Margaret3

apparently its great for a night out, if you like male strippers

it is lovely, it feels quiet and peaceful compared to the madness of the suburb i stay in (glen waverley), and its only a short drive (about 15 mins from glen waverley)

lou_pete

Hi
I'm a nurse hoping to get out to Melbourne by the end of the year. I have a hubby and two children. My kids will be 4 & 6 when we get there. Can anyone tell me what age the kids start school and if they have fees etc?
Also, we rent here in the uk and don't own a house, so it will just be our savings that we take. Roughly how much is a decent amount in £££ to take? I know the more we take is better, but we need to make sure we have enough to get by until we settle. I will be working full time, but not sure what my OH will do straight away, as he is a lorry driver and will have to do a aus test first before he can hit the road. Will we beable to survive on one wage, if we can't get childcare????? Oh my days, thats a bit tricky.
Any advice would be great.
Many thanks. xx

Oz Rascal

Hiya,

We're also aiming to be in Melbourne by September 08. We have two boys who will be 5 and 3 in October. Luke, our eldest is due to start school in January 09 - it would be September 08 in the UK if we are still here. I believe they start in the January if they are 5 by the April of that year - hope that makes sense. I believe if you have PR you don't pay school fees but you do have to pay for things like their school books, etc. If you go on a temporary visa, I think I'm right in saying you have to pay school fees.

Surviving on one wage - that's a hard one to answer. How much will the one wage be? What do you consider "surviving"? What size house do you plan to rent, do you intend on having two cars, etc, etc.

Good luck to you all.

Colin

hevs

Yes, you can survive on one wage, but you need to cut your cloth accordingly and not be sucked in to the whole wants verses needs scenario untill you find you feet

melbournegirl

I am interested as to why Glen Waverley is 'madness'. Is it the traffic and general congestion? The reason I ask is that is the suburb I grew up in and it was very quiet in those days and every now and then I drive through there and it doesn't seem to have changed much in some ways except the shopping centre is much, much busier than it used to be and alot bigger and it is much more multiculural than it used to be. When I first lived in Glen Waverley it was almost rural and it was like growing up in the country. We climbed trees in the paddocks, caught tadpoles in ponds, horses over the back fence etc. Then suddenly developers bought up all the land and turned it into suburbia. I used to live just of Waverley Road (Joyce Ave) near the police academy and have many fond memories of growing up there because of its semi rural atmosphere in those days.

Margaret3

it feels like major suburbia to me, my friend lives in cauldfield, and to me this has a calmer 'feel' about it. I think its the business of springvale rd mainly, perhaps when the eastlink opens up this will quieten down a little, although i doubt it!! Some of the houses here are massive, with a massive price tag, and the older , medium size houses, are being knocked down and 2 units built, still with a massive price tag.

Its a really expensive suburb to stay in, house prices are crazy, house across the road from me up for 1.1 million to 1.5 million, i wouldnt give 500,000 for it , the location (to me), does not justify that kind of money.

Glen waverley , and this is my opinion and based on no research, is mainly white retired australians, and rich, trendy young asians now.

It is still attracting lots of incomers though, and i think this is mainly due to the fact the state schools have excellent reputations and results (which was the attraction to us and we have not been dissapointed by this.

NatD1978

Hi All - just posted a thread with regards to moving to Oz (we've just started to look into it) and having spoken to friends who are already in Melbourne, and think this sounds like our type of place!

We are hoping to have a Reccie out there in February.

I am just married, we are a young professional couple, but are planning to have a Baby within the next year to take with us.

Also in tow will be Hugo the Boxer.

Looking at an area Map, St Kitts and that area looks great, but again, we don't really know to much until we get out there.

Mr Anderson - I notice you have built / are getting built you own home. We looked into that in the UK, but land prices were just too much.

Any chance you can send me a PM to discuss or post information on here, as at the moment I am unable to send any messages!!!!!

Would be interested to hear peoples stories - good and bad!

lou_pete

Thanks for that Colin. Ideally, we would like to rent a three bedroomed house. Only after the one car, as I don't yet drive (hopefully I will be driving soon).
Thanks for the info about the school stuff, any info is greatly appreciated. My children are the same age as yours, so if you think of anything that might be useful, please let me know. I will do the same.
You must be ever so excited about going in September, thats so close. We don't yet have a date, just hopefully be there before xmas.
Cheers for the info. Catch ya later.
Lucy.

shannon9

DO YOU LIVE IN BERWICK? IF SO WHAT KIND O AREA IS IT. HAVE YOU LOOKED AT THE CHASE IT LOOKS VERY NICE ON THE WEB. I ALSO HOPE TO MOVE TO BERWICK. IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON IT CAN YOU PLEASE COME BACK TO ME. THANKS

Buzzy--Bee

I think you mean St Kilda? This would be a great area for a young couple, not so sure for children.

We are building too - there's a thread about our build if you want to subscribe to it - http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=492152. We haven't started the actual build yet - still in design stage.

Now you can.

Buzzy

NatD1978

Buzzy - thanks for the reply!

You're right, it was St Kilda (I think St Kitts is in the Caribbean!).

Have sent you a message anyway, and checked out your own build thread thanks!

shannon9

KIDS START SCHOOL AFTER THERE FIFTH BIRTHDAY AND THE SCHOOL YEAR STARTS THE END OF JANUARY. IT DEPENDS ON HAT SCHOOL YOU SEND YOU KIDS TO PRIVATE, SIMI PRIVATE OR PUBLIC. PUBLIC SCHOOLS HAVE THE SMALLEST FEE. SEMI PRIVATE ARE GENERALLY CATHOLIC AND COST MORE ND SO ON. WHAT PART OF MELBOURNE ARE OU GOING TO??? I HAVE 3 SMALL KIDS AS WELL.

The Crow

No we live in The Basin, right on the edge of the Dandenong Ranges and 45 mins from the city. It is semi-rural, but much smaller than Berwick. We like that as we know so many people in the village already and the girls often bump into their friends as parks, swimming etc. Although we are semi-rural, we have a host of facilities within 5 mins (Boronia) and 5 mins the other direction, we're in a National Park!

Let me know if you need anything further.

murphy21

Hi all

We have just began process of coming to australia. We were hoping to go to SA as have family there. But nightmare don't qualify for PR (not got enough experience in occ) so have to go down provisional route, and Victoria is only state that offers sponsorship for my occupation - primary school teacher. So now deciding whether Victoria could be home for us and our 4 year old. We visited Melbourne whilst in Australia last year, stayed on the waterfront in the city and loved it, but thats a holiday. Any advice/comments would be appreciated.
Thanks, X

lor

You banging on about the Basin again!!!