with a good school and and somewhat green then we wouldn't be opposed to living in the suburbs. I mean, if it was a pretty place that was good for families then it would be fine. We don't have much choice seeing as, as you say, the suburban sprawl goes on and on So if there are really nice suburbs you can recommend then please do!
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Old Jun 13th 2017, 3:52 am
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Default Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

I have lived in both Melb and Brisbane.


Couple of things, one, your budget for housing, I would say double for Melbourne, and wage differences are not that different, if much at all now.
More jobs, well maybe but also more population looking at them.


Two, how much heat can you stand?. Brisbane will be hot for a good eight months, and even out of that still low 20C in the day. Cool nights happen, but you could count them on one hand probably nowdays. Humidity is a factor, much of summer.


Melbourne, can be amazingly cold in winter on wet windy days, but most days more 15C then adjust for that feels like factor... Summer, honesty the most blistering days once it hits 35 -44+. Its a city, you feel it, Far more days over 30 than I was led to believe, some summers will have plenty of these days, and for some reason most homes are dark brown, black or reddish brown roofs and bricks, little insulation and basically a ice box in winter and sauna in summer. Horrible but plenty of summer days are not that hot at all.


You mentioned beaches a few times, Well Redcliffe area has beaches very similar to Melbourne beaches, both about 23 klm from city. BUT, if you want warm sunny, white sand surf beaches. Queensland.


Really quite different lifestyles, if your going to compare a beach burb in QLD to suburbs of Melb. I work/live between melb and sunshine coast/bris Brisbane, plus some months overseas, but my days in melb and sunshine coast could not be more different, right down to clothing required, what people look like !!, housing styles, general feel. Temps on any given day could vary by 15C . Queensland to me feels MUCH safer, you do get sick of the constant reporting of crime in Melbourne, visitors always notice it too.


Can be more on in in Melbourne, but be careful how you assess that, lots of sport. Events can be tricky, say an art exhibition, you will pay some crazy price to see 40 pictures, compared to say Washington or London see entire art museums for free. Dining out can be a expensive too, Ethnic bargains to be had in many suburbs though. Great drives from Melbourne and Brisbane on weekends say 1-3 hours drive. Melbourne better for interstate weekends, say Adelaide, Canberra, Tassie, Sydney.


Your budget and weather tolerance will be the big ones.
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Old Jun 13th 2017, 12:09 pm
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Default Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

I am a bit of a contrarian and so I would say, go to Brisbane all things being equal.

Property is better value, and might as well go for the significantly warmer climate.

Australia does get cold. I am in WA but it is near- or below-freezing every night where I am, and as another poster noted, housing here isn't really built for temperature extremes. My house turns into an icebox and I think you will feel that in Melbourne.

Melbourne to me is in something of an economic and cultural bubble right now, and is the "it" place that everyone wants to go to. If everyone is zigging sometimes you have to zag.

Brisbane might also have some outer areas that meet your requirements - I am sure there are people who commute in from Toowoomba or parts of the Gold Coast.

I have not come across any hostility towards Brits or really anyone else.
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Old Jun 13th 2017, 2:48 pm
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Default Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

This is all great, thank you very much!
So many homes have air conditioning as standard? I know that in the US just about every home does in the warmer states and they get (for the most part) nowhere near as hot as Australia (with the exception of some parts of Nevada and the like). So I would have thought Australia would but then when you said about houses it made me think air consitioning there might not be as standard?
I think we are leaning towards Brisbane. Would love to know how the people, style, culture etc is different from the Melbourne area as someone noted in a previous post. Jus out of interest, what's a typical wardrobe consist of annually for a Brisbane inhabitant then? Well, an hour+ north on by the coast. I'm quite intrigued from all you have said!
And any recommendations on nice, safe, pretty places to live in Queensland that are close to the coast, commutable to Brisbane (an hour/hour and a half is fine) and perhaps within easy reach of Chermside (say within 30 minutes). As mentioned, I've looked into Redcliffe if anyone knows this area and what it's like? Perhaps Newport or is there anywhere else that anyone thinks is clean, family oriented, fun, safe and nice looking?
Many thanks for everything!
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Old Jun 13th 2017, 3:09 pm
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Default Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

Beachmere? Deception Bay? Newport? Redcliffe? Are there any others? Which is the best in terms of being safe, good for families, clean etc.? A big part would come down to primary schools too. We would be hopeful for a private primary school in the under $10,000 a year bracket, (considerably if possible!) I did find a lovely looking Montissori school but it was quite near Brisbane if I remember right and so we'd be too far out if we lived in the areas I mentioned. That school was $2,000 a year which is much better budget wise! We would try for a non religious private school too unless it was a private school where religion wasn't the main drive even though it was classed as a religious school - if that makes sense! We're not opposed to public school at all so long as it was a really nice school that had excellent results and prides itself on caring for the children and letting them enjoy their schooling. Private or public it would have to be a fairly small school (no more than 300 students if possible). The list of demands is getting longer :-/
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Old Jun 15th 2017, 10:57 pm
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Default Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

Melbournes biggest draw card is it's Urban Heart, It's up there with the best Cities in the world in terms of inner urban living. It is family friendly but I sense it's not really inner urban living that you're after. Although having said that, Melbourne being far more multi cultural than Brisbane you'll almost certainly get far less "Not another Pom" if indeed any at all in Melbourne.
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Old Jun 16th 2017, 3:14 pm
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Default Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

Regarding suburbs near Brisbane with enough centre of gravity to have their own shopping and facilities, my wife and I (who I should point out are not in Australia yet) were looking south into the Logan district.

