Melbourne thoughts....
 

2 years ago, I was stuck alone in a house in Cheshire with virtually no furniture, no TV and no work as my job in the UK was seasonal. Cas had left for Australia about 3 weeks previously on a 457 to start a job and I stayed behind to sell our house at a time when it looked an impossibility (2 buyers had already backed out). It took another month for me to get to Australia with the house sold, all UK ends tied up and 2 bags full of stuff (Cas had already taken 2 bags before). It was probably the most depressing 7 weeks of my life, the weather in the UK was abysmal that winter and I spent most of my time posting on BE (I racked up nearly 10000 posts as Fireeater and was posting over 70 a day :eek: ) and drinking vodka. I arrived in Melbourne on the 1st of March 2005, leaving the UK at a daytime high of 0C and meeting a 37C day here in Aus. The jetlag and temperature change wiped me out for about a week, but there was no rush to do anything so I recovered and very soon began to consider my new country as home. In fact, my first bout of homesickness came when on a validation trip to change our visa from 457 to PR. Going to Auckland to do this, I felt homesick for Melbourne.

Like a number of people who go to Aus, I had never been before. I didn't know what to expect and wasn't sure what I was going to do. In the UK I was a circus performer, which is not the most highly desirable job. However, I came to Melbourne with an open mind and soon met people and found friends/acquaintances. Job hunting was always going to be a problem but I got a lucky break when my hobby turned good. Since I was a kid I have been playing chess, and there is a network of chess classes extracurricula in schools around Melbourne. The company needed more coaches and I applied and got a job. Tomorrow, I am starting my own franchise of this business in Melbourne. How this will pan out I don't know, but like everything else in this adventure, I reckon it's worth the risk.

I suppose because of the kind of work I do, it somehow doesn't quite feel real. It feels like one big holiday. And having friends/family regularly over from the UK has prevented me from taking anything for granted here. Had some friends here over New Year and they commented on how wierd the mynah's were, and how different the magpies are, let alone how amazing the parrots are. Smelling the eucalypts after a downpour is still wonderful, and then being told off for thinking that 25C was quite cool. Saying that, I'm fully settled here in Melbourne. I can happily go to the coast, trek in the nearby hills, peolpe-watch from a cafe, spend time at open-air festivals, go to watch sports, sit in pubs etc. With work I've travelled across Victoria, all over Melbourne, to Brisbane, Alice Springs, Canberra with Sydney likely the next place.

All in all, it has been an adventure come good. Were my eyes open coming to Australia? I'd have to say no. I was certainly more in the being 'pushed from the UK camp' than being 'pulled to Australia camp'. But since being here the specs have gradually rosed. I'm not saying it's perfect, but for me Melbourne feels like a home where the UK certainly wasn't. And when I left nearly 2 years ago, that was what I was looking for, a place to call home. I have tried to be as outgoing as possible and have found the majority of Australian's to be friendly in return. A far cry from the Cheshire village where we never really accepted into the community.

Good luck to all you adventurers,

Carl

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Carl , what a fab post, just shows you , you make assumptions about people and they turn out to be all wrong, for some reason , i thought you and cas had had things easy (sorry), i thought your were an accountant or something (sorry), but working a circus WHAL, that kinda blew me away.

I think your story is truly inspirational and i hope your new franchise adventure goes fantastically:D

(70 per day, ffs,lol)

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Excellent post Carl, good luck with your franchise hope its a massive success! :)

jackie

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

What a great post Carl, hope you enjoyed your little visit to Canberra:)

Im still looking forward seeing you fire eating when we finally move to Melbourne, good luck with the franchise, one day Melbourne, next the whole of oz
Mandy

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

OMG, gotta agree that I had NO idea you were a fire eater in a previous life. You MUST do me a demo when I get there. Amazing.

Great post Carl, hope your trip was good too.

Gill

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Great post thanks.

Joex

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Hya Carl
Thanks for your post - really helpful, I too am planning to move to Melbourne.
My husband is very envious of you as he plays chess from the minute he gets up to long after he should be in bed and you have his dream job!!!!!

