Reccie to Melbourne in March/April, any tips??

I posted this in the area so apologies if anyone has read this before

Hi All,

My girlfriend and I are currently looking at the possibility of making the move to Melbourne, Australia and we have planned a 3 and a half week 'reccie' to have a look around to decide if its something we want to pursue. We are mainly looking at the Melbourne area for its climate, lifestyle, earnings and house prices. Having never been to Melbourne before we have done some research into suburbs where we'd potentially stay and we've done a basic case study on the suburb of Brookfield (rated 4th best suburb on Homely) and a looked at houses within that suburb as a start point for our fact finding mission.

In terms of a potential permanent living location we are not too bothered about heading to the beach every day, we favour a mountain bike ride over a beach day so being slightly more inland would be perfect for us. For the 'reccie' we are staying in an apartment in Southbank for around 9 days in March / April and plan to rent a car to have a look around and travel to see a few sights, so bearing in mind our good travel arrangements, is there anything anyone suggests we experience / go to see / do whilst we are in Melbourne to help us make our minds up? As much as we want to do the touristy bits we mainly want to experience the Melbourne a resident would experience and go to some local areas and experience the local life rather than stay downtown drinking in cocktail bars thinking everything is wonderful there.

Sorry to be so basic but having never been to the City or its suburbs we really are starting from scratch, thanks very much, we would appreciate any tips or advice at all, positive or negative, thanks again!

I have lived in Melbourne pretty much all of my long life and I had to google "Brookfield". It is a housing estate rather than a suburb and was constructed in the 1990s. It has 6000 people and it is not a town as such. It is 43 km west of the city and is part of an area called Melton which many people do not consider a very desirable place to live. But it is cheap. I'm not sure it will meet your idea of the Australian dream....

To help you with areas it would be good to know what your jobs are likely to be so that we know if you will work in the middle of Melbourne, all over the place or have a job that it is portable to lots of areas. An approximate budget would be good too. Melbourne is one of the most expensive cities in the world but there are housing options for everyone. You have picked a nice central spot for your reccie and it is a lovely time of the year here

I have lived in Melbourne pretty much all of my long life and I had to google "Brookfield". It is a housing estate rather than a suburb and was constructed in the 1990s. It has 6000 people and it is not a town as such. It is 43 km west of the city and is part of an area called Melton which many people do not consider a very desirable place to live. But it is cheap. I'm not sure it will meet your idea of the Australian dream....

 

To help you with areas it would be good to know what your jobs are likely to be so that we know if you will work in the middle of Melbourne, all over the place or have a job that it is portable to lots of areas. An approximate budget would be good too. Melbourne is one of the most expensive cities in the world but there are housing options for everyone. You have picked a nice central spot for your reccie and it is a lovely time of the year here

thanks for the reply! yeah it did seem a little out but to be honest, that's what we'd ideally want. I hadn't heard much about it myself it was simply my research on homely.au that led me to look. It seemed to have good quality, well priced properties in the area and its locality to the freeway was also a bit of an attraction, as for budget, as a first Australian property we'd be looking around $400k top end. As for jobs, I'm an electrician and my girlfriend is currently a supervisor in a UK government organisation. thanks again for the reply

Have only visited Melbourne (many times). I tend to favour inner city suburbs wherever I live.

Fitzroy is a nice area for a chilled out evening. The MCG for a game or even the tour is well worth doing (Melbourne is footie (ie AFL) mad).

You may want to drive down to the great ocean road for a break out of the city for a few days.

Hi

I'm sure your going to love Melbourne, you have to check out a Afl game at The G if you decide to move to Melbourne/Vic you need a team to "barrack" for i suggest Geelong.

The City and most inner surburbs have a different vibe about them depends on what you like really, The Great ocean road is a must. If you follow Visit Melbourne on Facebook they is loads of info and advice on there.

As the other poster said Brookfield isn't really Melbourne and Melton isn't the best of places.

