Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Oooooh - as much as I feel a little uncomfortable to be eavesdropping on your conversation, I am also desperately keen to find out about both Mount Eliza and Frankston High Schools.... so would be keen to join in any information sharing....

One thing bothers me a little, though - with several of us seemingly in the same boat with regard to moving to the area with similarly aged children... won't the schools fill up (assuming they have spaces to start with..) - will we end up in a race to see who can get there first!!? :eek: Actually, we'll be last in - can't even put our house on the market until beginning of September, so no way we'll meet the November deadline for schools setting class sizes etc! :(

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Just a quick word of caution, unless your names have been down on the list for a private school the chances of getting in are pretty slim. It seems to go strictly in name down order and in the schools round here (s/e ) they make no exception for newly arrived people.

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Is this the same for the state schools, too? As some of you may know, I have gone round in circles looking at where to settle in Oz, and have been in touch with lots of different schools in different states. Some didn't even bother replying to my emails; some simply said when you arrive and have a residential address come and see us and if we have spaces, THEN come and talk to us about applying; some have said they would be prepared to hold places; some hold places until end-January anyway specifically to allow for new-comers....

It's not hard to imagine arriving and finding accommodation one street too far away to apply, or even in the zone but finding the school has no places.. So until you are in place, you don't know your chances of getting your children into a school..... and what happens if you can't? Does living in a school zone mean the school HAS to fit you in, regardless of numbers, or simply that you can apply and will get a place if there is one....?

Possibly if I were less of a worry-wart/control freak, I would be able to just leave it, arrive and just assume everything will fall into place one way or another.... but I'm not :p - and I think the kids would find that all too scary too!! :eek: And of course there is always that fear that you, as a parent, are taking them away from a passble school, friends etc - all in pursuit of a different and hopefully, on balance, better life.... not quite going to work if they have to travel hours to an overcrowded, problemmatic school....

aaargh... must go find my valium! :o

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Floss, remember to breathe......

I havn't heard of anyone having a problem with state as long as they live in the zone i'm pretty sure they have to find you a space:)

in.......out....in...out....

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

:D :D

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Hi again.

The accomodation you asked me about on the Britvics site is owned by the Art teacher at the Peninsula School. Both my boys go there (aged 7 & 5) and to be honest I wouldn't send them anywhere else, it's one of the best for miles around. We have experienced one state school (albeit for 2 days) which was more like a zoo but we are very pleased with the Peninsula School.

Regards Andy

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

I must admit everything I hear about the Penninsula school sounds almost to good to be true, apart from the fees of course :eek: These are scary, especially as both hubby and I wil be arriving without jobs. We would hate to put the boys into a fantastic school only to find we can't get jobs with an income to sustain it! We will certainly be thinking very closely about the Penninsula though, just wish they would get back to us with their consideration over places for the boys so that we can make a decision one way or another. I don't know what we will decide if they can take one and not the other, if its the eldest I think we would send him and hope to get the younger one in by the time he got to his VCE. If we had to send them to different schools i.e Penninsula and Mount Eliza, how do the schools and kids get on together? I'd hate one of them to feel second best!

This is definately the hardest part of the move for me, that and worrying about how all this is affecting the boys studying for thier GCSE and A levels :eek:

Am still interested with the possibility of the accommodation by the way as soon as you get the details.

Thanks for your quick replys, it really helps keep the stress levels under control.

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

:D

YUPPIEEEE!

We've now got a house in Mt Eliza! A three bedroom house with laarge
garden and decking with bar and bbq! Two bathrooms .. office .. and all ..
5m inutes to the village .. 7 minutes to the beach .. some hundred of meeters
to the Peninsula School for the children ..

I will be dreading the commute, but .. should be not that much different from
here!

Hmmm .. now we can start worrying since we're flying out on the 11th of
June! Auch! :scared:

/Jørgen

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Whens the house warming ??? :D :beer:

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

I think they should stick the heating on as soon as they get there ;) It's started to get cold now.

Cheers
Al.

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

I meant a Scottish House warming, not a Welsh one. :D

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Ooh! Does that mean that I have to bring my own booze :p

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

You'll be the first to know for sure! If there is an interest in an expat meet in Mt Eliza .. we'll be more than happy to host one .. that's for sure. Could try out the super-max bbq when we get around to "invest" in one. ;)

.. and not forgetting ... the :beer: !!!

/Jørgen

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Cold?!!??! Winter in Melbourne is like a chilly summer day here in Norway ...

