matjones

Hi Jess, I live in North Melbourne which is close to the hospital. It a good area to live, but some parts are nice than others. I would avoid the Melrose St/Boundary Rd parts of North Melbourne as this is where the public housing is and you find more people just hanging around on the streets at night. South of Arden St/East of Abbotsford you would be fine. There is a nice little shopping area on Errol St between Queesnberry & Victoria. You would be able to walk to work for sure. I find it very safe to be walking around at night for an inner city suburb. The area I live is especially quiet. The main tram into the city runs along Abbotsford/Queensberry/Errol/Victoria. So you could catch that tram to work if you chose to live in the CBD too. There are 3 trams you could catch from CBD (55/57/59). Good Luck with the move, Mat

Yeah, it can be harder (but not impossible) to get interviews If you are overseas, it really depends how in demand your profession is, as to how willing they are to consider you. I know people who have done interviews via skype and landed jobs. What field do you work in?

You're welcome. Are you coming here on 175 visa? Do you have a job lined up already?

Depends which suburb you are coming from, how much time you want to spend, and if you don't mind standing up the whole journey. Some of the trains can be quite crowded (but not as bad as Japan). Sounds like you are probably wanting to live around the CBD though. There are plenty of apartments in the city. Flinders St might be ok, although the buildings are generally a bit older, and you have the train station running right outside your door, so a higher floor would be a bit quieter. In terms of the CBD here are my recommendations: - avoid the spencer/king st part of town near Southern Cross. This is where a lot of the bars/clubs are. Can get quite noisy and busy during the night. - East side of CBD (Exhibition/Spring/Collins) is known as the 'Paris' end of town. A bit quieter, fancier shops/restaurants. - If you want convenience for fresh food, you might want to live close to Victoria Market. Franklin/A'beckett/La Trobe. - Avoid Carlton, unless you like living around students. - Avoid docklands. New, shiny, but has no soul. Restaurants are big and overpriced, crap shopping (apart from Costco). A little isolated. - West/North Melbourne are what I think of as hidden gems. I live in North Melbourne. There are lots of converted warehouses, apartments, Victorian cottages. Semi-industrial in parts. Very close to the city & Vic market (5 min tram, 15 min walk). Main shopping strips is Errol St (@Victoria) quite a few good restaurants & shops there. Very quiet at night (by city standards), despite being so close to city. - Southbank/South Melbourne - lots & lots of apartments for rent around here. Mostly new within past 10-20 years. Personally, I would live around the Clarendon St/City Road end, as that is closer the the South Melbourne Market (york & Cecil st). This market is much better than Vic Market. Better quality food. Can find some of the more oddball fruits/veggies here. FYI, if you are dependent on a fast internet connection, always check with the company to see what speed you will get from a rental address before you sign a lease. If you are renting a newer apartment, most of them do have cable installed so you should be able to sign up for cable internet too. Always double check though.

Hi there! Good luck with getting the police clearance. Where to live is always one of those tricky things to answer. Everyone has different tastes, different budgets, different needs. Do you want to a house/apartment? inner city/suburbs? What is your budget? Best bet is to look on realestate.com.au or domain.com.au and look for houses that meet your criteria, and then maybe come back here and ask what those suburbs are like. I find that public transportation here is Melbourne is great. There are plenty of train & tram lines in to the city. I think that trams are a bit more reliable, but trains extend well beyond the reach of the tram system. Melbourne also has a great network of bike paths too. Melbourne is a very diverse city. Asian supermarkets are very easy to find. Areas close to city such as footscray & richmond have large asian population and lots of asian shops. My wife is chinese, and we have no difficulty finding the things she needs for cooking. If you are further out in the eastern suburbs there are places like springvale & Boxhill which also have a lot of options for asian groceries. Downtown of course has chinatown, although I find there are very few grocery stores there, mostly restaurants, but we did have a new asian grocer open up on Elizabeth street & Franklin that has a great selection of Chinese, Korean & Japanese groceries. In terms of nationwide coverage for mobile phones you will find Telstra is the best. Most providers will offer pay as you go options, and that is what most new arrivals use until they have a permanent address and can sign up for a contract. Just be careful, currently the 3G reception in the CBD can be terrible at times due to congestion. If you have a 4G phone then I think you will be fine. There is not such thing as 'unlimited' but you can get high plans such as 500Gb. I use Optus for ADSL which costs me about $80 I think. I work from home and havent even come close to my limit.

We live in North Melbourne which is walking distance to the city, victoria market (and by the major hospitals). Also on the tram line, and only a $10 taxi fare back home after a night out on the town. You might also want to look at South Melbourne (along clarendon st). There is a market there which in my opinion is better than vic market.

What price range are you looking at? 1 bed, 2 bed, apartment, townhouse, house? Have/want pets? What kind of lifestyle are you after? Are you city people, like dining out, being close to the action? Do you mind commuting to work? do you drive? need to be close to public transportation.

I would be very cautious about buying in outer suburbs. http://theage.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/slump-looming-as-a-third-of-new-home-sales-abandoned-20121128-2adpm.html As more and more home sales are abandoned, and more people start defaulting on their mortgages, it will quickly drag the price of houses down in those newer suburbs, leaving you underwater, owing more than the house is worth. I've seen this happen in the US, and Australia has done nothing to prevent this here, completely ignoring what has happened overseas. The banks certainly haven't learned their lessons.

