Life in Melbourne

Old Sep 4th 2002, 6:42 pm
  #1  
David
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Default Life in Melbourne

I have just received my Australian permanent residence and made an initial entry. I'm
lucky enough to have possible job options in Melbourne but found it a hard city to
warm to (I admittedly visited in July). I'm sure I'm wrong, as I do know people who
adore it, especially to live in, rather than simply to visit. They also say its
reputation for bad weather is unfair. Any information on living in Melbourne would be
much appreciated. I found fewer Melbourne postings than say Sydney, Brisbane or
Perth. Also, advice on where to live that's affordable but perhaps not too far out.

Many thanks

David
 
Old Sep 4th 2002, 7:31 pm
  #2  
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Default Re: Life in Melbourne

I am with you on that one, but there are a few of us on the way there, so I think that you will find our postings a little too late. I can say that I am going to be living in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and the housing market does not seem overly expensive (renting no idea about buying). There seems to be droves loadsa people going to the area around Geelong... seems to be really nice there from everything I have heard, but as my hubby lives on the other side of the bay, that is where we will be settling til we can agree on somewhere

I have read loadsa good things about Melbourne.. culture... eateries.. nightlife and the like, and to be honest, inititally I was not looking forward to Melbourne, but after much reading and talking to friends there, I cannot wait

Good luck with getting info, I am sure there are loadsa people out there that will point you in the right direction

Ohhh forgot to say.. great webiste for rentals..... http://www.domain.com.au/

Yvonne

10 days til we leave, 12 til we arrive. WATCH OUT MELBOURNE

Originally posted by David:
I have just received my Australian permanent residence and made an initial entry. I'm
lucky enough to have possible job options in Melbourne but found it a hard city to
warm to (I admittedly visited in July). I'm sure I'm wrong, as I do know people who
adore it, especially to live in, rather than simply to visit. They also say its
reputation for bad weather is unfair. Any information on living in Melbourne would be
much appreciated. I found fewer Melbourne postings than say Sydney, Brisbane or
Perth. Also, advice on where to live that's affordable but perhaps not too far out.

Many thanks

David
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Old Sep 4th 2002, 7:54 pm
  #3  
Robert Edwards
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Default Re: Life in Melbourne

The reality is I guess most postings are about other cities as they may have
better weather etc but as far as facilities, culture etc are concerned Melbourne
has my vote as the "warmest" of all the capitals in Australia and though I live in
Queensland if I felt a need to live in one of the capitals it would certainly be
Melbourne. Certainly the rep of "bad weather" is unfair as Melbourne has more
days of sun than Sydney, but there is more to judge a place on than weather
anyway. regards


Rob Edwards
www.australianaustralia.com.au


"David" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected] om...
    > I have just received my Australian permanent residence and made an initial entry.
    > I'm lucky enough to have possible job options in Melbourne but found it a hard city
    > to warm to (I admittedly visited in July). I'm sure I'm wrong, as I do know people
    > who adore it, especially to live in, rather than simply to visit. They also say its
    > reputation for bad weather is unfair. Any information on living in Melbourne would
    > be much appreciated. I found fewer Melbourne postings than say Sydney, Brisbane or
    > Perth. Also, advice on where to live that's affordable but perhaps not too far out.
    > Many thanks
    > David
 
Old Sep 5th 2002, 2:48 am
  #4  
Chris
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Default Re: Life in Melbourne

Just moved to Melbourne in early July from the US East Coast (Pennsylvania / New
Jersey). Yes, the weather is a bit of a shock at that time of year--when we arrived
on July 3rd, it was 6 C (about 44
F) and raining. And of course I was wondering why I'd left behind 30C in PA. But the
weather has been improving recently, and the last few days it's been around 20C.
Just compare that to early March in the northeastern US or northern Europe, and
it's really not bad.

I guess your impression of this place depends very much on where you're moving
from. Coming from the US, it felt like a step down in a number of ways, e.g., not
every building is hooked up to cable TV, heating is optional, so are laundry rooms
and closets (!), I've never even seen a walk-in closet here, rental apartments
generally come without a fridge, local phone calls are billed by the call (very bad
for an internet addict like me), ISPs have download restrictions, the whole
telecommunications system seems years behind, anything electrical is very
expensive, so are movie tickets ($14 a pop), and books are outrageous. I haven't
even checked into cars but from what I've seen they're very expensive too. It takes
time to get used to the accent and there's just way, way too much sports on TV.
Culture shock? Yup.

