oh the pound!!!!!

house we got is in Veda Ave and available from 4th.

wooden sleeper retainer, no worries, could do in Feb as funnily enough my diary is empty!!!

met some pomms over new years wanting extension and few others mentioning work so fingers crossed should be promising and save me commuting to CBD for bigger contracts!

Need to check licensing in Vic yet tho (unless dirty cash job!!!)
but should have no issues as AQF qualified as carpenter and builder (did in Sydney 2005-2006 as even though had 10 years exp in UK back then they insisted!)

Could do with introducing you to my OH anyway KK as bought her a half decent camera but she really needs pointing in the right direct on settings etc!

will PM you when we get there!

It's between MP and the Gold coast for us.
We want to be within reach of a city, but not in a city.

MP was always our first choice before but the weather issue concerns me a little bit. I don't want to move to the other side of the world and find that the weather isn't a huge improvement on the south coast UK.

But it does look like it would suit us. We want to keep certain things that we already have in the UK: 10 minute drive to the beach and access to lovely walks. We enjoy a good social life here and would want to build that up too.

If we can get that with better weather and job opportunities then we will be happy. At the moment we think MP can offer us that

Interesting comparison. I have been to the Gold Coast, but not lived there so I'm not the best person to advise you, but judging from my informal studies on this website, I reckon both places would fill this requirement. But are you counting the "city" as The Gold Coast or Brisbane - I believe Goldie is the fastest growing city in Australia at the moment.

Weather is quite subjective isn't it - and a lot of people think they want constant heat and sun and then don't really like it when they have it!!! The Gold Coast would be much better for year round warmth. The Peninsula would be much better for less humidity and more variation of weather. Both would be different to South Coast UK. One thing you might like to consider which I would put under the same heading as weather is the darkness in summer - the Gold Coast is in the dark by about 7pm in summer whereas in Victoria it is light until after 9.30pm. In winter they are both dark by about 5.30pm.

I think a social life is as much down to you as the area you live in so you'll be fine!

Not sure of job opportunities in your fields, I reckon you'd be able to get work anywhere yourself Kathy. Of course the Peninsula does have access to far greater population nearby which normally equates to more job opportunities.

I personally am so glad we chose Melbourne over QLD - we might well have been happy in QLD too though, who knows?

BB

We were talking about this today. I love summer here in the UK (when it's not raining!) but I also like it when autumn comes and I can start wearing boots etc. A change is good!
What I don't want is to freeze in my own home, but as you say once we have our own place we can remedy that.

We are now definitely back on for MP provided I can get a job. We watched Relocation: Phil down under today and T turned to me and said "that's where I want to live". I finally have him totally on board, yay! i know you have to take these programmes with a pinch of salt but MP did look very nice indeed

See you in about 12 months

Mr Cro....you'll be a couple of streets away from us! Yes, please do get in touch when you arrrive, we'll look forward to meeting you both! Perhaps we can discuss walls..

Kapri....glad to hear you will be coming out at last! I thought you had put off Oz for good? Yours has been a long journey from what I remember!

Well, we come from the South Coast of the UK and live on the Peninsula although I've not been to the Gold Coast, only Brissie and the Sunshine Coast so not sure if I can help much to compare. Regarding the weather, it's nice on the Peninsula in Summer as we are a little bit cooler although that also means cooler in winter as well. However, we don't get frosts etc which some of the suburbs get, I was amazed when our friends lived in Balwyn North and had them as thats not even countryside!

We have friends who live in Somerville, 10 mins away and even going that bit inland it's warmer on a hot day and recently with the humidity it was more sticky.

The Peninsula has a good climate, I guess it must have because of all the vineyards down here! The key is to look for certain things when renting or buying a house to keep warm. It will be interesting to see how our house does come the winter but so far in Summer it feels nice and cool when we come in and hasn't felt at all sticky during the recent humid weather.

The other parts of Mellie I like is the Torquay area but not so practical to live, if I didn't want seaside then I'd choose somewhere like Eltham or Diamond Creek as that's nice bush type countryside. I also like Port Melbourne as a city beach suburb but that can get very windy. Mordialloc where Buzzy lives is nice as good beach, nice town and not too far from the city but getting pricey now.

