Melbourne to live.
Dec 15th 2004, 9:03 pm
#1
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 10,375
Melbourne to live.
Just returned from Melb, not the usual visit to rellies, dining out,shopping etc but a look see can I live there? To get a real feel we hired car, rented unit in Ferntree gully (SE suburbs).
Traffic, theory was we should be 35 minutes from the CBD, even at 11 am it took a lot longer to get there, traffic very heavy all the time, Melbourne seems very populated with traffic to match almost everywhere we went, after arrival we attempted many trips in peak times and school time to get realistic picture, not good and even a trip to the beach suburbs at 9am on a sunday morning was laden with traffic, fine day, everyone with same idea?
Weather, great and funny, it was a mere 28 with a few showers and everyone kept greeting us with "Its so hot!" from queensland we were wearing jeans and jackets not even warm and they were calling it humid, heaven if thats hot and humid let me at it! As with every trip to melb we have ever done it was grey often. But even then many days have this sunny spell where you can get your dash of sunshine if you need it, probably more enjoyable than constant blazing sun.
Flies, this was a total surprise and not good, Ive never been to melb in december before and the flies were a shock, those disgusting ones that stick to your ears, mouth, nose, the kids hour at the park turned into a run back to the unit after 15 mins with us shaking flies off at the door, rich assured me they would all drop dead in a few days when the heat
28 degrees returned to cold and they did but hell they are bad when its warm.
Housing, I think I had kidded myself with a false picture from the internet. Plenty of suburbs has housing around the $300,000 that is so cheap compared to where we live, but it really is awful old crap! and it doesnt look that way on the net! We liked the areas like olinda, emerald, Kallista etc beaut countryside but even looking at stuff $450,000 it was mainly 1960's to 80's stuff with lots of fibro, now mouldy and rotting, asbestos makes renovating a challenge and being with a builder husband I can quite clearly see a lot of what is for sale really needs a new house put up not a reno. Further south and into the city a lot of suburbs were just plain rough. Finding land would be ideal, just wish you could find any! Very hard to get. Unless of course you like the new housing estates with postage stamp size blocks, huge mass produced housing, and snobbery to the extent one estate offers you the chance to purchase a beach hut on a fake hole of water to emulate the up market bayside suburbs... OMG its too sad really.
Shops or is that malls. Great fantastic wonderful and BIG. Looks like a lot of life goes on at the mall, people seem to live there especially those with kids, big cinemas complexes too. Unfortunately the big food courts and BIG people to match are large as life in melbourne too, not just queensland.
Gangs, not the mafia one but the 15 year old ones. Surly kids in hoodies and baseball caps cruising the mall and streets, not really doing anything that bad just rowdy really but a bit of a concern with us having kids approaching that age group! and very tarty girls, in little sequined tops and minis, heels and enough make up to look like mini hookers. We had the dubious pleasure of being placed in a unit right opposite a petrol station, each night we would be woken at least 3 times by some sort of drunken, druggie behaviour right outside the window. Hoon type driving probably worse, all night cars just revving it up and burning out, glass everywhere most mornings, interesting because if we had stayed in our usual spot with relatives in quiet street in Beaumaris we probably would not have said much like this went on.
City, few nasty surprises. We started at Flinders street station, busting for a pee, we went into a Mcdondalds now I dont visit these places ever, so maybe this is normal? but I dont think so. Ladies loo, Half height doors! just covering the necessary bits for privacy, leaving the occupant with no privacy to do ??? (my guess shooting up), confirmed by kids at counter, "we get a lot of junkies in here", nice I'll just have a coffee thanks
Litter everywhere but lots of backpacker accom and few pubs but not a good start for a area just off federation square (the most visited tourist attraction in victoria according to the blurb). Funnily as we sat and drank the coffee the herald sun had a spread on Beggars and the need to get them off the street, we only saw two tho. A small article also told us 2000 syringes are found on St Kilda beach each year and thats manually after the machines have cleaned up untold more!! I have to admire this state tho, it does not deny its problems its very upfront and honest for australia.
Schools, big distinciton between private and state, some private were up to $16,000 a year!! imagine 2 kids just doing 5 years of high school thats $160,000 or more like $320,000 in pre tax money. State schools varied, I didnt like the way they seemed tagged with bright yellow, red and green uniforms while the private had toned down navy etc, but even in state most offered languages and music for a small fee so some were quite apealing despite the obvious rich/poor gap that seemed to be going on.
I wish we had more time there we needed at least a month to expolre suburbs, theres a lot for sale but the good stuff must get snapped up quickly, I think you would have to rent and spend many weekends searching.
Traffic, theory was we should be 35 minutes from the CBD, even at 11 am it took a lot longer to get there, traffic very heavy all the time, Melbourne seems very populated with traffic to match almost everywhere we went, after arrival we attempted many trips in peak times and school time to get realistic picture, not good and even a trip to the beach suburbs at 9am on a sunday morning was laden with traffic, fine day, everyone with same idea?
Weather, great and funny, it was a mere 28 with a few showers and everyone kept greeting us with "Its so hot!" from queensland we were wearing jeans and jackets not even warm and they were calling it humid, heaven if thats hot and humid let me at it! As with every trip to melb we have ever done it was grey often. But even then many days have this sunny spell where you can get your dash of sunshine if you need it, probably more enjoyable than constant blazing sun.
Flies, this was a total surprise and not good, Ive never been to melb in december before and the flies were a shock, those disgusting ones that stick to your ears, mouth, nose, the kids hour at the park turned into a run back to the unit after 15 mins with us shaking flies off at the door, rich assured me they would all drop dead in a few days when the heat
28 degrees returned to cold and they did but hell they are bad when its warm.Housing, I think I had kidded myself with a false picture from the internet. Plenty of suburbs has housing around the $300,000 that is so cheap compared to where we live, but it really is awful old crap! and it doesnt look that way on the net! We liked the areas like olinda, emerald, Kallista etc beaut countryside but even looking at stuff $450,000 it was mainly 1960's to 80's stuff with lots of fibro, now mouldy and rotting, asbestos makes renovating a challenge and being with a builder husband I can quite clearly see a lot of what is for sale really needs a new house put up not a reno. Further south and into the city a lot of suburbs were just plain rough. Finding land would be ideal, just wish you could find any! Very hard to get. Unless of course you like the new housing estates with postage stamp size blocks, huge mass produced housing, and snobbery to the extent one estate offers you the chance to purchase a beach hut on a fake hole of water to emulate the up market bayside suburbs... OMG its too sad really.
Shops or is that malls. Great fantastic wonderful and BIG. Looks like a lot of life goes on at the mall, people seem to live there especially those with kids, big cinemas complexes too. Unfortunately the big food courts and BIG people to match are large as life in melbourne too, not just queensland.