SOOOoooo.. I guess we'll survive! :p I remember a few years ago; up north in Kautokeino it was -54 centigrades. They took a bucket of boiling water and threw it into the air .. and it instantly turned into a cloud of ice crystals. ;) THAT is cold! :eek:

/Jørgen

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

I guess the ladies would be happy seeing a number of "hung over" guys in kilts, now wouldn't they! :eek:

/Jørgen

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Hi Jorgen and family

You can't be living that far from us then. We're moving into Rutland Avenue. We are a family of three, me, Pat my wife, and Indigo our 3 year old daughter. Will you be living far from us. Pat and Indigo will be joining me on 9 June. Are you are interested in a local 'hello' meet. If so, maybe you'd like to PM us.

Neil et al

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Hope the preparations are going well for the big move - can I just ask a question... it seems from reading your posts that you managed to get the house in Mt Eliza while you were still out of the country.... or have I mis-read things? If you did manage to arrange things before arriving - presumably this is a rental property, but I understood agents wouldn't take applications unless you have seen the property in person.... did you manage to get around this, and if so, how? We are hoping to move that way too, in January - it would be great to know it might be possible to find a landing-pad ahead of time... very scary to arrive with no-where to go, and have to try to find somewhere in the right areas for schools etc...in super-quick time! Any pointers would be appreciated. :D

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

You are correct! We have not flown out yet. Not scheduled to leave before the 11th of June, but we have a relocation agent working on our behalf in Melbourne. That company is called http://www.hrrelocations.com/. We've basically sent them alot of criteria as to what we were looking for and they've browsed around in areas they think would be a nice fit for us ...

.. we've also done our research and then we've made the best out of it. We located Mt Eliza as a place we were interested in. We found a house as well which was really good, but lost that one. They then found the one we got now. Slightly better than the one we found, but this one does not have a pool. Not that important anyways! ;)

Since we cannot take over the property before the 5th of July we have then rented temporary accommodation. A small cottage in Mornington which looked really romantic! Should be a spot for a few wines if I am not mistaking.

Perhaps the best thing with the agent we've contracted is that they are looking around, making calls etc trying to find decent childcare for our two littens. We're trying to get into the Mt Eliza House (part of the Peninsula School), but there are waiting lists. One reason we want them there is that it is just a couple of hundred meters from the house we got to the Peninsula School... should make life a little easier ..

.
.

We chose this route simply because my wife needs the security "blanket"; and getting house, car, childcare and the necessities arranged for before we arrive makes her feel more comfortable.

Would gladly answer any specific questions you have though! So fire away!

Cheers,
Jørgen Skogstad

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Hey! Great to hear! Of course we will have to arrange a local meet! We'll be going into Mount Eliza Drive, not far from the Peninsula School. Not sure where that would be compared to Rutland Avenue, but it can't be far!

;)

Just a short notice now. We're just about to start putting the kids to bed and all.. so more time later to provide some more details! ;)

But we will have to meet up, for sure!

/Jørgen

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

We're in a similar situation to floss, we will be moving to Mount Eliza hopefully in September, we too are waiting to see if the Penninsula school has places for our youngest two, but ours are 16 and 12!! How did you find the relocation agents? Were they really helpful? We have considered using them but used an agent for the visas, moving is costing more than we thought etc etc so don't know whether we can justify any more expense. The thought of those school fees sends a shiver doen my spine just thinking of them :eek:

We've been put off trying to rent without seeing the place first beacuse of the length of the contracts if you get a right dump!! Some horror stories out there :scared:

Don't like to pry to much but did the relocation agent work out expensive?

Might be tempted to give them a go if I thought we could trust their judgement? Did you get photos and stuff about the properties to allow you to make up your mind?

Any info would be really helpful. :) :)

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Yes, jskogsta..... this sums up my questions too - it's not the sort of thing I would usually do - prefer to stumble my own way through - but given the timing of our move, the ENORMOUS amount of stuff to be done, and likelihood that I will end up having to do most of it while hubby watches ( :confused: ), the more I think about it the more I like the idea of having an agent doing all the house-hunting leg-work for me.... so I would be very interested in your experiences with your agent, and particularly, when you get there, if you think it was worthwhile..... thanks :D

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Actually by chance. I had been browsing around for a few months and had found them around christmas time. To see how they were I bought their Melbourne relocation guide for a few dollars. It was pretty good. Something I will bring with me for sure as well...

Indeed they have. Actually I have mostly been in contact with a woman there and she have been really helpful. She's always on top of things and comes with her frank judgement and information. Even if that means sayin "No" to us based on our guestimates etc.

