There's more to Victoria than Melbourne!

[DrBread]

Hello, I only found this site today...

I moved my wife and 3 kids (now 9,6 and 3) over to Victoria from Northamptonshire in May 2004 on a Permanent Residents Visa. My parents moved out here 10 years ago and live in Ballarat, a picturesque gold mining city about 100km to the west of Melbourne, so we thought it would be a good place to start... Now I don't think we'll ever leave!

Ballarat is generally 3 to 4 degrees cooler than Melbourne because it's in an elavated position, making it one of the coldest towns in Australia.
I do have to drive to the Western Suburbs of Melbourne every day to work; it takes an hour each way on an almost empty freeway through some stunning countryside. I still love the drive after a year.

You should consider Ballarat because although the Aussies think Ballarat people are a bit mad for living here (it's got a reputation for being cold... and by Australian standards it is cool), The houses are much much cheaper than Melbourne (take a look on www.domain.com.au) and it is amazing what you can buy for very little. Ballarat has everything you need and it's a freindly and safe city to live in. The schools are a very high standard too, Ballarat Grammar school is one of the best schools in the country (although as with all private schools there are fees to pay).

We're an hour and a half from Melbourne CBD and a similar distance from the Great Ocean Road (GO THERE!! you won't regret it... stay at Apollo Bay!), and about an hour from the Grampians which take your breath away (Halls Gap is the spot).

My favourite part of living here is being able to ride out from home on the Mountain bike and spend the afternoon exploring tracks in the State Forest without heavy traffic and the hassle of a city like Melbourne.

We miss the family we left in the UK of course, but Life is good in Australia. The pattern of life is the same as in England (wake up ... work... dinner ... TV ... Bed ... wait for the weekend), but the setting and the slower pace means that the quality of our lives is much better.
The food ... the food is damn good here too and Ballarat is in the wine region so lots of good local wineries.

[JohnKelly]

Excellent post DrBread, and I particularly like the subject heading, 'There's More To Victoria Than Melbourne'.

[bob and ginnie]

You are letting out one of Victoria's best kept secrets.
I live in the Adelaide Hills, so we take the freeway to Melbourne, which is a 450 mile hike and 7 or 8 hours drive.
Unfortunately, the main drag doesn't go thro' the centre of Ballarat any longer, but I remember the lovely main street thro the city. It seemed to go for miles.
I never had any problems pulling up and finding a carpark in Ballarat. The lovely parks in the main street with the bandstand reminded me of a town built in the Victorian era, with the shops having wide verandahs and spaciousness.
Who, given an option, would sooner live in Melbourne??
Ballarat is a safer, cleaner, more laid back city than the heart of Melbourne and the surrounding countryside is rolling hillsides set in the Great Australian Dividing Range. Spectacular.
I loath driving around Melbourne, let alone living in the traffic snarls and congestion that it has. I left London because I was sick of that sort of life.
I'd sooner live in Ballarat any day.

[DrBread]

Thanks for your comments. I agree that Ballarat is a well kept secret ... did I forget to mention it is built around the lovely Lake Wendouree?
The main street is a bit special too.

They'll have the high speed rail link to Melbourne running in a few months for the commuters. That will make the place even more attractive to those looking to move outside of Melbourne.

[Nicky]

We will have to call in to Ballarat when we are exploring that side of Victoria. For the moment though we are in Wangaratta, NE Victoria and we love it here. We are slap bang in the middle of the gourmet region surrounded but beautiful countryside and LOTS of vineyards. We have the ski runs nearby for winter and plenty of watersports for the rest of the year.
Wangaratta itself is a friendly city (they call it a city but it is more of a town by UK population standards) with everything that a family would need, we have just had the Jazz festival which was really good. We have 4 kids settled in good local schools and we are enjoying exploring the region. Wanaratta is a couple of hours from Melbourne along the Hume Highway which continues past us onto Canberra and Sydney.
There is definately more to Victoria than Melbourne and it is worth giving regional Victoria a look if you are considering where to live and work as it is surprising what job opportunities there are here. People think of the country as being isolated but in actual fact I have found it very easy to settle into the local community and we feel very much at home here. Nicky

[mark78]

Another regional place I would recommend in Vic would be Mildura. I stayed there a few years back and loved it. Weather is great and there is heaps to see and do for a country town.

I would definitely recommend the Murray River Wine Tour, where you cruise up the Murray stopping off at wineries tasting Australia’s finest! It's a tough life

http://www.visitmildura.com.au