364 days in melbourne.

Old May 5th 2009, 10:56 am
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Default 364 days in melbourne.

We've had up and down times. Mostly up. By far and away, mostly up. The downs were mainly hangovers.

We arrived exactly 1 year ago tomorrow and landed at 7:30pm on the 6th May.
The first twelve weeks were the hardest, staying as guests, with only a suitcase worth of belongings each.
The weather in May was a SHOCK. 5-10 degrees is nothing when you have central heating. Its flipping cold otherwise.
The relatives who had sponsored us offered to let us stay with them indefinitely, which was very re-assuring given how strapped the rental market was just 12 short months ago.
7 weeks in, the letter arrived saying that our container would be ready in 5 weeks time, where would we like it delivered.
It near on broke my heart to tell them to put it in storage, as the 1 bed furnished unit we were staying in would never have coped with the combined furniture from our previous lives.

And so commenced the race to find a rental. After 3 weeks I was desperate to find anything, and to make matters worse, we had set out hearts on Williamstown, a very popular part of the West side.
Due to some perseverance above and beyond and carrying ALL the paperwork around with us wherever we went, we ended up getting by far and away the best place we had viewed. We moved in 3 weeks later, our furniture had arrived 5 minutes before us.
Its ten minutes from the beach, 15 minutes from Nelsons Parade, and 5 minutes from the shops and the train station.
Landed on our feet doesn't even begin to describe how we feel about the place, and how much it has contributed to our settling in. Getting our stuff back was fantastic.

I know some people will hate this, and my rose coloured specs and all that, but when I'm asked if I'll ever go home, I occasionally say, "I never felt at home anywhere til I got here". I've always traveled around, never stayed anywhere for more than a couple of years.
Jas, who never considered living outside the county of his birth before we came on holiday to Melbourne just two years ago, is equally enamoured of the place, although for him, he has two places where he feels at home.
Whereas to me, after 15 years living in England, coming here has been like going back to Ireland but without the nuns.


We've been careful with our friends, after "burning out" one relationship early on by seeing the same people 5 times a week for months on end. It's easy to do, but then when someone oversteps a boundary of some sort, and you want some space, it's hard to say "slow down" cos you have to try to explain to people you've only known for a few months what is it that they've done. You end up saying "never again" cos it's just easier, and it's not like you have decades invested.

So word of advice for those who are still on their way!
Don't lock yourself into just the first few people you meet, make lots of acquaintances, lunch buddies, gig buddies, go to trivia nights, footie, whatever. Drinking helps to, but can give the impression of being closer than you really are.
If you can't talk to them sober ( on at least the odd occasion ), then that's not really going to last in the long term, unless you're all planning on career alcoholism.
It's MUCH easier to meet other expats to start with, it's only at this end of our first year we're realising that we're picked up quite a few who've been here longer and were even born here.
Over time some of these people you've met turn into friends. And some of them don't.
And some of those that don't last will be your choice. And some won't.

We both have jobs for now, my 1 year anniversary is in a weeks time, as I'd pretty much lined up the job before I got here, and just had a face to face interview on arrival to make sure i didn't have two heads I guess. The industry I'm in hasn't been hit yet, it will be in July. Hard. Dunno whats gonna happen after that, but no point in worrying about it.
Jas took a bit longer finding a job, but it was worth the wait. He's working in an industry thats booming at the moment TF, and he doesn't mind Monday mornings for the first time in his working life.

We were lucky in that we have some family living here who had us over for xmas, so that was a joy of a day, 28 degrees, 4 kinds of meat and 3 kinds of fish on the barbie. We must have had 4 or 5 invites tho, people here ( or the ones we are lucky enough to know ) are very concerned that everyone has somewhere to go for xmas day.

The low point was the fires, well and truly took the shine off, it's hard to be happy when there's that much fear and misery just over the hills, and emails go around at work to say condolences to x y or z. Put the kybosh on our plans to eventually move to a place out in the country.
We coped OK with the heat - Its beyond imagining that I ever thought 32 degrees was unbearbly hot!!. 29-32 would be my summer comfort zone now. Not that we get a lot of that down here.

I'm not even going to start on Melbourne weather right now, this post is quite long enough, except to say that i mostly like that too!!

Other stuff:
Trains: mostly good( for me ) except at rush hours, or 40+ temps
Comedy month: Exhausting
Melbourne Cup: Don't get public transport that week.
Driving: If you're English, its awful, if you're Irish, it's just like home.
Food: Another post in its own right, the food here is great, and eating out is cheap as....also we prefer the fish and chips here ( but williamstown is known for good fish and chips )
TV: truly deeply awful, but we hardly ever watch terrestrial.
Fashion: bag lady chic - or to quote Dylan Moran, it's like theres a big dress up box in the middle of the city and we all share. Suits me down to the ground.
Kids: Loud but reasonably considerate otherwise.

Must stop now.... there's wine to drink to see in the start of the 2nd year.
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Old May 5th 2009, 9:59 pm
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Default Re: 364 days in melbourne.