Gangs, not the mafia one
but the 15 year old ones. Surly kids in hoodies and baseball caps cruising the mall and streets, not really doing anything that bad just rowdy really but a bit of a concern with us having kids approaching that age group! and very tarty girls, in little sequined tops and minis, heels and enough make up to look like mini hookers. We had the dubious pleasure of being placed in a unit right opposite a petrol station, each night we would be woken at least 3 times by some sort of drunken, druggie behaviour right outside the window. Hoon type driving probably worse, all night cars just revving it up and burning out, glass everywhere most mornings, interesting because if we had stayed in our usual spot with relatives in quiet street in Beaumaris we probably would not have said much like this went on. City, few nasty surprises. We started at Flinders street station, busting for a pee, we went into a Mcdondalds now I dont visit these places ever, so maybe this is normal? but I dont think so. Ladies loo, Half height doors! just covering the necessary bits for privacy, leaving the occupant with no privacy to do ??? (my guess shooting up), confirmed by kids at counter, "we get a lot of junkies in here", nice I'll just have a coffee thanks
Litter everywhere but lots of backpacker accom and few pubs but not a good start for a area just off federation square (the most visited tourist attraction in victoria according to the blurb). Funnily as we sat and drank the coffee the herald sun had a spread on Beggars and the need to get them off the street, we only saw two tho. A small article also told us 2000 syringes are found on St Kilda beach each year and thats manually after the machines have cleaned up untold more!! I have to admire this state tho, it does not deny its problems its very upfront and honest for australia.Schools, big distinciton between private and state, some private were up to $16,000 a year!! imagine 2 kids just doing 5 years of high school thats $160,000 or more like $320,000 in pre tax money. State schools varied, I didnt like the way they seemed tagged with bright yellow, red and green uniforms while the private had toned down navy etc, but even in state most offered languages and music for a small fee so some were quite apealing despite the obvious rich/poor gap that seemed to be going on.
I wish we had more time there we needed at least a month to expolre suburbs, theres a lot for sale but the good stuff must get snapped up quickly, I think you would have to rent and spend many weekends searching.
Last edited by jad n rich; Dec 15th 2004 at 9:09 pm.
Dec 15th 2004, 9:28 pm
#2
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2004
Location: london
Posts: 43
Re: Melbourne to live.
Originally Posted by jad n rich
Just returned from Melb, not the usual visit to rellies, dining out,shopping etc but a look see can I live there? To get a real feel we hired car, rented unit in Ferntree gully (SE suburbs).
Traffic, theory was we should be 35 minutes from the CBD, even at 11 am it took a lot longer to get there, traffic very heavy all the time, Melbourne seems very populated with traffic to match almost everywhere we went, after arrival we attempted many trips in peak times and school time to get realistic picture, not good and even a trip to the beach suburbs at 9am on a sunday morning was laden with traffic, fine day, everyone with same idea?
Weather, great and funny, it was a mere 28 with a few showers and everyone kept greeting us with "Its so hot!" from queensland we were wearing jeans and jackets not even warm and they were calling it humid, heaven if thats hot and humid let me at it! As with every trip to melb we have ever done it was grey often. But even then many days have this sunny spell where you can get your dash of sunshine if you need it, probably more enjoyable than constant blazing sun.
Flies, this was a total surprise and not good, Ive never been to melb in december before and the flies were a shock, those disgusting ones that stick to your ears, mouth, nose, the kids hour at the park turned into a run back to the unit after 15 mins with us shaking flies off at the door, rich assured me they would all drop dead in a few days when the heat 28 degrees returned to cold and they did but hell they are bad when its warm.
Housing, I think I had kidded myself with a false picture from the internet. Plenty of suburbs has housing around the $300,000 that is so cheap compared to where we live, but it really is awful old crap! and it doesnt look that way on the net! We liked the areas like olinda, emerald, Kallista etc beaut countryside but even looking at stuff $450,000 it was mainly 1960's to 80's stuff with lots of fibro, now mouldy and rotting, asbestos makes renovating a challenge and being with a builder husband I can quite clearly see a lot of what is for sale really needs a new house put up not a reno. Further south and into the city a lot of suburbs were just plain rough. Finding land would be ideal, just wish you could find any! Very hard to get. Unless of course you like the new housing estates with postage stamp size blocks, huge mass produced housing, and snobbery to the extent one estate offers you the chance to purchase a beach hut on a fake hole of water to emulate the up market bayside suburbs... OMG its too sad really.
Shops or is that malls. Great fantastic wonderful and BIG. Looks like a lot of life goes on at the mall, people seem to live there especially those with kids, big cinemas complexes too. Unfortunately the big food courts and BIG people to match are large as life in melbourne too, not just queensland.
Gangs, not the mafia one but the 15 year old ones. Surly kids in hoodies and baseball caps cruising the mall and streets, not really doing anything that bad just rowdy really but a bit of a concern with us having kids approaching that age group! and very tarty girls, in little sequined tops and minis, heels and enough make up to look like mini hookers. We had the dubious pleasure of being placed in a unit right opposite a petrol station, each night we would be woken at least 3 times by some sort of drunken, druggie behaviour right outside the window. Hoon type driving probably worse, all night cars just revving it up and burning out, glass everywhere most mornings, interesting because if we had stayed in our usual spot with relatives in quiet street in Beaumaris we probably would not have said much like this went on.
City, few nasty surprises. We started at Flinders street station, busting for a pee, we went into a Mcdondalds now I dont visit these places ever, so maybe this is normal? but I dont think so. Ladies loo, Half height doors! just covering the necessary bits for privacy, leaving the occupant with no privacy to do ??? (my guess shooting up), confirmed by kids at counter, "we get a lot of junkies in here", nice I'll just have a coffee thanks Litter everywhere but lots of backpacker accom and few pubs but not a good start for a area just off federation square (the most visited tourist attraction in victoria according to the blurb). Funnily as we sat and drank the coffee the herald sun had a spread on Beggars and the need to get them off the street, we only saw two tho. A small article also told us 2000 syringes are found on St Kilda beach each year and thats manually after the machines have cleaned up untold more!! I have to admire this state tho, it does not deny its problems its very upfront and honest for australia.
Schools, big distinciton between private and state, some private were up to $16,000 a year!! imagine 2 kids just doing 5 years of high school thats $160,000 or more like $320,000 in pre tax money. State schools varied, I didnt like the way they seemed tagged with bright yellow, red and green uniforms while the private had toned down navy etc, but even in state most offered languages and music for a small fee so some were quite apealing despite the obvious rich/poor gap that seemed to be going on.
I wish we had more time there we needed at least a month to expolre suburbs, theres a lot for sale but the good stuff must get snapped up quickly, I think you would have to rent and spend many weekends searching.
