Just arrived in Melbourne!

[Ruby Okim]

Hi all,

After a rather sleepless night in the Qantas flight we arrived in Melbourne in the ealry hours of this morning. Have to say that I know it's autumn here but when you're coming from 30 deg celsius + it's FREEZING (so it'll be great for everyone elso on this site as it's currently hovering around 20 deg c). We manage to check in early to our temporary accomodation and I have to say that I'm usually quite jammy with the hotel searching but I really outdid myself this time. We're staying at the Plum Carlton Apartments Melbourne, CBD on Swanston Street (about 5 mins walk into town literally) for $98 a night for 7 nights. It's serviced apartments with a nice little cafe next door and for that amount of money we both can't quite believe the qulaity of our studio apartment.

Oh, before I forget, for those of you that were on the tea thread we got in absolutely fine with our big box of PG Tips. OH got asked what was in the box and he said black tea and they asked no more!

Just wanted to ask 2 things:
1) We need to set up a bank account asap and were wondering what people thought of ANZ, Westpac and NAB
2) Any ideas on where we should look to live if OH is working in Mulgrave, me potentially in the CBD and we need to live near a rail network?

Any help on those 2 questions would be much appreciated!!

[kellyjamie]

Morning guys, glad you arrived safely, shame its so cold! we are still in the UK and recently opened a bank account with NAB so we can transfer some money each money to begin a savings account, anyhow they were absolutely brilliant very heplful very easy to set up and npthing was a hassle, defo recommend them! have fun x

[Kathy&Niall]

We opened a Westpac account before we moved here and then went into the branch a couple of weeks ago when we landed. So far they have been fantastic. They set us up with a credit card even though we have no credit history over here which has been a great help while we have been setting things up.
I have heard that the NAB are equally as good though.
Area wise, we live in Brighton and love it but you would need to be more inland for your OH work. Chadstone is nice and thats close to Mulgrave and about 25 mins from the city if you drive. You can catch the train also.
Good luck
Kathy

[Ruby Okim]

Thanks for your replies guys!

Decided to go with ANZ for banking. So far so good. The lady in the bank was really helpful and friendly. She is getting our cards and letters sent to the branch for us to pick up as we have no fixed address at the moment, which is really handy for us.

Am going to look at Chadstone for properties today, so wish us luck!

[nancyq12]

I am with Westpac and really satisfied so far!

[KazzE]

Hi Hazel,
glad to hear you are finally there, Chadstone had a great shopping mall, it is huge

Good luck with the house hunting

Karen

[Ruby Okim]

Hi Hazel,
glad to hear you are finally there, Chadstone had a great shopping mall, it is huge

Good luck with the house hunting

Karen

Hi Karen,

Thanks. Househunting is going. Slowly. have put in an application for a place in Glen Iris but won't know until Monday.

Fingers crossed! How did the house viewing go?

[Ruby Okim]

Hi all,

just thought I'd tell you about the really nice Indian restaurant we ate at for our 4th wedding anniversary dinner. It's called Two Fat Indians and is on Wellington Parade. The food was really good and despite the restaurant being busy and there not being many wait staff, service was also good. Check out their website - they also do deliveries!

TwoFatIndians, East Melbourne ::

[Pinhead]

Hi all,

After a rather sleepless night in the Qantas flight we arrived in Melbourne in the ealry hours of this morning. Have to say that I know it's autumn here but when you're coming from 30 deg celsius + it's FREEZING (so it'll be great for everyone elso on this site as it's currently hovering around 20 deg c). We manage to check in early to our temporary accomodation and I have to say that I'm usually quite jammy with the hotel searching but I really outdid myself this time. We're staying at the Plum Carlton Apartments Melbourne, CBD on Swanston Street (about 5 mins walk into town literally) for $98 a night for 7 nights. It's serviced apartments with a nice little cafe next door and for that amount of money we both can't quite believe the qulaity of our studio apartment.

Oh, before I forget, for those of you that were on the tea thread we got in absolutely fine with our big box of PG Tips. OH got asked what was in the box and he said black tea and they asked no more!

Just wanted to ask 2 things:
1) We need to set up a bank account asap and were wondering what people thought of ANZ, Westpac and NAB
2) Any ideas on where we should look to live if OH is working in Mulgrave, me potentially in the CBD and we need to live near a rail network?

Any help on those 2 questions would be much appreciated!!

I've had an account at CBA for nearly 5 years and I'm very happy with them.
Thanks for the update re PG Tips I'll be taking an big box with me now.

If you like Chinese food check out the food court along the side of Target on Bourke Street (I think it's called China Asia or something like that). Basically you pay for the plate and pile on as much as you like. Cost about $6 in 2004, I hope it's still there it was one of my favourites.

[Ruby Okim]

I've had an account at CBA for nearly 5 years and I'm very happy with them.
Thanks for the update re PG Tips I'll be taking an big box with me now.

If you like Chinese food check out the food court along the side of Target on Bourke Street (I think it's called China Asia or something like that). Basically you pay for the plate and pile on as much as you like. Cost about $6 in 2004, I hope it's still there it was one of my favourites.

We must have similar tastes cos I scoped out that exact place when we were in Melbourne in Feb. What's your favourite dish? I love their beef in black bean sauce with hor fun, though the serving is massive. I took OH there and we shared that and still couldn't finish it!