We love the Peninsula as it reminds us of Sussex with the rolling hills and farms. The vineyards give the area a nice Mediterranean feel and of course we have beautiful beaches all around from shallow bay beaches to the wild ocean. Have I sold it

I too would love the year round warmth of QLD but since we arrived here 4 years ago the East Coast has had nothing but wild weather and a lot of rain. We did have a very cold, wet, dull winter here this year (even the locals were moaning) but then hasn't everyone! The key is probably to ensure you have a winter holiday somewhere warm and sunny!

I have lived on the Peninsula for 24 years now and love it, we live in Somerville on top of the hill so we get the breeze from both bays, roaring wind actually when the westerly blows across from Mornington. When we built out house we had to have extra strength in our roof as its a high wind area but no problem now as we planted a good wind break down the bottom of the property. We have acreage so have the room.

The best place for weather on the Peninsula imo is Rosebud,Tootgoorook, McRae as they are in the lea of Arthurs Seat and when the wind comes across the bay it usually misses these suburbs and its a little micro climate down there, not so cold in winter.

I prefer the westernport side of the Peninsula as its more rural and the towns do not run together.

Balnarring, Bittern are popular now with people who commute to south and east areas of Melbourne like Dandenong, Braeside, Moorabbin.

My friends live in Mount Martha on acreage and its lovely where they live but little too suburby feel for me.

Hi all

We are moving down to Safety Beach in about a weeks time, from the Sunshine Coast. OH is a carpenter and has had a job offer (although there will be plenty of work in Queensland in the coming months we have decided to make the move anyway) so we are now trying to work out how to relocate 2 vehicles, 2 kids, 2 adults, a houseful of furniture and one dog!!

Can't wait to get there and relax.....and hopefully my hair will be less frizzy - this humidity is driving me mad!

MrCro - massive coincidence as before christmas you were talking of getting in touch when you moved up to the sunny coast and now we are going to practically be neighbours on the mornington peninsula!

WE'RE HERE!!!!! arrived today after 2 day drive from Sydney. 1st day awful driving through storms and Hume Highway got closed due to an accident so wasn't nice.

Now sat in Mt Eliza at friends house and get keys to new rental in Mt Martha ready to move in tomorrow!

Look forward to meeting up with Steve and Kelly again, Koala Kim for first time and now RachH!!!!

Rach - are you here yet and where's all this work????
(OH told me I need a month off first tho!!!)

We'll be manic unpacking 340 items from our 40ft container for who knows how long but will be ready to get social real soon guys!

Happy days


PS: the humidity in sydney drove my wife nuts so that put her off the move north, then the floods sealed the deal (now not to mention cyclones!)

Although I can now imagine how much money there must be for builders since all that happened!

Plenty work going on down here though so fingers crossed we can make a quid or two!!!

Great news! Hope the unpacking went well....


Yes we've arrived - we got here on Friday 4th after driving our two vehicles down from the sunny coast (took us 5 days due to a breakdown (the car, not me), the dog and two kids - never ever will do that again!)...

Pete had the weekend to help unpack and started work on the Monday. All good so far although much of his work will be north of Frankston so he has a good hours drive to work each day. Safety Beach is really quiet but will be okay for us for the next year. We'll probably try and move nearer to Mornington in the future.

Once your settled it would be great to meet up.

Now trying to find a couple of days of kindy/preschool for my 4 year old .... he seriously needs some stimulation and little friends as he's slowly driving me nuts!

Hi

sorry for delay mad unpacking etc and no modem in post yet so no internet!

Be good to met up, we'll arrange something soon.

I've been told by OH not to consider work yet until home sorted but I'm keen to get something lined up!

Welcome to Mt Martha!

Hope the unpacking went well and you are settling in okay.

Would be good to meet up and if MrsCro would allow you to do some work soon it would be good to get a quote off you for our wall! I think Mr Koala is coming round to the idea of not doing it himself, well that's if we want it finished this century

Happy to meet up for a coffee sometime, just let us know. We are at home all day, slaving away in front of a hot computer so we welcome distractions

If you need to know anything about the local area, where to get stuff etc then just give us a shout.

KK

ONLINE AT LAST!!!

yes lets defo meet up at some point, think we'll be unpacking for couple of weeks yet as keep getting distracted by beaches, sorrento, arthurs seat etc etc etc!!!