2nd week in melbourne
 

O.K here we go, the second week started with exploring melbourne and the suburbs, first on the list was Geelong and Torquay, had a good drive there, its very easy with the freeways and toll roads, Geelong was ok, it had a great beach front and loads of amenities, plenty of shops and restaraunts to keep any age happy, the surrounding suburbs looked good, it did not take our fancy but i can see why people rave about it, Torquay was awsome nut sadly it is a holiday town, while it was lovely to look at and loads to see and do i think it would not be practical for us to live there due to the distance from melbourne and house prices, but it was amazing to go there. Next was 2 days exploring Franston and mt eliza and mornington, it was suprisingly quick to get there and very accessible, we loved this area and thought it looked awsome, again as most areas you are never far from supermarkets etc.
Now on a note about shopping, we have found that on here there is often conflicting arguments about the cost of food and clothes, now were not your "oh i shop at marks and spencers types" but we do like to eat good food and also the occasional beer or two, so we have found that if you shop around its no dearer than the uk, some stuff is cheaper and you get your own brand products like tesco value, i had a can of beans the other day and could not tell the difference, anyway im not saying you have to eat all cheap but if thats your budget then you will find you can live.
I had a amusing experience at the salvation army job centre, the centalink put me onto it and i thought why not, anyway i went in and had a little chat and if you think aus is a place with no problems forget it, it has exactly the same issues as does the Uk, i was faced with 3 drunks a bloke that had wet himself and another moaning that no one would pay for him to watch footy on tv, anyway i hopes this helps and if i offend anyone im sorry, well sorryish.
now on another note i have to wait 10 days foe my plumbing licence so we hired a camper today and were driving up to brisbane on our first road trip.
If anyones interested ill post about it when im back, you will have to let me know.
john

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

Great post John and I would be interested to hear about your road trip to Brisbane as we are hoping to be there next year. thanks

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

Good to hear you're all doing fine John. And let us know how you road trip went - with loads of piccies :thumbup:

Julie. x

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

all sounds good to me, have fun
ronnie

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

Did you get to see Queenscliffe or Angleasea near Geelong , they are both really nice towns with great beaches. They are both places l would like to live.

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

Good post & enjoy your road trip:thumbsup:
Def want another update , with pics:thumbup:

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

Hi John good to hear you are enjoying Australia so far keep in touch with how you are settling in
Pete Sue and kids

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

hi all
currently in brisbane, the trip up was awsome, went inland and headed up, you drive through the most amazing places, some a bit rough some random but all interesting, we found the trip easy going with sat nav, its a long drive for kids but all ok if you plan it well. anyway in brisbane we have travelled around a bit and had a good look, its a great place, been to southbank yesterday and spent the day chilling out, the man made beach is brilliant and my son spent the entire day in the water, 1 thing i noticed is how little we spent, we took food and a few beers, the swimming was free, very good time was had, last night i went to see the rugby leauge game in brisbane, the broncos there called, it was good and had a good few beers, a bit strange when the horse races round the pitch when they score but very entertaining. after we went round the pubs ect and looked at the casino and watched people spend money, i did not as the wife would have cut my nxxs of had i lost money. anyway today were off to the gold coast and tommorow australia zoo, then well drive the coast route back via sydney, ill post more and let you all no. can someone tell me how to put pics on here, or you can add me on facebook, there all on there.
john

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

Nice update but I would suggest that you remove your e-mail address from public view!

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

All sounds fab John. I miss Brisbane:huh:
Looking forward to the next bit.
To added photos - scroll further down the reply page to where it says "Manage attachments". You can upload photos there.
And second that with your email address.

Julie. x

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

thanks polly

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

I had a amusing experience at the salvation army job centre, the centalink put me onto it and i thought why not, anyway i went in and had a little chat and if you think aus is a place with no problems forget it, it has exactly the same issues as does the Uk, i was faced with 3 drunks a bloke that had wet himself and another moaning that no one would pay for him to watch footy on tv,


LMAO - I worked in a jobcentre before moving to Australia - well portrayed :thumbsup:

Lynn xx

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

how long did it take to drive there? It sounds great.
Ronnie

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

hi ronnie
we drove in 3 legs , we did 600 km then stopped for 5 hours, then 800km, we then camped over night and did the las 450km the following morning, we are heading down to sydney tommorow in one jump, then having friday morning looking quickly at sydney, then driving fri night/sat morning back to melbourne.
I have to say we love brisbane and the surrounding area, well worth the trip up here.
john

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

Watch out for that Brisbane to Sydney drive, its far tougher than the 800 ks up the Newell.. I actually gave up and went inland to Tamworth.

I've done plenty of 18 to 20 hour drives in my time as well. Last trip was straight from Melbourne to Port Macquarie (15 hours).... I've also done GCoast to Bendigo in one go as well. That Brisbane Sydney drive is damn tough because the road isnt exactly straight.

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

fantastic post, really fires my imagination... Hoping you can post some photos or find me on facebook ... pm me..

Julie x

Re: 2nd week in melbourne
 

hi all
well were beack in melbourne, the trip from brisbane to sydney was about 1000km, we did it in 1 hit, it took 12 hours, the trip is a long one but the scenary is amazing, we are glad we went that way, we stopped outside sydney in a small campsite, cost was about $40. we left early and made the biggest mistake of our lives, we decided to take the camper into sydney and park up, fun was had i can tell you, anyway we parked near the botanic gardens eventualy and walked through to the opera house, it was amazing to see and we all enjoyed the experiance, we also drove over the bridge while we were lost in traffic, we only had 4 hours so thats all we did in sydney really but will fly back at some point for a good weekend and have a proper look, that afternoon we set of back to melbourne and did it again in 1 hit, it was about 900km and took 10 hours, we arrived back in melbourne at midnight and we were all tired and had sore bums.
a few points to look for are the petrol stations, we food shop at coles and woolworths when you pay they give you a petrol discount voucher of 4 cents a litre, so if you hunt a bit its worth it, we saved a few bucks this way, it all helps i keep telling myself.
we are so glad we did the trip and really enjoyed seeing a slice of australia, it is definatly are home now and we would not go back to the uk.
as a family we have settled well and will look for our own home when we can.
i think the first xmas will be hard but thats to be expected, we have limited skype video to once a wek to speak to our family back home as we found ourselves talking every night and getting to the point of having nothing to say.
we have started taking bottles of squash out with ourselves from home to stop spending money on drinks, i have found that eating out is very good value for money but constantly buying drinks for ourselves is expensive so we have cut back a lot on that. anyway im of so i hope you enjoy the read.