The 2 week Recce Trip

Landed back in the UK 8pm last night, unpacked this morning and getting our body clocks back into sync.

I want to write a lot about the wonderful 2 weeks we had across Mel and Sydney but I want to be fresh and think through first. However, I still could not stop myself in putting up a quick first reaction to the time we had. In a word, brilliant. The cities were greener than we expected, people are so much more happier than the UK/Europe, loved how clean the cities were and all in all, we will move in a heart beat

We are moving to be with family so our situation is opposite to about 90% of those moving from the UK. We stayed in suburbs and the city when in Melbourne and mostly in the city in Sydney. But over our 17 odd days we covered a lot of suburbs, especially Melbourne, so we feel really satisfied with our trip and the positive decision it has led to. We took the local trains/trams/buses/taxis, walked for hours on high streets, spent late nights in the cities/suburbs, ate out, cooked in, shopped groceries, club nights out and had a blast. We were sceptical we would miss home, thought life would be expensive compared to UK, we wouldn't get the 'feel' in just 2 weeks and thought we wont have the time to sample enough to make our minds up.

Glad to say we managed to do all of this and more than glad to give a detailed report in a few days time. If anyone has any questions please PM me. The biggest thing I found was affordability isn't as bad as a lot on the forum portray it to be. I know it's down to where you live, how big a family one has, how much your job pays etc but after meeting a few families and spending a fair amount ourselves, I think Australia, even today, is cheaper overall for an equivalent lifestyle in the UK. I spoke of better integration in Australia than UK on one of the older posts and I am glad to have actually experienced it too in Australia. People of different cultures mix well and show they are a part of and belong in Australia, which isn't as wide spread in the UK. This is my personal opinion so I dont want to end up making this the main topic of the thread.

All I want to say Australia lives up to everything we dreamt it would be for us and we have our family there waiting for us to move permanently

More later....but man, do we want to pack and move now......and yep, Melbourne tops Sydney for 3 reasons : like for like (size and suburb) houses are a lot more affordable, the new suburbs/CBD are excellently planned and you get more of a warm feel of culture/music/arts etc. Overall our main reason are house prices, if it were the same, I would move to Sydney as we love the weather

KnK

Fantastic, Ken, Karen, as someone who is heading over in 9 weeks to Melbourne for our own Reccie, I will be reading your extended post with great interest!

Now get some sleep!

B

Well, well, well....we got our PRs this morning!!!!! Over the moon and in total state of shock, need to now start planning things so we can ship out Aug end at the latest. Since I am extremely happy with no mood whatsoever to do any work today, I might as well give more details of our 2 week trip

Sydney : Lived at MacMahon's Point, lovely suburb in the North, need a lottery to ever buy a place there but we had a blast. Travelled into the CBD and surrounding suburbs all times of the day including late night, no hassles great experience. Also visited Liverpool, Casula, Essendon and surrounding suburbs to look at options if we want to buy in Sydney.

Melbourne : Spent 4 days in Epping/Lalor and 3 in Southbank. Clearly, everyone's tastes are different but we LOVED it. Well planned roads, neat new houses, 2 big malls to go to, lovely schools, hospitals and clinics with a nice train station. Yes its about an hour into the CBD which will only affect me as I plan to work but we loved it. Also visited Coburg to understand what it meant to go to an old town, nice but no thank you, we arent fans of the old style as we have lived through it in our younger years. Pascoe Vale is nice too but doesnt meet out requirements of a self contained suburb like Epping. We did not have time to visit Roxburgh Park, Campbellfield, North Coburg, all of which is in our sight too as its similar to Epping.

Had a blast at Southbank, shopped groceries, ate out, cooked in the flat, enjoyed the Casino and went out every night returning about midnight or later. No hassles no worries no tension.

I know a lot of people say the north suburbs are soulless and flat lands of houses, well we want that. It was safe at 8am and 8pm, lovely to see kids on broad streets and people smiling. Fine, neighbours dont mingle as much but that isnt an issue with us, we will make friends and hang out with them, and continue to smile and chat with the neighbours. We do like old, but our old is more on architecture like the UK and not old as in Australia. We do not like old houses in Australia, they are terrible. Brand new with all the fittings and insulation is what we want.

We were clear in our comparison metrics. Compare the CBDs to London Zone 1 to 3, depending where we went and compared the newer suburbs to new build estates in UK, and the older towns to old towns in UK. We definitely found people a lot more chirpier and helpful, laid back in Melbourne more than Sydney but still, people in both cities way better than the frosty London feel. City and suburbs were immaculately clean, people really think about their streets and littering. We were pleasantly surprised by the lack of badly behaved people on public transport, remember we compared it to our trains and the tube and we out late nights in both cities.

We spent time with 3 families living in Mel for years and 1 family living in Sydney since donkey years so got a really good idea of living standards, the usual daily problems and dealing with things. Very similar to or better than UK. Except for the TV offerings, everything seemed on par or better

We do agree we havent spent enough time to get a complete feel but because of the research we did on what to look out for and what we wanted, it was a good eye opening trip. It goes in our favour having lived across the globe in different countries so when we review things we have a lot more of our previous experiences to count on. In a nutshell, Australia is lovely. Great facilities and opportunity for a better way of life with kids and family, does help if you have family out there.

Here's to our final 3 months in the UK, we sure will miss life here but we love the notion of starting a new life in Melbourne

Cheers

KnK

Well, well, well....we got our PRs this morning!!!!! Over the moon and in total state of shock, need to now start planning things so we can ship out Aug end at the latest. Since I am extremely happy with no mood whatsoever to do any work today, I might as well give more details of our 2 week trip

 

Here's to our final 3 months in the UK, we sure will miss life here but we love the notion of starting a new life in Melbourne

 

Cheers

KnK

Well done all of you!

Make sure you whip out the Barbie this evening and toast your good fortune.

Reading the report with interest now.

B

Really enjoyed reading your recce report Ken & Karen!

We're in a similar position to you by the sounds of it, got our grant through a couple of days ago and planning to be out in Melbourne by mid-August if all goes well, very exciting. Things have moved very quickly for us with no chance for a recce trip ourselves, so your thoughts/views are really helpful!

Congratulations on the visa and it sounds like you had a ball on your reccie...

Lots of luck with the move and keep us updated

Cal x