stubbieholder31

Hi all, we're heading off to West Melbourne once we have received our visa. Please can anyone advise us on some civilised areas.We keep hearing how industrial the west is but there must be some nicer regions too?
Point cook has caught our eye along with Williamstown.When crime is mentioned, what kind of crime are we talking about? Would you say it's violent or petty? Graffiti, burglary? murder?
Hope someone can shed some light on this.

Cheers Leah

herrchook

You'll probably get some very mixed reactions to this question. Some of those who live in the East will do their best to advise you against the West of the City but those who actually live in the West will often tell you differently.

Williamstown is a lovely place to live, leafy with lots to do but boy is it expensive.

I honestly don't know much about Altona/Point Cook/Sanctuary lakes so I'll lleave that to someone who does but there's a great town centre in Hoppers Crossing.

Taylors Lakes is a lovely well established suburb which imo rivals any of the established burbs on the East. Next door to that you've got 3 popular newer suburbs - Caroline Springs/Hillside and Taylors Hill. These areas benefit from being close to a major shopping Mall (Watergardens) which also has a train station. It's also end of the line so you always get a seat going into the city. The journey is around 35-40 mins. Caroline Springs also has a great civic centre now and ther's plenty of schools and local amenities around. The Deer Park bypass is due to open next year and that will greatly reduce the drive times into the city from Caroline Springs (around 40 mins) and also bypass the more industrial areas which the journey currently "enjoys" .

A little further (15 mins drive) out you've got the lovely semi rural village of Sunbury where you'll find kangaroos and great wineries and incidentally, it's the home of the Ashes for all you cricket fans. And nest to that is Diggers Rest which is pretty popular too.

Yes, there's no getting away from it, there's a lot of industry in the west of Melbourne and there's also some very poor areas, but I can't tell you that they're a problem cause to me they're not. The industry is all contained and the poor areas, well, they've got some great priced grocery shopping there so I'm not complaining - and just cause the folks are poor, doesn't make them bad people right?.

I live in Caroline Springs and I love it here. There's a real sense of community here and we've made some amazing friends. The schools are also really good and there's a choice of private and state schools. Housing is typically new so if you like older properties it won't be for you.

On a day to day basis, I love living here. OK, we don't have beaches on our doorstep, but Williamstown and Altona have beaches which are accessible and we're on the doorstep of the Great Ocean Road (we often pop down to Torquay on a weekend) and the Grampians.

The local councils are working hard to improve the look and feel of the areas and have aggressively planted trees and seem to be looking after them well so I'd imagine in a few short years time, it's going to be beautifully leafy. Oh, and we're getting a nice new hotel and bar complex in a few months so the nightlife's going to improve too.

I paint a rosy picture but that's just what I see. The West of Melbourne isn't to everyone's taste so you've got to check it out for yourself. tbh, if money was no object then I'd probably have chosen to settle in the East but having a life was more important to me than a massive mortgage.

Are we happy with our choice to live here? You bet ya

Pomster

and some more Westies here!

We live about 3kms from Williamstown (yep it is too expensive in Willy) and have not found an area we prefer.

It is industrialised in places- Altona refinery is about 3 kms away- but this has advantages. Fewer cars, and more reliable electricity to name but two.

Altona itself is a nice suburb- very expensive on the waterfront but reasonable elsewhere.

Point Cook is a pain if you work in the city and have to commute- train is supposedly planned for some time in the future, but it is vague. The one arterial road into the city is chocca from 6.30 am.
If you want to live out this way- make sure you can access a train station!