A year in Melbourne
#16
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 231
Re: A year in Melbourne
good post really useful.. my family and i are waiting for our visa and are going to melbourne, went over last year and stayed in frankson south, loved it. have you looked around patterson lakes?? if so can you tell me anything about there> it looks a nice place.. didnt get the chance to check it out when we were over.. did also like mentone area,
do you have children? any useful info welcome..
do you have children? any useful info welcome..
Gina
#17
Re: A year in Melbourne
The 457-175 route is exactly what im taking on. Aswell as heading to Melbourne!
#18
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: Hill overlooking the SE Melbourne suburbs
Posts: 16,622
Re: A year in Melbourne
Cheers Buzzy - I suppose it could be described a bit like Ealing, although I was never that keen on Ealing always thought it was a bit 'up itself' I preferred Acton. Is funny though, I think some people I work with also think Camberwell is a bit 'up itself' but I just don't see it. All the different opinions are interesting
#19
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 141
Re: A year in Melbourne
lynneandwayne;
Paterson Lakes that place is very nice very close to the beach also, however very expensive to live in the area regarding house pricing.
we have been in melbourne now for 11 years and love the place the eating places are fantastic very different cuisine especially Asian (Vietnamese) on Victoria st in the city also very cheap
Paterson Lakes that place is very nice very close to the beach also, however very expensive to live in the area regarding house pricing.
we have been in melbourne now for 11 years and love the place the eating places are fantastic very different cuisine especially Asian (Vietnamese) on Victoria st in the city also very cheap
Is Paterson Lakes where Kath & Kim is flimed? Look at moi, look at moi?
#20
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: Hill overlooking the SE Melbourne suburbs
Posts: 16,622
Re: A year in Melbourne
I think the mall is based on Fountain Gate, Narre Warren, Melbourne SE, we know people here who actually call it Fountain Lakes. I think it might have been filmed there too - but can't say whether it always is.
#22
Re: A year in Melbourne
sorry i think thats enough for now.
thanks lynne,
#23
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 141
Re: A year in Melbourne
Hi thanks for the offer. Well where do i start, whats it like, is it a nice place to live? What age are your children. mine are 3 and 5years. What are the schools like? I may be getting a job at the royal childrens hospital in the centre of melbourne if poss, what kind of communte time do you think from patterson lakes? Is auz all you hoped it would be? Is there any real problems with the credit crunch as we keep hearing in teh uk??
sorry i think thats enough for now.
thanks lynne,
sorry i think thats enough for now.
thanks lynne,
Lots of nice shops from memory, and the surrounding countryside is very nice too - lots of nice places to visit. Victorians are some of the nicest people I have met in Australia, who know ho to hold a conversation and engage. Daylesford and Hepburn Springs good for a bit of a weekend retreat if you like spas and nice walks etc. About 1.5 hrs from Melbourne out to the west. But if you really like off the wall and alternative etc, try Warrandyte and Eltham from memory. Yarra Valley is nice if you like a small spot of the vino.
Melbournians I found to be very helpful around their city and the mix of different kinds of people from around the globe is fantastic, and many different districts reflect different mixes. If you love coffee you are going to the right place.
Downsides I found to Melbourne - the weather a bit unpredictable, and around Collins St etc ( the commercial office part) I found a bit (rather very) depressing I have to say. Walking further into the city is much more interesting I reckon. Fitzroy and Brunswick Street pretty good and great little independent shops, cafes etc. DO NOT expect Covent Garden London though, or anything genuinely resembling European as what we know. The Aussies love to peddle Melbourne as 'European', bless them. Ah, how sweet, but wholly HUGE exageration! To be honest I found country Victoria stunning in places, and well worth a trip up to the Murray River etc, and all the places in between.
Chookas
Yes, Melbourne is pretty good overall.
#24
Re: A year in Melbourne
Well yesterday 29-AUG it was a year since we arrived in Melbourne (couple early thirties) and it was a gorgeous day first day have had to have air-con on in car in ages.
The year has gone incredibly quickly. Our move over here was really easy as I got a job with the company I had worked for previously in the UK and also done some temp work for when over on a working holiday visa, so I already knew people I was working with and knew pretty much exactly what the job was going to be like. (Stuff about first month here in - http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=484932)
Came over on a 457 but then applied for a 175 as soon as arrived which was granted in January and then we went on holiday to NZ at Easter to get the visa actually in the passport so have been permanent residents since Mar.
