Pine Cone

OK so the best work options for us are either Melbourne or Sydney. Neither place is better than the other in terms of employment, and we have plenty of contacts in both places.

Anyone care to tell me what is good and what is bad about living in Melbourne. I am looking for objective comments from people who ACTUALLY LIVE OR HAVE LIVED THERE rather than those who have only visited. Suggestions of areas to avoid, and family friendly areas to live would also be useful, especially those with reasonably affordable rents. We are content with renting for the next few years and have no plans to buy - if it's anything like NZ we can afford to rent a better house (i.e. modern albeit smallish townhouse as opposed to old damp shack) in a nicer area with good schools than we could afford to buy in.

Deutschmaster

Good:
Public transport - trams, trains, buses etc
Lots of well kept parks
Easy access to surrounding area - Mornington peninsula
Beaches
Festivals in the summer
Night markets

bad:
High cost of living
Not much happens over winter - a lot of stuff only happens in summer. Winter is usually grotty when all you can do is count the months down until summer
Apart from the very centre a lot of the shops are in bland malls - not quite the same as a town centre
Going out in the evening is extortionate.


Have a look at somewhere like realestate.com for rent prices. It's difficult to know what you would class as affordable. Personally I don't know how families cope here with the high cost of living.

I can list areas to avoid based on crappiness. Don't move west of the centre (until you get to Geelong). It's hot, dry, crammed with cars and bland. Go North or East.

mvagusta

Formula 1 racing and very close to Philip island Moto Gp.

If that's your sort of thing.

Pomster

And Williamstown and Newport are hot dry and bland? Hmm sounds like you have never lived West of Melbourne.

Williamstown is where almost al 'period' style films are shot but I guess that fits your description.

Melbourne has lots of festivals and major events and there is always plenty to do- can't say I have noticed things shut down in winter, still we only lived there for 10 years....so perhaps I missed something!

Melbourne is an easy place to live, but I have never lived in Sydney. Sydney does have city beaches- Melbourne has some but they are on the bay so no surfing...

sr71

Your experience and lifestyle in Melbourne varies hugely depending on where you live.

I would look at what you want from life and then choose the suburb (big house, inner city living, beachside, hilly, flat, cafes, bars etc)

The Good
Good cultural scene
Lots of festivals
Good markets
Good food, coffee and night-time entertainment
Public transport
Some beautiful things around Melbourne (Great Ocean Rd, Yarra Valley, High Country etc)

The Bad
Roads and public transport are overloaded at times
Property prices are excessive (particularly South East)
Bayside beaches are a poor excuse for beaches (NZ has far better)
Can by hot, dry and dusty

I have to disagree with the previous poster on shops, one thing Melbourne does have is many little 'villages' with rows of shops - far better than most cities I've been too. Also there is no lack of things to do in winter, it is still a busy city.

Also the East/West divide is all but gone now. People are flocking to the West in huge numbers because there are significant advantages.

elice_in_oz

I would beg to differ on the above. Not sure where you live(d) in Melbourne but where I live, we have on our doorstep:
2 butchers
3 bakeries (2 are independent)
1 greengrocers
1 deli
1 small supermarket
1 flower shop
1 toy shop
4 cafes
1 fair trade shop
1 pet shop
2 or 3 clothes shops
1 party supplies shop
1 bargain shop
3 hairdressers
2 or 3 beauty salons
numerous small takeaways
1 restaurant
1 newsagent/post office
1 pharmacy
There's more but I'm off to bed so I'll stop now. All these shops are independent shops, on the main street.

koalakim

Mmmmmm.........

Mel good points: has a big town feel rather than a sprawling city, everyone seems to know everyone!

I prefer the CBD, tightly knit shops, laneways, street art, older buildings, better shopping. Good public transport within the metro area.
GREAT COFFEE!!!!!

Mel bad points: it's in a bay so no waves (unless it's really windy) and then the ocean beaches are too rough - so you can't win!
No stunning wow factor like Sydney harbour
Some inner suburbs are pretty ordinary and I'd actually rather live in the UK if I had to live in some of them and the super nice ones you can't afford
Likewise as the OP said with some of the shopping strips, very utilitarian but then I guess that's Oz all over.
Winter!!!


Sydney: bad points - very sprawling, some Western burbs way way out.
They charge you 10% extra in cafes on Sundays and public holidays, coffee not so good. CBD sprawls, it's hard to shop!

Good points - beautiful harbour, wow factor, probably sunnier in winter and winter isn't so long, beautiful Northern beaches with surf and not so far from the CBD (via the ferry).