Traffic, theory was we should be 35 minutes from the CBD, even at 11 am it took a lot longer to get there, traffic very heavy all the time, Melbourne seems very populated with traffic to match almost everywhere we went, after arrival we attempted many trips in peak times and school time to get realistic picture, not good and even a trip to the beach suburbs at 9am on a sunday morning was laden with traffic, fine day, everyone with same idea?
Weather, great and funny, it was a mere 28 with a few showers and everyone kept greeting us with "Its so hot!" from queensland we were wearing jeans and jackets not even warm and they were calling it humid, heaven if thats hot and humid let me at it! As with every trip to melb we have ever done it was grey often. But even then many days have this sunny spell where you can get your dash of sunshine if you need it, probably more enjoyable than constant blazing sun.
Flies, this was a total surprise and not good, Ive never been to melb in december before and the flies were a shock, those disgusting ones that stick to your ears, mouth, nose, the kids hour at the park turned into a run back to the unit after 15 mins with us shaking flies off at the door, rich assured me they would all drop dead in a few days when the heat
28 degrees returned to cold and they did but hell they are bad when its warm.Housing, I think I had kidded myself with a false picture from the internet. Plenty of suburbs has housing around the $300,000 that is so cheap compared to where we live, but it really is awful old crap! and it doesnt look that way on the net! We liked the areas like olinda, emerald, Kallista etc beaut countryside but even looking at stuff $450,000 it was mainly 1960's to 80's stuff with lots of fibro, now mouldy and rotting, asbestos makes renovating a challenge and being with a builder husband I can quite clearly see a lot of what is for sale really needs a new house put up not a reno. Further south and into the city a lot of suburbs were just plain rough. Finding land would be ideal, just wish you could find any! Very hard to get. Unless of course you like the new housing estates with postage stamp size blocks, huge mass produced housing, and snobbery to the extent one estate offers you the chance to purchase a beach hut on a fake hole of water to emulate the up market bayside suburbs... OMG its too sad really.
Shops or is that malls. Great fantastic wonderful and BIG. Looks like a lot of life goes on at the mall, people seem to live there especially those with kids, big cinemas complexes too. Unfortunately the big food courts and BIG people to match are large as life in melbourne too, not just queensland.
Gangs, not the mafia one
but the 15 year old ones. Surly kids in hoodies and baseball caps cruising the mall and streets, not really doing anything that bad just rowdy really but a bit of a concern with us having kids approaching that age group! and very tarty girls, in little sequined tops and minis, heels and enough make up to look like mini hookers. We had the dubious pleasure of being placed in a unit right opposite a petrol station, each night we would be woken at least 3 times by some sort of drunken, druggie behaviour right outside the window. Hoon type driving probably worse, all night cars just revving it up and burning out, glass everywhere most mornings, interesting because if we had stayed in our usual spot with relatives in quiet street in Beaumaris we probably would not have said much like this went on. City, few nasty surprises. We started at Flinders street station, busting for a pee, we went into a Mcdondalds now I dont visit these places ever, so maybe this is normal? but I dont think so. Ladies loo, Half height doors! just covering the necessary bits for privacy, leaving the occupant with no privacy to do ??? (my guess shooting up), confirmed by kids at counter, "we get a lot of junkies in here", nice I'll just have a coffee thanks
Litter everywhere but lots of backpacker accom and few pubs but not a good start for a area just off federation square (the most visited tourist attraction in victoria according to the blurb). Funnily as we sat and drank the coffee the herald sun had a spread on Beggars and the need to get them off the street, we only saw two tho. A small article also told us 2000 syringes are found on St Kilda beach each year and thats manually after the machines have cleaned up untold more!! I have to admire this state tho, it does not deny its problems its very upfront and honest for australia.Schools, big distinciton between private and state, some private were up to $16,000 a year!! imagine 2 kids just doing 5 years of high school thats $160,000 or more like $320,000 in pre tax money. State schools varied, I didnt like the way they seemed tagged with bright yellow, red and green uniforms while the private had toned down navy etc, but even in state most offered languages and music for a small fee so some were quite apealing despite the obvious rich/poor gap that seemed to be going on.
I wish we had more time there we needed at least a month to expolre suburbs, theres a lot for sale but the good stuff must get snapped up quickly, I think you would have to rent and spend many weekends searching.
Dec 15th 2004, 9:38 pm
#3
BE Forum Addict
Joined: May 2003
Location: GC
Posts: 3,353
Re: Melbourne to live.
Originally Posted by jad n rich
Just returned from Melb, not the usual visit to rellies, dining out,shopping etc but a look see can I live there? To get a real feel we hired car, rented unit in Ferntree gully (SE suburbs).
Traffic, theory was we should be 35 minutes from the CBD, even at 11 am it took a lot longer to get there, traffic very heavy all the time, Melbourne seems very populated with traffic to match almost everywhere we went, after arrival we attempted many trips in peak times and school time to get realistic picture, not good and even a trip to the beach suburbs at 9am on a sunday morning was laden with traffic, fine day, everyone with same idea?
Weather, great and funny, it was a mere 28 with a few showers and everyone kept greeting us with "Its so hot!" from queensland we were wearing jeans and jackets not even warm and they were calling it humid, heaven if thats hot and humid let me at it! As with every trip to melb we have ever done it was grey often. But even then many days have this sunny spell where you can get your dash of sunshine if you need it, probably more enjoyable than constant blazing sun.
Flies, this was a total surprise and not good, Ive never been to melb in december before and the flies were a shock, those disgusting ones that stick to your ears, mouth, nose, the kids hour at the park turned into a run back to the unit after 15 mins with us shaking flies off at the door, rich assured me they would all drop dead in a few days when the heat 28 degrees returned to cold and they did but hell they are bad when its warm.
Housing, I think I had kidded myself with a false picture from the internet. Plenty of suburbs has housing around the $300,000 that is so cheap compared to where we live, but it really is awful old crap! and it doesnt look that way on the net! We liked the areas like olinda, emerald, Kallista etc beaut countryside but even looking at stuff $450,000 it was mainly 1960's to 80's stuff with lots of fibro, now mouldy and rotting, asbestos makes renovating a challenge and being with a builder husband I can quite clearly see a lot of what is for sale really needs a new house put up not a reno. Further south and into the city a lot of suburbs were just plain rough. Finding land would be ideal, just wish you could find any! Very hard to get. Unless of course you like the new housing estates with postage stamp size blocks, huge mass produced housing, and snobbery to the extent one estate offers you the chance to purchase a beach hut on a fake hole of water to emulate the up market bayside suburbs... OMG its too sad really.
Shops or is that malls. Great fantastic wonderful and BIG. Looks like a lot of life goes on at the mall, people seem to live there especially those with kids, big cinemas complexes too. Unfortunately the big food courts and BIG people to match are large as life in melbourne too, not just queensland.
