kevsan

We live in Langwarrin, which is just behind Seaford/Frankston. Its 10 minute drive to the station, i park at Seaford, loads of spaces before 7:30am and then get the express (usually the 7:03) which gets me into Flinders street just before 8. I wouldnt bother getting the slow and then switching as the express runs from frankston every 10 minutes, the slow train takes about 1:10 and goes via the loop, so if you want to get off at Parliament or melbourne central its easier. Its $8.60 return each day regardless, or you can get a month pass which works our at about $5 a day depending on what you buy. Driving can be 45mins to an hour on a good day, 2 hours on a bad. Its largely down to luck generally.

and on a 40 °C like today, i make the choice to drive rather than take the risk that there are delays, or the air con is broke in the carriage etc

Yep - express fills up by the time you get to Chelsea/aspendale, but if you get on before then you'll def get a seat. Coming back, depending on time and blind luck it can be like the circle line on a bad day, standing pretty much to Cheltenham. If its hot/rammed, i get the slow train, either all the way through to frankston or to mordialloc or Carrum and jump back on an express when it gets there, adds 10-15 mins to the travel time, but is a more pleasant experience.

Hi Depends on your budget and requirements. Frankston / Mount Eliza/ Mornington are great for kids and good for the beach etc. Frankston is significantly cheaper than other places above, is about 55 mins on the express train into flinders street (which run every 10 minutes or so ) Mount Eliza / Mornington mean a 20 minute drive to the station, on top of the train commute. I live in Langwarrin with 1 wife, 2 kids and a dog and we love it, v. green and great spaces. - I drive to seaford station (10 mins) then 50 mins into the city. Would have loved to live slightly closer to the beach, but couldnt make the finances stack up, and its only an 11 minute drive to the beach at frankston/seaford anyway. If i drive, i can get into the city in about 45 minutes, but that is largely dependent on traffic etc and then it can be expensive for parking. There are great schools locally including state and private. We send our kids to a church school which goes from Kinder to year 12 which is very popular

heres the spreadsheet i use Energy monitoring.xlsx

no they all sell at different rates. What you will need to do is go to each site and put in the initial details to get their kwh rates and supply charge. When i was looking at changing i plugged this into a spreadsheet and included what i was currently paying so that you can compare like for like and see if your bill changes or not. Its a pain, but worth it to work out in black and white

higher degree usually refers to a degree after a Bachelor degree, typically a masters or PhD

its on the up, and is getting a lot of investment. the state government is relocating some departments there, the TAC is already there and WorkSafe Victoria is currently relocating, to complete by the end of this year. A number of people have chosen not to relocate so there will be vacancies available across their workforce. they are based in new offices on Malop street, right in the centre near westfield shopping centre. Those people that commute via Vline seem to have more trouble/complaints than those using Metro trains (which are the melbourne & suburbs network), but if commuting is not required, it could be an option.

ah, have read your bill again - i assume that the transfer was to a non metro / remote area?!?!?

Wow, really? Very strange - i would go back to them and query that. It was all very clear for us, fixed price on both sides for door to door. - 890 and 325. The only caveat would be any fees for additional cleaning / disposal if customs made a fuss.

Who told you movecube fees were so high? They are a fixed price AU$325 - you can see for yourself if you quote on the website. Whats the total price for the PSS move? plus if you are sharing you may get delayed while its filled with other peoples stuff Our large movecube was £890 plus AU$325 all in door to door from Warwickshire to Melbourne SE suburbs

yep - always haggle and then when youve got the price, haggle for mats/tank of fuel/salesman firstborn

yes, and apparently free deliveries over $49 and a one day delivery service in 'select areas'

Hoo Bloody Ray... Although it seems to be mainly market place sellers so far, havent seen anything fulfilled directly by amazon yet, but its a start.

its been raining all bloody morning. Fortunately it showed me that the gutters were overflowing again, despite having cleared them a few weeks ago. so its been fun so far, but dont think the main event has arrived yet

Agents will ignore you until you are onshore as they generally need people to fill immediate gaps. Its best to target companies directly, either look up someone in your area in those roles on linkedin or hr directly. As mentioned, banks are a reasonable bet. ANZ and NAB are spending big on IT projects at the moment, so you may have luck there. IBM have a large office in southbank, you could see if you could get something there in the short term, or even try some of the UNI's - RMIT are spending as well at the moment.

Hi Tutt electric were really good for us: http://www.tuttelectrics.com.au/ Adam Gedding at plumbcoast for plumbing Ph. 0410 612 982

we rented in seaford, and now own in Langwarrin. All the areas are good, never had any trouble. Anecdotally Frankston North has a bit of a reputation but most parts are fine. realestate.com.au will give you an idea of prices - the further north/closer to the CBD and the closer to the beach the more you will pay. Take the photos with a pinch / bucket of salt. Until you view in person you wont know if that house is right for you.

@Johnnyboy have sent you a pm

As a guide, our agents fees for a 190 VIC sponsored visa were £2.5k roughly in 2013/2014, so your figures appear a bit steep!

do you have rough timelines at this point?

good to know, although hopefully i never have to test it!

yes, and once you cross the border you're done. you could in theory go from arrival hall to departures and leave on the next available flight. that would play havoc with your jetlag though!

Agree with all snifter said. We were the same and used the large movecube. It was perfect for us. Bear in mind you will be without whatever is in there for around 3 months. Either 3 months before you go, or 3 months after you arrive or a bit of both which is what we did (approx 6 weeks each side) so you will need to budget for some stuff - TV, fridge etc and end up with 2 etc. Agree you need to be ruthless and adopt a it goes in the cube or the suitcase or it doesnt come attitude, but at the crunch we had space left and should have been more prepared for adding more stuff. Having been here a while now i really regret not bringing more of my power/hand tools / garden stuff etc. Its a pain that they will need more attention to cleaning but at the moment time is on your side. I shudder at the stuff i gave/threw away, angle grinders, bench saws all sorts thinking i'll never need them again. and i do. - especially if you get to buy a house again!!!

it likely depends on a lot of variables. Some stuff will be looked at others not so much. and not always what you expect. Our Christmas decs and a box of shoes were looked at, but my mountain bike remained bubble wrapped and apparently not even looked at