Cranbourne - Melbourne Suburbs

Cranbourne  

Cranbourne is over 43km South East of Melbourne.
Over the last 10 years Cranbourne has gone from fields upon fields to an area of new housing developments which have proved popular with expats especially the British.
Cranbourne is split between 5 areas. Cranbourne CBD which is full of older properties and is more run down. 
Cranbourne North which is a very busy area traffic wise especially around Thompson Road and the South Gippsland Highway. Camden Green is the largest estate in the North.
Cranbourne East which is home to the Recreational and Aquatic Centre called RACE is another popular suburb with new estates. It is also home to TAFE and the private school Casey Grammar
Cranbourne West was all fields and older properties until a few years back with the only new building being St Peters Catholic College. Now it has a variety of new housing developments to choose from
Cranbourne South has to be my favourite, so far the area is still untouched with many acreage properties still available it is also home to the Cranbourne Botanical Gardens so it’s common to see kangaroos, bandicoots and possums in your garden. I’m sure the area won’t remain unspoilt but who knows.

Demographics
Let’s have a look at some demographics in Cranbourne putting it all together as one Suburb.
According to the 2016 census, Cranbourne now has a population of about 20,094 people. The average age of people living in this suburb is 32 years of age. 20% of the residents of this suburb were born in England, 19.3% were born in Australia. Other top countries where people were born includes 8.3% people from India, 4.8% Irish and 4.6% Scottish. About 59.9% of people living in this suburb only have English as their languages known.
 Main occupations include 16.3% of Technicians and trades,  14.1% Admin workers,  14%, Professionals. 
Houses which are owned by a mortgage are 57.8%, rented is 22%, owned outright is 16.7%  
Median individual income for Cranbourne residents is $689 per week.
Travelling to work, 79.2% travel by car, and 8.5% travel by public transport and 2.7% worked from home.
Cranbourne is a Suburb for families with over half of the population having children 55.9% were couples with children, 27.2% were couples without children and 15.5% were single parents.

Real Estate
Cranbourne still remains popular for reasonably priced property. The median house price is now $510,00, the majority of the houses are new builds with 4 bedrooms. Median Rent would be $350 per week and the demand to rent houses in this suburb is very high.
Transport 
Although the Suburb has great access to main arterial roads, highways, trains etc the infrastructure has not kept up with the demand for property meaning traffic jams are a common occurrence and a run in to the city which can take 45 minutes off peak could easily stretch to over 2 hours at Peak or if an accident occurs. The longest I’ve sat on the M1 from North Melbourne to Thompson Road was 3 hours.
Most people work in or out towards the city so it means travelling on the Thompson Road to get to the Western Port Highway and on to the M1, travelling up the South Gippsland Highway to the Western Port Highway then again joining up with the M1, or you could travel down Thompsons Road and join up with the East Link or you may want to go up the Princes Highway.

Public Transport
Cranbourne does have a train service which is at the end of the line, this is great for catching the train in a morning as you are guaranteed a seat, but coming back after work may see you standing for the full journey. Cranbourne has two train stations, the main one in the town centre and the other is Merinda in Cranbourne North. In 2018 it was announced that the Cranbourne line would be extended at a cost of $3 billion dollars which is wonderful news and will see the line extended out to Clyde.
The train in to the city would cost you $145 for a month unlimited travel between Zone 1 and Zone 2 with a Myki Pass.

Bus Service
Cranbourne and the surrounding suburbs have an excellent bus system making it easier to reach your destination. Please remember the majority of buses do not stop automatically you need to flag them down and press the alarm when you want to get off. Also it is very unusual to the UK buses in that they don’t take cash and a pass is required.

Parks and Reserves

Cranbourne is spoilt with parks and reserves even with all the new housing developments they build them around landscaped parklands or lakes. The most beautiful parks that are worth a mention are 
•    Cranbourne Botanical Gardens
•    Cascade on Clyde Wetlands
•    Botanic Ridge Wetlands
•    Hilltop Nature Reserve
•    Kennels Lane Playground

Sport Clubs 
Where do we start, Cranbourne has to be the sports capital of Casey, maybe even the South East. Money has not been a problem when it’s come to building or upgrading sports facilities in the area.
The main sports area has to be Casey Fields in Cranbourne East which is a 70 hectare development, costing over $30 million dollars dedicated to a number of sports for example Australian Rules Football, tennis, rugby, netball etc. 

