jimmy1986

A lot of the suggestions you've got on here are out east, which means you'll be commuting in via Metro, which is the suburban train network, a bit like the London underground except above ground. It breaks a lot, and is slow. If you want to commute in luxury, VLine is the way to go, it's our regional rail network. Services aren't as frequent (usually once an hour after peak), but it's far more comfortable and has a lot less agro on it (junkies, graffitti, ferals etc). Have a look at the VLine network map and look at some of the smaller regional towns, there should be plenty of options within an hours commute like Ballan, Bacchus Marsh, Gisborne, Woodend etc. That's what I did 4+ years ago, had a look at the map, "Bacchus Marsh looks alright", found someone on here who lived there, never looked back.

As the others have said, you need to give us a bit more info like what work you'll be doing and what type of visa you have for us to give a good suggestion. It's pretty easy to live out in the sticks and still work in Melbourne, just have a look at the VLine map (not metro). I'm living out in the countryside on acreage, but it's an easy 10km to get onto the Ballarat line and get to the city for work (am IT programmer, pretty much have to go to the CBD for that).

May I throw in another suggestion? Look at Ballan. Quiet country town with the essentials, good schools, shops. Cheap(er) property that actually have back yards, NBN. Hardly any crime, no gangs of kids hanging around. Don't think I've ever seen graffitti there. 1 hour commute on VLine to Southern Cross (I do it every day). If you go for Frankston you'll be taking metro, out here it's Vline so regional train, much like you'd be used to commuting in from Essex (except you can pretty much guarantee a seat at Ballan). Shout if you want to know anything else about that area

Stayed at CityEdge serviced apartments for about a week on Elizabeth/A Beckett street just so we could get stuff sorted in the city like bank/medicare etc. Then moved out to Coburg for about 3 weeks, stayed at an Airbnb in someones garage. It was a bit grim, the guy was a massive hoarder and there was junk everywhere, we managed to secure a rental a week earlier so we were glad to escape. Then it was Bacchus Marsh renting for about 9 months, we were half looking for a place to buy, went out for a drive one Saturday, saw there were some open houses in Greendale, was blown away and said fck it, we'll take this one. Been here several years now, best decision ever.

Just curious, whats making you want to live close to the city yet come out to BM for work? Seems more popular to do it the other way around, live out in the sticks for cheap and go into the city for work If you're not totally against the idea of moving further out, have you looked at Ballan? It's the next stop along from BM, about 20 minutes further up the line, so an easy commute on the train, or all freeway by car. Ballan is such a lovely place, a real hidden gem. It's a very quite town, but it has all the essentials like schools, doctors, supermarket, butchers and some cafes. It's what I'd call a real country town, BM not so much. You'll get good bang for your buck on property too, and it does have NBN in the area. Honestly if I had spare cash I'd be investing there as with Melton/BM growing I think Ballan will boom once people realise it's cheap, safe, and still only 1hour on the express vline. I live about 12km north of Ballan, in Greendale, but have been living in the BM area for a good few years now so feel free to ping me if you need anything!

Don't just look at metro, also look at vline services. Even though you'd be further out, the vline is often quicker than metro because of fewer stops. Being further out also gets you more for your money. It'd be quite easy to find a 3 bed house with double garage for $300 pw if you don't mind a 45min-1 hour vline train

It's something I'm considering. I live close to the Scotsburn fires that happened in Victoria last season, I spoke to a building inspector that worked on the cleanup and she said only 2 houses survived the worst of it and it was because they both had sprinklers going to kill the embers. There are some commercially available setups like http://www.emberdefender.com.au/ but I'd be looking at around $25k-$30k, which sounds excessive. Has anyone here done it? Any advice? Thanks

I work with a guy from elabor8, seem like a decent bunch. He's a BA too

A recent trip back to the UK and I did a lot of rabbit shooting with my dad, would like to pick it up in Australia, does anyone here shoot? I live on acreage in the country, rabbits are a really problem they destroy the area around the house and any plants we try to grow, can I shoot on my own land if I have a license? Thanks

Can't help you with Brisbane (I'm down in Melbourne), but I'm from Suffolk (Sudbury, but lived in Ipswich for a while before coming here) Back in a few weeks if you want to coffee/beer

The west is a rough ol' place, especially when you get out into the sticks. Just last night, possums broke into my house and decided to have a party up in the roof space (well beyond the hours of "reasonable noise"). This morning when I left the house for work, I found that kangaroos had shat all over my doorstep. My work mate lives in Kew and gets to spend more on his rent than I do on my mortgage, he's got a 1 bed apartment and I'm stuck on 5 acres. To make it even worse, he gets to spend more time commuting on the tram than I do on the express vline, I definitely feel like I got the bad deal there! Don't move out west, it's grim as they say. You'll hate it. (Just joking btw but yes, true stories)

I've noticed several people filling up in town from a water pump, whats the deal with that, is it free?