At the same time, it's amazing how much the bad things stick out while you get used
to the good things very quickly. One good thing is no fear--you don't have to be
afraid or highly circumspect because not every jerk can own a gun, like they can in
the US. It feels very safe, and the vast majority of people we've met struck us as
unusually nice and helpful. The general atmosphere of the place is very similar to
what you would find in the safe and slightly upscale parts of American cities. At the
same time, rents are surprisingly moderate for such a large city. We rent a 2-bedroom
apartment in St. Kilda, which is only 20 min from downtown by tram. The place costs
about AU$940/month, and includes a laundry room, a car space, and lots of closets
(called BIRs
= built-in robes), but alas no cable TV hookup. Like everywhere, you
have to look around a bit, and like everywhere you'll see a lot of despicable dumps.
I don't know much about the house buying situation, but I hear that it's extremely
expensive right now. Our real estate agency is nice but totally inefficient, but why
should they spend time on rentals when they can roll in dough from sales commissions?
Public transport is quite good and not too expensive, there are slow trams and fast
commuter trains, and you can use the inner part of the system, which stretches quite
a bit from the city center, for AU$22/wk. It's certainly quite easy to live here, the
food & coffee are good and not too costly, lots of great bakeries, and lots to offer
culturally (but being the cultural couch potato that I am, I haven't taken advantage
of it much).

All in all, you could do a lot worse...
 
Old Sep 5th 2002, 3:45 am
  #5  
Robert Edwards
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Default Re: Life in Melbourne

Not sure if there is a compliment in there or not

"Chris" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected] om...
    > Just moved to Melbourne in early July from the US East Coast (Pennsylvania / New
    > Jersey). Yes, the weather is a bit of a shock at that time of year--when we arrived
    > on July 3rd, it was 6 C (about 44
    > F) and raining. And of course I was wondering why I'd left behind 30C in PA. But
    > the weather has been improving recently, and the last few days it's been around
    > 20C. Just compare that to early March in the northeastern US or northern Europe,
    > and it's really not bad.
    > I guess your impression of this place depends very much on where you're moving
    > from. Coming from the US, it felt like a step down in a number of ways, e.g., not
    > every building is hooked up to cable TV, heating is optional, so are laundry rooms
    > and closets (!), I've never even seen a walk-in closet here, rental apartments
    > generally come without a fridge, local phone calls are billed by the call (very bad
    > for an internet addict like me), ISPs have download restrictions, the whole
    > telecommunications system seems years behind, anything electrical is very
    > expensive, so are movie tickets ($14 a pop), and books are outrageous. I haven't
    > even checked into cars but from what I've seen they're very expensive too. It takes
    > time to get used to the accent and there's just way, way too much sports on TV.
    > Culture shock? Yup.
    > At the same time, it's amazing how much the bad things stick out while you get used
    > to the good things very quickly. One good thing is no fear--you don't have to be
    > afraid or highly circumspect because not every jerk can own a gun, like they can in
    > the US. It feels very safe, and the vast majority of people we've met struck us as
    > unusually nice and helpful. The general atmosphere of the place is very similar to
    > what you would find in the safe and slightly upscale parts of American cities. At
    > the same time, rents are surprisingly moderate for such a large city. We rent a
    > 2-bedroom apartment in St. Kilda, which is only 20 min from downtown by tram. The
    > place costs about AU$940/month, and includes a laundry room, a car space, and lots
    > of closets (called BIRs
    > = built-in robes), but alas no cable TV hookup. Like everywhere, you
    > have to look around a bit, and like everywhere you'll see a lot of despicable
    > dumps. I don't know much about the house buying situation, but I hear that it's
    > extremely expensive right now. Our real estate agency is nice but totally
    > inefficient, but why should they spend time on rentals when they can roll in dough
    > from sales commissions? Public transport is quite good and not too expensive, there
    > are slow trams and fast commuter trains, and you can use the inner part of the
    > system, which stretches quite a bit from the city center, for AU$22/wk. It's
    > certainly quite easy to live here, the food & coffee are good and not too costly,
    > lots of great bakeries, and lots to offer culturally (but being the cultural couch
    > potato that I am, I haven't taken advantage of it much).
    > All in all, you could do a lot worse...
 
Old Sep 5th 2002, 5:36 am
  #6  
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Default Re: Life in Melbourne

HAHAHHA There is.. I think it was a great post to be honest...