Have you looked into visas? ive been told the sparkies need to re qualify to work in Aus

Good luck

$400,000 gets you somewhere over an hour from the CBD. Outskirts of the city area which is an area the size of Greater London.

As you are going to be working as an electrician I suggest you read the information in the work section of this forum as some people experience difficulty getting a job as an electrician here even thought they have the training etc. It can be a bit of a minefield getting work with overseas qualifications in the trades such as electrician and plumber.

I live on the Mornington Peninsula and love it would not live anywhere else. Best of all the worlds, beautiful scenery, two bays, beach, wineries and about an hour from the city by car. We have a train so public transport is no problem either.

Good luck

]$400' date='000 gets you somewhere over an hour from the CBD. Outskirts of the city area which is an area the size of Greater London. [/color']

 

As you are going to be working as an electrician I suggest you read the information in the work section of this forum as some people experience difficulty getting a job as an electrician here even thought they have the training etc. It can be a bit of a minefield getting work with overseas qualifications in the trades such as electrician and plumber.

 

I live on the Mornington Peninsula and love it would not live anywhere else. Best of all the worlds, beautiful scenery, two bays, beach, wineries and about an hour from the city by car. We have a train so public transport is no problem either.

 

Good luck

Amazing differences in property between the States...

This property in Central Coastal Qld is absolute beach front and only 30 minute drive to Mackay.

https://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/qld/sale-residential/24-ward-esplanade-ball-bay-central/1317056449811

Cheers, Bobj.

Thanks for the help everyone, from what I can see, there is an expected trend that property is more expensive near the coast so living inland will get us a bit more bang for our buck as well as suiting us better for the whole mountain biking thing. I've seen another area called Kilmore which is north of the city which looks nice and has good prices and is nicely out of the city and a bit more rural which we prefer, we both enjoy the countryside so being between half an hour to an hour out of the city is perfect for us, anyone know of any nice villages and towns that are out of the city a little? Just to give us a half decent start point for when we head over in March, thanks

Thanks for the help everyone, from what I can see, there is an expected trend that property is more expensive near the coast so living inland will get us a bit more bang for our buck as well as suiting us better for the whole mountain biking thing. I've seen another area called Kilmore which is north of the city which looks nice and has good prices and is nicely out of the city and a bit more rural which we prefer, we both enjoy the countryside so being between half an hour to an hour out of the city is perfect for us, anyone know of any nice villages and towns that are out of the city a little? Just to give us a half decent start point for when we head over in March, thanks

Kilmore is a good hour, but it is a growing place.

I suggest you look at Sunbury, north west of the city. It is very close to the Macedon Ranges (where I live) and that's established mountain bike territory. It has a suburban train line to Melbourne (last stop) and is about 4o mins. The drive is also easy on the Calder Freeway which is one of our less congested freeways. Sunbury is an old town (birthplace of The Ashes!) but also has lots of newer housing in your budget. It has reasonable every day shops (much more than Kilmore), restaurants, wineries, bars, pubs, sporting facilities, gyms, and good schools for any future plans. It is more affordable than places a little further out such as Gisborne/ Woodend where you are usually looking at closer to $600K. There is also easy access to the Surf Coast in about 90 mins. Melbourne beaches are bay beaches and they are about 50 mins away. So you have the best of both worlds. For example: http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-sunbury-124582418

Homely is not a major real estate site here.

To look at houses you need www.realestate.com.au

As neither of you have directly transferable skills you will be renting for a while while you get that sorted out, so plan for that. The median house price in greater Melbourne is over $700K so you will appreciate that $400K is not going far in most of that. You can buy a new house and land package on the outskirts but you may be stuck for many years waiting for capital growth. The prices of those are deceptive to some extent as you will need to buy curtains, blinds, all landscaping and garden set up and often a driveway etc. So be careful. You may be better to stick to areas like Sunbury where values are established.

Good luck - have fun and remember you don't need to make all of your decisions during your trip!

Had to look up Brookfield and the homely.com.au(helps if you put the correct site). 3 reviews and hits the 4th best suburb!!!