Casey Fields is also the home to the Victorian Football Club oval which was leased by the Melbourne Football Club in 2009 for a 30 year period. It is also the home of the Casey Demons. The stands can hold 12,000 and nearly reached capacity in 2007 with a match between Hawthorn and Essendon.
There are 4 more ovals which host AFL in the winter and cricket in the summer. Let’s not forget cycling, Casey Fields also has a criterium cycling track and hosts the Victorian HPV Series every year.

Moving on from Casey Fields as it would be easy to write 2 to 3 pages just on this sports facility, we have our next large development Casey RACE which cost over $39 million. Opening in 2009 it features two floors of water, play and relaxation zones.
50m Lap Pool
A competition 8 lane lap pool.
Water Play Zones

Warm Water Exercise Pool
Spa, Sauna, Steam Room
Cardio Room
Group Fitness Classes
Not forgetting what every sports venue needs, a  Café serving large cream cakes and coffee
Support Facilities
Includes change rooms, spectator seating, meeting room, lounge and first aid room.
Casey RACELevel One – Health and Fitness
Cardio and Weight Rooms
Group Fitness Studios
And a childcare centre so you can enjoy the facilities in peace.

Fancy a bet, Cranbourne also has its own Horse and Greyhound Racing Complex.

Who doesn’t like soccer? With the majority of Cranbourne residents being British you can understand why Soccer at Casey Comets Football Club is popular. You can find most of the Brits at the Comets Stadium. 

Casey Indoor Sports  is another sports venue, which has a total of 8 courts, 4 are multi purpose and the remainder are for beach volleyball. They also have a licensed café/bar to have those celebratory drinks.

Casey Stadium if you love Basketball, Netball or Badminton then this is the place for you. Having 10 full size FIBA Basketball and INF Netball courts it has become a prominent feature to Cranbourne’s sports hub. Opening in 2017 it has everything the community needs, not forgetting an amazing café.

If you prefer a leisurely game of Golf then Cranbourne can help with two amazing courses, Ranfurlie and Cranbourne Gold Club.

There are so many sports centres and clubs that we can’t fit in to this guide but whether it’s lawn bowls, shooting, karate, tennis, dog showing there is something for everyone.

Shopping

There are a number of small complexes that have a supermarket, butchers, bakery etc but the two main shopping centres are Cranbourne Park and Cranbourne Homemaker.
Cranbourne Park has recently had an $113 million dollar redevelopment, opening its doors again in March 2015. It comprises of 120 speciality stores which include the large chains like Kmart, Target, Coles, Woolworths and JBhifi alongside some gourmet eateries.
Cranbourne Homemaker although a nightmare to Park and just on the junction of the notorious Thompson Road and South Gippsland Highway is where you will find some of the larger stores like Bunnings, BCF, Radio Rentals (great for furniture/white goods hire), Pet superstore, The Good Guys (a white good electrical retailer), lighting store, Office Works and many more.

Schools

When all the new housing developments pop up you usually find they include a school and childcare. Remember though, although there may seem to be a huge choice of schools most will be zoned, meaning you have to live in a certain area, street, sometimes even a certain house number to qualify for enrolment in that school.
The only schools that don’t have zoning are your private schools and most will even accept you if you live in a different suburb. 

The schools I would recommend in 2018 are marked with an asterisk *, If they have two ** then they would be my School of choice. The schools marked with a # I personally would try to avoid.
Private Schools
St. Peter's College (West and East campus)
Casey Grammar School (formerly known as Cranbourne Christian College)*
Lighthouse Christian College**

Primary Schools

St. Agatha's Catholic School*
St. Therese's Catholic Primary School*
Cranbourne Primary School*
Cranbourne North East Primary School
Cranbourne East Primary School
Lyndhurst Primary School
Marnebek School
Hillsmeade Primary School
Cranbourne South Primary School
Cranbourne Carlisle*
Cranbourne Park Primary School
Cranbourne West Primary School#
Rangebank Primary School
Courtenay Gardens Primary School

Secondary
Cranbourne Secondary College,
Lyndhurst Secondary College*
Alkira Secondary College 
Cranbourne East Secondary College

TAFE
Chisholm Institute of TAFE 

Specialist School
Cranbourne Specialist School.

Health
There are numerous medical centres within a 10 minute drive so you will never be far away from help.
The nearest hospital will be Berwick or Dandenong.