Every tradie we've taken has been recommended. We've either found them by word of mouth, recommendation on the towns facebook community etc

My experience with tradies here has been terrible, and I wanted to know if it's just my bad luck of selecting the right tradesmen, or is this "normal"? Flooring: Recently bought our first home, it has timber flooring throughout, very old fashioned, the colour was so orange it was almost offensive. We booked 8 people to come give us a quote, only 3 turned up. First was an old Chinese guy who was very difficult to understand, he said he'd be getting people in to do the work, which flagged alarm bells that he wouldn't be accountable for the work, didn't seem to really know what he was talking about, other than money. Next were a pair of guys from the city (brothers I think), only one could speak English which meant there was lots of translation happening, which was a bit off putting, they quoted $5k when the others quoted $7k, which made me think they'd be cutting corners, also they smoke the whole time they were here, ciggy butts all over my driveway.. Oh and their car broke down on my driveway, we hadn't moved in at that stage so we just left them there (annoyed), it's out in the bush, not sure how they got home that night but there were ciggy butts everywhere and holes in the driveway where they presumably got a friend to pull them out...nightmare! Last guy was from Ballarat, who we ended up going with. He was a nice guy but dam did he drag his heels. The job itself was only about 2 weeks, but it lasted well over 3 months. Most days he just wouldn't turn up, or he'd make some excuse (lost his dog, hurt his hand, car wouldn't start etc). It was stressful, every day I had to phone him up to see if he turned up to do the work. We'd just moved into the house, so had to store everything on one side while he did the other, then swap. He did an OK job, but it's starting to peel up and there are clear obvious lines where he didn't apply it well, can't get hold of him to fix it. Handyman: Our place is out in the bush (but only 5 minutes off the freeway), it was on the market for nearly 2 years and the owners weren't there very often. They knew they were going, so they neglected a lot of things, mostly outside. We hired a handyman to help us get on top of things; rake up leaves and bark around the house, fix drainage in front of garage, few other things. He was great to start with, turned up, spoke well, did a few small jobs for free, then he started playing the disappearing act. As with the floor guy, he had a few weeks work, but dragged out over 4 months. He quoted (and we paid for) new storm drains in front of the garage (driveway is sloped down), and to run drains down through the carport as we kept flooding. When it was time to do the work he decided he wanted to do it cheap and just dig a trench. He didn't turn up for 2 weeks so I told him not to bother, I'll go to bunnings and do it myself. Balcony fencing: Handyman recommended a fencing guy to put ballustrading on our balcony (some parts were missing). Young lad turned up, baseball cap on backwards, ciggy in his mouth swigging a beer. Wanted $10k to put colourbond railings on. We laughed, that was the end of that one. Air con: We had a local, recommended heating/air con guy out to quote us on a job. We have an ancient thermostat with a glass container of mercury attached to a spring that we wanted updating to digital. We also wanted the ducted heating zoned so we're not heating the areas of the house we don't use. He gave us a quote, seemed fair, we agreed a date to get it done and he doesn't show up. Tried calling several times, never returned any calls. We had the cash waiting, clearly he doesn't want it. Pest: Critters had moved in before we did. Had Jims Pest out to sort a rat problem in the roof. Old guy turned up, could barely walk let alone get up a ladder. He didn't even get up into the roof, he just pulled the spotlights out and blindly threw bait up in the direction I said we'd heard noises. Gave a speech about how his years of working in Egypt has taught him everything about pest control. Assured me there was enough poison to kill well over 600 rats and I'd have no issues. It went quiet for about 2-3 weeks, but then they came back, and in greater numbers. Figured I'd try someone else, a Pom expat who comes recommended. He did a great job first time, baited again, got up and had a proper look, said the bait I did myself was better than Jims Pest. Booked him in to come back a month later to see how it was going, but as with the others, this guy didn't turn up. Couldn't get him on the phone, never responded to my emails/calls, I lost a days work sitting at home waiting for him to come...annoyed. Water cartage: Yesterday I had water cartage booked (we're on a tank, its very low). Could barely understand the guy on the phone, it was like talking to the old drunk guy from Father Ted TV show. We asked for potable (drinking water), he said we're getting spring water whether we like it or not. He didn't turn up, now I have to find someone else and potentially wait another few weeks... Maybe I live in the Bermuda triangle, where tradies go missing en route, or maybe it's just bad luck, but why is it so hard to get things done here? I've a list of things I need fixed (electrical, plumbing etc) but I'm worried about being messed around again. We've budgeted to do this and have cash waiting, but it seems no one wants it! I think Australia could do with an influx of Polish tradies, get the locals to buck their ideas up...

Hello CDC, A friend of mine spotted this post and put me on to it, since I have a lot in common with you. I asked the same things a few years ago and said friend helped me out. A serviced apartment in the city will cost you a lot for 6 months, there are several poms on here that rent short terms for new migrants, but I'd seriously look at airbnb, find something a bit further out and strike a deal with the owner. I think we paid around $700 for about 10 days in a serviced apartment in the city, there wasn't much choice at the time. Don't worry about credit ratings. They don't care about UK history, just as long as you have a job and things look good right now. We were offered a credit card from ANZ the day we opened up our accounts, no questions. A little over 6 months after arriving we got a $500,000 mortgage for our first home. As long as you can prove you have money coming in, they don't care what was happening a year ago. Job hunting seasons, any time thats NOT Christmas, June should be alright. I'm a software dev, came over on a 189 without any work, and found a job within a week, the first place I interviewed for. There is a LOT of work at the moment for good devs. People seem to be coming and going all the time, lots of places hiring. My place is always looking for referrals, we do lots of work with the big 4 banks so you may well be a good fit. LinkedIn is your best bet, set location to Melbourne and wait a week and you'll start getting found by the recruiters. No idea about cider, sorry! Feel free to send me a private message if you want to talk further, I got a lot of help from these forums so would like to pay it forward!