It is pretty far out and what would be considered the Melbourne experience compared to living in the outskirts. I think would be a bit of a culture shock to you both if you have have a Melbourne experience in mind. If open to the outskirts then yes cheaper housing and still within a reasonable commute.

A nice trip, but not really a day trip, would be the great ocean road and the grampians.

Hire a cheap camper: https://www.jucy.com.au/

The drive on the great ocean road is amazing and one of the best drives in the world. The Grampians are just mind blowing. You could see Koalas and Kangaroos, pretty easily but the trip would suck up most of your vacation.

Parts of Melbourne: Fitzroy, Lygon Street(Italian), Queen VIC market. A lot of the experience can be found by just walking around the CBD

Melbourne is full of suburbs which offer different experience's.

For Mountain Biking, Lysterfield(SE Melbourne) Kinda a very opposite direction to where you want to live.

While climate may look warmer on paper, it can get cold here. Houses do not have double glazing or insulation, so it can feel colder than it is.

It can get cold in April at night so bring some woollies. Things I would do include: Dinner on the Tramcar restaurant, dining in Chinatown (The Flower Drum if you really want to lash out), drinking and gambling at the casino, catch a show at one of Melbourne's great theatres and of course an AFL game at the MCG. My favourite places outside Melbourne are - Bright, Echuca/Moama, Mildura, Great Ocean Road, Sovereign Hill, Mornington Peninsula for wineries and restaurants, Arthurs Seat, Phillip Island (have lunch at Rhyll Trout Farm - you catch your own fish and they cook it for you with chips and salad - beautiful). Good luck.

$400,000 gets you somewhere over an hour from the CBD. Outskirts of the city area which is an area the size of Greater London.

 

As you are going to be working as an electrician I suggest you read the information in the work section of this forum as some people experience difficulty getting a job as an electrician here even thought they have the training etc. It can be a bit of a minefield getting work with overseas qualifications in the trades such as electrician and plumber.

 

I live on the Mornington Peninsula and love it would not live anywhere else. Best of all the worlds, beautiful scenery, two bays, beach, wineries and about an hour from the city by car. We have a train so public transport is no problem either.

 

Good luck

Hi Petals, i have visited Mornington town a few times and it is beautiful. Am i right in thinking the nearest train station is in Frankston though? xx

Here's the top tips for Melbourne and surrounding areas that we usually send to friends who are visiting...

Central Melbourne

Get yourself a Myki (Melbourne equivalent of an Oyster card) ASAP when you arrive from a 7Eleven shop. You can top them up in 7Elevens and at stations, they work on all trams, buses and trains. Tram travel is free within the city centre but as soon as you go outside of the centre you need to make sure you're using your myki.

Shopping in the city centre is average, mostly chain stores, the biggest malls are the Emporium and Melbourne Central, good on a hot day because of the air con!

There's alleys and lanes that zig zag actors the city centre called the Laneways. Lots of graffiti art, cafes, quirky shops and rooftop bars. Worth getting a map from tourist information and exploring them.

Queen Vic market is at the northern end of the city centre, a decent market with food halls and usual market tat. But until the end of March they have a night market on Wednesday from about 5pm which is fantastic. LOTS of food stalls, live music stages and market stalls. Really popular when the weathers good.

The better market is South Melbourne market, 10mins out of the city centre on the tram. Super cheap food shopping, lots of cool shops and stalls and surrounded by good cafes for brekkie.

The viewing deck at the Eureka tower is worth a visit on a clear day. Best view of the city and bay at night is from the cocktail bar at the top of the Rialto tower called Lui Bar. Pretty swanky but surprising well priced for cocktails and the view is incredible. There's lots of rooftop bars in the city centre which are lush on a hot day, Campari house, Goldilocks, Madame Brussels and the bar on top of Cookie Club on Swanston street are all good. Cookie club is a building with about 5 floors of bars and restaurants, really popular on a weekend. The Arbory is a nice new bar next to the river, all outdoor and very popular on warm evenings.