Best of luck in your new franchise, hope life in Melbourne continues to be great for you

Louise

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Great post Carl.
I'm lapping up any info I can about Melbourne at the moment. :)

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Yep - that's one social event sorted already :beer:

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

As long as there isn't a fire ban, I'm happy to give the odd performance:rolleyes:

In Melbourne I actually did a few street shows on the South Bank before getting into the chess coaching. My heart wasn't really in it anymore....I suppose a new start meant exactly that. Anyway, I'm getting a bit old for those sorts of shenanigans....

http://www.boxhillchess.org.au/junio...ireeater5a.jpg

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Thanks Louise. If you're husband needs some work, then get in touch. We still need some chess coaches:D

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Thanks Margaret and no worries about the assumptions....I don't go round bragging that I'm a chess nerd:D

Hopefully some people who read this will find it inspirational and will have the belief that things can come together with a positive outlook and a genuine desire to embrace a new culture. Like I said originally Melbourne is not perfect, but my belief is that people need to take control and responsibility of their lives as much as possible and not go round blaming others or circumstances for their problems. At the very least in this case, people wouldn't wallow in self pity but would make decisions and try to do things to improve their lot. Saying that, I wallowed plenty while I was stuck alone in England.....if it wasn't for this site and some great people (especially Bordy and Willmore) I'm not sure what I'd have done?:unsure:

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Hi, thanks for that - a good read and glad you're loving it here in Melbourne - I'm liking it more and more each day!

We've also come from Cheshire - whereabouts were you, we were in Crewe and I don't miss it at all.

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

I'm a southerner originally, but for the last 3 years in UK I was living in Mow Cop. My wife's folks live in Haslington. I never really got used to that area and to an extent moving to Cheshire was the final straw of wanting to get out of England. I'd been living in Coventry for 12 years before that:eek:

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

carl, you are now my wee girls hero and she wants to know if you teach her to juggle when she comes over:D ..............awwe bless:D

(she also likes playing chess, i can see you two getting along)

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Carl you have made my husbands day - what level of a player do you need to be to teach?
You are also my 8 year old daughter's hero juggling fire.

Louise

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Omg, I can really relate to Cheshire being the final straw - I think it was for us too :lol: (we were in London before that) I know Haslington quite well, it's where people went from our street in Crewe when they wanted a 'move to the country' :eek:

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Hi, I'm Cas....Carls wife - just thought I'd let those people who are bit newer know :)

Louise, Carl will get back to you on that :)

Spikey - how long were you in Crewe?

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Do you have a party trick then Cas? :eek:

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We were there 5 years, I eventually made some friends there but wasn't sorry to leave the place.

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Thanks for a very informative post Carl. We're off to Melbourne in about 3 weeks, never having been to Australia before. It's been good to hear your experiences. Although the die is already more or less cast in our case (I have already signed my secondment contract with work...), I'm still curious to hear about what things people value most about life in Melbourne in particular. It sounds from your post as though what you have enjoyed about Australia / Melbourne is a combination of the good people you have met and the lifestyle. Can I ask what it is about Melbourne you missed when away, either outside Oz or elsewhere in Oz?

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Funnily enough, in England I ran/worked at loads of circus skills workshops, which is why the chess teaching came so easily to me here. So, anyway, yes I can teach your daughter to juggle.....what would you prefer, knives or chainsaws?:D

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The refreshing thing about moving to Australia was seeing people with smiles on their faces. I don't remember seeing people in the street in Crewe, or Stoke, just smiling. That area of the world was truly depressing for me, and commuting 90 miles south down the M6 to work each day was actually a blessing, even if I didn't know it then

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

The area I live in, Elsternwick, is a cosmopolitan, multicultural area with large Jewish, Russian and German communities. It has a European feel to it with a great cafe culture that I haven't experienced anywhere else in Australia outside of Melbourne. The people are great, and on the whole I've been lucky to have met a number of people who I now consider friends. It's a place I can chill out or just walk down the street and stop to say hello to someone. I feel part of this community and I love the 'feel' of it. Auckland felt much shabbier to me, and the people much less outgoing, or perhaps more reserved. I have come to appreciate the outgoing nature of the Aussies and the first/second generation immigrant populations.

