VinnieVanSurfer

Thanks for all the replies and for sharing your experiences, I am concerned about the lack of time for other interests in the evenings and family time as pointed out. The bus is a school bus its just not that direct and we wouldn't be the first pickup / last drop off so some kids would be travelling even longer. Moving closer isn't an option as the housing is too expensive, we could move closer to other schools but that would increase travel time to work but still not as long as the children would be travelling to school. I like the idea of Children making their own way to school to gain independence and become somewhat street wise its just the distance that's the issue. We have 3 children that are 3 and 3.5 years apart so our decision will affect us for the next 13 years unless we change School along the way but that's not something we would ideally like to do.

Looking for some advice on acceptable travel times for secondary school children. Our first choice school is accessible by train + bus with a door to door travel time of 1h (not sure about an 11y/o on the train) or car + school bus 1hr 40min. This seems like a very long day for an 11 y/o, leaving the house at 6:45 and getting home around 5:15, doesn't leave many options for after school activities without doing a pickup by car which would not be that convenient. Not sure if I am overthinking it because its not what I experienced at high school, I had a 15 minute bus ride. I have spoke to other people who traveled 45min to an hour to school that think that was long enough and that 1hr 40 is crazy but others that think its fine, they will have friends on the bus and the journey would be fun. I am concerned about the impact the travel would have on their studies because they would be tired all the time. Any advice on your experiences of this would be greatly appreciated.

Yes you probably left too soon and should have seen more of Australia. Never been to WA but seen a lot of Victoria, some of NSW and some of QLD and everywhere you go there is something different. Should have came here before we started a family to see more places and experience more things, we still do a lot with kids but it obviously different. When I compare our lives to what it would be like in the UK its always difficult as they offer very different things, childhood friends and family are irreplaceable but you can make new ones, on a WHV you probably wont have time to make life long friends but you don't need to. We have lived here for nearly 9 years and still have days that we think about returning but we have more days where we realize that we have everything we need here and that we are never leaving. But you are right that people who have never lived away from the UK don't understand the pull between two places but why would they, they think its a dream life from the photos they see on Facebook, I still think it is, but what they don't see is that it takes a lot of hard work to do it, in our case my wife and me both work 40 hours a week with three children under 10 with no support from family. If you can get yourself back over and enjoy what the rest of the country has to offer while you can.

Berwick was on our list when we first moved here but it has changed a lot, the through traffic is terrible and takes away from the village feel. I keep a close eye on the property prices on the Peninsula and they are going up but basically in line with where we are or at a slightly slower rate for some areas. It really comes down to lifestyle and priorities, unfortunately its not always possible to have the lifestyle you would like based on those priorities.

We are in Lyndhurst and the amount of development in the area (Lyndhurst, Cranbourne, Clyde) over the past few years has changed the feel of the area dramatically. We are lucky enough to be walking distance to a primary school, great selection of restaurants, take aways, shops including two supermarkets, train station and have just got a bus route. In our estate it is very nice, we have parks, waterways a residents club with a pool and gym and outside of peak hour traffic its generally a nice place to live. During peak hour we have a crazy amount of through traffic that cut through to avoid the westernport highway and thompsons road section, this makes getting out of the estate a lengthily process never mind getting abused by other drivers for not driving at 80 in a 50 zone. On paper the new developments are great and it depends on how important community is to you as you cant replicate the community feel of a town with shops and facilities, it takes time and the right people, IMO the new areas are a melting pot of cultures and attitudes that most people keep themselves to themselves unfortunately. If I could turn back the clock I would choose either Mornington Peninsula or somewhere like Belgrave, a lot more friendly and not as crowded as the outer suburbs.

Rather than start a new thread I thought I would ask here, why did you choose Mount Eliza? We have been looking at the Peninsula for a while now with more of a focus on Mornington and Mount Martha but we have started looking at Mount Eliza. Main concerns are what its like to raise a family in particular teenagers. My wife is concerned that there wont be enough for them to do and will need to travel towards the city for entertainment. Any help or advice on the area would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately we are not moving to the area. I give it my best sales pitch but my wife doesn't want to leave our current area and she is the one that would be impacted the most with travel to work etc. Will have to make do with drives down at the weekends!

If you are planning to work in the city then the proximity to transport is vital. I travelled by train to the city (55 min) but was 5 min walk to the station, other people I worked with were closer to the city 25-30 min train ride but it took them 20 mins to drive to the station and get parked so there was no real difference door to door. At the weekends they could get in a lot quicker but generally they didn't bother as they were there all week. But interesting points Petals on real estate industry needing the inner city suburbs to stay desirable and highly priced. They do paint a picture that everything is perfect if you live inner city and that everyone in the outer suburbs has a poor quality of life!

I get what you are saying and I suppose everyone knows what best suits them and their family. I grew up in a costal town that was also a retirement and tourist area and didn’t miss not having a city close by, actually regarded it as a bonus. Depends on your priorities I guess but would regard it a better lifestyle than living in the City.

Thanks Petals, going to take our time and not rush into anything. Its a big decision making the move, seems bigger than moving here in the first place for some reason. Think its because the kids are older and secondary schools are being considered!

Thanks Bordy, I have a found that most people I have spoke to about living in the area say the same thing, 'best move we ever made' and 'wouldn't live anywhere else'. When talking to people from other areas they all have good reasons for living there but not many say they would never consider moving. That's what we are looking for, somewhere that we would never want to leave.

From the south east suburbs lowest on the list the majority have a median house price that is still out of reach for a lot of first home buyers wanting to live in 'Melbourne' I suppose this is why people are being forced further out past what is classed as Melbourne. Not saying that these suburbs are overpriced or that they shouldn't be where they are on the list based on the criteria that was set. Just an observation. 292 Lynbrook $481,500 293 Narre Warren North $848,000 294 Langwarrin $442,000 300 Berwick $515,000 306 Lyndhurst $520,000 316 Narren Warren South $470,000 320 Sandhurst $571,000 321 Skye $420,000

The south east suburbs all seem to get a very low rating. The property prices don't seem to be affected by the apparent lack of liveability.

Thanks for the detailed replies and your experiences with the area and schools. we have visited quite a few places and the Mornington area feels right. We do like the east there are some lovely areas but the coast has a bigger pull. Thanks again.

We have been looking at Catholic schools, private in our area would be too expensive as we will have 3 there in a few years. There is no school bus from our area, could drive 20 minutes to the nearest pickup point but on the way home they would still have to get a public bus and train and do to the 1+ hour journey. There is a Catholic and public school closer but both are near the bottom of the list in terms of VCE results, I think the public one has been the worst school in Victoria at one point if not still the worst.