First I'd just like to say thank you to the person who set up this website and to everyone's contributions. It's been more informative than any other website we've found. It has helped us to decide on Melbourne to settle in.
We have our health checks booked for tomorrow and my case officer said if everything is ok our visa will be approved early in the New Year. We plan on doing a rekkie to Melbourne at Easter time and move later in the year.
I've researched everything I can on Melbourne and I've not come across anything negative about it. I'm sure there must be. Can anyone who lives there tell me if there are any bad points. It would be really helpful to know before we arrive so won't be disappointed with anything.
One of our reasons for moving to Oz (amongst lots of others) is so my husband doesn't have to commute. We have a 3 year old and a new baby that he doesn't get to see much. He spends 4 hours a day commuting to London so a 20 minute journey to work in the sunshine would be heaven for him . We also want to live near water so we've decided on the Bayside area. I know it's really expensive but we plan to keep our house in the UK and rent over there. It's more important to us to live in the best place we can to live our Oz dream than be in a place we don't like to afford a house. Based on what I've read on the housing market and high stamp duty in Melbourne we think we're better off keeping our house here for the short term. Anyone know of any negative points on Bayside (apart from the high cost of houses)? Are there any other good suburbs with either beaches or lakes that are easy to commute to the CBD?
Last question....how do the locals like the Brits? I've read negative things about other areas but not much about Melbourne. Are we accepted? Is it easy to make aussie friends? The reason I ask is we've lived abroad before (Bermuda and Switzerland) and we've found in each case that in general the local people, although pleasant, prefer to keep to themselves and not mix with foreigners socially. This time we want to feel like we belong and not just a visitor.
Has anyone used a relocation company? Would appreciate a recommendation for one.
Good luck with the move, we've been there almost a year now and yes, there are some tricky things about Melbourne worth knowing:
-The portion sizes in cafes etc are massive so beware of those hips.
- Cake portions are even bigger and you'll find a gourmet cake shop on most main streets.
- Coffee is amazing, not just the taste but the vast array of choice. I've just had to wean myself off my latest addiction, but de-caf is easy too.
-The wine list (if you drink wine) can take ages to wade through due to the extensive choice of great local wines they choose not to export.
-The trains get pretty busy during rush hour but nothing like the london tube for instance.
- Train services a little further out can be a little sporadic later at night. (Sunbury line for instance)
- Occasionally, trains get cancelled without any warning/replacement but you'll be used to that if you are/were a British Rail customer.
- Water shortages is a major problem for some regional areas so be careful about the huge farm bargain without any dams.
- We're having awful forrest fires right now so again, something to consider if buying further out from the city.
- Some of the new estates land/house packages may seem like a complete bargain but there is little infrasructure, often little public transport and parking in the city can be expensive. Mostly, this will improve with time.
- City child-care places are rare and expensive. No different to the UK I don't think (not having a kid myself).
- Cosmetics and hair products can be expensive depending on what you use.
- It is assumed that everyone can drive in Australia. If you don't, live as close to the city as possible.
- There are too many lovely suburbs to choose from, each with it's own identity and pros/cons. It can be very confusing when you first get here if you're not sure where to live, as we were.
- Beachside properties are usually $750Kupwards unless you're living pretty far out. (Not really a surprise).
- The post office doesn't open on Saturdays which is frustrating sometimes. Just get everything delivered to the office if you're out often.
- There are some strange laws relating to cats which has caused me some grief recently. My cat was prosecuted for tresspassing (I kid you not) and I was fined $30 for his first offence.
- Pets have to be registered so that when they do something naughtly (like tresspassing) they can track you down and fine you.
- I find the Australian fashion slightly weird. But then I looked on-line and reaslised it was weird in the UK too.
- Melbourne's weather is extremely changeable, which could account for the weird fashion. Layers are in order, as is carrying a larger than usualy handbag to accomodate the scarf, umbrella, sunscrean and heels (if you're a city commuter).
- Melbourne has many pockets of cultures scattered about which makes for a vast array of take-aways and way too much choice in the supermarket.
- You can get pretty much anything in the supermarket, plus loads of new items you've never heard of and want to try = big shoppinh bills.
- The banks charge you for banking with them and for having a credit card. I hated this when I got here, but there are so many branches and great customer service, so a small price to pay.
- You pay stamp duty when you buy a car here in addition to Registration (like road tax).
- As a rule of thum, when converting your UK salary to Aus $ (as a comparsin), double your UK salary rather than 2.39 x as it can be dissaspointing when the figures don't stack up when you get here. The cost of living is mostly less so not a major issue.
- Aussies like to take the micky out of everything and everyone. So they call us poms but that is tame in comparsin. To be honest, I don't see it as racisim as everyone is fair game, but it did take a while to get my head around their humour without being offended. My friends back home are all creeds and colours hence my offence.
If I don't yet sound like a wingeing pom, I'll post some more soon. In summary, Melbourne is great but I do miss my friends and social life I took for granted. Enjoy your time here and if you have any more questions, just shout.
Small world.....Church Crookham is just next door to us!!
I notice you posted a message about employment in Melbourne and you are a recruiter. I'm an accountant and my husband is an IT project/programme manager. We both contract here and find it pretty easy to get jobs. I was worried it might be tough in Oz without local experience. I've been in touch with a recruiter from Michael Page from Melbourne (I use MP for jobs here) and was told that I'd have no problem getting a job as there is a shortage of accountants. I was worried about whether my husband would find it difficult. He's the bread winner in the family so our success in Oz would depend on him securing a good job. Do you know how the job market is for executive IT roles in Melbourne? Do you think he'd be able to secure a job offer before we arrive?
Thanks for your response on the bad points in Melbourne. Nothing too serious that we couldn't live with.
Funnily enough, I recruit senior IT roles in Australia. I specialise (currently) in Security positions but work with a lot of the usual suspects in IT so may be able to help your husband.
If you want to forward me your resumes I could take a look and give you some feedback on possibilities and salaries/rates. pjayok@yahoo.co.uk
Michael Page are right, there are a lack of Accountants here too, however, the old chicken and egg situation does arise occasionally. Without local experience, you can sometimes be a little held back in the eyes of some recruiting managers. I work with two ex-Accountants who now recruit in that space who could give you their opinion once I have your resume.
It is possible to secure work before you get here depending on how experienced the recruiting manager is at bring across migrants or tele-interviewing. Some will have UK branches where face-2-face interviews can be conducted so worth looking into.
Are you going through the usual Perm Residency route? If it was possible, you would consider coming sooner if you could get sponsorship?
I've researched everything I can on Melbourne and I've not come across anything negative about it. I'm sure there must be. Can anyone who lives there tell me if there are any bad points. It would be really helpful to know before we arrive so won't be disappointed with anything.
Hi Gail,
Melbourne is generally a pretty good place. tere are no real outsanding negatives that you would not find equally e;lsewhere inOz (crappy TV, Crappy public transport, the banks are a pain in the @r$e..etc)..
It *is* a city... and like all cities, has it issues... But nothing like you would finds in London, Birmingham, Manchester , Liverpool...
There are no real "slum" areas here... The less desireable areas (Broadmeadows, Sunshine/St Albans, Frankston) are all heaven compared to Toxteth, Broadwater Farm, Aston... all Little 3-bed bungalows with their own garden ground...
Happy to answer any specific questions....
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Geelong, Victoria's second largest City
