Hello

Me & my family are looking to move to Sydney / Melbourne next year through my work. We have a 1 year old daughter & both work. Our household income will be around $165000 - $185000.Just a few questions if anyone can help.

1) Cost of child care ?
2) Average maternity leave , if we want another ? ( Big If )
3) Melbourne or Sydney ? Which areas to live in is good for schools and good travel links as in no longer then 30 minute commute each way from CBD.

Thank you.

If you do a search of the forum, you will find hundreds of threads dedicated to where is best to live in either city

I'll have a go at Melbourne for now

1. Child care can cost anything between $70 ( what we pay where we are) and $100 a day, regardles of length of day. If you are on a temporary visa, you will get no help from the state with the fees. If you are a permanent resident, you get 50% (capped to a max of about $7,000 per year per child) from the government but nothing else on your income.
2. The government have just introduced a parental leave system but I think it might only be for PRs and citizens again as is the baby bonus if you are not working. Individual employers might offer parental leave though that could change with the new subsidised parental leave. When I had my first child as a temp resident, I got 12 weeks paid leave and was entitled to take the rest of the year unpaid. The only constraint employers have is to give the parent their job back after up to 12 months leave. No obligation to pay anything.
3. How long is a piece of string? We need more information such as your maximum rent/price, size of house/garden, beach, city, established or new suburb, 30 minutes drive, train or tram commute (even bus), public or private schools?

With the income you mention you would live extremely well in the suburb where I live, about 40 minutes from the CBD, established small village feel with a direct train line, good public schools, great community feel amongst the tall gum trees and as far from the beach as the CBD Rents go up to maybe about $500/week for the larger houses with gardens. If you want something a bit more upmarket and closer to the CBD, a lot of expats like the Camberwell/Hawthorn area where childcare will set you back a minimum of $100/day, rents can be as high as $1,500/week (maybe more) for a 3-bedroom house with a garden, and private schools abound. Most inner city areas would be similar within 20 minutes from the CBD.

Mate, for what it's worth, I've lived in both cities so let's talk about the weather.
Melbourne. They joke about the fact that if ya don't like the weather here, wait five minutes or move 5 km down the road.
It is highly changeable and you wouldn't be a weather forecaster for quids.
We've just had a couple of days of cold (14c) rain but by saturday we are expecting sunshine and 28c.

Sydney. Weeks on end of high 20'c with 80% humidity.
Wound up praying for snow/rain/tornado/anything to break up the monotony.

You'll find out more about each city as you trawl round the forum. What is often said is that Sydney is more attractive to tourists, Melbourne is more attractive for living there. (or to put it another way, Sydney is a one-night-stand, Melbourne is the girl you marry!)

As you are clearly on a good budget, why not do a reccie to both and see what you like?

BB

I don't think the weather in Melbourne in unpredictable at all...the opposite in fact. The weather forecasters have an easy life...you can spot a change coming days away and they generally get em right to within a couple of hours.

I agree entirely. Variable, yes. Unpredictable, no.

BB

Not this year. Sydney weather has been cold and crap.

As someone who lives in Sydney and is very fond of the place, I spend a lot of time in Melbourne for work. I love the place to visit, and I know that doesn't count for much in terms of living, but I'd love to give living in Melbourne a crack.

In Melbourne there is something about the atmosphere and willingness to be the best that Sydney just doesn't have. The Victorian government seems to have it's finger on the pulse when it comes to organising stuff, transport and the like. The NSW goverment has been a disaster and the state of general disarray of a place like Sydney is cleary evident.

Anyway - you'll get a lot of opinions on the Sydney Melbourne thing and at the end of the day each city offers something that the other doesn't.

Both are good in different ways. You'll generally get strong opinions from whoever lives in one or the other that theirs is the best.

Really the only thing to do is check them both out for yourself.

Their positive attributes are so close albeit in different areas that only Aussies know how difficult it is to pick between the two. To most people around the world Sydney is the premier city. I'm not sure that most Aussies would be as certain about that.

Melbourne has good coffee and f&&* all else.

Not a huge salary for either city but certainly doable. I would go Melbourne Over Sydney for many reasons but most of all because of the culture -
There is so much going on here, transport is easy and the weather is fabulous. We have all 4 seasons which I love

Melbourne has more "culture" than Sydney? It's all relative.
(tomorrow the newly renovated Museum of Contemporary Arts will reopen its doors )

Melbourne is the trendy option is seems at the moment and Sydney is the underdog.

Sydney seems to get as much bad press and Melbourne gets good these days.

I know I am not being fashionable but I think Sydney still has much to offer.

I think Sydney has had a cooler summer than Melbourne has had this year, not many days over 30c here this summer. Those cool onshore winds turned northerly over the interior and brought consistently warmer weather to Melbourne. It is actually feeling like Autumn here on a morning and evening now. I wouldn't swap Sydney's winter climate for the one in Melbourne. In winter in Sydney you gets those crystal clear blue days, and even in my suburb we get occasional frosts each year.

As for culture, we have just finished 'Art Month' in Sydney, all the galleries have had event on and have been open late. The contemporary art museum re opens its doors tomorrow evening and it will be fantastic from what I hear. The Carriage works art project at Redfern is good stuff and there is a good comedy season coming up. The there is book week and lots of other stuff happening.

Melbourne is the current favourite, Sydney is a poor relation these days, and I kind of like it that way, Sydneysiders don't have a chip on their shoulders like people from Melbourne do.

Thank you everyone for some really great advice. I have some areas to look into now. I am over in may for 5 weeks to have a look at both cities.
I can increase our income over the 200k mark but that would mean not as good work / life balance & at then end of the day thats what we are coming over for.
I love the fact that us Brits still love to talk about the weather.