Congratulations.

After 364 days, I left Melbourne and returned to the UK. We started off in Williamstown and loved it but failed to secure a rental, and eventually moved out to Point Cook.

In September, I will fly back for Melbourne pt 2.
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Old May 5th 2009, 10:56 pm
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Default Re: 364 days in melbourne.

Good to hear you're coming back, you planning on daring the West Side again?
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Old May 6th 2009, 1:18 pm
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Default Re: 364 days in melbourne.

Superb!!!

Glad ya having the ride of ya lifes.
We just gotta pinpoint where about in melbourne to head?
Obviously wheres there is a childrens nurse job and a plasterers job would be ideall first choice

Really would liek to know wether Geelong side or east side would suit us more?

Close to beaches/short ride to shops and walk to nice food joints etc etc
Oh and mighty fine schools for our 2 boys
jase
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Old May 6th 2009, 10:48 pm
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Default Re: 364 days in melbourne.

Originally Posted by CynOpt
Good to hear you're coming back, you planning on daring the West Side again?
Yep, in for a penny and in for a pound (and all that stuff!)

Still need to find a secondary school that we are happy with, but we have a little bit of time to sort that, so hopefully we can get it right.

Pete
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Old May 7th 2009, 8:59 am
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Default Re: 364 days in melbourne.

Originally Posted by JCSUPERMOTO
Superb!!!

Glad ya having the ride of ya lifes.
We just gotta pinpoint where about in melbourne to head?
Obviously wheres there is a childrens nurse job and a plasterers job would be ideall first choice

Really would liek to know wether Geelong side or east side would suit us more?

Close to beaches/short ride to shops and walk to nice food joints etc etc
Oh and mighty fine schools for our 2 boys
jase
Hi Jase, its all down to personal choice really. We like the West side, but that puts us in a small minority.
Most head east, and you have the 40ks of suburbs to prove it.
Best bet is to try and find something short term when you arrive, and spend a few weeks trawling about the areas and just asking people when you get here.
In general I've gathered the perception here is that all the good schools are east, but you should check the stats yourself, as many people seem to make up their mind about a place and then refuse to change it despite 20 years of improvements/damage.

When do you think you'll be coming over?
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Old May 7th 2009, 10:17 am
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Default Re: 364 days in melbourne.

Great to read another positive report. All the best for another good year and many more to come.

(5 days into our second one, too.)
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Old May 8th 2009, 1:51 am
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Default Re: 364 days in melbourne.

Originally Posted by CynOpt
We've had up and down times. Mostly up. By far and away, mostly up. The downs were mainly hangovers.

We arrived exactly 1 year ago tomorrow and landed at 7:30pm on the 6th May.
The first twelve weeks were the hardest, staying as guests, with only a suitcase worth of belongings each.
The weather in May was a SHOCK. 5-10 degrees is nothing when you have central heating. Its flipping cold otherwise.
The relatives who had sponsored us offered to let us stay with them indefinitely, which was very re-assuring given how strapped the rental market was just 12 short months ago.
7 weeks in, the letter arrived saying that our container would be ready in 5 weeks time, where would we like it delivered.
It near on broke my heart to tell them to put it in storage, as the 1 bed furnished unit we were staying in would never have coped with the combined furniture from our previous lives.

And so commenced the race to find a rental. After 3 weeks I was desperate to find anything, and to make matters worse, we had set out hearts on Williamstown, a very popular part of the West side.
Due to some perseverance above and beyond and carrying ALL the paperwork around with us wherever we went, we ended up getting by far and away the best place we had viewed. We moved in 3 weeks later, our furniture had arrived 5 minutes before us.
Its ten minutes from the beach, 15 minutes from Nelsons Parade, and 5 minutes from the shops and the train station.
Landed on our feet doesn't even begin to describe how we feel about the place, and how much it has contributed to our settling in. Getting our stuff back was fantastic.

I know some people will hate this, and my rose coloured specs and all that, but when I'm asked if I'll ever go home, I occasionally say, "I never felt at home anywhere til I got here". I've always traveled around, never stayed anywhere for more than a couple of years.
Jas, who never considered living outside the county of his birth before we came on holiday to Melbourne just two years ago, is equally enamoured of the place, although for him, he has two places where he feels at home.
Whereas to me, after 15 years living in England, coming here has been like going back to Ireland but without the nuns.


We've been careful with our friends, after "burning out" one relationship early on by seeing the same people 5 times a week for months on end. It's easy to do, but then when someone oversteps a boundary of some sort, and you want some space, it's hard to say "slow down" cos you have to try to explain to people you've only known for a few months what is it that they've done. You end up saying "never again" cos it's just easier, and it's not like you have decades invested.

