Calling those who have lived in Melbourne for a few years

Dominiqueb · 07-01-2008, 10:48 AM

Hi all,
I am calling those of you who have lived in Melbourne surrounds for a few years and can give me an idea of life now the honeymoon is over .............
I have lived in Perth with my Kiwi husband for 5 years and although the first 2 years were the hardest in terms of making friends and settling in, we were definately looking at life with rose coloured glasses. The things that niggled a little have now after 5 years started to really bug us and we are looking at moving to Sydney- (surrounds not city) or Melbourne (surrounds not city) so i was hoping to get some comments on general lifestyle from people in the same boat.
We are also interested to hear about the climate, Perth is very hot and is starting to get more humid. I hate humidity and would love to know what the humidity in Melbourne is like and if you get any cooling breezes on the hot days.
We would prefer not to be more than 1- 1.5 hours away from the city and i will need to find work in bought/sales ledger/ admin so any guidance on nice suburbs would help. Something with a community spirit would be great and a good size shopping centre with coles/woollies plus all the usual chain stores and a good pub/bit of nightlife.
Also we have a big problem with flies in Perth and the increased humidity is bringing more mosquito's does Melbourne surrounds have any of these problems?
Is it fairly easy to integrate? We have no kids so even though i am pretty outgoing and friendly we struggled to make friends at first, it didn't help that we had an internet business so were not meeting people at work to start with, also being 42 and not having kids made it harder to make friends who weren't always tied to kids.
Ok, i think that's all for now, i look forward to your replies.
Dominique

Nelson · 08-01-2008, 01:29 AM

Melbourne is a real mixed bag of weather but one of the things that did take me by surprise was how VERY cold it is in winter. Really speaking, you do tend to see the sun most days but be prepared for a 5 month 'winter'...

Culturally, Melbourne is perfect for us with a great combination of music, art, sport and space all on offer in abundance.

The flies drive us bonkers but we haven't really noticed mozzies at all and, as we live near wetlands, that has also surprised us.

If I was moving here now and didn't have children, I would be looking at Williamstown, Fitzroy or Brighton, in that order. The only reason why I say if I didn't have children is that I can't afford the size of house I want in those places, but could if we didn't have children.

Having said that, if I didn't have children, I would probably buy an apartment in the Eureka Tower and live there. We're thnking about it anyway, for the future.

Good luck! I'll always tell it how it is... the rose tinted lenses came off a long timne ago!

fairbloodydinkum · 08-01-2008, 03:01 AM

hmmm born n bred in melbourne...finally escaped from there 20 years ago and moved to beautiful queensland...been all over oz..but i'm stayin right here...

Melbourne..lovely place....to visit..
but...too cold....too hot....too wet....and too many people....

kamrul · 08-01-2008, 03:49 AM

hi! The weather of Melbourne is changing always. melbourne city is full of culture .So i hope u don't fell bore . i live in preston , 30 minutes from city. nice place to live. maybe u also like coburg, busy night, near from Preston and also from city. check the temperature in newspaper. then u get a idea.

Good luck. hope i will see u soon.

vf400 · 08-01-2008, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dominiqueb

Hi all,
I am calling those of you who have lived in Melbourne surrounds for a few years and can give me an idea of life now the honeymoon is over .............
I have lived in Perth with my Kiwi husband for 5 years and although the first 2 years were the hardest in terms of making friends and settling in, we were definately looking at life with rose coloured glasses. The things that niggled a little have now after 5 years started to really bug us and we are looking at moving to Sydney- (surrounds not city) or Melbourne (surrounds not city) so i was hoping to get some comments on general lifestyle from people in the same boat.
We are also interested to hear about the climate, Perth is very hot and is starting to get more humid. I hate humidity and would love to know what the humidity in Melbourne is like and if you get any cooling breezes on the hot days.
We would prefer not to be more than 1- 1.5 hours away from the city and i will need to find work in bought/sales ledger/ admin so any guidance on nice suburbs would help. Something with a community spirit would be great and a good size shopping centre with coles/woollies plus all the usual chain stores and a good pub/bit of nightlife.
Also we have a big problem with flies in Perth and the increased humidity is bringing more mosquito's does Melbourne surrounds have any of these problems?
Is it fairly easy to integrate? We have no kids so even though i am pretty outgoing and friendly we struggled to make friends at first, it didn't help that we had an internet business so were not meeting people at work to start with, also being 42 and not having kids made it harder to make friends who weren't always tied to kids.
Ok, i think that's all for now, i look forward to your replies.
Dominique

