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More on our life in Melbourne

More on our life in Melbourne

Old Nov 7th 2003, 11:19 am
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Default More on our life in Melbourne

Hi all,

Thanks for the friendly wishes after my last post. We were feeling a bit down with looking at so many horrible rental houses so it was great to be cheered up.

Here's another long instalment coming up....

The good news is... we've found a new (temporary) home!!!!

Australia is such big 'own your own home' territory. We found out that mainly only students or very poor families rent houses in the Melbourne suburbs. Relocating execs rent big houses close to town (way too pricey for us). Single yuppies rent big apartments close to town - same as flats but the name 'apartment' sells them better. Other single people or couples without kids rent flats (units as they're called here) or townhouses in the suburbs. These are built in sets of 2 to 8 on blocks of land that used to have just one house on so they have miniscule gardens generally.

We saw a lot of student hovels. Discovered that 'renovated' mostly means 'put a new kitchen in sometime in the 1960s'. It's difficult to find a short lease as most landlords want you to sign up to at least a year (but it is possible to break it if you pay for advertising costs and rent until they find someone). So they wouldn't consider us for the best properties. After looking at 40 more places from the outside on Wednesday afternoon (hours and hours of driving, stopping and peering in the windows) we finally resigned ourselves to settling for one of the new units that was sitting empty - not cheap and no garden for toddler and cat though.

Then we found it!!! A great house where the owner wants short lets only - presumably they're abroad and want to come back at relatively short notice. They were having trouble letting it for that reason so the price is good too. All mod cons (way more than we'll get in a house we buy!). Walking distance to shopping mall, train and parks. We've signed up for a 3 month lease that then turns into a rolling tenancy. In Oz (or is it just Victoria?) a rolling tenancy means you can give one month's notice at any time but the landlord has to give you two months' notice. Perfect for househunting as there are plenty of houses to buy around here with 30 or 60 day settlement.

Having found a home everything else is falling into place. We've found that most of the people we've dealt with here are really friendly and quite helpful. That goes for shop staff, quarantine station, bank staff and even VicRoads driver licencing bods. The attitude to unusual requests seems to be more "We don't usually do it that way but OK, we'll give it a go" rather than the jobsworth British "That's not how we do it" stuff.

Over the last week we've started to feel more and more like we couldn't imagine going back to Britain. The sun's been shining which helps for sure. But just the little things like walking along the footpath to the shops without having to make sure your toddler avoids all the dog crap that make life so much easier. We lived by a park in London and all the lazy dog owners (especially in wet weather) would drive to the park at the last minute, the dog would poop on the footpath immediately it got out of the car and then they'd pop the dog back in the car again and go home! I remember an interview with Dave Allen (the comedian) where he said his street in Kensington should be renamed Turd Terrace.

It's taken a while to get to grips with all the driving and shopping at malls rather than local shops (the malls ARE the local shops!) but once we'd made that adjustment it's really pleasant here. Much of Melbourne seems very American in style in the suburbs so I wouldn't move here if you hate the USA that's for sure. The villagey British-like suburbs are right in town and very very expensive - many of the house prices there are comparable to ordinary suburbs in London. They're still cheaper than places like Knightsbridge or Islington though and they are the Melbourne equivalent.

This is going to sound a bit sad so those without kids stop reading here! We were really impressed by the baby changing and feeding facilities in the malls here. Again, a little thing but it sure adds to your quality of life when running daily errands. They were spacious, spotless and non-smelly with private cubicles for feeding, family toilets (the large cubicles with child sized loo as well as adult loo with room to wheel a pram in), changing pad covers and soap actually in the dispensers and even a gated toddler play area in some so you could imprison your toddler while changing or feeding a baby.

Mike's relatives here have been great. Very laidback. Seemed startled when we suggested we'd ring before coming over - "No don't bother ringing, just drop in...". I didn't realise how British I'd become in my formality.

