Mornington peninsula
 

Hi, Iv been offered a job in Mornington and was just wondering if anyone out there has any info about it regarding renting, best suburbs etc and price ranges?

Thanks in advance

Re: Mornington peninsula
 

Hello from Mornington!

Great place to live! If you are working in Mornington then you have lots of choice of where to live - Mt Martha, Mt Eliza or even heading down into Rosebud, Rye, Sorrento (if you have the budget!) or inland of Somerville and Red Hill.

Depends on whether you want beach or countryside but on the whole you can get a decent 4x2 rental in Mornington or Mt Martha for 400-450 a week. There aren't many flats in the area so if you want something smaller then it's a unit (small bungalow) or a smaller house but need to look at 350 upwards for a decent place i.e. good kitchen and bathroom etc.

Rosebud and Rye are more holiday towns and in Summer the towns can get very busy with campers. Many people camp the whole summer down there or certainly for the school holiday period and then all the locals moan as I have heard that sometimes the supermarkets can get low on food!

Further down are Blairgowrie and Sorrento which are very upmarket and lovely of course!

Rosebud is about 15 mins from Mornington and we can get down to Sorrento in around 40 mins.

Mt Martha house prices have gone up a fair bit in the last year so consquently the rentals have as well. At some periods during the year decent rentals can be a bit thin on the ground.

If you have family, I can't help you out with schools as we don't have kids but I'm sure others can be of assistance!

On a clear run we can get to the airport in less than 1.5 hours and we can do the city in an hour and a bit.

There are lots of buses but unfortunately you have to go to Frankston to get the train which takes just over the hour. On the otherside of the Peninsula you can get a train which is crazy! Frankston station parking is usually full by 7.15.

If you need to know anything more specific then just let us know!

KK

Re: Mornington peninsula
 

Thankyou so much for that. I have loads to ask if you dont mind. Wud it be ok to PM you with one specific ?

Re: Mornington peninsula
 

Yep .....no worries!

KK

Re: Mornington peninsula
 

We are in Mount Martha and just like Koalakim said the rentals were thin on the ground when we were looking for one but did get one eventually. Same goes for house prices, a couple of years ago there were plenty in the 350-400 price bracket but they are mostly above 400 now.
We have 2 girls one at Osborne Primary and the other at Mornington Secondary College and TBH Osborne is a bit big for my liking 600+ kids and a few issues but she is in the last year now. Mornington Secondary we have had no problems with and they bent over backwards for the eldest and help her settle.
If you need to know about any other schools in the area just let me know
J x

Re: Mornington peninsula
 

I'd give rosebud a miss. If I was working in Mornington I would keep to Mornington or Mt Martha for commuting. It's not like the other places are far away; but why bother. Robinsons Rd and the Tanti don't have good reps.

Re: Mornington peninsula
 

We looked at Rosebud as the property is a bit cheaper but in the end just tacking that extra 30 mins round trip on would get a bit much.

Also OH said he didn't want to live in a place called Rosebud.....:D

Re: Mornington peninsula
 

Hi

Have just returned from Mt Martha after 4 weeks holiday. We went from the beginning of December and came back after New Year. My Cousin and his Ozzy wife lives there so we got the lo-down on everything!

I loved Sorrento but it did seem to be where people might have holiday houses and go for the summer. It is quite exclusive and also isolated as it is on the end of the Penninsula. There is however a Ferry which takes you from Sorrento over to Queenscliffe although we never did that trip.

There is a road called the Napeon Highway running parallel with the coast Road from (I think) Mount Martha Area all the way up towards Melbourne....I may be corrected. As I didnt do the driving I am slightly hazy (could look at Googleearth). Apparently in Mornington and Mount Martha and other coastal areas the rental and house prices are cheaper on the other side of the Napeon Highway (further from coast. If you were to rent on that side you would still only be 15 minutes walk from the beach but make a saving in rental!! Or a 5 minute drive say. On the drive to the other side of the Penninsula you will drive through countryside quite like ours, rolling fields, haybales, cows, sheep and lots of Equestrian Centres and Stud Farms.

A lot of the suburbs are much the same, Rosebud appears to be cheaper to live but you are further down the Penninsula again and always have to drive up it to get anywhere.

A good rental company to get in touch with is Harcourts. There is one in Mornington and you can access their current rentals to get a good idea.