So word of advice for those who are still on their way!
Don't lock yourself into just the first few people you meet, make lots of acquaintances, lunch buddies, gig buddies, go to trivia nights, footie, whatever. Drinking helps to, but can give the impression of being closer than you really are.
If you can't talk to them sober ( on at least the odd occasion ), then that's not really going to last in the long term, unless you're all planning on career alcoholism.
It's MUCH easier to meet other expats to start with, it's only at this end of our first year we're realising that we're picked up quite a few who've been here longer and were even born here.
Over time some of these people you've met turn into friends. And some of them don't.
And some of those that don't last will be your choice. And some won't.

We both have jobs for now, my 1 year anniversary is in a weeks time, as I'd pretty much lined up the job before I got here, and just had a face to face interview on arrival to make sure i didn't have two heads I guess. The industry I'm in hasn't been hit yet, it will be in July. Hard. Dunno whats gonna happen after that, but no point in worrying about it.
Jas took a bit longer finding a job, but it was worth the wait. He's working in an industry thats booming at the moment TF, and he doesn't mind Monday mornings for the first time in his working life.

We were lucky in that we have some family living here who had us over for xmas, so that was a joy of a day, 28 degrees, 4 kinds of meat and 3 kinds of fish on the barbie. We must have had 4 or 5 invites tho, people here ( or the ones we are lucky enough to know ) are very concerned that everyone has somewhere to go for xmas day.

The low point was the fires, well and truly took the shine off, it's hard to be happy when there's that much fear and misery just over the hills, and emails go around at work to say condolences to x y or z. Put the kybosh on our plans to eventually move to a place out in the country.
We coped OK with the heat - Its beyond imagining that I ever thought 32 degrees was unbearbly hot!!. 29-32 would be my summer comfort zone now. Not that we get a lot of that down here.

I'm not even going to start on Melbourne weather right now, this post is quite long enough, except to say that i mostly like that too!!

Other stuff:
Trains: mostly good( for me ) except at rush hours, or 40+ temps
Comedy month: Exhausting
Melbourne Cup: Don't get public transport that week.
Driving: If you're English, its awful, if you're Irish, it's just like home.
Food: Another post in its own right, the food here is great, and eating out is cheap as....also we prefer the fish and chips here ( but williamstown is known for good fish and chips )
TV: truly deeply awful, but we hardly ever watch terrestrial.
Fashion: bag lady chic - or to quote Dylan Moran, it's like theres a big dress up box in the middle of the city and we all share. Suits me down to the ground.
Kids: Loud but reasonably considerate otherwise.

Must stop now.... there's wine to drink to see in the start of the 2nd year.

Well done on your first year, you seem to have settled in well. We are coming up to our first year in Adelaide, its gone so quick, doesnt seem five mins ago that we were all sitting in the New VIc for the expats meeting.
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Old May 8th 2009, 8:35 am
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Default Re: 364 days in melbourne.

Originally Posted by Ozzy Fever
Well done on your first year, you seem to have settled in well. We are coming up to our first year in Adelaide, its gone so quick, doesnt seem five mins ago that we were all sitting in the New VIc for the expats meeting.
Hey you, how you doing? Adelaide all you expected?
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Old May 8th 2009, 9:35 am
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Default Re: 364 days in melbourne.

Originally Posted by CynOpt
Hey you, how you doing? Adelaide all you expected?
Yes its getting better for us, Alan struggled with work at the begining, but its all going good, like you said you have your ups and downs but think thats normal considering the move that we have all done.

We have made some great friends and have fantastic neighbours which has helped us no end to settle down. The summer was a bit hot even for me who loves the sun.
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Old May 8th 2009, 3:07 pm
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Default Re: 364 days in melbourne.

Great read! Been to Melbourne a couple of times and if we'd moved there would have gone to Williamstown.

Interesting point about not just mixing with migrants. We're in Singapore, been here 12 years, and still feel like expats. When we get to Perth we want it to be forever and to assimilate into the Aussie way of life.
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Old May 11th 2009, 9:45 am
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Default Re: 364 days in melbourne.

Really entertaining update & congrats on your first year!
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Old May 14th 2009, 9:51 am
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Default Re: 364 days in melbourne.

Glad to hear you have settled in well in Melbourne. We had the exciting (and terrifying) news that we have been called for our meds yesterday. We are hoping to settle either in Point Cook or Sanctuary Lakes, although didn't visit Williamstown when we came over at Easter (sounds like it could be an option). If all goes well we could be over in November, so it is great to know it can be done without suffering a nervous breakdown!!
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Old May 14th 2009, 3:32 pm
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Default Re: 364 days in melbourne.

Originally Posted by CynOpt
Hi Jase, its all down to personal choice really. We like the West side, but that puts us in a small minority.
Most head east, and you have the 40ks of suburbs to prove it.
Best bet is to try and find something short term when you arrive, and spend a few weeks trawling about the areas and just asking people when you get here.
In general I've gathered the perception here is that all the good schools are east, but you should check the stats yourself, as many people seem to make up their mind about a place and then refuse to change it despite 20 years of improvements/damage.

When do you think you'll be coming over?

Heard geelong is nice and the great ocean road part? but getting more and more interested in the east side,but will have to see
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