Travelling around Australia has been great and there haven't been many places I haven't liked. But I am always happy to come back to Melbourne. I find it hard to explain but it just feels like coming home. It is where I am comfortable, and I suppose it feels like the place I belong.:)

Whereabouts you heading to in Melbourne?

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Thanks Carl,
Good to hear that Melbourne feels like home to you. Certainly agree that approaching things with a positive attitude is important. Melbourne's European feel and Victorian architecture attracted me, together with the cultural side and the prospect of four seasons.

We're currently in a friendly, down-to-earth town in West Yorkshire at the moment and have settled in well here since moving up from somewhere very pretty, but not very cosmopolitan (and frankly snobby) in the south of England about five years ago. I am glad we moved to Yorkshire and not the North-West, where I grew up - I don't think the North West is friendly as Yorkshire and feel more at home here. We like it alot here but have decided we want somewhere where the weather is better so the kids can do more stuff outside. I know Melbourne's not the best place in Oz for weather but it's better than Yorkshire! Now if only they could get those dang mountains a little closer so I can go climbing outside after work there like I can here - weather permitting!

Elsternwick sounds good and looks as though it should be on our list. The idea of somewhere cosmopolitan appeals to us. We lived briefly in Notting Hill / Westbourne Grove area of London ten years ago and liked some aspects of there alot. We are currently thinking about Bayside, mainly Brighton, but it's hard to know until we get out there what we will like. Elsternwick looks to have plenty of period properties and is close in. Other areas we will have a recce of are the Malvern-Canterbury: away from the coast and probably less cosmopolitan, but seem to have good schools.... We are looking for somewhere good for our kids to live (daughter 7 and son 1). The other criteria is that I would like to be within 30 minutes train / tram / drive (preferably not drive but it looks as though the trains aren't working!) of the CBD for work.

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Lots of good schools around here. Thebears live in Malvern which is another great area in my opinion, but a little more expensive than Caulfield. Canterbury is a bit farther out, but nearby Camberwell is a fantastic spot with a really good state school teaching French and English to all students. In fact, I think someone on BE has a child in Camberwell Primary School. Can't remember who though?

Bayside sort of encompasses a large area, but if you're talking of south of Mordialloc, then you're probably looking at a longer commute than you'd like. North of Mordialloc can be a bit pricey, like Sandringham or Black Rock, but these areas are beautiful.

You're spot on with the weather. It is averagely 10C warmer here all year round than the UK. It is much brighter here, with not many days where there isn't any sunshine at all. The lack of rain is a problem, but we're having a bad summer at the moment to make up for one of the dryest winter's on record.

Good luck, and if you want any more info, then ask. But be warned, it is only my opinion:)

Carl

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Thanks for your help and suggestions, Carl. I'm sure we'll be able to find an area we really like as soon as we have had a chance to get on the ground and have a scout about! You can search on real estate web sites for ages but to get a feel for a place you have to go there and walk around. These forum posts about places do help bridge that gap!

I browsed around on the connex timetables to work out how far out I can get in 30 mins. Sandringham seems to be the limit Bayside, but occasionally there are trains to Cheltenham that take 30 mins. Caulfield is well within - as far as Ormond or McKinnon on that line and then further up Glen Iris or Alamein. Still further back from the coast Camberwell is no problem - Box Hill or Burwood seem to be about the limit. So in summary there is a wide area! Elsternwick's 15 mins is about the same as Camberwell, but I suspect we will find a coastal location attractive!

Is there anywhere hilly with views on the inner East Side or Bayside, or is it the whole area flat?

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Bloody hell ---- and about those bushfires????

Seriously - great post and best of luck with new job.

Sue

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Great post Carl ....i remember the vodka drinking days when Cas was already in OZ and i know how tough it must have been for you two( it was tough on us lot enduring your 70 posts aday :lol: ). But you got through it and no one deserves it more than you two.