Chinatown is great for cheap dinners, lots of dumpling house, we like Shanghai Street restaurant the best. Little Ramen Bar on Little Bourke St, and Mamak on Lonsdale St are also amazing Asian restaurants which are super cheap.

Suburbs out of the city centre

St Kilda - really popular with backpackers, lots of hostels and share houses. Reasonable beach, lots of bars, busy on weekend. Worth waiting till dusk on the pier to watch the little penguins come home to roost. Avoid Grey St (full of prostitutes and homeless shelters).

Brunswick/Fitzroy - hipsterville. Lots of beards, brogues and REALLY good coffee. Nice quirky bars, make sure you go to Naked for Satan, an amazing rooftop bar where you help yourself to $1 tapas on cocktail stick and then count the cocktail sticks and pay at the end of the evening. Always a good night there.

South Yarra, Toorak and Prahan - smart suburbs with nice shops and cafes, goood for people watching. Chapel St is great for clothes shopping. Prahan has nice food market for grocery shopping and eating at.

Brighton - super posh suburb where lots of footballers live. But a nice beach which has the iconic painted beach huts on it.

Outside of Melbourne.

Yarra Valley - lots of wineries and a dairy which does a fantastic cheese platter and wine. There's coach trips out to the wineries to save someone driving, but good picks for wineries and breweries are - Chandon (amazing views, free tour, cheap tasting), Yering station (free tasting), Killara (a bit out of the way but beautiful winery), Napoleon (cider) and Coldstream brewery (cider). Really stunning scenery all round there.

Great Ocean Road - a must do! Lots of surfy towns along it like Torquay and the famous Bells Beach. Get past Lorne and Apollo Bay and the road dips right down to the ocean and winds long it all the way to the 12 Apostles which are pretty impressive. It's an amazing drive. There's coaches that go from Melbourne all the way to the apostles but a much better option is renting a super cheap car for the day from somewhere like rentabomb.com.au and doing the drive yourself (easy drive, most cars over here are automatic which makes it even easier).

Phillip island - about 3 hours south on Melbourne, little island connected to the mainland by a bridge. Lots of wildlife (penguins, seals and koalas), wineries and beautiful beaches.

Another good spot for wildlife are The Otways, just inland from the Great Ocean Road. Lots of koalas, kookaburras and kangaroos.

Wilsons Prom - most southern point in Australia. National park with camping grounds, walking tracks, white sandy beaches and wildlife. A bit of drive from Melbourne but good for a weekend away.

Sorrento - smart town on the Mornington peninsula with nice shops and cafes and a nice ocean beach.

Barwon Heads - stunning beaches and a little town with campsites, about an hour and a half from Melb.

Little creatures brewery at Geelong - super easy to get to on a v line train, big brewery with a big restaurant with great food to have with the beer.

Here's the top tips for Melbourne and surrounding areas that we usually send to friends who are visiting...

 

Central Melbourne

 

 

Get yourself a Myki (Melbourne equivalent of an Oyster card) ASAP when you arrive from a 7Eleven shop. You can top them up in 7Elevens and at stations, they work on all trams, buses and trains. Tram travel is free within the city centre but as soon as you go outside of the centre you need to make sure you're using your myki.

 

 

Shopping in the city centre is average, mostly chain stores, the biggest malls are the Emporium and Melbourne Central, good on a hot day because of the air con!

 

 

There's alleys and lanes that zig zag actors the city centre called the Laneways. Lots of graffiti art, cafes, quirky shops and rooftop bars. Worth getting a map from tourist information and exploring them.

 

 

Queen Vic market is at the northern end of the city centre, a decent market with food halls and usual market tat. But until the end of March they have a night market on Wednesday from about 5pm which is fantastic. LOTS of food stalls, live music stages and market stalls. Really popular when the weathers good.

 

 

The better market is South Melbourne market, 10mins out of the city centre on the tram. Super cheap food shopping, lots of cool shops and stalls and surrounded by good cafes for brekkie.