Gangs, not the mafia one but the 15 year old ones. Surly kids in hoodies and baseball caps cruising the mall and streets, not really doing anything that bad just rowdy really but a bit of a concern with us having kids approaching that age group! and very tarty girls, in little sequined tops and minis, heels and enough make up to look like mini hookers. We had the dubious pleasure of being placed in a unit right opposite a petrol station, each night we would be woken at least 3 times by some sort of drunken, druggie behaviour right outside the window. Hoon type driving probably worse, all night cars just revving it up and burning out, glass everywhere most mornings, interesting because if we had stayed in our usual spot with relatives in quiet street in Beaumaris we probably would not have said much like this went on.
City, few nasty surprises. We started at Flinders street station, busting for a pee, we went into a Mcdondalds now I dont visit these places ever, so maybe this is normal? but I dont think so. Ladies loo, Half height doors! just covering the necessary bits for privacy, leaving the occupant with no privacy to do ??? (my guess shooting up), confirmed by kids at counter, "we get a lot of junkies in here", nice I'll just have a coffee thanks Litter everywhere but lots of backpacker accom and few pubs but not a good start for a area just off federation square (the most visited tourist attraction in victoria according to the blurb). Funnily as we sat and drank the coffee the herald sun had a spread on Beggars and the need to get them off the street, we only saw two tho. A small article also told us 2000 syringes are found on St Kilda beach each year and thats manually after the machines have cleaned up untold more!! I have to admire this state tho, it does not deny its problems its very upfront and honest for australia.
Schools, big distinciton between private and state, some private were up to $16,000 a year!! imagine 2 kids just doing 5 years of high school thats $160,000 or more like $320,000 in pre tax money. State schools varied, I didnt like the way they seemed tagged with bright yellow, red and green uniforms while the private had toned down navy etc, but even in state most offered languages and music for a small fee so some were quite apealing despite the obvious rich/poor gap that seemed to be going on.
I wish we had more time there we needed at least a month to expolre suburbs, theres a lot for sale but the good stuff must get snapped up quickly, I think you would have to rent and spend many weekends searching.
Traffic, theory was we should be 35 minutes from the CBD, even at 11 am it took a lot longer to get there, traffic very heavy all the time, Melbourne seems very populated with traffic to match almost everywhere we went, after arrival we attempted many trips in peak times and school time to get realistic picture, not good and even a trip to the beach suburbs at 9am on a sunday morning was laden with traffic, fine day, everyone with same idea?
Weather, great and funny, it was a mere 28 with a few showers and everyone kept greeting us with "Its so hot!" from queensland we were wearing jeans and jackets not even warm and they were calling it humid, heaven if thats hot and humid let me at it! As with every trip to melb we have ever done it was grey often. But even then many days have this sunny spell where you can get your dash of sunshine if you need it, probably more enjoyable than constant blazing sun.
Flies, this was a total surprise and not good, Ive never been to melb in december before and the flies were a shock, those disgusting ones that stick to your ears, mouth, nose, the kids hour at the park turned into a run back to the unit after 15 mins with us shaking flies off at the door, rich assured me they would all drop dead in a few days when the heat
28 degrees returned to cold and they did but hell they are bad when its warm.Housing, I think I had kidded myself with a false picture from the internet. Plenty of suburbs has housing around the $300,000 that is so cheap compared to where we live, but it really is awful old crap! and it doesnt look that way on the net! We liked the areas like olinda, emerald, Kallista etc beaut countryside but even looking at stuff $450,000 it was mainly 1960's to 80's stuff with lots of fibro, now mouldy and rotting, asbestos makes renovating a challenge and being with a builder husband I can quite clearly see a lot of what is for sale really needs a new house put up not a reno. Further south and into the city a lot of suburbs were just plain rough. Finding land would be ideal, just wish you could find any! Very hard to get. Unless of course you like the new housing estates with postage stamp size blocks, huge mass produced housing, and snobbery to the extent one estate offers you the chance to purchase a beach hut on a fake hole of water to emulate the up market bayside suburbs... OMG its too sad really.
Shops or is that malls. Great fantastic wonderful and BIG. Looks like a lot of life goes on at the mall, people seem to live there especially those with kids, big cinemas complexes too. Unfortunately the big food courts and BIG people to match are large as life in melbourne too, not just queensland.
Gangs, not the mafia one
but the 15 year old ones. Surly kids in hoodies and baseball caps cruising the mall and streets, not really doing anything that bad just rowdy really but a bit of a concern with us having kids approaching that age group! and very tarty girls, in little sequined tops and minis, heels and enough make up to look like mini hookers. We had the dubious pleasure of being placed in a unit right opposite a petrol station, each night we would be woken at least 3 times by some sort of drunken, druggie behaviour right outside the window. Hoon type driving probably worse, all night cars just revving it up and burning out, glass everywhere most mornings, interesting because if we had stayed in our usual spot with relatives in quiet street in Beaumaris we probably would not have said much like this went on. City, few nasty surprises. We started at Flinders street station, busting for a pee, we went into a Mcdondalds now I dont visit these places ever, so maybe this is normal? but I dont think so. Ladies loo, Half height doors! just covering the necessary bits for privacy, leaving the occupant with no privacy to do ??? (my guess shooting up), confirmed by kids at counter, "we get a lot of junkies in here", nice I'll just have a coffee thanks
Litter everywhere but lots of backpacker accom and few pubs but not a good start for a area just off federation square (the most visited tourist attraction in victoria according to the blurb). Funnily as we sat and drank the coffee the herald sun had a spread on Beggars and the need to get them off the street, we only saw two tho. A small article also told us 2000 syringes are found on St Kilda beach each year and thats manually after the machines have cleaned up untold more!! I have to admire this state tho, it does not deny its problems its very upfront and honest for australia.Schools, big distinciton between private and state, some private were up to $16,000 a year!! imagine 2 kids just doing 5 years of high school thats $160,000 or more like $320,000 in pre tax money. State schools varied, I didnt like the way they seemed tagged with bright yellow, red and green uniforms while the private had toned down navy etc, but even in state most offered languages and music for a small fee so some were quite apealing despite the obvious rich/poor gap that seemed to be going on.
I wish we had more time there we needed at least a month to expolre suburbs, theres a lot for sale but the good stuff must get snapped up quickly, I think you would have to rent and spend many weekends searching.
I know from your previous posts you were going to have a look at other places in Australia. Has this affected your decision - do you think you will return to the UK now?
Dec 15th 2004, 10:10 pm
#4
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 10,375
Re: Melbourne to live.
Originally Posted by debsy
Interesting observations Jad. I have not been to Melbourne yet so I cannot comment.
I know from your previous posts you were going to have a look at other places in Australia. Has this affected your decision - do you think you will return to the UK now?
I know from your previous posts you were going to have a look at other places in Australia. Has this affected your decision - do you think you will return to the UK now?
