Melbourne or Perth
 

Hello,

I have recently been looking at moving my young family to aus, I have been looking at loads of possibilities. I have looked at job opportunity for myself and my husband and there seems to be good job prospects in Melbourne but have not ruled Perth out either as I will be working as a social worker and my husband is in engineering.

I'd like some areas to look at in regards to moving as I'd like a suburb out of the city but no more than an hour. I've been looking west of Melbourne and north but would like some info on areas. We are planning a rec holiday to check bth cities out next year but would like to have ideas on where to start. We will be going to Perth also and would like some suggestions here. We like the idea of having parks nearby, we like weekends that can be full of family activities, we want sun but would like some kind of winter. We would like to be near a beach.

Also... I've been reading about looking into the cost of everyday items and bills ect, I'm wondering how I would get this kind of info? So I can make some kind of budget so we can take the suggested around six months worth of funds?

Any other advice would be so useful.

Re: Melbourne or Perth
 

You've correctly identified the number one requirement as being a job. Everything else is irrelevant if you haven't got enough income to live somewhere.

Melbourne and Perth are actually very different cities, and there's tons of info on both on this forum if you search.

If you want to be near a beach, Melbourne South East is the place to be. West Melbourne has some beaches, North Melbourne has none. Perth is probably better for beaches but once you live here a while you will realise that you need more in life than a beach close by, and I would subjectively suggest that there's a lot more variety of life in Melbourne, not least because of its size.

The weather in Melbourne is quite varied, but not unpleasant, think Southern England + 10 degrees, here by the bay we don't get frost or snow, we get a lovely spring, autumn and even some winters days can be 20 degrees, summer is often the problem season as it can be too hot to do anything outside on a few days.

Hope that helps a bit.

BB

Re: Melbourne or Perth
 

Perth and melb are complete opposites. Perth has wide open spaces, beautiful beaches and low population meaning larger houses are available in a sprawling suburbia. However its well known that theres not much action in perth, not that much to do, after a month you will probably have seen everything. Perth is what you have robably imagined in your mind that Australia is like.

Melb is packed with people and reminds me a lot more of england, it rains a hell of a lot, public transport is like the london tube, rammed with people. Its all a lot like london really both good and bad. You will never run out of new restuarants/pubs and things to see and do.

Re: Melbourne or Perth
 

I've lived in Perth, and visited Melbourne a few times. If your choice is based on location alone (ie not costs of living/job prospects) then I would say Melbourne would be my definite choice.

Re: Melbourne or Perth
 

Thank you guys, this is all helpful and is giving me some good insight into both areas x

Re: Melbourne or Perth
 

Yes, the total rainfall in Melbourne is similar to many parts of the UK from memory.
It actually rains a lot more in the subtropics and tropics (and Sydney and Brisbane) so I would not say there is lots of rain - infact for quite a few years we were in drought.

I think the incidence of rain historically is 'high' - in winter, perhaps 1 day in 3.
Might have changed in recent years.

Re: Melbourne or Perth
 

And interstingly London rainfall is typically less than Perth.

Re: Melbourne or Perth
 

What a crock. I've been in Perth for 7.5 years - most of it not at my choice - and still finding new things to do and see. It's about the person, not the place.

Re: Melbourne or Perth
 

Agree with Perth and surrounds, 15 yrs here and plenty to see, I think he's just hell bent to hate Australia...

Re: Melbourne or Perth
 

I am liking your views on Perth, it sounds like " the Australian adventure" we were looking for but I'm hearing that it is extremely expenisive? Is this true?

Re: Melbourne or Perth
 

I don't know that it's true. I'm a single person living on a wage of less than $60k in Perth's northern suburbs and have no problem with my finances. Perth is expensive comparatively, but then wages are also higher.

Re: Melbourne or Perth
 

The biggest expense is housing and Melbourne is the second most expensive city, after Sydney. For everything else, I don't think the difference between cities is so big as to actually influence the decision on where to locate.

Re: Melbourne or Perth
 

The best way to choose where to live is to think of the things you like to be able to do for entertainment and travel.

Once you've figured that out then you can investigate those options in both cities.

Housing costs are much higher in Melbourne if that's gonna be an issue.

Melbourne is far more cosmopolitan than Perth but Perth also has a lively cafe/restaurant scene.

A big one to keep in mind is that travel to singapore, thailand, HK etc outta Perth is far cheaper than from Melbourne but European flights not so much. However, Perth is a bit all alone over in WA and internal flights will be far more expensive compared to flying Melb/Sydney/ Adelaide/Hobart.

Just don't consider Brisbane cos IMO it sucks here.

Re: Melbourne or Perth
 

Flights to Europe tend to be cheaper from Perth
Flights to North America tend to cost more (sometimes a lot more)
We are very lucky to have a load of budget airline options to Asia: Tiger, Air Asia X, Air Asia Indonesia, Scoot, Virgin, Jetstar. In a few weeks we are going to Singapore: Scoot there and Malaysian Airlines (via KUL) back - $365

Re: Melbourne or Perth
 

Holy cod pieces Batman!!! That is frickin cheap compared to Syd/Melb/Bris etc. Easily 4 times that from memory!!!