 

 

The viewing deck at the Eureka tower is worth a visit on a clear day. Best view of the city and bay at night is from the cocktail bar at the top of the Rialto tower called Lui Bar. Pretty swanky but surprising well priced for cocktails and the view is incredible. There's lots of rooftop bars in the city centre which are lush on a hot day, Campari house, Goldilocks, Madame Brussels and the bar on top of Cookie Club on Swanston street are all good. Cookie club is a building with about 5 floors of bars and restaurants, really popular on a weekend. The Arbory is a nice new bar next to the river, all outdoor and very popular on warm evenings.

 

 

Chinatown is great for cheap dinners, lots of dumpling house, we like Shanghai Street restaurant the best. Little Ramen Bar on Little Bourke St, and Mamak on Lonsdale St are also amazing Asian restaurants which are super cheap.

 

 

Suburbs out of the city centre

St Kilda - really popular with backpackers, lots of hostels and share houses. Reasonable beach, lots of bars, busy on weekend. Worth waiting till dusk on the pier to watch the little penguins come home to roost. Avoid Grey St (full of prostitutes and homeless shelters).

 

 

Brunswick/Fitzroy - hipsterville. Lots of beards, brogues and REALLY good coffee. Nice quirky bars, make sure you go to Naked for Satan, an amazing rooftop bar where you help yourself to $1 tapas on cocktail stick and then count the cocktail sticks and pay at the end of the evening. Always a good night there.

 

 

South Yarra, Toorak and Prahan - smart suburbs with nice shops and cafes, goood for people watching. Chapel St is great for clothes shopping. Prahan has nice food market for grocery shopping and eating at.

 

 

Brighton - super posh suburb where lots of footballers live. But a nice beach which has the iconic painted beach huts on it.

 

 

Outside of Melbourne.

 

 

Yarra Valley - lots of wineries and a dairy which does a fantastic cheese platter and wine. There's coach trips out to the wineries to save someone driving, but good picks for wineries and breweries are - Chandon (amazing views, free tour, cheap tasting), Yering station (free tasting), Killara (a bit out of the way but beautiful winery), Napoleon (cider) and Coldstream brewery (cider). Really stunning scenery all round there.

 

 

Great Ocean Road - a must do! Lots of surfy towns along it like Torquay and the famous Bells Beach. Get past Lorne and Apollo Bay and the road dips right down to the ocean and winds long it all the way to the 12 Apostles which are pretty impressive. It's an amazing drive. There's coaches that go from Melbourne all the way to the apostles but a much better option is renting a super cheap car for the day from somewhere like rentabomb.com.au and doing the drive yourself (easy drive, most cars over here are automatic which makes it even easier).

 

 

Phillip island - about 3 hours south on Melbourne, little island connected to the mainland by a bridge. Lots of wildlife (penguins, seals and koalas), wineries and beautiful beaches.

 

 

Another good spot for wildlife are The Otways, just inland from the Great Ocean Road. Lots of koalas, kookaburras and kangaroos.

 

 

Wilsons Prom - most southern point in Australia. National park with camping grounds, walking tracks, white sandy beaches and wildlife. A bit of drive from Melbourne but good for a weekend away.

 

 

Sorrento - smart town on the Mornington peninsula with nice shops and cafes and a nice ocean beach.

 

 

Barwon Heads - stunning beaches and a little town with campsites, about an hour and a half from Melb.

 

 

Little creatures brewery at Geelong - super easy to get to on a v line train, big brewery with a big restaurant with great food to have with the beer.

Wow thanks for that, I think that might be our 9 days gone all in your post which is epic! When my OH gets home from work later we will have a good look through this. Thanks for going to that effort to type all of that, really appriciate it!!

