chrissy79

Hi, my husband and I are moving to Melbourne in the new year but I'm currently feeling very shaky about it. The main thing I'm concerned about is finding the right suburb as we have two very young children. I have lots of friends here, and we know no one in Melbourne. Can anyone recommend some great suburbs for a young family, average salaries (one midwife, one nurse). Thank you

old.sparkles

Hi and welcome to BE

I've moved your post to our Australian section - there's quite a few posters in Melbourne who should be able to help. Do you have jobs lined up in advance? Any ideas where you'll be working?

chrissy79

Ahh thanks so much, I'm a bit lost here as you can tell. There are jobs all over so we're pretty flexible. Hoping for a sponsorship. I've heard good things about Berwick?? Oh and Mornington!!

Buzzy--Bee

Hi and welcome.

Do you know whereabouts you will be working? There's loads of great family suburbs but Melbourne is enormous and has over 300 suburbs so we need to narrow this down a bit!

Do you like city, beach, countryside?
What would be your budget for renting and buying?

BB

chrissy79

Hi, thanks for replying. There seems to work for midwives all over so home location will come first. I live in leeds at the moment, it's quite busy and there's a great cafe culture, bar scene where we are. Though there's also loads of baby and mum clubs which I adore. I'm looking to recreate this city life in Melbourne but would like to be only a short drive to the beech. Needs to be great outdoor life and I'm happy to be 30-60 minutes away from the centre. Budget wise 300-500 aus dollars a week for rent.

Hope you can help. Soooo grateful x

Buzzy--Bee

Hi - OK well the area we live in would work. We are on the boundary of Mordialloc and Parkdale. We live 20 mins walk from the beach. Both Mordialloc and Parkdale have a good cafe culture (though nowhere as varied as suburbs further in). We are 30 - 45 mins from the centre of Melbourne. For kids, our area is amazing, with loads of childcare/kindys, great primary and secondary schools and a swimming pool, kids gym, community centre etc.

For your budget here you would just about get a modern 3 bed townhouse with a small garden or an older wooden house with a bigger garden.

There will be lots of other areas too that will fit the bill.

HTH

BB

GeordieG

Hi, I would stop stressing, Melbourne is a fabulous place to live, especially with family. I would certainly recommend the South/East area rather than the West, although it is more expensive. As you move further out - (Mordialloc has been suggested already) areas surrounding this are all nice - the prices go down. Theres a good rail network to the city and great lifestyle. I would suggest hopping onto Domain.com.au and looking at rentals to get a feel for what you can get for your money

GeordieG

Berwick and surrounding area is growing fast. More suburban and inland. Mornington is stunning and coastal but much further from the City. Areas like Cheltenham, Bonbeach, Mount Eliza will give you a compromise in between and are cheaper than areas close to the city. All great areas for bringing up family

chrissy79

Thanks guys so much for helping. I'm definitely going to look at those areas you suggested. Feeling a little braver than I was too, so cheers x

DC10

Williamstown is a beautiful secret enclave in the west - gorgeous old town and a decent beach (by Melbourne standards). Quiet, leafy streets. Reasonable train line to the city (about 25 mins) and to drive with no traffic it's barely 15 mins. It is a very family friendly place off the beaten track but with a view straight across the water to the high rises. Because it's nicer than most of the west the property prices are more like Eastern suburbs. Oh and handy enough to the airport too.

OzTennis

Williamstown (looking towards the city when Queen Mary 2 was in and the beach mentioned on the other side of the narrow peninsula)

chrissy79

Wow that looks amazing. Thanks so much for the recommendation I'll definitely check it out when we get there!

mr-vmware

Hi BB, about Mordialloc, how safe and family friendly is that place (including transport trains buses, crime rate, joblessness etc) for young kids if they go out on their own. I heard some not so good stuff about Frankston line and some of the suburbs along the way but have no real insight. We are thinking of moving from Glen Waverley to Mordialloc to move closer to beach + city at reasonable cost but don't want to compromise on safety and family friendliness of the area. Thx in adv.

Buzzy--Bee

Completely safe. Our kids have been walking to school by themselves since they were 9. No idea about the trains as I dont use them - I think the Frankston line can be dodgy at night. But I have never felt anything but safe here. This is an incredibly family friendly area.

I don't think Mordialloc is closer to the city than Glen Waverley though. But I think the house prices are similar? And the beach is very accessible of course.

BB

ozzieeagle

One very tentative word of advice, Aus Cities in terms of social issues are almost the total opposite of the UK cities... IE: the further you go from the CBD the more social problems there are generally.

Or put bluntly more gang and peer group pressure on the outside burbs compared to the inner burbs. Places like Frankston which really would look good to a new UK person...and is on the edge of the Mornington peninsular can be very dodgy at night time... compared to places further in. Frankston BTW is not as bad now as it used to be ...but was one of the dodgiest burbs in Melbourne at one stage.

So rental until you Acclimatise is an absolute must... I see your already going to do that... but it's going to take at least 2 maybe 3 years to undo years of UK pre conceived ideas re cities.

I'd say around the beach on the SE burbs could be the go for you... as close in as you can afford though.

Altona on the other side is a possibility, new hospitals over there and you'll be able to get far more bang for you buck there.... It's near Williamstown

Remember to add at least 12 pct take home pay each to you and your partners wages in Salary Packaging benefits as all government health workers qualify for this.

Ergo your average combined income of circa 150-175K (assuming you do shifts and a little OT) will be worth 25pct more in buying power/tax free take home pay.

My Aus wife, who works at the Royal Melbourne as a nurse with 30 years under her belt, which is why I know a bit about the conditions and wages.