She have also been helpful in putting up a budget based on our numbers. She's drawn upon her collegues and relations to qualify the numbers, assumptions etc on that (and other things) to get a fair, objective and balanced view.

I did ask her when we started that I wanted her personal and objective meaning on everything. Even if I did "not like" the answers .. because she knows Melbourne .. we do not!

Of course; we always make the call or not .. so we are responsible for all decisions that are made, but that is the way it needs to be! ;)

True. I was very hessitant at first, but it was one way of bringing some "comfort" to her since she has had the toughest going with this move. Because of her discomfort we wanted to get a house, car, childcare, temporary location ... etc. sorted ahead of our departure. Of course I could have flown out early, but we opted not to .. since I am doing an internal transfer within my company; thus starting up immediately .. or at least almost immediately. :eek:

I know what you mean .. our move is more costly than we thought as well .. one mitigation we had to do was to do a novated lease for our new (used) car. Just so we do not have to fork out thousands of dollars upfront .. it's all about having funds in the bank, right! We do not want to spend savings on this and are letting out our house in Norway ..

Indeed! We too. That's why I have been pleasantly surprised about Heather. She and her collegues have been very helpful in locating houses, having a look at them, telling us their objective meaning based on our criteria... finding 'burbs etc. I think they have at least ended up checking 4-5 properties, but only after talking to the owners, agents etc for alot more ..

.. they have always taken at least 20+ odd pictures of the properties and shared in online albums for us to see.

The property we got now looks to be really good. This is the quote she sent us after she looked at the house:

"I drove to Mt Eliza today to view the three houses that seemed most suitable, and I am really exited to be able to say that .............. is really a beautiful home - I think that anyone would love it - it has a lot of style and class, is well finished, clean, spacious but compact, in fact I can say that it is the first time in 4 years that a house has surpassed the expectation created in the ad! The house is MUCH nicer than <other house> in real life. I am really impressed with it and can honestly say that this type of house would be in the region of $650/week - $750/week in the South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne (Balwyn, Camberwell, Glen Iris etc)."

Which is quite promising, I must say ..

Well; they are fairly expensive, but compared to the amount of work they put into it (which I am amazed actually) it can't be that expensive in the long run.

You can find a list of their standard services at Standard services

They have standard fees. I think we will pay two installments; ie 50/50% of the packaged fee. We chose their "executive relocation" package. That was 3950 AUD. Send me a PM with your email and I can send you their pdf with their services and fees.

Yes: alot of pictures. Once or twice they have had two looks at a house with two different persons .. to get a balanced view against our criteria .. so they try to give a balanced view, but of course .. it is always to prefer to look at things yourself ..

.. but for us in our situation we wanted to have lots sorted out. With two small children and a "scared" mom .. it was a good thing to do. Also since I am doing an internal transfer and will have to start working pretty fast.

We were actually selecting areas based on childcare availability. Mt Eliza and Mornington should be no problem, but the SE burbs were impossible. The few vacancies there were in places that "she would not even consider placing her children there" .. so .. they have called around .. and just now she's managing the application to the Mt Eliza house at the Peninsula School for us. Having the direct contact with them .. organising meetings and payments for us.

To be frank: I am very happy with their services. Even though it "costly" it provided value for us. BUT if I had time and were to travel alone at first I would probably think twice about it. But we know "nothing" about Melbourne. Have never been there .. only to Adelaide, Sydney and the east coast in general ...

If there are any specific questions .. I am more than happy to answer! Hope the information above was a good start ..

The kids are getting crazy here ..

.. so more later!

/Jørgen

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Sure thing. I'll capture my "findings" and post them here eventually! Besides that; look at my previous posting. It sort of gives a short summary thus far at least.

We were also amazed on the "hugeness" of the hole darn move. Once we decided we tried to create a structure to it, but it soon became evident that there were sooooo much we had no chance of coping with. As we also wanted some kind of security once we got down there we were happy to find an agent that were very helpful ..

.. of course we were hessitant of forking out alot of dollars, but we took the chance. So far I have not been disapointed... not at all ..