Yvonne

9 days til we leave, 11 til we arrive. WATCH OUT MELBOURNE


Originally posted by Robert Edwards:
Not sure if there is a compliment in there or not
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Old Sep 5th 2002, 7:59 am
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Default Re: Life in Melbourne

Hiya,

Thought I'll ask from you guys and gals. Hoping to go to Melbourne and have been looking at realestate.com to rent out initially. How are the areas of Epping, Mill Park and Mitcham. Could anyone suggest good subarbs (for a family with kids) close by to Melbourne with medium priced rents for a townhouse or unit.

Thanks alot for any input.


Princef
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Old Sep 5th 2002, 8:49 am
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Default Re: Life in Melbourne

chris good post whish i could have explained it as well
shaun and lor

i dont want to live in melbourne for some of the reasons you quote. but do want to live within reach, i.e geelong which is a fairly major city and has simmilar size population as the town i live in now southampton uk. all be it is much less crowded.
but a trip in to the melbourne only takes an hour, so for things like major event, picking rellys up from airport, or even a decent night out in town. were still within reach.
the tellecomm thing is really a pain as im now used to adsl.
but if its a major concern it is possable to get it in some areas. so although i wont let it dictate where i move to it is a factor. there are other options suach as sattalite although its a little more expensive.
im glad you feel there is enough to this area to warrent still staying there.

thanks again for the post shaun and lor
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Old Sep 5th 2002, 11:06 am
  #9  
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Default Re: Life in Melbourne

I grew up in Melbourne and spent the first 24 years of my life there and in my opinion no other Australian city compares.

Good Points:
=========

- I hate the heat and even Melbourne summers are too hot for me (when your working and just generally living instead of being on holiday you can't go to the beach every day!). Although when I was studying I liked the summers so we could drive down to Portsea or Torquay and go surfing.

- Property prices are very reasonable, I lived in Hawthorn (in the top 5 most expensive areas in Melbourne I think) in a large 2 bedroom apartment and it was only $1040 a month and from what I've seen it hasn't gone up too much. My parents live out in Glen Waverley in a 3 bedroom house which is worth about $380,000 now.

- Low crime by world standards, although I think it has been on the increase unfortunately, especially in inner city areas.

- The restaurants are fantastic and very cheap, you can have a great 3 course meal at a really nice restaurant for under $60/head but of course I found much cheaper places that had excellent food too.

- The whole Southbank precinct is a fantastic area and keeps getting better.

- Reasonable number of theatres with great plays on for reasonable prices.

- The Melbourne CBD some greeat bars, pubs and cafes in fact there are over 150 bars and pubs in the CBD.

- Smoking is on the verge of being outlawed in just about every public establishment.

I could probably go on but that will do...

Bad Points:
========

- Public transport is rather poor, trams don't get enough right of way and the train services are very infrequent and slow. The car is still definitely king in this city.

- The IT job market is very poor at the moment, which would be a problem for me if I was to go back. Generally though I think the job market is quite good although employers definitely like "local" experience.

- A lot of outer suburbs of Melbourne although nice all look the same and are very boring. In these suburbs you would be really lucky to be able to walk to a pub.

- The people, I don't like Australians in general (even though I am one), but I won't dwell on this.

Anyway, that's all I can think of at the moment.
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Old Sep 5th 2002, 11:07 am
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Default Re: Life in Melbourne

Originally posted by shaun/lor:
chris good post whish i could have explained it as well
shaun and lor

i dont want to live in melbourne for some of the reasons you quote. but do want to live within reach, i.e geelong which is a fairly major city and has simmilar size population as the town i live in now southampton uk. all be it is much less crowded.
but a trip in to the melbourne only takes an hour, so for things like major event, picking rellys up from airport, or even a decent night out in town. were still within reach.
the tellecomm thing is really a pain as im now used to adsl.
but if its a major concern it is possable to get it in some areas. so although i wont let it dictate where i move to it is a factor. there are other options suach as sattalite although its a little more expensive.
im glad you feel there is enough to this area to warrent still staying there.

thanks again for the post shaun and lor
The cable internet services in Australia are much better and cheaper than ADSL there.
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Old Sep 12th 2002, 9:46 am
  #11  
Belinda Park
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Default Re: Life in Melbourne

We've been here a year now and love Melbourne. We were from the South of England
intitially and then went to Wellington, NZ where we lived for 18 months. Now happily
settled in Melbourne having bought a home at last, we've never looked back.

This city has a variable climate - but being English I view that as something
familiar in all that is new and unknown. It's a whole lot warmer than both England
and NZ - at least Wellington. I have a tree full of lemons in my hard - I view that
as a novelty still :-) I figure the climate can't be that bad right?!

