I'm hoping someone might be able to help us. Hello, we are Kent, Julia, Chris (13) and Ellie (2)
We had thought that we would be moving to Adelaide so have spent the last four months investigating the suburbs there. Now the job offer for Kent has come through and its for Melbourne!
I feel a bit lost at the moment - very happy that Kent has a job offer but lost because I know nothing about Melbourne.
Kent's new employers have said that the company is based in the north western suburbs of Melbourne. Does anyone know about the suburbs what is good or bad and if there are any good secondary schools there?
Melbourne is GREAT! that where we are going, when we get our visa
I have been twice and loved the feel of the city, how clean and safe it felt, I would not dream of living in a city here but we are considering living in Melbourne rather than a suburb, we have two older kids who will be at uni and we will be working full time so city living appeals.............
my sis lives in Strathmore supposedly one of the better suburbs, Essendon is near by and Pascoe Vale, sort of above and to the left of city, it takes about 30 mins to drive to center
She also lived in Moonee Ponds for a while (Dame Edna comes from Moonee Ponds!)
it all looked good to me, I was told Broadmeadows was the 'rough' area but it all looked pretty civilized to me, NO boarded up shops NO graffiti just normal surban homes
I am sure there are areas that are better than others, better schools etc but I do not have that info sorry, my sis sends her kids to Melbourne Grammar which is a private school as she was not keen on the state schools BUT her kids went private here in UK (one of the best in the country) so they did have a quite a bit to live up to - they travel by tram or train into the city (age from 9, now 12 and 18) by themselves everyday to and from school
I am sure there are others here who are living or have researched Melbourne who can help you further
Yup... I arrived in Melb in 1996 and started house-hunting... I asked a new work colleague about this place with he lovely name of Broadmeadows... he shuddered and said one word..."Hell!". :-)
I went for a look anyway... lovely little 3 bedroom bungalows each sitting on quarter of an acre... decidedly "working class" suburb yes..., but clean and fairly tidy...
These people here have never seen a Broadwater Farm, Gorbals, or any "real" hell....
You will find that a lot of the people who put down suburbs like Altona, Sunshine or Laverton have never actually been there....
Springvale, out east... Now there is scary place.....
Fraser
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Geelong, Victoria's second largest City
I've had the pleasure of living and working in many areas around Melbourne. Lived in Hoppers Crossing for over a year, and worked in St Albans and Sunshine while living there. Hoppers is ok, plus it's accessible to Melbourne and Geelong (Geelong being a very liveable place, have many friends there, in Lara and Ocean Grove). I wouldn't live in St Albans or Sunshine (this would probably involve suburbs around the immediate vicinity) as my work at that time involved working with teenagers, my work colleagues were often abused by thugs, and my car was also stolen once.
My girlfriend's sister emigrated here two years ago to marry a man from Broadmeadows. They still live there and I dread visiting them whenever the need arrises, IMO this place is worse than St Albans and Sunshine, rough as hell.
Karen suggested Pascoe Vale or Moonee Ponds, I'd also throw in Coburn and Preston that are around the same area. I've known people from these parts and don't mind heading out there for a quiet barby or a bite to eat in the many eateries along Sydney Rd or in Pascoe Vale/Moonee Ponds. These places are less than 20 mins out of Melbourne, but are very accessible to the western suburbs, either up the Tullamarine FWY or the Calder. I'm sure there'll be people from these areas on this board who'll offer up some good advice.
I've also lived in Cheltenham, St Kilda and now Forest Hill/Blackburn (Melbourne's east). I love where I live, the people are really nice, the air is clean and there are plenty of shops and schools, plus I love to play cricket and have been at the same club for a few years, very sociable people. We're about 20 kilometres from the city, but still it takes only 30 mins to get to the city by car.
I do my meat and fish shopping in Springvale once a month, and you get some really good quality food, very fresh. There's lots of Asians settled in this area, I say Asian but they're people from all parts of the Asian continent; Vietnam, China, Sri Lanka and India. Yes, this place is a little run down, and there's a drug problem with the poorer people, but most of the people keep themselves to themselves, typical of many Asian communities, they don't usually assimilate with other cultures, but this means they don't pay much attention to other people's business either. I don't think I'd live in Springvale either, but I can say with experience that I feel much safer doing my shopping there than in Broadmeadows.
Melbourne was recently voted as the world’s safest city, its pointless coming all the way from the UK to find you’re not that safe in your own home. You have to be really honest in saying there are some rough suburbs, just like anywhere in the world. I hope people here can be honest and give you some good advice; Melbourne for me is a wonderful place to come and live, work and play.
Hi Julia,
just realised that I did not reply to you, we are in the process, waiting for a positive TRA for childcare coordinator, one step a time......
Hoping to be over there by xmas 07 or jan/feb 08
Great post for Stevedownunder, very informative, from the horses mouth so to speak
Hi, my son has just been offered a place at Melbourne Grammar. I wasn't sure about it though, it looked a little serious... could you tell me if your sisters kids have been happy there and if she would recommend it? Did they find it hard to fit in at first and was the comute a bind? My son is 14 and would be going into year 9 this year, year 10 next. Any comments would be really helpful.
Thanks.