Through the lease partner of the company I work for I have managed to get my hands on a 2.5 years old Nissan Patrol 3.0 diesel .. not cheap.. not expensive .. but a fair go. 7 seater .. lots of space .. and it's only run 57000 kms. One reason why we did this novated lease .. was just simply to get away of forking out deposit etc for buying the darn car. As with you, the move is getting more and more expensive (always the case!) and we will have to re-arrange the cash flow a little. Nothing that important, but it is always nice to have cash readily available. :o

What we did for the agent was to summarise our work. IE:

• Our findings on real estate sites (IE interesting properties)
• House criteria (for us: 1 floor, minimum 3 bedrooms, patio, nice new kitchen ... etc. etc. etc.)
• Must be near child care centers
• Must be a commuteable distance to the CBD (1-1.5 hours one way max - since I have the opertunety to work from home....)
• Close to shops ..
• Close to the beach (!!!!!)
• etc. etc. etc.

We tried to find out about the neighbourhoods, but there was little we managed to find out really; except that we liked like the beachside areas. The problem was always; the ones we liked were out of our budget. We set a max to 450 AUD a week ... which we managed .. but black rock, brighton, sandrinham etc.etc were easily 500-700 AUD ... :scared:

But as I mentioned: we were really looking for areas where we could get prompt and immediate child care. That was our selection criteria number one. Mt Eliza and Mornington could offer that .. (but man was I scared when I heard the costs for private child care .. bejeesess .. :scared: !!!) ..

Hope this accounts for something!

/Jørgen

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Thanks so much for taking the time out to post all of this - it is so helpful, especially in those slightly demented moments when I kid myself the move is all going to go smoothly...!!! Perhaps if we are to end up as near-neighbours you will be able to laugh at me when I arrive having gone through the moving process... entirely grey and probably no longer capeable of speech!!!!!

It's interesting that you comment on how expensive childcare is - I am a childminder in the UK and MAY look to continue when we move (in fact ther seems to be a little clan of hoping-to-be-ex-childminders heading Melbourne's way).... the only information I have been able to find out is a suggested rate of $12 per hour for 2 children, i.e. $6 each...... I'd be interested to see what the childcare centres charge.....

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

:D I guess! Would be nice to meet up though when we're settled and all!

It's daunting for sure, this whole move. I guess these things are sort of the most drastic events throughout ones lives. It brings out alot of good things, but also it can be really scary ..

Ah! I have no idea what childminding would be, but I've only been quoted hourly fees in child caring centers. They can range from 30-80 AUD/day. At least from what I have heard. We've budgeted with 60 AUD/day. With two children five days a week, it soon becomes a costly affair. On the other side; our impresstion is that the kids have so much fun with it.. and it keeps them occupied as well! Our rough calculation tells us that we will nearly halve the costs for care once they get into pre-school.

We checked with the Peninsula (Mt Eliza house):

"Mt Eliza House is still $60/day or $255/wk for childcare. They only go onto $6300 once they progress to Kindergarten at Peninsula School."

Oh well. We'll see. We're crossing our fingers that we get into the Mt Eliza house quite fast.

Sidetracking: I am actually contemplating taking up biking again. Nothing too serious, but perhaps a small 600cc bike to use occasionally to and from work. We'll see. Would be good fun though! :p

Cheers,
Jørgen

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Andy which state school was the zoo? Was it also in Mount Eliza? This is exactly what we want to try to avoid. Did you find the Penninsuls achool approachable, we have been in touch with them as we were going to submit applications for our boys but want to make sure that we put them down for the right years, they have all the boys details, school reports and references and emailed us to say they would look at it all and advise us on the years for them, that was on the 5 May and we haven't heard from them since!! Not that impressed, but then the Mount Eliza Secondary college haven't replied at all!!!!!!!!! It is all very frustrating, seems to me that although we have our visas schools aren't interested unless your already in the country. :( By the way any news on the house you were talking about for rent? :)

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Hello Smartins,

Dont worry the zoo wasn't in Mount Eliza. Don't want to name it on here for obvious reasons. Our kids are in the ECC (early childhood centre), yours from memory would be higher up the ladder. We did find the ECC very approachable but we were already here. Just bear in mind that the school is very busy but it wouldnt harm to give them a nudge or two.

Have emailed the owner of the property, when I was there last weekend she couldnt find the photos on her computer, might have to take some more. Will be in touch when I have a reply.

Andy.

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Thanks for this Andy, its all staring to get really real now, we are waiting to exchange on our house and I'm getting a bit jittery this end, hope its not cold feet!! Once we exchange I'm sure we'll calm down, but its all seeming such an immense move all of a sudden. I'll email the school again, didn't before as I know they're busy and didn't want to push too hard. Problem I have is that the eldest 16, doesn't want to go to a private school, he's worried it will be full of spoilt brats and that he'll be out of place. Keep trying to convince him that Aussies schools aren't like that, but don't really know myself!! He knows I've never been there to see. When your talking of spending $15,000 a year to send him and he doesn't want it, makes the decision even more difficult!