You made it happen .......you are living the dream.

Wishing you many many more happy years in Australia, your home :)

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

I think I seldom smiled when I was living in Crewe :lol: It's got to be one of the most miserable places in the UK.

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

This area is fairly flat....Caulfield/Bayside. If you're looking for hills and views, then further out is the place to go....Mt. Waverley, Ivanhoe, Surrey Hills etc. But there is a certain charm to where I live, as I said before, the 'feel' of the place being just right for me.

I think you are doing the right thing by not committing to an area before checking things out. Give yourself as much time as you need to find the right place for you and your family. For example, you talked about McKinnon. This area is quite dull, pretty flat and quiet. However, close by is Bentleigh which is buzzing, the bay is 10 minutes away in the car, and there are some great schools....Tucker Road Primary, and McKinnon Secondary, for example. So for a single person, or young couple it might not be too good a choice, but for a family, it could be ideal.

Anyway, good luck with it all.

Carl

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Thanks D....you're time will come soon when you also start the adventure and make the dreams come true.:)

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I bet you smiled when you were leaving:D

btw, Stoke on Trent is no better.....

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

I think I was grinning (in a manic kind or way) :rofl: when we left. Used to go to Smoke on Stench quite often to go to the cinema before Crewe had a decent one built. Not much to smile at there either.

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

...but you could say the same thing about most places - nearby there are some lovely areas (Northwich, Nantwich?); it depends on your circumstances. I'm sure the same could be said of parts of Melbourne even...

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

I think Nantwich is quite nice, and Chester too, but to be honest I really just don't like that area of the UK, it's so far inland and always seems grey and damp - and I've moved around the UK quite a lot so do have other places to compare it to (from Yorkshire originally but I've also lived in Nottingham, Kent, Hull and London, all places which I preferred to Crewe). Though I agree it does depend on circumstances and I wasn't miserable for the whole 5 years I lived there and my opinion is not really about the people who live there either - was just having a joke with Shakmaty!

It was the seemingly permanent grey skies that got me down the most there, Crewe is in a dip so whilst it seems to miss the majority of very cold weather, it also seems to miss out on the really good weather too.

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

This is of course just my opinion but I found the 'better' areas of Cheshire quite snobbish and stand-offish. One of the problems in settling in Cheshire was the lack of acceptance into the village community that we lived in. Sure, it was beautiful, clean, a good location next to the Peak District, with Manchester 20 minutes drive away, Birmingham less than an hour away and a couple of smaller towns nearby. But we really made no friends there. I worked part of the time in Crewe and never made real friends there, my wife worked in Stoke and never made real friends there either, and we were barely on speaking terms with anybody in our own village.

Our life and lifestyle has changed since moving to Australia, so that may be a factor in the equation, but it just seems easier to talk to people here and make friends here. The area we live in now is quite a desirable one to live in and we have had no problems making friends here with british expats, other immigrants, and local aussies. However, I have spent some time in 'not so desirable' Noble Park, near Dandenong, and have made a number of friends there too. This might be partly to do with me, but I reckon Melbourne and it's ethos has something to do with it as well

Carl

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Thanks for your replies on this. I'm glad you have found it different in Oz; it's one of the (potential) differences between Oz society and UK society that has intruiged me most. My experience in the UK has been similar - we deliberately avoided the "better" towns around Leeds because we had heard from people lots of people they are snobby (I'm sure not everyone is, but that's what we have heard, and to some extent experienced ourselves) and went for somewhere down to earth, which was the right choice for us, having come from somewhere very snobby near London and being keen to get away from that. It does seem to be a perennial issue in England at least that the "better" areas attract those sorts of people...

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You've obviously not been to Port Talbot then!:(

Re: Melbourne thoughts....
 

Great post Carl, I was just the same about the UK and can totally identify with the rest of that (obviously not the bit about Melbourne :D ).

Every day I wake up with a smile on my face, and when I look out of the window I can't believe how lucky I am to be here :)

Here's to coming home :beer: