rajj

We're moving to Melbourne around Jan 03 and would like to talk with others considering the same, swapping / sharing ideas etc.

Q's for new expats in melbourne:

Please share ideas of "good" suburbs for a family inc two young kiddies, within commute distance of CBD melb. Usual stuff - good schools, transport, beaches, areas to avoid etc.

Also does anyone know whether

ywoods

Hiya Raj

My son and I are moving there next month and are looking south east suburbs. I cannot make any comments at the moment, but as soon as I am there with feet on the ground and bags unpacked, will share more info. Problem is my son is 15 so schools will be irrelevant. Can share some links if you want.. but they are admittedly not very informative :/

Yvonne

20 days til we leave, 22 til we arrive. WATCH OUT MELBOURNE

rajj

Good luck & have fun Yvonne & son!. Look forward to the updates - you can be sure they will be read with great interest by us.

PS Why are you considering the SE Suburbs?.

ywoods

SE suburbs is where my gawgeous hubby lives and it is easy to access the city from there... win win basically... would love to live across the bay to the Geelong area, but I have my work cut out with my hubby, but then to be honest, anywhere that is quiet is the place for me.

Yvonne

20 days til we leave, 22 til we arrive. WATCH OUT MELBOURNE

shaun/lor

yvonne you can always come over to see lor and me in geelong for a beer. so keep in touch shaun

ywoods

Sounds great.. will be going there a fair bit I hope as we have a few friends there... I will still be on this ng when i get there, so we can exchange details when you have some

Yvonne

20 days til we leave, 22 til we arrive. WATCH OUT MELBOURNE

LidiaM

I lived in Melbourne for 20 years before I moved O/S and I would have to say it depends on how much money you have to spend on a house and if you decide whether or not to educate your kiddies privately or publicly (which in Melbourne, makes a lot of difference) and a whole other bevvy of options and choices.

I would say that the Northern Suburbs (from say Northcote to Epping/Mill Park) are closest to the CBD with the furthest commute from the farthest subburb being about 35 minutes (from Epping). When you are talking about the SE Suburbs, the farthest commute is about 40-50 minutes (from places like Glen Waverly, Clayton and Dandenong). The Eastern Suburbs however are far closer but more expensive (places like Kew, Camberwell and Hawthorn). The Western suburbs might be a look in being that the housing is fairly cheap and the condition and saftey of the area are on the improve (in around Yarraville and Newport). If I had to choose absolutely anywhere in Melbourne to live, it would be a toss up between Moonee Ponds (North-West and close to the CBD, expensive though), Eltham (North-East, but pretty far out) and where I grew up in Reservoir (North, moderately priced and about 20 minutes from the CBD, a little rough, but it's getting better) and maybe even the Ivanhoe/Eaglemont area because of proximity to good schools and the CBD, but still expensive.

I guess there are a lot of options for you!!

With respect to transport, there is always a bus, train or tram nearby (even if it's a 5 minute drive or so - a lot of people commute to the CBD via train and leave their cars at the station of origin). Proximity to beaches is another thing, if you want to live near thee CBD and the beach, expect to pay in excess of $400,000 for a place. Generally speaking there is always a school nearby and a lot of people elect to send their kids to school on Public transport (this is high school kids).

I would have to say the "most" undesirable areas are as follows (in no particular order): Collingwood, Foostcray, Sunshine, Thomastown, Oakleigh, some parts of Dandenong, Frankston. These problem areas are due to the high number of government housing in these areas and due to cheap housing also.

If you need more info. don't hesitate to PM me.

And if anyone disagrees, I'd love to know why!

hibee

Hi, I'm of to Melbourne on the 3rd of Oct, Initially going to stay with my wifes aunt in St Arnaud , like Shaun /lor who have been to Geelong which looks really nice i may settle there, will decide once i see it for myself. Will hopefully get on line a/s/a/p and will keep everyone informed.

Cheers
Jamie

pread

Rajj,

We're off to Glen Waverley next month, which is a SE suburb, about 40 minutes commute from the CBD. We chose that as a starting place as we have friends there, and they recommended it to us. I'll let you know what it's like when we get there !

Cheers,
Paul.

Thomas

Hi Lidia,

I saw your informative post about the Melbourne suburbs. Interestingly, we are planning to move to Melbourne in the next two months or so and were thinking about renting a place in Reservoir or the nearabouts, to start with.

Since you say that it's a rough place, I was just a bit concerned about my choice. All the same, we would still like to be closer to the train station and within zone 1.

Do you have any suggestions for me? I don't know if North is good or South is better or West is bad etc.....

I have a daughter who is 12 years old and we would be looking for a good school for her, to start her grade 7, in Jan'03. And we don't have a car to start with.

Any input would be appreciable.

Thanks a bunch.

__________________
Tom