A tip for those coming to Melbourne. If you need rented furniture until yours arrives (for the unfurnished rental properties) Living Edge furniture rentals seem great - efficient and straightforward. Tel. 03 9429 3933. Their 'Quick Start' package is cheap. We're paying $438 per month inc insurance plus $100 each way delivery and collection. Minimum one month's rental then charged weekly after that. For that we get: queen size bed (UK king size), single bed, fridge/freezer, washing machine, tumble dryer, beech dining table and 4 chairs, vacuum cleaner, iron, ironing board and towel pack. Plenty of other things to choose from on the list but we brought basic kitchen stuff and linen with us by air freight. If you know where you're going to be living they can even pick up the key from estate agent or whatever and deliver it before you arrive. PABS also rent furniture (all over Oz) but their minimum rental period is (I think) 3 months.

I hope everything's going well for everyone on the way. I've been a bit busy househunting to look on the site recently . Look forward to seeing some of you soon. Any questions we might be able to answer just ask.

Best wishes,

Jo
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Old Nov 7th 2003, 11:34 am
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Default Re: More on our life in Melbourne

Originally posted by Jolyn
Hi all,

Thanks for the friendly wishes after my last post. We were feeling a bit down with looking at so many horrible rental houses so it was great to be cheered up.

Here's another long instalment coming up....

The good news is... we've found a new (temporary) home!!!!

Australia is such big 'own your own home' territory. We found out that mainly only students or very poor families rent houses in the Melbourne suburbs. Relocating execs rent big houses close to town (way too pricey for us). Single yuppies rent big apartments close to town - same as flats but the name 'apartment' sells them better. Other single people or couples without kids rent flats (units as they're called here) or townhouses in the suburbs. These are built in sets of 2 to 8 on blocks of land that used to have just one house on so they have miniscule gardens generally.

We saw a lot of student hovels. Discovered that 'renovated' mostly means 'put a new kitchen in sometime in the 1960s'. It's difficult to find a short lease as most landlords want you to sign up to at least a year (but it is possible to break it if you pay for advertising costs and rent until they find someone). So they wouldn't consider us for the best properties. After looking at 40 more places from the outside on Wednesday afternoon (hours and hours of driving, stopping and peering in the windows) we finally resigned ourselves to settling for one of the new units that was sitting empty - not cheap and no garden for toddler and cat though.

Then we found it!!! A great house where the owner wants short lets only - presumably they're abroad and want to come back at relatively short notice. They were having trouble letting it for that reason so the price is good too. All mod cons (way more than we'll get in a house we buy!). Walking distance to shopping mall, train and parks. We've signed up for a 3 month lease that then turns into a rolling tenancy. In Oz (or is it just Victoria?) a rolling tenancy means you can give one month's notice at any time but the landlord has to give you two months' notice. Perfect for househunting as there are plenty of houses to buy around here with 30 or 60 day settlement.

Having found a home everything else is falling into place. We've found that most of the people we've dealt with here are really friendly and quite helpful. That goes for shop staff, quarantine station, bank staff and even VicRoads driver licencing bods. The attitude to unusual requests seems to be more "We don't usually do it that way but OK, we'll give it a go" rather than the jobsworth British "That's not how we do it" stuff.

Over the last week we've started to feel more and more like we couldn't imagine going back to Britain. The sun's been shining which helps for sure. But just the little things like walking along the footpath to the shops without having to make sure your toddler avoids all the dog crap that make life so much easier. We lived by a park in London and all the lazy dog owners (especially in wet weather) would drive to the park at the last minute, the dog would poop on the footpath immediately it got out of the car and then they'd pop the dog back in the car again and go home! I remember an interview with Dave Allen (the comedian) where he said his street in Kensington should be renamed Turd Terrace.

It's taken a while to get to grips with all the driving and shopping at malls rather than local shops (the malls ARE the local shops!) but once we'd made that adjustment it's really pleasant here. Much of Melbourne seems very American in style in the suburbs so I wouldn't move here if you hate the USA that's for sure. The villagey British-like suburbs are right in town and very very expensive - many of the house prices there are comparable to ordinary suburbs in London. They're still cheaper than places like Knightsbridge or Islington though and they are the Melbourne equivalent.

