Moving down under - Melbourne and Surrounding areas
We have received confirmation of our approval and that all important visa "stay indefinately" has been placed in the passports :D , so down under here we come, not planning to move till Feb 06, might as well make the wonga here and take it with us!!!! Part of our acceptance has been based on the fact that the state of Victoria has sponsored us, seems they are in dire need of good old brickies, which luckily the boyfriend is, as part of our visa approval is that we live in the state for two years then I think it will be Perth for the duration. We are currently looking very closely at Geelong and the surrounding areas as it is in commuting distance to Melbourne for Mark whose work will mostly be and hopefully a big enough city for me to find work locally, or commute to Melbourne as well . Has anyone visited this area, or have any views on the pros and cons :roll: Thanks Bet
Do you have "SKY" at home - cuz if you do on Real Estate TV channel 250 they are showing a lot of "Location Location" - the Australian version - they have had a couple of programmes on about Melbourne - you might want to check it out.
Also shows you what a house auction is like ............... its not for the faint hearted!
Your BF is in for alooooot of driving if you live in Geelong and he plans to drive to Melb everyday. It's about a 2 hour return trip.
You'll find most people who live in Geelong either work there or are retired. My opinion is, Geelong is not a place worth atleast 2 hours driving a day. The only reason I would go there is to go fishing, and even then most times it would be cold, rainiy, and miserable.
Also, there aren't many jobs there, unless you work in retail. If that's the case then you might be lucky to pick something up in a small shop. If you want something better, living closer to the city is the go.
If your budget's tight, the better option would be to find a place in the suburbs of north Melbourne - Reasonable prices, and only 20 - 30 mins by train into the city. Also this way your BF would save a fair bit in petrol every week.
thanks for your feedback, it is really hard when you have been travelling in Auz before but now making the move as to where you go, had a look at some place in North Melbourne, rent a we bit more expensive but the hopefully enough work to keep the old man busy so I can get something part-time, cheers, roll on Jan 06.
thanks for your feedback, it is really hard when you have been travelling in Auz before but now making the move as to where you go, had a look at some place in North Melbourne, rent a we bit more expensive but the hopefully enough work to keep the old man busy so I can get something part-time, cheers, roll on Jan 06.
Yeah there's a suburb called "North Melbourne" where rent would be high, and then there's the suburbs of Northern Melbourne. Rent in the suburbs should be comparative with Geelong, if not cheaper in some cases.
Thanks will have a look at propety to rent in these two areas, any idea how long the journey is into the city??? and are the trains pretty reliable.
Bet
The train should take about 20 - 30 mins, into the city. Most trains in melbourne run on time. Living 30 mins out is good because in peak times, you will get a seat because around those suburbs is where the train line starts.
I'm pretty sure the train ticket is about $6 (£2.50) for an all dayer. With this you can catch the train, bus and tram for unlimited amount of times all day. You can also buy weekly/monthly/yearly tickets where you can save a substantial amount.
The same can't be said about Sydney, public transport costs aloooot more and is often unreliable. Unfortunately, Sydney can't handle the population boom in recent years.
As a Brickie your boy friend will not have to 'commute' to work by train but he will need to get his own vehicle asap.
If you decide to live in Geelong then your boy friend will get work in Geelong.
Your boy friend will probably get work with a Contract Squad.
This is a self employed Brickie who employs a number of Brickies + Brickies Labourers depending on the size of the job. Sometimes they have an arrangement where he picks up the Squad in the truck and they head of to the site or you use your own transport.
As I said, your boy friends first priority should be to get his own transport.
As a Brickie your boy friend will not have to 'commute' to work by train but he will need to get his own vehicle asap.
If you decide to live in Geelong then your boy friend will get work in Geelong.
Your boy friend will probably get work with a Contract Squad.
This is a self employed Brickie who employs a number of Brickies + Brickies Labourers depending on the size of the job. Sometimes they have an arrangement where he picks up the Squad in the truck and they head of to the site or you use your own transport.
As I said, your boy friends first priority should be to get his own transport.
Brickies don't travel to jobs by train.
Cheers.
Noone suggested that Bet's Brickie BF should travel all the way from Geelong to Melbourne Building sites by train. I doubt sites would be anywhere near public transport :wink:
Bet asked about trains for herself, therefore I provided some info on this. :)
:roll: Thanks Bet