We knew when we left the UK that we would be staying in Melbourne for the foreseeable (had lived here 3 months previously) - for some reason feel like Australia is more of a home than the UK (just born in the wrong country I reckon - my mums family emigrated here when she was in her 20's and had just met my dad so she never moved, so who knows my feeling so at home here might have something to do with that)
So once had permanent residency started thinking about buying a place as the market seemed to have levelled off a bit in the areas we were looking (Camberwell, Hawthorn (which is where we are renting)) - spent lots of Saturday's traipsing round open for inspections and losing out at auctions before finally getting sorted with a two bed flat in Camberwell via a private sale (no agents just through a board out front put up by owners). So we now own a flat but don't live in it yet because are renting back to owners till December. It is cool, house hunting was so dull just very happy it is all over.
We love living in Melbourne, is funny we feel so at home here, it seems weird trying to think of what to write (I would never have written updates about a year of life in the UK), but I loved reading other peoples updates before we came so will try. Some of the things love about living here:
We can afford to live close enough to the CBD that can be there in 15 mins and have lots of transport options for getting around train & tram and hardly ever have to use the car. (Would not have been able to afford to be a similar distance from centre of a large city in the UK)
I can take my bicycle on the train and choose to cycle along nice off road paths to work and see parrots and just be out in the fresh air. Find cycling great here
The weather seems more predictable to me, which means you can plan things better, the forecasts seem more reliable. When it rains it seems to really rain which is kind of nice, you are either soaked or dry, and sometimes the rain is over in minutes.
I work out of town so am driving against the traffic and is completely predictable how long the drive will take if I go in the car, never seems to be any hold ups and you can get out of the city quickly (unlike living in Harrow).
People always seem to be doing stuff and inviting you along even if you hardly know them, so always seem to have loads of options of things to do. We knew people from living here 3 months before and so through that and work have met a lot of people.
I love AFL and Rugby League and it is so cheap to go to compared to football games in the UK, so are members of Melbourne Storm and Hawthorn. Boyfriend goes to watch Melbourne Victory with a group of others - mix of Aussies, Kiwis & Poms.
Eating out is affordable especially with the entertainment book and coffee is great.
Christmas was great, I think warm Christmas's suit me much better, we had one friend staying had a BBQ at Albert Park, then coffee in St. Kilda and went to the beach - I didn't miss sitting indoors in front of TV and a turkey dinner at all. To me it seems much better having days off over Christmas when you can get out and do stuff (we went round vineyards, to Wilson's prom, puffing billy etc etc).
What don't we like:
Houses can be very cold in winter our current flat is often colder than it is outside!
No PG tips (that was boyfriends only comment but we are not going to get into habit of buying it from Treats from Home).
What is the same:
Cost of living, overall I reckon cost of living is about the same but for us suits us better as the things we like doing and do more of e.g. eating out, public transport are cheaper and stuff that we don't do much of like buying clothes or furniture or electrical items may be more expensive or about the same.
Work: Work is pretty much the same for us, no real difference.
Thats it really we don't think about it much I suppose just like before you think of leaving the UK you maybe don't think much about what you like and what you dislike it is just life.
Before I got the job in Melbourne we were probably heading for Sydney as have some family there and thought might find work easier (had also lived there for 3 months) - but having moved here and been on a couple of visits to Sydney since am really glad we ended up here, Sydney seems nice for a trip away but just now seems very busy compared to Melbourne.
The year has gone incredibly quickly. Our move over here was really easy as I got a job with the company I had worked for previously in the UK and also done some temp work for when over on a working holiday visa, so I already knew people I was working with and knew pretty much exactly what the job was going to be like. (Stuff about first month here in - http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=484932)
Came over on a 457 but then applied for a 175 as soon as arrived which was granted in January and then we went on holiday to NZ at Easter to get the visa actually in the passport so have been permanent residents since Mar.
We knew when we left the UK that we would be staying in Melbourne for the foreseeable (had lived here 3 months previously) - for some reason feel like Australia is more of a home than the UK (just born in the wrong country I reckon - my mums family emigrated here when she was in her 20's and had just met my dad so she never moved, so who knows my feeling so at home here might have something to do with that)
So once had permanent residency started thinking about buying a place as the market seemed to have levelled off a bit in the areas we were looking (Camberwell, Hawthorn (which is where we are renting)) - spent lots of Saturday's traipsing round open for inspections and losing out at auctions before finally getting sorted with a two bed flat in Camberwell via a private sale (no agents just through a board out front put up by owners). So we now own a flat but don't live in it yet because are renting back to owners till December. It is cool, house hunting was so dull just very happy it is all over.