It can get cold in April at night so bring some woollies. Things I would do include: Dinner on the Tramcar restaurant, dining in Chinatown (The Flower Drum if you really want to lash out), drinking and gambling at the casino, catch a show at one of Melbourne's great theatres and of course an AFL game at the MCG. My favourite places outside Melbourne are - Bright, Echuca/Moama, Mildura, Great Ocean Road, Sovereign Hill, Mornington Peninsula for wineries and restaurants, Arthurs Seat, Phillip Island (have lunch at Rhyll Trout Farm - you catch your own fish and they cook it for you with chips and salad - beautiful). Good luck.

Thanks for the reply! Yeah an AFL game is definitely on the cards, I've only even seen highlights here in the UK of the odd major game so it will be good to see it live! I'll Google those places outside of Melbourne, we really enjoy the out of town experiences so I'm sure we will check a few of those out! Thanks!

Kilmore is a good hour, but it is a growing place.

 

I suggest you look at Sunbury, north west of the city. It is very close to the Macedon Ranges (where I live) and that's established mountain bike territory. It has a suburban train line to Melbourne (last stop) and is about 4o mins. The drive is also easy on the Calder Freeway which is one of our less congested freeways. Sunbury is an old town (birthplace of The Ashes!) but also has lots of newer housing in your budget. It has reasonable every day shops (much more than Kilmore), restaurants, wineries, bars, pubs, sporting facilities, gyms, and good schools for any future plans. It is more affordable than places a little further out such as Gisborne/ Woodend where you are usually looking at closer to $600K. There is also easy access to the Surf Coast in about 90 mins. Melbourne beaches are bay beaches and they are about 50 mins away. So you have the best of both worlds. For example: http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-sunbury-124582418

 

Homely is not a major real estate site here.

To look at houses you need www.realestate.com.au

 

 

 

As neither of you have directly transferable skills you will be renting for a while while you get that sorted out, so plan for that. The median house price in greater Melbourne is over $700K so you will appreciate that $400K is not going far in most of that. You can buy a new house and land package on the outskirts but you may be stuck for many years waiting for capital growth. The prices of those are deceptive to some extent as you will need to buy curtains, blinds, all landscaping and garden set up and often a driveway etc. So be careful. You may be better to stick to areas like Sunbury where values are established.

 

Good luck - have fun and remember you don't need to make all of your decisions during your trip!

Thanks for the tips! Realestate.au is where we've been doing all of our property searches, I Googled "best suburbs to live in melbourne" and Homely ranked them based on reviews so I was using that as a guide. As for the job thing, I plan on doing all my courses here in London, the agency we are thinking of using (down under centre) will sort all that out for us and then put us in contact with companies and potentially get us jobs before we make the move out, but renting for a year is definitely the plan as you never know what's around the corner. Thanks for the response, we will have a good look later when the OH is back from her shift!

Just wondering where on earth Brookfield is, too- and I have lived in Melbourne 45 years! Take a look at places like Upwey, Upper Ferntree Gully, Tecoma etc if you like scenic areas. Even Lilydale- all a bit cheaper, nice and very pretty.

Just wondering where on earth Brookfield is, too- and I have lived in Melbourne 45 years! Take a look at places like Upwey, Upper Ferntree Gully, Tecoma etc if you like scenic areas. Even Lilydale- all a bit cheaper, nice and very pretty.

It's apparently a housing development near Melton - who knew?

We're in Echuca Moama (thanks for the shout out Lambethlad ) so 2.5 hours from Melbourne but before moving over and thinking we'd be based in Melbourne we investigated areas up to an hour from the cbd as prefer quieter towns. The Mornington peninsula, Yarra/Dandenong ranges (Lilydale/Belgrave) and Macedon ranges were all on our list and are areas we'd still consider moving to should we leave Echuca. Not sure we will though as we love it here. Regional is cheaper and as you have a trade or work in government there's work around. I found and got offered my job in the shire council before we left the uk. As my husband did his head chef job. And my job would be paid the same in Melbourne as here. The 6 minute drive to work is great too and less than I did working for a council in rural north Wales [emoji2].

Kilmore is our regular stop off for coffee or food when we go to Melbourne and it's a nice enough country town.

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