Other observations - Mornington side of the Penninsula has an incredibly safe sea, very important with kids. The other side has an equally beautiful coast but is preferred by surfers as there are bigger waves and therefore more of a swell/currents. Personally having children I was much much more at ease on the Mornington side at the beach.
Supermarket alcohol extortionate but then they dont have the cheap booze and drunk kids problem we do.
Schools are good in general.
Clean and tidy
There is a major water shortage, washing cars is a luxury
Beaches are really clean
People really friendly
Eating out is really expensive. You can add 30-40 quid onto what a family of 4 would pay here!

If you want any more info, bearing in mind I have only visited and the above is my opinion, I will be happy to try to help with. We did research the area as it is where we want to go. All brits we met already there love it! Also our friends went from there all the way up to Sydney stopping off in Melbourne, Brisbane on the way (Spent 7 weeks I think) and ultimately want to go to the Mornington Penninsula.

Good luck deciding, I wish someone would offer me a job!:(

Jenny

Re: Mornington peninsula
 

Thankyou so much everyone of you and Kim for the PM too. I just cant believe my luck. I have just been on realestate.com.au and domain.com.au having a look at the houses and prices. Grand terrace view and ellarina road look fab in the mount martha area so i googleearthed it too and its even more fab with views of the bay :thumbsup: My head is spinning and I just want to get there now. I could have had a 457 sponsor visa but Iv already applied for 175 and told the hospital I prefer that route. Hopefully my hub and I will be there for the end of Aug 10. No kids as they are grown up 26. 24, and 21 almost so just me and him.
Husband is a HGV driver here (UK) so don't really know what is out there for him. I tried asking on the trucking site as we were considering QLD but a lot of them on there are very possessive about their trucking jobs and most comments were negative :confused:
Im sure I will have lots and lots of questions for all of you and again Thankyou so much for saying you will help (and even meet up :thumbsup:). I really appreciate your time :thumbsup::thumbsup:Kisses to all of you xxxxx

Re: Mornington peninsula
 

I find that surprising. We usually spend between about $80-$120 eating out with a family of 6.

Re: Mornington peninsula
 

is that like 40 - 60 quid (UK)? We spend more than that just for a nice chinese meal for 2 of us! However, it does depend on how old kids are in other post. I wouldnt like to spend adult prices if they are only little so 30 - 40 may be acceptable? I cant do a pound sign on my laptop?

Re: Mornington peninsula
 

At current exchange rates that would be about £60. You could spend more in posh restaurants but with 4 kids we tend to avoid that. 3 of the kids are still on kids meals. 1 now has adult portions. Some of the winery restaurants can be a tad expensive but we regularly have the pizzas at T'Gallant and it's usually around the $100 mark.

If you put GBP instead of £ most people will know what you're on about. :thumbup:

Re: Mornington peninsula
 

Eating out here is more expensive now if converting it back to pounds because of the exchange rate. However, we find that most portion sizes here are substantially larger than UK ones so if it's lunch or a slab of cake we quite often share and it's not frowned upon either here!

You can pick up cheap good wine here, we use Wine Lovers Warehouse and recently bought a couple of cases of excellent Shriaz which worked out at $2.95 a bottle. I found Aussie wine had gone up a lot in the UK when I was over there last year. Spirits seem expensive but in the UK I only ever bought them duty free! Beer - OH buys a slab when they are on special offer and seems quite good value. Guess it depends on what you drink but I've yet to have a bad bottle of cheap red wine and sparkling wine is much cheaper here than in the UK so that's a bonus.

Going back to UKJoiners post - the Nepean Highway runs through Mornington and Mt Martha and beach side is usually more expensive although some parts are well away from the beach! But wherever you are in the area it's only a 5-10 min drive to the beach and free parking - woo hoo!

KK

Re: Mornington peninsula
 

I'm not suggesting that it is cheaper here with the current exchange rate I was just surprised at the suggestion that it was considered £30-40 more expensive here. £10 maybe given the current exchange rate.

Re: Mornington peninsula
 

Mornington is not that cheap as it has expanded considerably in recent years. It used to be a fairly sleepy coastal area but has grown a lot. Frankston is not far away and is, from what I know, cheaper than Mornington as despite being nearer to Melbourne is a less desirable place to be. Quite a lot of unsavoury behaviour goes on in the Frankston area and as such it is the butt of a lot of jokes in Victoria.