We love living in Melbourne, is funny we feel so at home here, it seems weird trying to think of what to write (I would never have written updates about a year of life in the UK), but I loved reading other peoples updates before we came so will try. Some of the things love about living here:
We can afford to live close enough to the CBD that can be there in 15 mins and have lots of transport options for getting around train & tram and hardly ever have to use the car. (Would not have been able to afford to be a similar distance from centre of a large city in the UK)
I can take my bicycle on the train and choose to cycle along nice off road paths to work and see parrots and just be out in the fresh air. Find cycling great here
The weather seems more predictable to me, which means you can plan things better, the forecasts seem more reliable. When it rains it seems to really rain which is kind of nice, you are either soaked or dry, and sometimes the rain is over in minutes.
I work out of town so am driving against the traffic and is completely predictable how long the drive will take if I go in the car, never seems to be any hold ups and you can get out of the city quickly (unlike living in Harrow).
People always seem to be doing stuff and inviting you along even if you hardly know them, so always seem to have loads of options of things to do. We knew people from living here 3 months before and so through that and work have met a lot of people.
I love AFL and Rugby League and it is so cheap to go to compared to football games in the UK, so are members of Melbourne Storm and Hawthorn. Boyfriend goes to watch Melbourne Victory with a group of others - mix of Aussies, Kiwis & Poms.
Eating out is affordable especially with the entertainment book and coffee is great.
Christmas was great, I think warm Christmas's suit me much better, we had one friend staying had a BBQ at Albert Park, then coffee in St. Kilda and went to the beach - I didn't miss sitting indoors in front of TV and a turkey dinner at all. To me it seems much better having days off over Christmas when you can get out and do stuff (we went round vineyards, to Wilson's prom, puffing billy etc etc).
What don't we like:
Houses can be very cold in winter our current flat is often colder than it is outside!
No PG tips (that was boyfriends only comment but we are not going to get into habit of buying it from Treats from Home).
What is the same:
Cost of living, overall I reckon cost of living is about the same but for us suits us better as the things we like doing and do more of e.g. eating out, public transport are cheaper and stuff that we don't do much of like buying clothes or furniture or electrical items may be more expensive or about the same.
Work: Work is pretty much the same for us, no real difference.
Thats it really we don't think about it much I suppose just like before you think of leaving the UK you maybe don't think much about what you like and what you dislike it is just life.
Before I got the job in Melbourne we were probably heading for Sydney as have some family there and thought might find work easier (had also lived there for 3 months) - but having moved here and been on a couple of visits to Sydney since am really glad we ended up here, Sydney seems nice for a trip away but just now seems very busy compared to Melbourne.
#25
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2008
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 183
Re: A year in Melbourne
Great post, can't wait to get back to Melbourne.
Didn't get Kath & Kim until I came back from Melbourne. Now I get a lot of the jokes
Anybody know if there will be a Season 5?
A bit of City Homicide was shot around my area of North Melbourne and down Queen St, keep expecting to see myself on a episode. I also spotted that they shot one episode (footy murder, with that guy from Home & Away) in the Leveson Hotel on Leveson St.
Damn good Parma's in that bar
Have to agree about the whole selling the city as "European" aspect, I found more of an Asian vibe to the city, or would a "Fusion of Cultures" tagline be better?
The weather is dodgy to say the least but if you are from Ireland/UK you know better than not to carry a coat anywhere. The wind from the Yarra can be brutal. There was a crosswind from the junction of Queen St and Lonsdale that would skin you!!
Didn't get Kath & Kim until I came back from Melbourne. Now I get a lot of the jokes
Anybody know if there will be a Season 5?
A bit of City Homicide was shot around my area of North Melbourne and down Queen St, keep expecting to see myself on a episode. I also spotted that they shot one episode (footy murder, with that guy from Home & Away) in the Leveson Hotel on Leveson St.
Damn good Parma's in that bar
Have to agree about the whole selling the city as "European" aspect, I found more of an Asian vibe to the city, or would a "Fusion of Cultures" tagline be better?
The weather is dodgy to say the least but if you are from Ireland/UK you know better than not to carry a coat anywhere. The wind from the Yarra can be brutal. There was a crosswind from the junction of Queen St and Lonsdale that would skin you!!
