Me too. But then you and I came from LAAHNDAAN so anywhere apart from Hong Kong, Cairo or Bombay might seem quiet to us.

Buzzy

I agree to a point, only because I've got used to Melbourne now. Of the little I know about Birmingham, I'd say Brum feels a lot bigger. Melbourne is quite flat on the building side of things outside of the CBD. I'd Imagine that Birmingham goes 24/7 ?

There is no point comparing Melbourne with London though, a totally different feel here. Melbourne does feel sleepy compared to London.

Pains me to say it, Sydney does have a bigger city feel, I think its the proxmity of the buildings, narrower and winding streets that does that, especially around the city centre.








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I think the inner city locations in Melbourne are pretty lively and buzzing but then i was living in a fairly rural area in the UK .

However i'd agree that once you get away from the inner city areas things do get quieter and most of the suburbs further out are pretty dull.

Couldn't agree more , posts such as that are a complete waste of time and of no more help to prospective migrants than the people who say everything in Oz , Melbourne or wherever is s%$t.

Give me a balanced view every time........

gotta say it doesnt feel like that. I wasnt really talking about population, more about towns, give me a town any day over a suburb, and give me a town any day over a city. Think this is one of the problems i was used to 'the town community' (the good and the bad of it). I feel suburb (or should say the one we are in) does not have a 'suburb community'.

I love the inner suburbs I think melbourne is fab, but we just dont have a better life here.

Yes we fall into that category at the minute. I really like my life here. I enjoy working in the CBD and love coming back to the Bellarine Peninsula at the end of the day.

Kath on the other hand would be on a plane back to England tomorrow if she could. She is missing her friends and her old work mates.

I'm away for more hours working here than I was in the UK, but that is mainly due to the travel.

Kath finds that there are limited things to do here compared to where we were back in the UK. Ok there are the beaches here but apart from that there isn't a great deal more for the kids to do. I think because the weather was so crappy back in the UK there was a wider choice for the kids.

Food shopping is rediculouly expensive here compared to the UK and the choice is not as wide as you'd get in Tesco or Sainsburys.

We are struggling to find things for the kids - cannot find decent comics for them anywhere - we are actually getting them sent over from the UK.

Kids clothes are just crap - if they don't fall apart they'll shrink.

As for clothes for me - I've looked round the shops and either just can't find the right shops or everything just looks crap. Thank God I live near surf shops as at least I can get decent T-shirts from there.

I'm currently trying to find a pair of work shoes. Used to pay $40 from Next and I knew they'd last me 18 months. Here for similar things you are looking at $200+.

Seriously if anyone can point me in the direction of a decent shoe shop i'd be grateful.

But as I said I'm happy here. Kath isn't. Only time will tell if we stay.

With us not being there - and never have - I was just wondering whether you see many horses grazing in the countryside like you do here?[/QUOTE]

Hi Jane
Not sure where your heading for?? But here on the Eastern side you'll see plenty of horses, either out grasing or stabled in equine centres.

IMHO Margaret, I think it's some of the settled rural people in the UK who might be at risk of the biggest disappointment - unless you move to acreage then you might do better.

You know what, I look at exactly what 80pc of Australia suburbs offer the average Brit and I think "nothing"! I wonder why many even bother to be honest.

B

I find that it is as busy as you want it to be. If it was any busier I could not live here but you can turn the book to the right page and go out, do your thing. We love slipping in of a Sunday and getting a park or a cheap rail ticket. London never seems to belong to you. It seems to belong to the tourist. I was in the West End last month and I thought, 'what overpriced crap!'.

But Melbourne is big enough to feel like a city. And it is the fastest growing city in Australia.

Somewhere in those 3m plus people is a life. As I've said ,we get that 3m plus Devon or Dorset compressed in to 45 mins odd and thats what gives me a smile on my face every weekend.

i would 100 per cent agree with this,

however if i had been sitting on my comfy sofa, in my comfy house, in my comfy town reading this i would still have came to find our for myself (eejit that i am, lol)

Nagi am sorry your all finding it hard, i know i do, so i can sympathise with you
<<<<<<<<<<HUGS>>>>>>>>>>>

Hi to all the melbourne people. I would like to know if there is anyone living in the west. We are a family of two children a boy and a girl aged 4 and 19months i am julie other half is dave. we also find it hard to find things to do with the kids so are always on the look out for new friends to play with. I am always looking for adult chat so if you are to drop me a pm

Is Melbourne already (becoming) overcrowded/overpopulated? Hows the feel of the city?

Overcrowded is how long is a piece of string. Someone from Hong Kong might find London not overcrowded.

Melbourne feels like a well planned city with wide boulevards, and space for everyone. I never feel crowded here, like I did on Oxford Street, for instance.

Buzzy