Hi everyone. We are hoping to emigrate to Australia at the end of the year and have finally managed to narrow our place to go to Melbourne after alot of talking. The only problem we have is as we have never been, we have no ideas of areas to live. Could anyone please give some advice. My hubby is a joiner, so not sure how this line of work is in Melbourne, also we have two daughter's so would like to be in good area for schools etc. Ideally we would love to live in a small community type place, definately not a large city as not used to that, just somewhere to easily make friends for all of us would be good.
Hope someone can help, and thanks.
Andi.
It depends if you need to get into the city for work. Geelong seems to be a popular area (although I admit it wasn't for us for a variety of reasons) and is an hour by train to Melbourne. Lara is another area that you can commute from and only about 45 minutes train journey although from what we could see the homes seemed to be acreage and a bit spread out, but having said that you get lots for your money.
Mornington and Mount Martha look very nice and are very popular on this site. Further out from Melbourne is Torquay which again is really nice although we found it to be more of a 'holiday' place although someone may prove me wrong.
Melbourne is great, we are not city people at all, in the UK we live in a small rural community with just 2 pubs and a village shop yet we loved Melbourne and all it had to offer. I bet you can't wait.
Other areas worth looking at are Berwick, Sassafras, The Basin, Ferntree Gully.
Ive been here almost 9 years now & I must admit I'd love to live around Mornington or Mount Martha, they would be my personal top choices.
Thanks Michelle and Bordy. I was looking earlier, and see what you both mean about Mornington and Mount Martha, it seems to be a very popular choice. Its good to hear what others have to say with us never being there before, but with these couple of areas poping up all the time, they must have something right or would not be getting possitive feed back. Will look at jobs for hubby in those areas and see what like, and yes we are very excited, just hope all goes well with hubby's practical test in two weeks with Vetassess.
Thanks again for your replys.
Andi.
Other areas worth looking at are Berwick, Sassafras, The Basin, Ferntree Gully.
Ive been here almost 9 years now & I must admit I'd love to live around Mornington or Mount Martha, they would be my personal top choices.
Bordy
I am going to hijack this now. Sorry !
What is Ferntree Gully like for houses? The only ones I can find seem to be stuck in a bit of a time warp, this could be an area we consider as my OH needs to possibly get to the CBD everyday. Do you know how long it takes to get there? Is there a train?
Hi everyone. We are hoping to emigrate to Australia at the end of the year and have finally managed to narrow our place to go to Melbourne after alot of talking. The only problem we have is as we have never been, we have no ideas of areas to live. Could anyone please give some advice. My hubby is a joiner, so not sure how this line of work is in Melbourne, also we have two daughter's so would like to be in good area for schools etc. Ideally we would love to live in a small community type place, definately not a large city as not used to that, just somewhere to easily make friends for all of us would be good.
Hope someone can help, and thanks.
Andi.
Hi Tam and Andi, Welcome to the site. We are hopeing to go to Mornington area, mount eliza or Frankston south in Mel in sept hopefully. I am also a carpenter/joiner and at present i manufacture kitchens. I understand there is a lot of demand for chippies in mel so i think we should be ok for work. The beaches are very nice and safe there too. We also want to find good schools for our kids and i hear that the schools are not too bad there either. Best of luck with your journey and hope to speak again
Steve
Ps How old are your daughters? we have 2 kids Girl(9) Boy(7)
Hi everyone. We are hoping to emigrate to Australia at the end of the year and have finally managed to narrow our place to go to Melbourne after alot of talking. The only problem we have is as we have never been, we have no ideas of areas to live. Could anyone please give some advice. My hubby is a joiner, so not sure how this line of work is in Melbourne, also we have two daughter's so would like to be in good area for schools etc. Ideally we would love to live in a small community type place, definately not a large city as not used to that, just somewhere to easily make friends for all of us would be good.
Hope someone can help, and thanks.
Andi.
Hi Andi
I went to Melbourne last Oct and we are also hoping to go there by the end of this year if we get the visa. It is such a large place I couldn't possibly tell you where to live. All I can say is that Mornington Peninusula and Mt Martha appear to be very popular choices with people on here. We want to look at Geelong and towns along the coast so we also have no idea of where we will go. My OH electrician.
If you get there before me you can give us some advice !
Best wishes.
Les
__________________
App 27 Jul 07
Ack 19 Oct 07
CO 03 Feb 08
Meds 19 Mar 08
PCs 21 Apr 08 VISA GRANTED 7 MAY
Thanks for the replys Les and Steve. We have only been on this forum since the weekend and what a difference it makes to speak to people who are going through the same as us, every one is so helpful.
Les, if all goes well with Vetassess we have been advised visa should be through no later than October and all will be left is to sell the house, so fingers crossed for test in April and selling house end of year, hopefully be out before christmas, so be good to keep posted how things getting on for you also. Good luck with everything.
Steve our girls are 8 and nearly 4. My OH does all types of joinery, but prefers finishing work, at present he working on new houses doing finishings and fitting kitchens. Good luck and hope things go your way.
What is Ferntree Gully like for houses? The only ones I can find seem to be stuck in a bit of a time warp, this could be an area we consider as my OH needs to possibly get to the CBD everyday. Do you know how long it takes to get there? Is there a train?
Thank you
Michelle
Hi Michelle,
FTG is well worth having a look at when you get here, there are quite a few houses stuck in a time warp but there are also many modern houses and a few land pakages.
There is a train station at both FTG & Upper FTG & it takes approx 1 Hr to Flinders st station.
FTG is at the bottom of the Dandenongs rain forest & only 10 mins drive from little mountain villages like Sassafras & Olinda, its also only 5 mins drive to what I think is the best shopping mall in Melbourne at Knox.
If you were driving into the city it would take about half hour off peak but probably nearer 50 mins to an hour in peak time traffic.