Yup I absolutely agree. It's not so much 4 seasons in 1 day, but 4 seasons in 1 week. It certainly much wetter and windier than I expected, but I don't think that its as cold as England during winter.

Hrmm.. found this interesting interactive map that might be of some use http://www.theage.com.au/national/greater-melbourne/our-liveable-city/map Issues people usually mention about the west (in particular Werribee area) that may affect your decision: - slightly higher crime rate - lack of public transport - lack of services/shops etc - properties built on or near old industrial sites, sewage works, refineries, marshland. - crappy internet - too many poms - too many bogans - too much traffic (getting out of the suburb to freeway, and on west gate bridge getting into city) Melbourne was first developed to the east of the CBD, so most of the population live out that way. Neighborhood are already well established, with good shops,services,restaurants, etc. Out west a lot of it is new development, and unless you have a car you are pretty much stuck.

There are quite a few good off-road bike paths that run into the city. You can check out some of the main trails here. https://www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/general/bikes-and-riding/43879/ The main ones to the city are Moonee Ponds Creek, Main Yarra Trail & Maribyrnong River Trail. For 3-400/w you should be able to find a 1 bed apartment relatively close to the city. We live in North Melbourne which is a good area. Walkable distance to city (10-15 min) but still relatively quiet by city standards, and has on & off-road bike paths into the city. You might also find something in South Melbourne/Port Melbourne. If you like the beach then this could be a good area. Check out around bay street, or close by South Melbourne Market (best market in Melbourne in my opinion). These places are all along tram routes too which will be a quick 10-20 min hop into the city.

I've walked by this places before nr flinders st station: http://www.dohertysgym.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28:how-to-get-to-dohertys-city&catid=31:the-gym&Itemid=132

we have been living in North Melbourne for the past 10 months and really love it here. As petals said, it is mostly warehouse conversions and apartments in this area. We have a good size 3 bedroom townhouse for around $670/week, but have seen them below $600 too. It is ridiculously close to the CBD (only 5-7 min tram ride. 15/20min walk), and great bike path access. I frequently hop on the bike trail down to the docklands. Getting to docklands on train/tram might be a bit more of a hassle. There is a train station here, which is 1 stop (3 min) from Southern Cross, but you will have to check the schedule as some trains will bypass southern cross to hop on the city loop depending on the time of day. We don't have kids, so I wouldn't be able to advise on best schools in the area, but we do have the north Melbourne swimming pool here along with a little park across the street. Also, if you ever plan on getting a dog, there is a great fenced in dog park here too. I like to think of North & West Melbourne as the hidden gems of the inner city, but might not be best for family if you require things like a backyard for the kids to play in.

First thing we do when we move into a place is have it sprayed. We rarely see any in the house after that. It usually costs us $2-300 and last 6-12 months.

I think the energy ratings here are a load of crap. Even newer homes I have rented had pretty pathetic heating & insulation. Our average monthly electric is around $280. Our water is reasonable at about $50/quarter.

Yes Melbourne Metro is huge, but the city itself is not that big.

We are in Melbourne and love it here compared to Sydney. We spent 1 month in Sydney when we first landed in Australia and couldn't wait to get out of there. Traffic is horrible compared to Melbourne. Melbourne is a nice compact city, that is very easy to get around. Only reason you may want to consider Sydney is the weather. You certainly have more distinct seasons here in Melbourne, and we've had quite a bit of rain this winter. That said, we still have a good 6 months of shorts & t-shirt weather. Melbourne is also pretty dog friendly. Lots of off leash areas for them to run around. Lots of sporting events here if thats what you are into. Lots of good bike paths too along the various rivers, creeks and along the bay.

wow.. that didn't sound racist at all. Maybe you could clarify that remark?

Hi Charlotte, We are in North Melbourne, mid 30's, no kids. Have been in Melbourne since January. I work from home with pretty flexible schedule so happy to meet up with you for coffee sometime or drinks one evening. Mat

Might not be a good idea to send a man first then :wink:

Spring is starting to kick in a little, but it will probably be around 15/16C during the day, with the odd bit of rain.

Working on the east side then I would also suggest Camberwell/Toorak. very nice areas, with plenty of shopping. We have friends out there who often join us in the city for dinner drinks, so fairly convenient for getting into city. They take the train quite often, but are able to get taxis back home if they don't want to deal with the trains. We are pretty big foodies, and spend a fair bit of time in the city, (living in North Melbourne) so if you're looking to make friends, we'd be happy to meet up once you are here. We are from San Francisco, in our late 30's. where are you coming from in US?

Hi Carwyn, Welcome to Melbourne! We live in North Melbourne. Been here since January. If you fancy grabbing coffee/beer somewhere in CBD let me know. What kind of work do you do? Figured out a place to live yet? Mat

I don't think they will let you update your license until you have a permanent address. So keep this in mind.

Absolutely. The houses they build today are total crap, and only have to be guaranteed for something like 7 years. They may look great, but I'd hate to see how they look in 20 years. I'm noticing a lot more of these types of article lately, which are mirroring the exact same scenario we experienced in the US several years ago. I'm absolutely appalled that 100% and low-doc loans are still available here. This was one of the biggest contributors to the crash in the US. People who couldn't really afford to buy in the first place were given unfavorable home loans, and when the economy tightened, people lost jobs, or interest rates went up, all hell broke lose. My advice, rent for now, save as much cash as you can, and that house that you would buy out west for $400,000 will be half the price in 2-5 years.