We're in Mount Waverley and frequent Glen Waverley which I believe is the centre of
Melbourne in terms of population density. Glen Waverley (and Boxhill), have a high
concentration of Chinese. Mount Waverley is mixed, and with a high retired
contingent. I guess it depends what you're looking for in terms of where to settle
in Melbourne. We wanted a SE suburb, with proximity to the city without being IN
the city.

The local schools here are excellent - I believe Glen Waverley's public school is
viewed as one of the best in Melbourne and people move to Glen Waverley just so that
their children can attend. Out of the private bag, we have Wesley College - pricey
but up there with the best. If you're into Montessori, there are a selection of
excellent ones relatively close - say a 20 minute drive max.

Around here in the city of Monash, we have just about all we need for day to day
living and there is the city of Melbourne for shows etc. Good eats are eveywhere.

If you're into sport - go for Melbourne. The Australian Open, the Formula 1 Grand
Prix, to name but two - are hosted here.

People are friendly we've found - we didn't find this so much in Sydney but we were
only there 2 weeks all up - not really a fair trial. Sydney and Melbourne are really
two very different cities. We found Sydney polluted and very expensive - but if you
have money and/or enjoy sailing, Sydney is fabulous. The climate is better than
Melbourne but they do have nasty storms up that way from time to time.

I guess when it comes down to which city, you really have to decide what you're
looking for. Melbourne has plenty of variety, it's green, the climate is reasonable
although as stated, variable, and the people, generally speaking, are great. We have
so many friends here just after one year, we truly feel at home.

Don't know if that's helped or not - but it's just another perspective in the pot.

Oh, and the spiders - they're really not that bad - and that's coming from someone
that put off moving to Australia for over 10 years just because of the rumours and
stories I'd heard about them.
 
Old Sep 12th 2002, 8:24 pm
  #12  
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Default Re: Life in Melbourne

Originally posted by Belinda Park:
We've been here a year now and love Melbourne. We were from the South of England
intitially and then went to Wellington, NZ where we lived for 18 months. Now happily
settled in Melbourne having bought a home at last, we've never looked back.

This city has a variable climate - but being English I view that as something
familiar in all that is new and unknown. It's a whole lot warmer than both England
and NZ - at least Wellington. I have a tree full of lemons in my hard - I view that
as a novelty still :-) I figure the climate can't be that bad right?!

We're in Mount Waverley and frequent Glen Waverley which I believe is the centre of
Melbourne in terms of population density. Glen Waverley (and Boxhill), have a high
concentration of Chinese. Mount Waverley is mixed, and with a high retired
contingent. I guess it depends what you're looking for in terms of where to settle
in Melbourne. We wanted a SE suburb, with proximity to the city without being IN
the city.

The local schools here are excellent - I believe Glen Waverley's public school is
viewed as one of the best in Melbourne and people move to Glen Waverley just so that
their children can attend. Out of the private bag, we have Wesley College - pricey
but up there with the best. If you're into Montessori, there are a selection of
excellent ones relatively close - say a 20 minute drive max.

Around here in the city of Monash, we have just about all we need for day to day
living and there is the city of Melbourne for shows etc. Good eats are eveywhere.

If you're into sport - go for Melbourne. The Australian Open, the Formula 1 Grand
Prix, to name but two - are hosted here.

People are friendly we've found - we didn't find this so much in Sydney but we were
only there 2 weeks all up - not really a fair trial. Sydney and Melbourne are really
two very different cities. We found Sydney polluted and very expensive - but if you
have money and/or enjoy sailing, Sydney is fabulous. The climate is better than
Melbourne but they do have nasty storms up that way from time to time.

I guess when it comes down to which city, you really have to decide what you're
looking for. Melbourne has plenty of variety, it's green, the climate is reasonable
although as stated, variable, and the people, generally speaking, are great. We have
so many friends here just after one year, we truly feel at home.

Don't know if that's helped or not - but it's just another perspective in the pot.

Oh, and the spiders - they're really not that bad - and that's coming from someone
that put off moving to Australia for over 10 years just because of the rumours and
stories I'd heard about them.
Ahh, Glen Waverley - I grew up there and went to Wesley College, you are bringing back so many memories for me
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Old Sep 12th 2002, 10:43 pm
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Default Re: Life in Melbourne

Originally posted by Devlin:


Ahh, Glen Waverley - I grew up there and went to Wesley College, you are bringing back so many memories for me

hi devlin i may have missed it but where are you now
shaun and lor
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Old Sep 13th 2002, 7:23 pm
  #14  
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Default Re: Life in Melbourne

Originally posted by shaun/lor:



hi devlin i may have missed it but where are you now
shaun and lor
London
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