This is going to sound a bit sad so those without kids stop reading here! We were really impressed by the baby changing and feeding facilities in the malls here. Again, a little thing but it sure adds to your quality of life when running daily errands. They were spacious, spotless and non-smelly with private cubicles for feeding, family toilets (the large cubicles with child sized loo as well as adult loo with room to wheel a pram in), changing pad covers and soap actually in the dispensers and even a gated toddler play area in some so you could imprison your toddler while changing or feeding a baby.

Mike's relatives here have been great. Very laidback. Seemed startled when we suggested we'd ring before coming over - "No don't bother ringing, just drop in...". I didn't realise how British I'd become in my formality.

A tip for those coming to Melbourne. If you need rented furniture until yours arrives (for the unfurnished rental properties) Living Edge furniture rentals seem great - efficient and straightforward. Tel. 03 9429 3933. Their 'Quick Start' package is cheap. We're paying $438 per month inc insurance plus $100 each way delivery and collection. Minimum one month's rental then charged weekly after that. For that we get: queen size bed (UK king size), single bed, fridge/freezer, washing machine, tumble dryer, beech dining table and 4 chairs, vacuum cleaner, iron, ironing board and towel pack. Plenty of other things to choose from on the list but we brought basic kitchen stuff and linen with us by air freight. If you know where you're going to be living they can even pick up the key from estate agent or whatever and deliver it before you arrive. PABS also rent furniture (all over Oz) but their minimum rental period is (I think) 3 months.

I hope everything's going well for everyone on the way. I've been a bit busy househunting to look on the site recently . Look forward to seeing some of you soon. Any questions we might be able to answer just ask.

Best wishes,

Jo
Hi Jo - fantastically informative email. I read it all with interest. We've just been granted state nomination for Victoria so Melbourne is of particular interest to us. Also with a 20 month old I was delighted to read about the facilities available for those crucial moments!


We'll be looking for rental accomodation as well - hope we get lucky like you.

Anyway - thanks, take care and keep us all posted
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Old Nov 7th 2003, 11:48 am
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Jo

Great post and pleased to see things are falling into place for you and your family. Which part of Melbourne are you in? I'm from Williamstown - now one of the expensive suburbs because of its proximity to the city, views, beaches etc.

Good luck - I'm sure the other pieces of the jigsaw will fall into place too.

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Old Nov 7th 2003, 12:11 pm
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Default Re: More on our life in Melbourne

Originally posted by Jolyn
Hi all,
I know what you mean about the walk to school in uk ,and on my visit to perth last week know exactley where you r coming from ali
Thanks for the friendly wishes after my last post. We were feeling a bit down with looking at so many horrible rental houses so it was great to be cheered up.

Here's another long instalment coming up....

The good news is... we've found a new (temporary) home!!!!

Australia is such big 'own your own home' territory. We found out that mainly only students or very poor families rent houses in the Melbourne suburbs. Relocating execs rent big houses close to town (way too pricey for us). Single yuppies rent big apartments close to town - same as flats but the name 'apartment' sells them better. Other single people or couples without kids rent flats (units as they're called here) or townhouses in the suburbs. These are built in sets of 2 to 8 on blocks of land that used to have just one house on so they have miniscule gardens generally.

We saw a lot of student hovels. Discovered that 'renovated' mostly means 'put a new kitchen in sometime in the 1960s'. It's difficult to find a short lease as most landlords want you to sign up to at least a year (but it is possible to break it if you pay for advertising costs and rent until they find someone). So they wouldn't consider us for the best properties. After looking at 40 more places from the outside on Wednesday afternoon (hours and hours of driving, stopping and peering in the windows) we finally resigned ourselves to settling for one of the new units that was sitting empty - not cheap and no garden for toddler and cat though.

Then we found it!!! A great house where the owner wants short lets only - presumably they're abroad and want to come back at relatively short notice. They were having trouble letting it for that reason so the price is good too. All mod cons (way more than we'll get in a house we buy!). Walking distance to shopping mall, train and parks. We've signed up for a 3 month lease that then turns into a rolling tenancy. In Oz (or is it just Victoria?) a rolling tenancy means you can give one month's notice at any time but the landlord has to give you two months' notice. Perfect for househunting as there are plenty of houses to buy around here with 30 or 60 day settlement.