From what I've read you do want to pick your suburb wisely as for example Logan Central isn't particularly pretty, but Springwood, Cornubia, Daisy Hill look to be 25 minutes drive from the CBD on the weekend and about 45 minutes in a daily commute.

Anyone that lives around here and can comment?
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Old Jun 16th 2017, 3:37 pm
  #23  
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Default Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

Originally Posted by davey6693
Regarding suburbs near Brisbane with enough centre of gravity to have their own shopping and facilities, my wife and I (who I should point out are not in Australia yet) were looking south into the Logan district.

From what I've read you do want to pick your suburb wisely as for example Logan Central isn't particularly pretty, but Springwood, Cornubia, Daisy Hill look to be 25 minutes drive from the CBD on the weekend and about 45 minutes in a daily commute.

Anyone that lives around here and can comment?
Deadvim is down that way, he still pops in to the forum from time to time. Have a search of his old posts as he has posted a bit about the area.
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Old Jun 17th 2017, 2:44 am
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Default Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

Originally Posted by Pollyana
Deadvim is down that way, he still pops in to the forum from time to time. Have a search of his old posts as he has posted a bit about the area.
Thanks Pollyana, I'll take a look at this. I also noticed a handy map today showing where some users have chosen to display where they live. That'll help as well.
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Old Jun 17th 2017, 7:13 am
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Default Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

Melbourne all the way.
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Old Jun 18th 2017, 10:45 am
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Default Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

Originally Posted by Beoz
Melbourne all the way.
Brisbane still a bit of a backwater. Can you deal with humidity? Melb hot days are dry and with little humidity and long summer nights which cool off quickly (sometimes too quickly for that evening out). It takes a fair run of hot days to get a hot night - a few a year. Last summer we barely had any 37-40 degree days - some years simply miss out and you can count them in other years on the fingers of one hand. It's more likely to be 27-34 with weekly changes.

Of course crime is reported on TV - that what TV is for (and it's tabloid TV here). There are over 3M people here.

Melbourne ticks a lot of boxes - and the inner burbs are simply stunning. Just watch out for the new estates. Housing cost is the biggest issue.

Last edited by BadgeIsBack; Jun 18th 2017 at 10:47 am.
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Old Jun 18th 2017, 11:33 am
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Default Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

Originally Posted by BadgeIsBack
Brisbane still a bit of a backwater. Can you deal with humidity? Melb hot days are dry and with little humidity and long summer nights which cool off quickly (sometimes too quickly for that evening out). It takes a fair run of hot days to get a hot night - a few a year. Last summer we barely had any 37-40 degree days - some years simply miss out and you can count them in other years on the fingers of one hand. It's more likely to be 27-34 with weekly changes.

Of course crime is reported on TV - that what TV is for (and it's tabloid TV here). There are over 3M people here.

Melbourne ticks a lot of boxes - and the inner burbs are simply stunning. Just watch out for the new estates. Housing cost is the biggest issue.
Melbourne housing is cheap from where I stand.
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Old Jun 18th 2017, 12:43 pm
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Default Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

Originally Posted by ozzieeagle
Melbournes biggest draw card is it's Urban Heart, It's up there with the best Cities in the world in terms of inner urban living. It is family friendly but I sense it's not really inner urban living that you're after. Although having said that, Melbourne being far more multi cultural than Brisbane you'll almost certainly get far less "Not another Pom" if indeed any at all in Melbourne.
Granted I'm not in Brisbane, but I've never heard anything close to 'Not another Pom'.
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Old Jun 19th 2017, 8:02 am
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Default Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

You might also find better beaches in Melbourne : Brisbane doesn't have them as such. There is no Daylight saving up North : dark at what 745pm in mid summer. In Melbourne it's still light approaching 9pm at the solstice.

Brisbane has beautiful winters : this is where Melbourne can suck, but there are bright sunny days just not so many. (Nowhere near as many). But Melbourne Spring and summer are almost like British summers and could be warmer and Autumn is the best time of year.
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Old Jun 29th 2017, 3:58 am
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Default Re: Melbourne or Brisbane for a British family?

Originally Posted by ABD79
Hello!
We may be looking at a possible relocation to either Melbourne or Brisbane with my husband's job (because of the nature of his work, we could potentially live in either). I was just wondering if anyone living in those areas could maybe help me?
- Which would you say is better for three young children?
- Which is safer?
- Any good primary schools anyone can recommend?
- Do people dislike British people generally in Australia?
- We would look to live about 45 minutes (to an hour) from the city but would like to live within half an hour from the coast so we can see the sea regularly...any suggestions as to nice towns to live? Maybe a clean, safe town not far from a major town so we can get shopping easily etc.?

Many thanks! Any help will be really appreciated
Maybe try somewhere on the Sunshine Coast. It's a lovely place to live (however I would stay away from Caboolture). Chancellor state college primary and Buderim primary are great schools.
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