If I could convince myself that they wouldn't be disadvantaged by going to state school, I'd seriously consider it as an option at the moment. Were lucky our kids do really well at school and want to go on to uni, but the cost of all this is giving us some very sleepless nights, we may have to make a choice about the house we want and something much smaller, (probably too small, especially when family and friends come) to pay for the fees!!

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Hi
Just PM'd you!
:)

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Smartinis - I'm with you all the way on this :eek: - I seem be spending every waking minute on the internet trying to find out about the local schools, find something that looks great.... and then a huge great hole seems to appear in my plan somewhere!

On that vein, does anyone have any information on good primary schools around Mount Eliza, Frankston South or possibly even Langwarrin... looking for something that has a good 'G & T' programme and is good for sports (everything the UK school they're at is not!!!)

Also, anything on Mount Erin or Langwarrin Secondary Schools - trying to find somewhere that genuinely has a good enhancement/acceleration/whatever programme for bright students... our high school here says all the right thing but despite being on the 'G&T' register, my daughter's maths teacher is all at sea and she has basically slept the year away!!! :(

Not looking for a pushy school - but trying to avoid my lot "switching off" and learning that there's nothing to be gained by trying...

Any insider information, ideas, gossip.... very gratefully received :)

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Will let you know if I find out anything new, looks like several of us are in the same position, will be easier when one of us actually gets there, then we can really help the others out. We won't be there for several months yet though and probably won't have the internet for a while even then, computer having to go on the boat. Going to hate being without it from end of July hence my panic to get some info now!! May have to invest in a laptop, more expense!!! :(

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

[QUOTE=Smartinis]Thanks for this Andy, its all staring to get really real now, we are waiting to exchange on our house and I'm getting a bit jittery this end, hope its not cold feet!! Once we exchange I'm sure we'll calm down, but its all seeming such an immense move all of a sudden. I'll email the school again, didn't before as I know they're busy and didn't want to push too hard. Problem I have is that the eldest 16, doesn't want to go to a private school, he's worried it will be full of spoilt brats and that he'll be out of place. Keep trying to convince him that Aussies schools aren't like that, but don't really know myself!! He knows I've never been there to see. When your talking of spending $15,000 a year to send him and he doesn't want it, makes the decision even more difficult!

Hi my Sisters Stepson has just started at the Peninsula School at the start of the year, he is 12-13 and went to a pretty rough comprehensive school in Essex before his move and he has settled in very well and loves the School. My Sister said that the Mums have there fair share of 4x4s ( she is a fine one to talk) but they are all very nice and they have a lot of social events for the parents.

John

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

[QUOTE=jond]Thanks for this, have to admit I only have good to hear of the school, however at the end of the day it will depend if we can get them in and then whether we can afford it! Still great to hear any news. :) :) Thanks.

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Hi

My two youngest go to Kunyung Primary school, in Mount Eliza , I would thoroughly recommend it. It has a great reputation. But saying that you cannot go wrong with most schools in the area.

Caz

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Wow! We're here! Just waiting for our house to be vacant ... getting it on the 5th of July! The area is awsome ... no second thoughts at al ..

.. so .. anyone here??! When are people arriving and all?! I know caz is here (right?!) ...

I guess we should do a meet-up when people have arrived and all?! ;)

/Jørgen

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Hi yes I am here. It is lovely isn't it but a bit colder now!!! Glad you arrived safely. We had a dolphin in the bay last week, but unfortunately I missed it!!!

Good luck to you and your family.

Caz

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Coming from Norway Caz I doubt if he will feel the cold. In fact I'm betting he has his swimmers on & is down the beach right now. :D

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Wow!
We'll be there next January all being well!!
All the best to you!

Sally

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

How could you guess! We're not finding it bad at all ... it's like our summers back home. Not a particulary good one, but .. not that bad either! ;)

So all in all .. a very nice change!

Anyone up for a meet or two? We're eager to meet just about anyone who's interested .. and are going through the same stuff that we're doing! Send us a pm .. and we'll get in touch!

Cheers,
Jørgen

Re: Mt Eliza question for people living thereabouts
 

Ah! Nice! You'll love it .. we've been pleasantly surprised and have been very happy with the decision to move out to Mt. Eliza. It is a bit of a commute to the CBD, but ... all in all .. it's much nicer for the family there .. at least so we think!

... keep in touch ... and drop us a note when you get here... ;)

Good luck!

/Jørgen