Having found a home everything else is falling into place. We've found that most of the people we've dealt with here are really friendly and quite helpful. That goes for shop staff, quarantine station, bank staff and even VicRoads driver licencing bods. The attitude to unusual requests seems to be more "We don't usually do it that way but OK, we'll give it a go" rather than the jobsworth British "That's not how we do it" stuff.

Over the last week we've started to feel more and more like we couldn't imagine going back to Britain. The sun's been shining which helps for sure. But just the little things like walking along the footpath to the shops without having to make sure your toddler avoids all the dog crap that make life so much easier. We lived by a park in London and all the lazy dog owners (especially in wet weather) would drive to the park at the last minute, the dog would poop on the footpath immediately it got out of the car and then they'd pop the dog back in the car again and go home! I remember an interview with Dave Allen (the comedian) where he said his street in Kensington should be renamed Turd Terrace.

It's taken a while to get to grips with all the driving and shopping at malls rather than local shops (the malls ARE the local shops!) but once we'd made that adjustment it's really pleasant here. Much of Melbourne seems very American in style in the suburbs so I wouldn't move here if you hate the USA that's for sure. The villagey British-like suburbs are right in town and very very expensive - many of the house prices there are comparable to ordinary suburbs in London. They're still cheaper than places like Knightsbridge or Islington though and they are the Melbourne equivalent.

This is going to sound a bit sad so those without kids stop reading here! We were really impressed by the baby changing and feeding facilities in the malls here. Again, a little thing but it sure adds to your quality of life when running daily errands. They were spacious, spotless and non-smelly with private cubicles for feeding, family toilets (the large cubicles with child sized loo as well as adult loo with room to wheel a pram in), changing pad covers and soap actually in the dispensers and even a gated toddler play area in some so you could imprison your toddler while changing or feeding a baby.

Mike's relatives here have been great. Very laidback. Seemed startled when we suggested we'd ring before coming over - "No don't bother ringing, just drop in...". I didn't realise how British I'd become in my formality.

A tip for those coming to Melbourne. If you need rented furniture until yours arrives (for the unfurnished rental properties) Living Edge furniture rentals seem great - efficient and straightforward. Tel. 03 9429 3933. Their 'Quick Start' package is cheap. We're paying $438 per month inc insurance plus $100 each way delivery and collection. Minimum one month's rental then charged weekly after that. For that we get: queen size bed (UK king size), single bed, fridge/freezer, washing machine, tumble dryer, beech dining table and 4 chairs, vacuum cleaner, iron, ironing board and towel pack. Plenty of other things to choose from on the list but we brought basic kitchen stuff and linen with us by air freight. If you know where you're going to be living they can even pick up the key from estate agent or whatever and deliver it before you arrive. PABS also rent furniture (all over Oz) but their minimum rental period is (I think) 3 months.

I hope everything's going well for everyone on the way. I've been a bit busy househunting to look on the site recently . Look forward to seeing some of you soon. Any questions we might be able to answer just ask.

Best wishes,

Jo
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Old Nov 7th 2003, 12:13 pm
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sorry posted it all wrong ali
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Old Nov 7th 2003, 2:04 pm
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great read
cheers
thanx for the info

Last edited by sashadan; Nov 7th 2003 at 4:45 pm.
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Old Nov 7th 2003, 4:53 pm
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Hi Jo!
Very happy to learn you've finally found a place to rent. Well done! Things are gonna be easier from now on
So, where exactly are you living now?
Sorry I missed your last posts on this forum. Will have a look later. Don't have much time to go on it at the moment, as you know.
Thought I'll let you know we've sold most of our stuff in 2 days!!! Pretty good, eh? Next week is gonna be nice and quiet in comparison...
Hope to hear from you soon.
Vanessa
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Old Nov 8th 2003, 10:48 am
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Glad to hear you've sold everything Vanou - are you sleeping on the floor? I'll email you soon.