I would have liked to look at areas further down the coast, not the mega expensive, snobby bits like bueamauris & brighton but more down Frankstone way, it must still be under 90 mins from melbourne? If anyones down that way a update would be helpful. Thing is even tho Melbourne is only 2 cities away from brisbane its very expensive to keep going down, we pulled the kids out of school and fares alone cost just under $1000 but now its hols that could be treble
so I might just go on my own, Mount Macedon was another area I would have liked to investigate thats an hour north, think that might be the same tho, looks great but ? If anyones going to "do melbourne" as a research trip allowing more than 2 weeks might be a good idea especially if travelling with kids who only stand so much before sitting in the back playing we have now passed 78 Macdonalds with a bored tone of voice
Dec 15th 2004, 10:30 pm
#5
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Melbourne to live.
Originally Posted by jad n rich
Just returned from Melb, not the usual visit to rellies, dining out,shopping etc but a look see can I live there? To get a real feel we hired car, rented unit in Ferntree gully (SE suburbs).
Traffic, theory was we should be 35 minutes from the CBD, even at 11 am it took a lot longer to get there, traffic very heavy all the time, Melbourne seems very populated with traffic to match almost everywhere we went, after arrival we attempted many trips in peak times and school time to get realistic picture, not good and even a trip to the beach suburbs at 9am on a sunday morning was laden with traffic, fine day, everyone with same idea?
Weather, great and funny, it was a mere 28 with a few showers and everyone kept greeting us with "Its so hot!" from queensland we were wearing jeans and jackets not even warm and they were calling it humid, heaven if thats hot and humid let me at it! As with every trip to melb we have ever done it was grey often. But even then many days have this sunny spell where you can get your dash of sunshine if you need it, probably more enjoyable than constant blazing sun.
Flies, this was a total surprise and not good, Ive never been to melb in december before and the flies were a shock, those disgusting ones that stick to your ears, mouth, nose, the kids hour at the park turned into a run back to the unit after 15 mins with us shaking flies off at the door, rich assured me they would all drop dead in a few days when the heat 28 degrees returned to cold and they did but hell they are bad when its warm.
Housing, I think I had kidded myself with a false picture from the internet. Plenty of suburbs has housing around the $300,000 that is so cheap compared to where we live, but it really is awful old crap! and it doesnt look that way on the net! We liked the areas like olinda, emerald, Kallista etc beaut countryside but even looking at stuff $450,000 it was mainly 1960's to 80's stuff with lots of fibro, now mouldy and rotting, asbestos makes renovating a challenge and being with a builder husband I can quite clearly see a lot of what is for sale really needs a new house put up not a reno. Further south and into the city a lot of suburbs were just plain rough. Finding land would be ideal, just wish you could find any! Very hard to get. Unless of course you like the new housing estates with postage stamp size blocks, huge mass produced housing, and snobbery to the extent one estate offers you the chance to purchase a beach hut on a fake hole of water to emulate the up market bayside suburbs... OMG its too sad really.
Shops or is that malls. Great fantastic wonderful and BIG. Looks like a lot of life goes on at the mall, people seem to live there especially those with kids, big cinemas complexes too. Unfortunately the big food courts and BIG people to match are large as life in melbourne too, not just queensland.
Gangs, not the mafia one but the 15 year old ones. Surly kids in hoodies and baseball caps cruising the mall and streets, not really doing anything that bad just rowdy really but a bit of a concern with us having kids approaching that age group! and very tarty girls, in little sequined tops and minis, heels and enough make up to look like mini hookers. We had the dubious pleasure of being placed in a unit right opposite a petrol station, each night we would be woken at least 3 times by some sort of drunken, druggie behaviour right outside the window. Hoon type driving probably worse, all night cars just revving it up and burning out, glass everywhere most mornings, interesting because if we had stayed in our usual spot with relatives in quiet street in Beaumaris we probably would not have said much like this went on.
City, few nasty surprises. We started at Flinders street station, busting for a pee, we went into a Mcdondalds now I dont visit these places ever, so maybe this is normal? but I dont think so. Ladies loo, Half height doors! just covering the necessary bits for privacy, leaving the occupant with no privacy to do ??? (my guess shooting up), confirmed by kids at counter, "we get a lot of junkies in here", nice I'll just have a coffee thanks Litter everywhere but lots of backpacker accom and few pubs but not a good start for a area just off federation square (the most visited tourist attraction in victoria according to the blurb). Funnily as we sat and drank the coffee the herald sun had a spread on Beggars and the need to get them off the street, we only saw two tho. A small article also told us 2000 syringes are found on St Kilda beach each year and thats manually after the machines have cleaned up untold more!! I have to admire this state tho, it does not deny its problems its very upfront and honest for australia.
Schools, big distinciton between private and state, some private were up to $16,000 a year!! imagine 2 kids just doing 5 years of high school thats $160,000 or more like $320,000 in pre tax money. State schools varied, I didnt like the way they seemed tagged with bright yellow, red and green uniforms while the private had toned down navy etc, but even in state most offered languages and music for a small fee so some were quite apealing despite the obvious rich/poor gap that seemed to be going on.
I wish we had more time there we needed at least a month to expolre suburbs, theres a lot for sale but the good stuff must get snapped up quickly, I think you would have to rent and spend many weekends searching.
Traffic, theory was we should be 35 minutes from the CBD, even at 11 am it took a lot longer to get there, traffic very heavy all the time, Melbourne seems very populated with traffic to match almost everywhere we went, after arrival we attempted many trips in peak times and school time to get realistic picture, not good and even a trip to the beach suburbs at 9am on a sunday morning was laden with traffic, fine day, everyone with same idea?
Weather, great and funny, it was a mere 28 with a few showers and everyone kept greeting us with "Its so hot!" from queensland we were wearing jeans and jackets not even warm and they were calling it humid, heaven if thats hot and humid let me at it! As with every trip to melb we have ever done it was grey often. But even then many days have this sunny spell where you can get your dash of sunshine if you need it, probably more enjoyable than constant blazing sun.
Flies, this was a total surprise and not good, Ive never been to melb in december before and the flies were a shock, those disgusting ones that stick to your ears, mouth, nose, the kids hour at the park turned into a run back to the unit after 15 mins with us shaking flies off at the door, rich assured me they would all drop dead in a few days when the heat
28 degrees returned to cold and they did but hell they are bad when its warm.Housing, I think I had kidded myself with a false picture from the internet. Plenty of suburbs has housing around the $300,000 that is so cheap compared to where we live, but it really is awful old crap! and it doesnt look that way on the net! We liked the areas like olinda, emerald, Kallista etc beaut countryside but even looking at stuff $450,000 it was mainly 1960's to 80's stuff with lots of fibro, now mouldy and rotting, asbestos makes renovating a challenge and being with a builder husband I can quite clearly see a lot of what is for sale really needs a new house put up not a reno. Further south and into the city a lot of suburbs were just plain rough. Finding land would be ideal, just wish you could find any! Very hard to get. Unless of course you like the new housing estates with postage stamp size blocks, huge mass produced housing, and snobbery to the extent one estate offers you the chance to purchase a beach hut on a fake hole of water to emulate the up market bayside suburbs... OMG its too sad really.