#26
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2007
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 64
Re: A year in Melbourne
A really pleasant post to read. We've only been in Melbourne for two and a bit months, so some way to go yet. But it's always good to hear those just a little further down the line still singing the City's praises. I'm still pinching myself daily that life can be so good. (The OH is suffering a little from missing her family, but that's another story for another time...)
#27
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2008
Location: Woodlands, Singapore
Posts: 214
Re: A year in Melbourne
Good thread, enjoyed the read, thanks for sharing.
#28
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2008
Location: India
Posts: 584
Re: A year in Melbourne
Well yesterday 29-AUG it was a year since we arrived in Melbourne (couple early thirties) and it was a gorgeous day first day have had to have air-con on in car in ages.
The year has gone incredibly quickly. Our move over here was really easy as I got a job with the company I had worked for previously in the UK and also done some temp work for when over on a working holiday visa, so I already knew people I was working with and knew pretty much exactly what the job was going to be like. (Stuff about first month here in - http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=484932)
Came over on a 457 but then applied for a 175 as soon as arrived which was granted in January and then we went on holiday to NZ at Easter to get the visa actually in the passport so have been permanent residents since Mar.
We knew when we left the UK that we would be staying in Melbourne for the foreseeable (had lived here 3 months previously) - for some reason feel like Australia is more of a home than the UK (just born in the wrong country I reckon - my mums family emigrated here when she was in her 20's and had just met my dad so she never moved, so who knows my feeling so at home here might have something to do with that)
So once had permanent residency started thinking about buying a place as the market seemed to have levelled off a bit in the areas we were looking (Camberwell, Hawthorn (which is where we are renting)) - spent lots of Saturday's traipsing round open for inspections and losing out at auctions before finally getting sorted with a two bed flat in Camberwell via a private sale (no agents just through a board out front put up by owners). So we now own a flat but don't live in it yet because are renting back to owners till December. It is cool, house hunting was so dull just very happy it is all over.
We love living in Melbourne, is funny we feel so at home here, it seems weird trying to think of what to write (I would never have written updates about a year of life in the UK), but I loved reading other peoples updates before we came so will try. Some of the things love about living here:
We can afford to live close enough to the CBD that can be there in 15 mins and have lots of transport options for getting around train & tram and hardly ever have to use the car. (Would not have been able to afford to be a similar distance from centre of a large city in the UK)
I can take my bicycle on the train and choose to cycle along nice off road paths to work and see parrots and just be out in the fresh air. Find cycling great here
The weather seems more predictable to me, which means you can plan things better, the forecasts seem more reliable. When it rains it seems to really rain which is kind of nice, you are either soaked or dry, and sometimes the rain is over in minutes.
I work out of town so am driving against the traffic and is completely predictable how long the drive will take if I go in the car, never seems to be any hold ups and you can get out of the city quickly (unlike living in Harrow).
People always seem to be doing stuff and inviting you along even if you hardly know them, so always seem to have loads of options of things to do. We knew people from living here 3 months before and so through that and work have met a lot of people.
I love AFL and Rugby League and it is so cheap to go to compared to football games in the UK, so are members of Melbourne Storm and Hawthorn. Boyfriend goes to watch Melbourne Victory with a group of others - mix of Aussies, Kiwis & Poms.
Eating out is affordable especially with the entertainment book and coffee is great.
Christmas was great, I think warm Christmas's suit me much better, we had one friend staying had a BBQ at Albert Park, then coffee in St. Kilda and went to the beach - I didn't miss sitting indoors in front of TV and a turkey dinner at all. To me it seems much better having days off over Christmas when you can get out and do stuff (we went round vineyards, to Wilson's prom, puffing billy etc etc).
What don't we like:
Houses can be very cold in winter our current flat is often colder than it is outside!
No PG tips (that was boyfriends only comment but we are not going to get into habit of buying it from Treats from Home).
What is the same:
Cost of living, overall I reckon cost of living is about the same but for us suits us better as the things we like doing and do more of e.g. eating out, public transport are cheaper and stuff that we don't do much of like buying clothes or furniture or electrical items may be more expensive or about the same.
Work: Work is pretty much the same for us, no real difference.
Thats it really we don't think about it much I suppose just like before you think of leaving the UK you maybe don't think much about what you like and what you dislike it is just life.
Before I got the job in Melbourne we were probably heading for Sydney as have some family there and thought might find work easier (had also lived there for 3 months) - but having moved here and been on a couple of visits to Sydney since am really glad we ended up here, Sydney seems nice for a trip away but just now seems very busy compared to Melbourne.