Troood - sounds like we'll see you in Vic soon - congrats on the state nomination. The facilities for kids here are great. The schools have playing fields that are like paddocks - and that's just the primary schools. Space is not in short supply that's for sure.

Hi TennisOz. We're renting in Glen Waverley and looking to buy somewhere in Forest Hills or Vermont probably. Maybe in a few years moving further out to somewhere hippy like Mt Evelyn - we saw a great house out there to buy and renovate on 2 acres would like to be closer into town to get a business up and running.

We checked out Williamstown but the rentals were too small and scruffy. We couldn't afford to buy a house there either so it seemed pointless settling in around there. Nice area though but a bit odd in that it seems a bit on its own - everywhere west of Williamstown seemed like a flat featureless wasteland. I can see why everyone lives north, south or especially east. Even Newport (next suburb from Williamstown) which is becoming expensive was nothing like Williamstown at all. The large old people's home backing on to a cemetery in Newport gave us a laugh though - perhaps just a little bit tactless?

More news on our rental house which is bizarre. Turns out it's only 5 years old, architect designed and won a number of design awards. Thought it looked rather nice - modern, spacious but not too big. More tastefully slimline/sleek rather than making a big show-off statement like some of the aggressively huge mock Georgian nouveau riche houses we've seen around here. All the fixtures and fittings are very upmarket - down to the double shower, spa baths and integrated radio and intercom system. And yes, it is being rented for a lot cheaper than it should be.

The owner (Hong Kong chinese migrant with tons of money) is not working abroad - he bought it a year ago because he likes the location and intends to knock it down sometime in the next year and build a massive tasteless two storey monstrosity like the one next door. Bet it will have Grecian pillars at the front too. Such a waste and what a shame. The owner paid $600,000 which is over the odds for the location as the house was priced highly for being award-winning. All that money just to knock it down! He could have bought a vacant plot of land in the next street (there were some) for much less money but he wanted that plot in particular. All the estate agents have checked the house out for design tips and agree that the owner just has too much money and no sense.

We're happy that we get to rent somewhere nicer than we could afford to buy and I guess noone will hang onto our bond money if our toddler damage's anything....

Good luck with all the applications everyone!!!
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Old Nov 8th 2003, 5:12 pm
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Originally posted by Jolyn
The owner (Hong Kong chinese migrant with tons of money) is not working abroad - he bought it a year ago because he likes the location and intends to knock it down sometime in the next year and build a massive tasteless two storey monstrosity like the one next door. Bet it will have Grecian pillars at the front too. Such a waste and what a shame. The owner paid $600,000 which is over the odds for the location as the house was priced highly for being award-winning. All that money just to knock it down! He could have bought a vacant plot of land in the next street (there were some) for much less money but he wanted that plot in particular. All the estate agents have checked the house out for design tips and agree that the owner just has too much money and no sense.
Good luck with all the applications everyone!!!
Hi jolyn glad you got settled down somewere, i used to live near glen waverley some time ago my parents had a shop on police rd in mulgrave...i will be over in 2 weeks yes yes yes...so will hopefully see you at the next meet-up, by the wqy send that nice hong kongy chinesey man my way i will help him spend his money
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Old Nov 8th 2003, 8:02 pm
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Hi Jolyn

We're hoping to go to Melbourne too. After lots of feelings of apprehension, I'm still well up for it!!! It's nice to hear a positive post and I'll be keeping an eye on future posts. I have never been to Melbourne, so gathering info from people like yourself is vital! Thanks

Noodle.x
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Old Nov 8th 2003, 10:13 pm
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Great to see someone taking the time to post such useful updates, not just the its not rained (yet!), were not homesick (after a month!), stuff but real nitty gritty stuff. Stuff on houses, jobs, childcare must be really invaluable to people in the UK. Good one
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Old Nov 9th 2003, 12:03 am
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hI hUN!

eXCELLENT READ, PLEASE PM me your new mobile number so i can give you a call in next couple of days, you've got brains and i need to pick em!!!

Looking forward to seeing you again
really soon H xx
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