Shops or is that malls. Great fantastic wonderful and BIG. Looks like a lot of life goes on at the mall, people seem to live there especially those with kids, big cinemas complexes too. Unfortunately the big food courts and BIG people to match are large as life in melbourne too, not just queensland.
Gangs, not the mafia one
but the 15 year old ones. Surly kids in hoodies and baseball caps cruising the mall and streets, not really doing anything that bad just rowdy really but a bit of a concern with us having kids approaching that age group! and very tarty girls, in little sequined tops and minis, heels and enough make up to look like mini hookers. We had the dubious pleasure of being placed in a unit right opposite a petrol station, each night we would be woken at least 3 times by some sort of drunken, druggie behaviour right outside the window. Hoon type driving probably worse, all night cars just revving it up and burning out, glass everywhere most mornings, interesting because if we had stayed in our usual spot with relatives in quiet street in Beaumaris we probably would not have said much like this went on. City, few nasty surprises. We started at Flinders street station, busting for a pee, we went into a Mcdondalds now I dont visit these places ever, so maybe this is normal? but I dont think so. Ladies loo, Half height doors! just covering the necessary bits for privacy, leaving the occupant with no privacy to do ??? (my guess shooting up), confirmed by kids at counter, "we get a lot of junkies in here", nice I'll just have a coffee thanks
Litter everywhere but lots of backpacker accom and few pubs but not a good start for a area just off federation square (the most visited tourist attraction in victoria according to the blurb). Funnily as we sat and drank the coffee the herald sun had a spread on Beggars and the need to get them off the street, we only saw two tho. A small article also told us 2000 syringes are found on St Kilda beach each year and thats manually after the machines have cleaned up untold more!! I have to admire this state tho, it does not deny its problems its very upfront and honest for australia.Schools, big distinciton between private and state, some private were up to $16,000 a year!! imagine 2 kids just doing 5 years of high school thats $160,000 or more like $320,000 in pre tax money. State schools varied, I didnt like the way they seemed tagged with bright yellow, red and green uniforms while the private had toned down navy etc, but even in state most offered languages and music for a small fee so some were quite apealing despite the obvious rich/poor gap that seemed to be going on.
I wish we had more time there we needed at least a month to expolre suburbs, theres a lot for sale but the good stuff must get snapped up quickly, I think you would have to rent and spend many weekends searching.
Geelong and the Dandelongs, which have nice scenery, quite ,peaceful and realtively cheap and have good fast trains to Melbourne. Geelongs next to the great Ocean road and fantastic surf beaches.
Dec 15th 2004, 10:37 pm
#6
Account Closed
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 29,154
Re: Melbourne to live.
Originally Posted by aussie73
l would'nt live in Melbourne, l think the best places are outside Melbourne, like
Geelong and the Dandelongs, which have nice scenery, quite ,peaceful and realtively cheap and have good fast trains to Melbourne. Geelongs next to the great Ocean road and fantastic surf beaches.
Geelong and the Dandelongs, which have nice scenery, quite ,peaceful and realtively cheap and have good fast trains to Melbourne. Geelongs next to the great Ocean road and fantastic surf beaches.
How long does it take to get from Geelong to Melbourne CBD - by train, roughly.
Waht about Werribee?
Thanks, Cas
Dec 15th 2004, 11:07 pm
#7
making your move easier
Joined: Jul 2004
Location: melbourne
Posts: 230
Re: Melbourne to live.
Jad and Rich,
you have provided an interesting report,however a lot of your comments were based on your comparisons to living in Queensland.
Your time could be better spent talking with Melbournehelp or arranging a targeted suburb visit based on your needs .
Many of those who have come to Melbourne on validation visits or emigrated have found my services useful.
In your case I think you like the country feel but need city access, have you looked at Sunbury in the North West ? Or Eltham in the east.
A lot of clients choose to live in the Mornington area , past Frankston .
When the Govt gets around to building the Scorsby freeway then access to and around the city should be much easier.
I totally agree with your comments about traffic.Infrastructure has not had the attention it deserves and with the population at 3 million, the Govt really need to pull their socks up.
Public transport is quite effecient if you live on the tram or train networks,but considering only 3% of the working public use it, it faces some big changes needed to convince the working population to leave their cars at home .
Ferntree Gully is in my oppinion not an ideal place to live.I don't know of a more shabbier, graffiti ridden village in Melbourne.
I also agree with your comments about the new housing estates,which are still being built fifty kms from the CBD.But with Victoria having the highest rate of stamp duty,you can understand why people build to get them on the ladder .(see Melbournehelps Manchester Evening News article )
Melbourne help can meet up with you next time you visit and we can discuss areas to live that will meet your needs.I believe that it is possible to have your cake and eat it .Every client and their families have been able to find a place to live that suits their current needs and desires, within two weeks of arrival from the UK.
Regards,
Steve Bowes and MelbourneHelp
Melhelp
you have provided an interesting report,however a lot of your comments were based on your comparisons to living in Queensland.
Your time could be better spent talking with Melbournehelp or arranging a targeted suburb visit based on your needs .
Many of those who have come to Melbourne on validation visits or emigrated have found my services useful.
In your case I think you like the country feel but need city access, have you looked at Sunbury in the North West ? Or Eltham in the east.
A lot of clients choose to live in the Mornington area , past Frankston .
When the Govt gets around to building the Scorsby freeway then access to and around the city should be much easier.
I totally agree with your comments about traffic.Infrastructure has not had the attention it deserves and with the population at 3 million, the Govt really need to pull their socks up.
Public transport is quite effecient if you live on the tram or train networks,but considering only 3% of the working public use it, it faces some big changes needed to convince the working population to leave their cars at home .
Ferntree Gully is in my oppinion not an ideal place to live.I don't know of a more shabbier, graffiti ridden village in Melbourne.
I also agree with your comments about the new housing estates,which are still being built fifty kms from the CBD.But with Victoria having the highest rate of stamp duty,you can understand why people build to get them on the ladder .(see Melbournehelps Manchester Evening News article )
Melbourne help can meet up with you next time you visit and we can discuss areas to live that will meet your needs.I believe that it is possible to have your cake and eat it .Every client and their families have been able to find a place to live that suits their current needs and desires, within two weeks of arrival from the UK.
Regards,
Steve Bowes and MelbourneHelp
Melhelp
Dec 15th 2004, 11:28 pm
#8
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2004
Location: Scarborough, Nth Yorks
Posts: 120
Re: Melbourne to live.
