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Hi John & Co.
I can really empathise with where you are at right now. Let me tell you abit about how we got to be here in Melbourne and perhaps answer some of your questions.
Graham, (hubby) was offered a transfer to a sister company in Thomastown, Melbourne in December. The business flew him and I out at the end of Jan. This was to allow Graham to visit the company and for us both to look at suitable suburbs to live and schools for the kids. We had been looking on realestate.com(fantastic for getting an idea of property prices etc)but with no knowledge of areas it was abit like sticking a pin in the map. Our search area was made easier by the fact that it had to be comutable for Graham to work and the guys at the company gave us some suggestions for suburbs that would suit. I'm not sure what you are looking for but we definately did not want city(known as CBD), however be careful what you say to real estate agents; i made the mistake of saying that I was looking for something in the country and ended up out bush!!!
Generally the suburbs are divided into areas denoted by how many kms they are from the centre of Melbourne. The nearer you are to the centre the more expensive the property. Eltham is approx 20kms from city, it takes about 30 mins to travel. The average house price is between $350,000-$600,000 for a 4 bed house depending on size of land. When we visited in Jan I was initially disappointed by the houses, many are single storey and look quite '70's in style, but there are many newer houses that are lovely.
Anyway whilst we were here in Jan. we decided that we liked Eltham and surrounding area so visited a few secondary schools,(there is usually a couple of primary schools near each secondary school) Most of the schools looked OK and were happy to take the kids mid-year if necessary(OZ school year runs Jan-Dec). Most of the secondary schools have strict catchment zones and you will be expected to provide evidence. Beth our eldest daughter is enrolled in st. Helena secondary college. We organised this when we moved over in July. She had just finished year 8 in the UK. but entered year 8 here to repeat the last few months in Oz, so that she could adjust and get over any teething problems ready to start year 9 in January. Abbie, enrolled into Glen Katherine primary which backs onto St. Helena. Beths school day is 08.30 - 2.45pm, Abbies is 08.45 - 3.00pm. This is so that the elder kids can collect younger siblings from school. There are several primary schools around here, /eltham North is also very nice.
We returned to the UK and spent the next week weighing up the pro's & con's of moving the family, leaving friends & family, we decided to go for it both the younger kids were really keen. Maxine our eldest daughter looked into studying at Melbourne uni, but recieved an offer form London uni which was too good to pass up so elected to stay in the UK. This was a real stubbliing block, but I guess even if we stayed in the UK she would have made her own life in London, and when you actually work out how many weeks they have off they are actually only at uni for just over 6 months!! So can have lots of holidays in Oz.
The 457 visa was organised by the business who used an immigration agency to collect all the paperwork. We had to arrange our own medicals/xrays, we used a GP practice in Northampton. Thw whole process did take 3-4 months to complete.
We booked ouselves into a motel in Eltham for 4 weeks before we left the UK. This gave us some breathing space to look around at property and schools again when we arrived. |Initially we planned to buy ASAP but once here were worried that we would rush to buy somethiing then regret it later. Stamp duty here is 5-6% so is expensive to move too often. So we have rented a house. Renting is very popular here and generally there are 3-4 couples after each property. The usual rental period is 12 months and it is very rare to find anything for less. (Realestate.com will also show rental properties). Rental properties have inspection times, usually 15 mins on 1 set day, this is the only time that you can look at the property and will need to submit an application ASAP to be in the running. Althiugh we had no rental history we managed to secure a house. They will need references from current employer and personal reference (we gave friends in the UK)
Banking may be difficult it would be worth bringing a letter of reference from your UK bank. Again we were lucky that Graham was intorduced to the company bank by his boss.
Credit is difficult as we had no history so I would advise anticipating/saving some money if you need to buy large electrical/household items. Graham has a company car and we brought me a small car, ther are many 2nd hand dealers but cars are cheaper here if you want to buy new, but might be difficult to get credit.
We have been here 10 weeks now and the kids have settled really well into school. All the kids are really friendly here. Our youngest is very loud and confident so fits in very well. But Beth is very quiet and we worried about her but she too has made friends and been invited out several times. Generally everyone is much more relaxed here, surnames are rarely used by anyone and there is no rushing anywhere. The other differnce is the prices, most things are nuch cheaper than the UK and your wages definately go further.
I hope this has answered some of your questions and good luck.
Marianne & Graham
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