Hi we are from Perth also and are feeling similar to you however only been here 3 months but very quiet for us we also have no children. we are unsure weather we will stay as yet and also thought about sydney or melbourne. I have lived in sydney before but quite expenisve but obviously the further you go out the cheaper it is however sydney is very busy compared to perth. Melbourne may be another option for us although the weather is very unpredictable. we will also research other areas as we are unsure of staying long term in perth.

regards vicky

Dominiqueb · 09-01-2008, 10:57 AM

Hi Nelson,
thanks for the feedback - you make it sound pretty good.
We will check out the suburbs you mention when we are over but i think the Eureka Tower is out as we have 2 cocker spaniels (substitute children) who would not be impressed!!!! Also hubby like's cars and wants extra garaging so may have to go out a bit further.
We are going to try and get over end Jan/Feb to have a look.
One thing i have heard from a friend who lived in Melbourne for 4 years is that unlike Perth where the sea breeze can cool down hot days Melbourne stays hot when it gets hot, is that true? I see you are having a some pretty high temps at the moment.
Dominique

Dominiqueb · 09-01-2008, 11:04 AM

Hi Vicky,
So you are not sure about Perth either, what things don't you like?
I was asked on the NSW forum what my main gripes were, this is what i said:
Main gripes with Perth are:
Too isolated
House prices have soared and unless you are in mining/resources wages haven't changed.
It's always been hot and we have always struggled with that but it has got hotter and whereas it used to be dry heat it's getting more humid which we hate, we are looking for a something closer to a temperate climate if poss. (i know we are asking a lot .............)
We find Perth boring, it's great if you love the beach or water but other than that entertainment is limited, once you've done everything been everywhere there's no reason to do it again or go back there, because it wasn't that great the first time.
There's no decent nightlife unless you are 18-25..............
The pubs here are nothing like in the UK, they are too big and impersonal, no sense of community and full of 18-25 year olds.
The Freemantle doctor (afternoon see breeze) is great it cools us down in the afternoon when it comes in but Perth is very windy i think the 3rd windiest city in the world, which does interfere with a lot of the outdoor lifestyle and is just a nuisance, my husband hates it because he has to vacuum up the leaves too much!!! I can understand that - i hate vacuuming to!!!
Shopping here is not great, everything is spread out so you could spend a lot of time travelling to different suburbs to get stuff, the fruit and veg is not great you buy fruit one day and it's off the next, apples are especially bad i think we export all the good stuff and the apples we get are what have been in storage for months and are all flowery. They do have some nice clothes but a lot of the shops carry the same stock and are more aimed to the younger market, i am 42 now and although i still want to dress nicely i don't need to follow fashion and try and squeeze myself into things that are inappropriate and i am a size 10/12 a lot of people i know who are my age and bigger have real problems finding clothes. Also shops are often out of stock of things and you have to wait for them to get them from the eastern states which can take weeks. They don't seem to have heard of stock control here. The general work attitude is a bit too laid back and couldn't care less, customer service is generally pretty poor.
In business things again happen too slowly, it used to drive me nuts when i first got here i would get really frustrated and felt i was surrounded by imbeciles but i have accepted it's just the Perth way and have adjusted it still frustrates me but i don't get so wound up about it now............
Well i think that's it, i don't want to sound like i am slagging Perth off there are a lot of Poms here who love it it's just not the right place or pace for us.