HI Guys,
am currently living in Frankston area, which is about an hour and a quarter to commute to the city, during peak hour it can take an hour and a half to three quarters. I have returned to frankston, and whilst it has in the past been populated by a lower socio economic group, it has changed in the years that I have been away, for the better I think, and is improving, and I think that the best thing about living down here is the close proximity to the mornington peninsula, which is a spectactular area.
Interesting to note Steve, that if John Balcombe was selling off his land now, he'd be richer than Rupert Murdoch.
am currently living in Frankston area, which is about an hour and a quarter to commute to the city, during peak hour it can take an hour and a half to three quarters. I have returned to frankston, and whilst it has in the past been populated by a lower socio economic group, it has changed in the years that I have been away, for the better I think, and is improving, and I think that the best thing about living down here is the close proximity to the mornington peninsula, which is a spectactular area.
Interesting to note Steve, that if John Balcombe was selling off his land now, he'd be richer than Rupert Murdoch.
Dec 15th 2004, 11:36 pm
#9
Migration Agent
Joined: May 2002
Location: Offices in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Geelong (Australia), and Southampton (UK)
Posts: 6,459
Re: Melbourne to live.
The "fast" train from Geelong to Spencer Street (western end of Collins Street and Bourke Street) takes about 55 minutes. The slower one takes a shade over an hour. I think Werribee is about half the journey time, but I'm not (yet)persuaded that Werribee has too much in the way of attractions.
The drive from my home in Geelong to the office in St Kilda Road can take an hour and 20 minutes, but this morning it was just under an hour. The distance is about 75 km's. More importantly, the drive from home to the Surf Beach at Torquay is about 20 minutes!
Best regards.
The drive from my home in Geelong to the office in St Kilda Road can take an hour and 20 minutes, but this morning it was just under an hour. The distance is about 75 km's. More importantly, the drive from home to the Surf Beach at Torquay is about 20 minutes!
Best regards.
Originally Posted by carolinegorka
How long does it take to get from Geelong to Melbourne CBD - by train, roughly.
Waht about Werribee?
Thanks, Cas
Waht about Werribee?
Thanks, Cas
Dec 16th 2004, 1:13 am
#10
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2002
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 805
Re: Melbourne to live.
We live on the "other side" of the mountain in North Croydon.
We have none of what you described in your thread (luckily). It's a nice leafy suburb, close to Maroondah Highway and public transport (Mooroolbark or Croydon Train Station).
It sounds like you need to be looking in places like Croydon Hills, Wonga Park, Park Orchards, as these areas all have nice housing, probably between $300,000 and $450,000 (how big a house do you want??), but close to all amenities (transport, large shopping centres, good schools etc).
Sorry that Melbourne wasn't all that you expected. Hopefully next time you're down, you get a better feel for the place.
Regards
We have none of what you described in your thread (luckily). It's a nice leafy suburb, close to Maroondah Highway and public transport (Mooroolbark or Croydon Train Station).
It sounds like you need to be looking in places like Croydon Hills, Wonga Park, Park Orchards, as these areas all have nice housing, probably between $300,000 and $450,000 (how big a house do you want??), but close to all amenities (transport, large shopping centres, good schools etc).
Sorry that Melbourne wasn't all that you expected. Hopefully next time you're down, you get a better feel for the place.
Regards
Dec 16th 2004, 5:20 am
#11
yer twistin mi melons man
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 662
Re: Melbourne to live.
[QUOTE=jad n rich]Just returned from Melb, not the usual visit to rellies, dining out,shopping etc but a look see can I live there? To get a real feel we hired car, rented unit in Ferntree gully (SE suburbs).
Hi Jad n rich
Did you stay in the lifestyle apartments by any chance on Station St? My brother in law and his girlfriend have booked into there for a month at the end of January so hope its not too bad. We had a look around them and they seemed really nice....Sorry to hear that your stay wasnt what you expected...
Hi Jad n rich
Did you stay in the lifestyle apartments by any chance on Station St? My brother in law and his girlfriend have booked into there for a month at the end of January so hope its not too bad. We had a look around them and they seemed really nice....Sorry to hear that your stay wasnt what you expected...
Dec 16th 2004, 7:54 am
#12
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 10,375
Re: Melbourne to live.
[QUOTE=johanne]
Yes lifestyle apartments and there is nothing at all wrong with them, but just make sure you request one on the the quiet side of the building, some overlook the 24 hour servo and I think we must have got the worst one possible for noise The apartments themself were clean, had everything you need from AC to washer/dryer.
We chose them because they seem to be the only short let units close to the dandenong villages we wanted to look at all the accom up there is romantic bed and breakfast, not quite the thing for our pack of boys. Ferntree gully wasnt actually where we wanted to look, however we had heard it recommended on this forum a couple of times as a nice place to live.
I should say to anyone reading this melbourne has about 300 suburbs we saw about 30 and none appealed or if they did the housing was just not for us, but with more time I am sure somewhere in the other 270 suburbs we might have found somewhere we loved. As for the city It was an eye opener I actually toned it down you should have seen what we found in one of the cinemas, we just faniced a sit down for an hour or so and we definately chose the wrong one but as its unlikely we would live in the city its not really a big issue.
Originally Posted by jad n rich
Just returned from Melb, not the usual visit to rellies, dining out,shopping etc but a look see can I live there? To get a real feel we hired car, rented unit in Ferntree gully (SE suburbs).
Hi Jad n rich
Did you stay in the lifestyle apartments by any chance on Station St? My brother in law and his girlfriend have booked into there for a month at the end of January so hope its not too bad. We had a look around them and they seemed really nice....Sorry to hear that your stay wasnt what you expected...
Hi Jad n rich
Did you stay in the lifestyle apartments by any chance on Station St? My brother in law and his girlfriend have booked into there for a month at the end of January so hope its not too bad. We had a look around them and they seemed really nice....Sorry to hear that your stay wasnt what you expected...
The apartments themself were clean, had everything you need from AC to washer/dryer. We chose them because they seem to be the only short let units close to the dandenong villages we wanted to look at all the accom up there is romantic bed and breakfast, not quite the thing for our pack of boys. Ferntree gully wasnt actually where we wanted to look, however we had heard it recommended on this forum a couple of times as a nice place to live.
I should say to anyone reading this melbourne has about 300 suburbs we saw about 30 and none appealed or if they did the housing was just not for us, but with more time I am sure somewhere in the other 270
suburbs we might have found somewhere we loved. As for the city It was an eye opener I actually toned it down you should have seen what we found in one of the cinemas, we just faniced a sit down for an hour or so and we definately chose the wrong one but as its unlikely we would live in the city its not really a big issue.
Dec 16th 2004, 8:49 am
#13
surfer chic from Teesside
Joined: Mar 2004
Location: Halls head, WA
Posts: 1,431
Re: Melbourne to live.
