Captain Ron

I managed to find a few myself. A lovely lady got back to me with very thorough information. I ended up not needing a cattery in Melbourne in the end, sadly my Cat passed away 4 days before her flight. If you would like some info let me know and I will share with you.

Can anyone recommend a cattery in Melbourne for my indoor cat. And one that can collect her from quarantine? Unfortunately our flight out before her has been cancelled. So we are now considering letting her still go ahead but it means we will need help before we get there. Any help is appreciated!

You haven't derailed the thread at all Jimmy it's great to have your perspective. If I wanted perfect beaches I would move somewhere that offered just that! I would take what you have there over our pebbled beach/shipping lane any day of the week! Happy to say Im so excited to get to Melbourne and experience all it has to offer

Hi Parley, we will have to rent for some time before buying. As for area we like Cheltenham, Sandringham, Camberwell and surrounds, Brighton. etc but will have to get there first and have a good look around. Also have schools to consider.

Yes true- we are definitely not moving to Melbourne for the beach! But I"m sure my kids will appreciate the sand and warmer water when we do get to one!

Yes, flying 4th November hopefully! I did read this very briefly on a FB group - thank you for the confirmation!!

Lol!! If only I knew which beach was which?? This gets me very excited for our move - thank you so much!!!

Great, thank you!

Oh okay, got you! If I hear anything ill come back to add. Hope the packing going okay

I saw this earlier on in this thread:

I will let you now closer to the time, lol! We might end up with the DFAT flight too if our Nov is cancelled! That is why I started the thread on here "Moving to Melbourne" haha so that we could compare notes!!!

I was advised on here not to worry about those flights until you are in quarantine and the staff are able to tell you your exact exit date then you will know when to book your flight out to Melbourne.

So happy for you!! Now you don't have to worry about your October flight not going ahead!! Hope your cat gets sorted too. All the best!

Sounds like the winter weather we had in Cape Town Its freezing in winter and central heating is not a thing!! As for summer in the UK - we have not had one this year yet and we are at the end of August already! We followed Melbourne's weather and it has been better in your winter than our 'summer'! Don't get me wrong, I've had some of the best summers here. But sadly this year was a dud We have spent so much time indoors since the Covid outbreak here last year, combined with home schooling and lockdowns and now a rubbish summer it really is the icing on the cake! On another note: Im sure through my kids school we will meet and make friends but what, in your opinion, is the best way of meeting people there?

Ive heard about the weather in Melbourne and it did/does bother me but we don't have a choice at this stage to be anywhere else other than Melbourne due to work. But at the same time, i live in UK and the weather is rubbish here most of the year so it can't be that bad in Melbourne in comparison!!

My husband's office is in Melbourne city centre Living near a beach would be nice but we don't need to be within walking distance of one, if you know what i mean! Im happy to live further away and take a drive to a beach when we feel like one! Currently we live in Brighton in UK, our beach has no waves and no sand only pebbles, Lol!!! Im South African living in UK for the past 9 years. Never been to Melbourne so i'm very grateful for any of your information!

I emailed 2 schools few months ago and not much to offer unless you live in the catchment area, so it really is a wait until you are there situation and once you know the area you want to live in then you look at the schools in the area. I think it must all be virtually done currently due to closures and lockdowns. Our Singapore November flights are to Melbourne. We are booked with Quantas for January also in to Melbourne. We also registered with DFAT but decided to book a back up flight for January because so many thousands will be trying to frantically book DFAT and i cannot handle the every minute refreshing and then try and book for 5 people, Lol! And with more flights being cancelled now im sure any Jan/Feb flights that are left will be gone soon! Its all a big mess really! Not sure where we will be living yet in Melbourne we have never been there, lol!! We like the look of a few areas but will have to sus it out further once there. Hampton, Brighton, St Kilda, Sandringham etc I created this thread on here to try and talk more about Melbourne

Oh gosh! When are your flights for? We also have flights with Singapore, for 4th November. But we also booked for 4th January as a back up! But we really, really hope to get the November flight!! We also have 3 kids. My youngest is 2 and have to find a nursery, a junior and a high school. We also have a cat flying. But we made the decision for her to stay in a cattery and fly after us by a few days.. We are also stuck with the school situation if we have to stay here past November! Both boys are not down anywhere. My eldest just finished Yr 6 BUT because of when he was born/age, he is due to do YR6 again in Australia (which is fine if we get there) but if we stay in UK and he has to attend school it means he will start YR 7 here then get taken out and go back to YR 6 in Australia! I have looked at home school etc but that is not my ideal situation having experienced it during lockdown, lol! We are fortunately renting and although we have given in our notice we have also mentioned the current situation with flights and that we might be here longer (than we want to be)sigh!! Congratulations on your newborn Where are you guys heading? We are moving to Melbourne x

Oh dear! Are you trying to leave UK too? What is your situation currently?

And Singapore Airlines have also started cancelling flights now, up until the 10th of September so EVEN MORE people will be trying for the DFAT flight!!!

Yeah, ive heard new code needed

Thank you @Marisawright I too hope you are out of lockdown! Fingers crossed it all works out for us both! Very true about location etc, we were actually discussing that point. The internet can tell you one thing and you can experience something completely different. I agree it is important to find the right location first. It is also good to have an idea on schools in the area however, because I have three kids of different ages, i'm looking for a junior school, high school and nursery. I liked the look of Sandringham. Brighton also looks lovely. But we need space being a family of 5

Thought it would be nice to chat to anyone else that is doing the move to Melbourne soon. We are hopefully leaving on the 4th of November from UK. I have searched areas and schools for my kids. Was hoping to have a good look around but not sure how possible that will be this year but will have to see what happens! How are you getting on with your plans so far and anything you would like to share

Good idea!

We booked for 6th January with Quantas (as back up) , for 5 of us, £4600 - we chose the flexi option i think it is called where its fully refunded. The other option was i think £1000 cheaper BUT any new changes thereafter were £75 per person plus £500/£600 to cancel so we just went with the more expensive option so if our November flight goes ahead we can be fully refunded with Quantas. (They do give you the info on their website with the two different booking options) Yes, you will be confirmed on your Singapore flight but you can check the actuals seats booked of ALL passengers, here is the link - https://www.expertflyer.com/ PS - we also registered with DFAT but also only for the 4th quarter so we had to make a call on the January flight before they all go!!