I've not lived in Sydney but have been many times and was our first choice but they changed the points required for the visa and we ended up in Melbourne. There are bits from each city I like but Melbourne is a place that grows on you, you have to go out and discover it. There are lots of things happening in Mellie, lots of parks. The bayside beaches are always packed at weekends with families out walking, cycling, taking the dog for a walk but I'm sure this is the same on the Sydney beaches or riverside suburbs.

For Mellie the areas to probably avoid are some areas out West (but not all of it!!!), around Dandenong and some parts of Frankston. I think a place called Broadmeadows up the north attracts some attention of the wrong kind!

We live on the Mornington Peninsula which we love, it is a bit far out but plenty of people commute daily to the city. 15-20 min drive to Frankston, free parking at the station (if you get there early enough otherwise $2 a day) and then an hour on the train.

Otherwise SE suburbs of Berwick are nice, northern suburbs of Eltham and Diamond Creek are good. If you like hills and forest then there is the Dandenong Ranges (different to Dandenong itself). I guess as always it depends on your budget!

Hope this helps but if you have time try and visit both and do some research on Realestate.com.au for housing prices.

Deancm_MKII

Think again. The cost of property in Melbourne and Sydney is more expensive than London.

Buzzy--Bee

Pine Cone

Many people will give you many different opinions about Melbourne based on their own personal experiences, which may or may not be the same as yours will be.

I've lived in NZ and Melbourne as you know and all I can say is that Melbourne has offered for us the best combination of the lifestyle of NZ and the financials of London.

Maybe have a look at the original reccie I did to Melbourne back in 2006 and then my 3 year update to understand better what our perceptions of Melbourne were both before and after we lived here -

Reccie - http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=413388

Update - http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=673936

BB

Deutschmaster

Admittedly, I bundle Williamstown into the centre. I meant places such as Werribee, Laverton and further out

bcworld

The best things about Melbourne are the intangibles, IMO anyway...just a general sense of being somewhere a bit 'cool'...for want of a better word. As opposed to the overwhelming blandness you might get in other places (of course bland exists in Melbourne too, choose carefully!).

I'll disagree about good shopping being concentrated in the centre of the city, I think the complete opposite is true actually! Compared to say, Brisbane, there are so many great strips of shops & eating outside the city...not just another Westfield. Chapel St, Brunswick St, Lygon St, Smith St...just in the inner suburbs. A bit further out there are bustling 'high streets' literally everywhere!

This is one reason why living further out from the CBD isn't as much of an issue as it might be in smaller cities.

Public transport is a tricky one...I think it's mostly good, but it can be disasterous as well! Yesterday was a shocker on the trains...it can be as bad as London when it comes to peak hour crap, often worse. I'd forgotten because January is a quiet month, it seems the first schools going back caused it all to break again!

Deutschmaster

I'm not talking about the shops themselves, it's the malls they can be in. Have you ever been to the shopping mecca of Brandon Park?

Deancm_MKII

Try living out in the suburbs and see how many great strips of shopping, eating and bustling high streets there are... Non existent is a good description.

Buzzy--Bee

Around where I live I can think of many - Mordialloc, Mentone, Black Rock, Hampton, Brighton, and further in Elwood and St Kilda, and that's just the ones along the bay.

I would agree that they are very lacking in the new estates though.

BB

Pine Cone

Well that is one thing we can sort of answer, having tried most of the above over the past few years. Basically we're not bothered about a big house for the next few years. We'd rather rent somewhere smaller like a 3 bed townhouse (with garage) with a small low maintenance courtyard garden and a) live close-ish to the CBD in a convenient nice area with good schools that we couldn't afford to rent a larger house in, or b) live further out but within an hours commute, in a family friendly suburb, but still keep our rental costs down so we have more spare cash for commuting and getting out and about at weekends. Currently we're paying NZ$550 per week for a small 3 bed townhouse (with a garage but non-existant garden) in a convenient area, and walking distance to a decile 10 school. That works out about AU$425 per week. We are anticipating paying more than this in Oz, given the cost of living is higher. However, trying to work out how much more is reasonable is like trying to measure a piece of string without a ruler.

Other than that, we have young children so have no interest in bars or going out in the evenings as that only ever happens when we have relatives visiting who can babysit. We do like being relatively close to nice areas where we can get decent coffee at the weekend, but not so convenient there is a risk of us popping out for coffee too often or we'd end up frittering our money away too easily.

As for the rest, we don't care if it's hilly ot flat, or beachside or not. Ideally we would like to be within 15 minutes drive of a beach - one where car parking is not horrendous, but this part could be wishful thinking. And if we are further out of the city, we'd rather locate ourselves close to reasonable public transport links.