The year has gone incredibly quickly. Our move over here was really easy as I got a job with the company I had worked for previously in the UK and also done some temp work for when over on a working holiday visa, so I already knew people I was working with and knew pretty much exactly what the job was going to be like. (Stuff about first month here in - http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=484932)
Came over on a 457 but then applied for a 175 as soon as arrived which was granted in January and then we went on holiday to NZ at Easter to get the visa actually in the passport so have been permanent residents since Mar.
We knew when we left the UK that we would be staying in Melbourne for the foreseeable (had lived here 3 months previously) - for some reason feel like Australia is more of a home than the UK (just born in the wrong country I reckon - my mums family emigrated here when she was in her 20's and had just met my dad so she never moved, so who knows my feeling so at home here might have something to do with that)
So once had permanent residency started thinking about buying a place as the market seemed to have levelled off a bit in the areas we were looking (Camberwell, Hawthorn (which is where we are renting)) - spent lots of Saturday's traipsing round open for inspections and losing out at auctions before finally getting sorted with a two bed flat in Camberwell via a private sale (no agents just through a board out front put up by owners). So we now own a flat but don't live in it yet because are renting back to owners till December. It is cool, house hunting was so dull just very happy it is all over.
We love living in Melbourne, is funny we feel so at home here, it seems weird trying to think of what to write (I would never have written updates about a year of life in the UK), but I loved reading other peoples updates before we came so will try. Some of the things love about living here:
We can afford to live close enough to the CBD that can be there in 15 mins and have lots of transport options for getting around train & tram and hardly ever have to use the car. (Would not have been able to afford to be a similar distance from centre of a large city in the UK)
I can take my bicycle on the train and choose to cycle along nice off road paths to work and see parrots and just be out in the fresh air. Find cycling great here
The weather seems more predictable to me, which means you can plan things better, the forecasts seem more reliable. When it rains it seems to really rain which is kind of nice, you are either soaked or dry, and sometimes the rain is over in minutes.
I work out of town so am driving against the traffic and is completely predictable how long the drive will take if I go in the car, never seems to be any hold ups and you can get out of the city quickly (unlike living in Harrow).
People always seem to be doing stuff and inviting you along even if you hardly know them, so always seem to have loads of options of things to do. We knew people from living here 3 months before and so through that and work have met a lot of people.
I love AFL and Rugby League and it is so cheap to go to compared to football games in the UK, so are members of Melbourne Storm and Hawthorn. Boyfriend goes to watch Melbourne Victory with a group of others - mix of Aussies, Kiwis & Poms.
Eating out is affordable especially with the entertainment book and coffee is great.
Christmas was great, I think warm Christmas's suit me much better, we had one friend staying had a BBQ at Albert Park, then coffee in St. Kilda and went to the beach - I didn't miss sitting indoors in front of TV and a turkey dinner at all. To me it seems much better having days off over Christmas when you can get out and do stuff (we went round vineyards, to Wilson's prom, puffing billy etc etc).
What don't we like:
Houses can be very cold in winter our current flat is often colder than it is outside!
No PG tips (that was boyfriends only comment but we are not going to get into habit of buying it from Treats from Home).
What is the same:
Cost of living, overall I reckon cost of living is about the same but for us suits us better as the things we like doing and do more of e.g. eating out, public transport are cheaper and stuff that we don't do much of like buying clothes or furniture or electrical items may be more expensive or about the same.
Work: Work is pretty much the same for us, no real difference.
Thats it really we don't think about it much I suppose just like before you think of leaving the UK you maybe don't think much about what you like and what you dislike it is just life.
Before I got the job in Melbourne we were probably heading for Sydney as have some family there and thought might find work easier (had also lived there for 3 months) - but having moved here and been on a couple of visits to Sydney since am really glad we ended up here, Sydney seems nice for a trip away but just now seems very busy compared to Melbourne.
Thanks for a nice update. We are also thinking of moving to Melbourne directly, without visiting it. Right now we are not having any friends/relatives in Melbourne but I have heard that job possibilities are more here than in Perth/Adelaide/Brisbane. Sydney seems to a little expensive than Melbourne. Whats your experience and how much time do you think one will require to look for a decent job and what about part time job, which could offer you to earn for day to day expenses?? We are family of 4 (1daughter-13 years, 1 Son -5years, wife - teacher and I am an Environmental Engineer).I am planning to come alone first.
Regards
Sanjay