Mrs Wilson10

Hi,

Myself and my husband are thinking of Moving to Oz. We have mainly been looking at Melbourne. Please can you tell me which areas are nice to live in.
Can you give me your opinions on living in Melbourne - The people, jobs, lifestyle etc.

My husband is an electrician, please can you tell me if there is work over there for electricians.

Have you been able to make firends easily? This is one of the main things I am worried about. We dont have any children so would be on our own.

if you live in other areas - Sydney, Perth, Adelaide. Could you let me know how you feel about these places.

thanks for your help

Sherlock Holmes

Hi Mrs Wilson and welcome to B.E.

It's my pleasant duty to welcome you to the forum and give you a point of contact should you need any help with the site. You can contact me here.

A list of all the moderators and helpers with their relevant countries can be found here.

Any problems, dont hesitate to PM me.

I have taken the liberty of moving this to the main Australia forum where you are more likely to get seen and get some sensible replies. The barbie isn't always so sensible.

Alistair.

Sherlock Holmes

Just a thought..have you looked at visas and such yet? Before you do anything you'll need to know if you can get visas and if so, which ones would be best. If you can answer that one, our information genies will know best how to answer you.

Mrs Wilson10

yes we have been on Migration expert. We have answered some of the questions and are just getting ready to pay for the visa applications etc.

ta

Sherlock Holmes

That's good. I am one of the night owls here. Some of our knowledgeable ones go to bed at night! So it may be a few hours before you get replies. But they will come!

MrsE

Hi and welcome to the Forum and congratulations on taking the decision to move to Oz!

We have just started the process and will be applying for a 176 visa. What visa are you guys applying for?

We love the Gold Coast and are hoping to move there! We went out for a reccie in March/April and loved it! Have you been to Melbourne before?

Good luck with the visa application.

mohogony

Houses in Melbounre are very expensive especially nice areas.

snurse42

Hi and welcome!
We moved to the Melbourne suburbs in April and love it.
We have 2 children so that does help me to meet people and make friends although they are at school and I have met quite a lot of people away from the school scene. Generally I have found that if you are prepared to make the effort and go the extra mile it is easy to meet people and make friends. We arrived here with the thought in mind that it was an adventure and we were always really positive about it, we still feel that way now! Good luck
Sonia

Buzzy--Bee

Hello, right now there is plenty of work for electricians but a lot of it will be word of mouth and repeat business which of course takes time to build up for a new arrival. I recently built a house and the hourly rate for a qualified electrician seems to be around $60 - 70.

BB

ABCDiamond

Especially Toorak
But... on the same page that I saw the above figure, I also saw:
Those prices do seem low to me, but maybe someone local to that part of Western Melbourne can shed some light on the areas ?

alexleeson

I live in Bacchus Marsh and its a lovely town, surrounded by picturesque hills and with nice people. The express train is 35 minutes into the city and about 50 minutes on the way back. Its about under an hour commute to the city by car.

Its usually off the radar as its not a metropolitan suburb and not 'western suburbs' at all, its a country town. Its a bit of a gem but it is starting to be discovered with lots of people moving here. House prices are starting to go up.

Melton and Tarneit are not as nice and more 'western suburbs'. Melton is usually a bit cheaper than Bacchus Marsh and bargains are to be had and it can be only 30 mins into the city. But you can get a very nice home/land package in Bacchus Marsh/Melton for about $250k.

Hope that gives you an idea..

lou1003

In relation to getting info about Melbourne, it's a good city to live.
I used to live in Eltham which was about 40mins on the train NE of Melbourne, there's a lot of British living there and has a country town feel to it too!
I lived in the city for a while too.
Melbourne has lots of job opportunities in general (don't know specifically about electricians, but I do know a British family who moved to Melbourne and the bloke is an electrician who found work!).
Melbourne always has something going on in the city - I prefer it to Sydney -much more relaxed and livable. Cheap flights to Tassie and pretty much everywhere in Oz.

There is a lot of gorgeous countryside surrounding Melbourne - the Dandenongs, The Great Ocean Road, things to do around the Murray River, Phillip Island, and Tassie.

Good Luck!

furkew

Melbourne is as expensive as you want to make it.

Inner city living, St Kilda etc yes expensive, but there are plenty of areas up & coming such as point cook which I hear a lot about, outer areas in the east such as Berwick, pakenham also afforedable & very,very nice. Here in the Dandenongs, although not as warm as the city, and winter is closer to what you might be used to in the south in the UK (but much shorter) is also worth having a look at.

If hubby is a sparky, if he is prepared to put in the hours to get himself set up as self employed, and build up a reputation, he should have no problems.

I know both Aussies & Brits (and other expats) that are all different types of tradies, and the ones that are self emplyed, and work hard & make the effort, earn a comfortable living. Because of prices for property on the market, a lot of people are renovating rather than moving, so that is also keeping tradies very busy at the moment.

Mrs Wilson10

thanks for your replies