Originally Posted by Jaykay
We live on the "other side" of the mountain in North Croydon.
We have none of what you described in your thread (luckily). It's a nice leafy suburb, close to Maroondah Highway and public transport (Mooroolbark or Croydon Train Station).
It sounds like you need to be looking in places like Croydon Hills, Wonga Park, Park Orchards, as these areas all have nice housing, probably between $300,000 and $450,000 (how big a house do you want??), but close to all amenities (transport, large shopping centres, good schools etc).
Sorry that Melbourne wasn't all that you expected. Hopefully next time you're down, you get a better feel for the place.
Regards
We have none of what you described in your thread (luckily). It's a nice leafy suburb, close to Maroondah Highway and public transport (Mooroolbark or Croydon Train Station).
It sounds like you need to be looking in places like Croydon Hills, Wonga Park, Park Orchards, as these areas all have nice housing, probably between $300,000 and $450,000 (how big a house do you want??), but close to all amenities (transport, large shopping centres, good schools etc).
Sorry that Melbourne wasn't all that you expected. Hopefully next time you're down, you get a better feel for the place.
Regards
Jaykay,
I was wondering whats the commute like into melbourne CBD from these places, is there a direct and fast train route?
cheers
laura
xxx
Dec 16th 2004, 9:52 am
#14
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Nov 2003
Location: Scotland
Posts: 7,949
Re: Melbourne to live.
Interesting observations about Melbourne. FTG is more than $100K below the all Melbourne median price so to judge Melbourne by it and the weekenders in the hills doesn't seem a realistic experience to me. FTG might look 35 mins 'as the flow cries' on a map but I would realistically allow myself closer to an hour to commute to the CBD from there.
As someone said, you should have got around a bit more in better areas such as those mentioned and I too would suggest north east rather than south east if you want semi-rural. $300K is $50K below average so invariably you are going to get below average or a long way out for that money despite what a house might look like in a few images.
A 'snobby suburb'! In Brighton you need about $1 mill for a typical property there, I dare say in the over 300 'burbs that you can get something nice and 'non snobby' for between $300K and $1 mill. It appears your presumption is if someone can afford these prices then they must be snobby!
Mt Macedon is about an hour's commute from CBD and is a very nice area. Average blocks are much bigger there but if you found Melbourne cool (and it always is going to be compared to Brisbane) it's fair to point out that Mt Macedon gets snow in winter and is usually 5 degrees lower than Melbourne in summer. There are some really nice big properties with expansive manicured gardens that would be a lot more expensive in the city. Bushfires, like in the Dandenongs, is something to keep in mind though. A lot of the housing in Mt Macedon is post early 80's because of this and you won't find the 60's to 80's houses.
Any sizeable place has its fair share of youth in hooded tops, baseball caps and girls looking like Britney, it and 'hoonery' is not unique to Melbourne.
Brisbane is only 2 capital cities away from Melbourne (well 3 if you count Canberra) but it is not like say London to Manchester so yes, unless you can get cheapo flights a reccie within Australia is going to be expensive for a family.
As Alan pointed out you can commute to Melbourne from Geelong in less than it would take from FTG/Dandenongs, Frankston/Mornington Peninsula. My former dentist used to travel from Torquay to Williamstown everyday. Werribee is half the commute time compared to Geelong but again as Alan says it is more for first home buyers/young families/those on lower incomes. The Mornington Peninsula is a lovely area and if you don't have to go into the city everyday is well worth considering. I won't recommend Williamstown (on the sea, best views in M, 20 mins or less to CBD) because it would be too expensive.
Please, I'm not trying to question your observations - you are truthfully reporting what you saw and experienced and we all appreciate that, I'm just pointing out they could have been much different if you had gone elsewhere/followed Steve's suggestions.
(Steve 3.6 mill now?)
OzTennis
As someone said, you should have got around a bit more in better areas such as those mentioned and I too would suggest north east rather than south east if you want semi-rural. $300K is $50K below average so invariably you are going to get below average or a long way out for that money despite what a house might look like in a few images.
A 'snobby suburb'! In Brighton you need about $1 mill for a typical property there, I dare say in the over 300 'burbs that you can get something nice and 'non snobby' for between $300K and $1 mill. It appears your presumption is if someone can afford these prices then they must be snobby!
Mt Macedon is about an hour's commute from CBD and is a very nice area. Average blocks are much bigger there but if you found Melbourne cool (and it always is going to be compared to Brisbane) it's fair to point out that Mt Macedon gets snow in winter and is usually 5 degrees lower than Melbourne in summer. There are some really nice big properties with expansive manicured gardens that would be a lot more expensive in the city. Bushfires, like in the Dandenongs, is something to keep in mind though. A lot of the housing in Mt Macedon is post early 80's because of this and you won't find the 60's to 80's houses.
Any sizeable place has its fair share of youth in hooded tops, baseball caps and girls looking like Britney, it and 'hoonery' is not unique to Melbourne.
Brisbane is only 2 capital cities away from Melbourne (well 3 if you count Canberra) but it is not like say London to Manchester so yes, unless you can get cheapo flights a reccie within Australia is going to be expensive for a family.
As Alan pointed out you can commute to Melbourne from Geelong in less than it would take from FTG/Dandenongs, Frankston/Mornington Peninsula. My former dentist used to travel from Torquay to Williamstown everyday. Werribee is half the commute time compared to Geelong but again as Alan says it is more for first home buyers/young families/those on lower incomes. The Mornington Peninsula is a lovely area and if you don't have to go into the city everyday is well worth considering. I won't recommend Williamstown (on the sea, best views in M, 20 mins or less to CBD) because it would be too expensive.
Please, I'm not trying to question your observations - you are truthfully reporting what you saw and experienced and we all appreciate that, I'm just pointing out they could have been much different if you had gone elsewhere/followed Steve's suggestions.
(Steve 3.6 mill now?)
OzTennis
Dec 16th 2004, 11:11 am
#15
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2002
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 805
Re: Melbourne to live.
Originally Posted by lauralollipop
Jaykay,
I was wondering whats the commute like into melbourne CBD from these places, is there a direct and fast train route?
cheers
laura
xxx
I was wondering whats the commute like into melbourne CBD from these places, is there a direct and fast train route?
cheers
laura
xxx
On average it's about a 50 minute train journey into Flinders Street from Croydon Station, a bit quicker if you get on at Ringwood and you also get the choice of 2 train services, one from Lilydale and the other from Belgrave, both going through Ringwood Station regularly.
There is a fast train service every morning up until about 9.15am, then the trains stop at all stations, which can be very boring, or very entertaining depending on your mood
Here's the link to the timetable:
http://www.connexmelbourne.com.au/tr...ull/belUMF.asp
Regards