Guest mariegreyer Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Hi everyone, I'm new here and hopefully someone who currently lives in Point Cook (Alamanda/Sanctuary Lakes) can help me. We just moved to Melbourne 2 weeks ago and I have set my heart on living in Point Cook. My partner needs to travel to the the city everyday but we never know where his next job will be located (North, South, West, in the city or further out)... He starts work at 8am and due to the bad traffic situation during peak time I was wondering if leaving at say 5.30am in the morning or 6am would avoid this? I'd jump in and get a lift into the city too and we wouldn't mind spending an hour to get to the city aproximately. Basically we don't mind a bit of traffic etc but don't really want to be stuck in there 1h just to get on to the highway....is anyone in a similar situation? Does anyone leave at 5.30/6am and if so what's the traffic like then? How long would it take to get to the city roughly? I can't test run it myself as we haven't got a car just yet. Any thoughts/experiences shared would be greatly appreciated. :smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzy--bee Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 I leave at 6.10am. I live Bayside though. There's a lot of tradie traffic at that time but I am able to do the speed limit all the way to work, so would never be able to go any quicker! BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolst77 Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Hi everyone, I'm new here and hopefully someone who currently lives in Point Cook (Alamanda/Sanctuary Lakes) can help me. We just moved to Melbourne 2 weeks ago and I have set my heart on living in Point Cook. My partner needs to travel to the the city everyday but we never know where his next job will be located (North, South, West, in the city or further out)... He starts work at 8am and due to the bad traffic situation during peak time I was wondering if leaving at say 5.30am in the morning or 6am would avoid this? I'd jump in and get a lift into the city too and we wouldn't mind spending an hour to get to the city aproximately. Basically we don't mind a bit of traffic etc but don't really want to be stuck in there 1h just to get on to the highway....is anyone in a similar situation? Does anyone leave at 5.30/6am and if so what's the traffic like then? How long would it take to get to the city roughly? I can't test run it myself as we haven't got a car just yet. Any thoughts/experiences shared would be greatly appreciated. :smile: Hi would really like to know how you get on with this, I move out at the end of August and hope to settle in the same area (Alamanda/Sanctuary Lakes/Salt Water Coast) around October time. I too have heard all the horror stories regarding the traffic around Point Cook, and I am trying to figure out what time I need to be getting up each morning to make it into the CBD for 8.30'ish. From what I have read so far in PIO, if it's a clear run it's about 20-25 mins into the CBD by car I am not bothered if the journey takes 45-60 mins it just means I have a bit of me time listening to the radio whilst drinking coffee (trying to wake up). I would rather do that than get up a silly o clock just to have a clear run into the city. I currently live in East Lancashire and if I wanted to make it into Manchester for 8.30 am (30 mile drive) I would have to set off before 7.15am to make sure I was there on time, the same time frame applies in reverse if I leave Manchester before 6pm. If it's that sort of commute each day, then that's seems to be the norm were I currently live these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Caroline87 Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Hey everyone, We live on the Alamanda estate and my partner commutes daily to Hawthorne and can then be relocated anywhere in the city depending upon where his job is (he's a tradesmen). He leaves at about 6.15am and it takes him about 45minutes, there is traffic at that time but once your onto the freeway its relatively free flowing. The later you leave it however the longer it will take you and the worse the traffic is .... 15 minutes can make a huge difference but if you don't mind being stuck in traffic whilst waking up and drinking coffee it shouldn't be a problem :-) He doesn't mind the commute and although he leaves earlier than when we lived bayside it still takes him the same sort of 'travelling' time to get to work. We have a friend however who lives on the same road as us and he really dislikes the commuting by car. I think it very much depends on the individual and other factors also, for example, my partner has a company car/fuel card and he does't pay for his etag either (very lucky) whereas our friend doesn't have any of that and I think it can be quite costly from what he was saying particularly if you are using the etag each day?? Hope this helps a bit :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Caroline87 Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 ps. to get to the city for 8am I would have thought you would need to leave by about 6.45am?? Someone else might be able to confirm this who actually does the commute at this time?? :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mariegreyer Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Thanks everyone for your comments and for sharing your thoughts, this certainly gives me a feeling of relief as we thought we'd have to leave by 5.30am at the latest....we have decided to go ahead and just give it a go (currently waiting to hear back from our applications for houses, fingers crossed)....once we've done the run a few times I can let you know again gwolst77. If you have a similar situation where you live now in the UK then I'm sure it won't be an issue for you. We had the same, leaving from Reading to go to London back home so we're kind of used to mad traffic as well Best of luck with the move in August!!! Marie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Mac Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 We live in Sanctuary lakes by Husband works in the city. Usually leaves about 6.15-6.3o and takes 45 mins. If he leaves 6.45 onwards traffic starts to build. However leave after 8.30 and back to 45 mins. Unless it is an RDO for tradies then you can almost leave anytime and it takes 45mins. We have travelled longer in the Uk Something to be aware of but didn't put us off. Just renewed our lease. Sanctuary lakes and point cook on location location tonight. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mariegreyer Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Hi Sue, Thank you so much for this! That's great. 45min is not bad at all and totally acceptable in my books too. We just got accepted on a house in Alamanda and will be moving in next week... Glad to hear you decided to stay longer in Sanctuary Lakes, it's such a beautiful place and I totally fell in love with it. By the way, I saw location location location last night and they looked at a house which we viewed the other day! So funny!! And how true when they made the comparison to living in the city!! Just confirmed that our choice was right. So excited now, can't wait for next week to come Thanks again for your very helpful answer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolst77 Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 Hopefully I will be part of the community in about three months time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennlx Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 Holy moly, you leave the house at WHAT time?! Please tell me that the day finishes early! 5.30am is middle of the night for me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mylowe Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 sry cant help you with that one we leave the house at 4.15am to get to the city for 5am. was surprised to see so much traffic on the freeway at that time of the day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Mac Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 sry cant help you with that one we leave the house at 4.15am to get to the city for 5am. was surprised to see so much traffic on the freeway at that time of the day I am thinking positive now. However I think a lot of tradies start quite early here and finish early. Some of my friends hubbies work a 5-2 which enables them to do lots in the afternoons and evenings so they are quite happy. I do appreciate though that isn't going to be everyone.!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenSwinney Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 Hi all, I know it's an old thread but rather than start a new one, thought I'd tag on the end of this one. I'm looking to move into Point Cook when I arrive in November and was wondering regarding train journey time to Flinders Street Station. The PTV website indicates roughly about 30min via train but was wondering if they was best case scenario. Does anyone travel from Point Cook to Flinder Street, if so what are the train journeys like, are the coaches packed? Is the time quoted realistic. Is is possible to get parked in one of the few stations at Point Cook, i.e Laverton & Airport. I know they are opening up a new station soon near Palmers Road I believe. If I was to start work around 09:00am, would I be able to park at the station say from 08:00 or would it be a case of being dropped off there? I've heard the traffic to the freeway can be awful on Point Cook road ... is that the road I would be travelling on to reach one of the above mentioned stations? Any information would be great. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mariegreyer Posted October 6, 2012 Share Posted October 6, 2012 Hi Ben, We've been living here for the past 2 months so perhaps I can describe what it's like in the mornings: Both my boyfriend and I leave the house around 6am, in jump in the car with him, he drops me off at Aircraft or Laverton train station (both next to each other, same line to the city). He then continues in the car to where ever he needs to go, if near the city it usually takes between 45min to 1h. Traffic is generally fine at this time (if there's an accident, most highways come to a standstill!) so I think train is the way forward if you are working in the city. I usually get off at North Melbourne (which is on the way to Flinders- if you google something like 'train times Werribee' you should get an idea of the stations). Most of the time the trains into the city run express, leaving a lot of the smaller stations out in between, this makes the journey quicker (about 7min difference perhaps). When I get the train just after 6am they are busy but not full, at 8am they are often so busy that you won't find a seat but still totally fine if you ask me. Just get on in the back and you can sit (that's not the issue really). The biggest problem is parking. At Laverton you can park for free but since the majority of people start their work at 9am you can imagine that the car park is full by 8am- I'd even think that at 7am it's difficult. The journey from Alamanda/Sanc. Lakes to the train takes us about 5-10min...at 7.30am I believe this would take 15min perhaps. I can start work and finish whenever I want, hence decided to avoid mad traffic times, jump in with the BF and get a lift in the mornings. I can then finish around 4pm (if you can do that too I'd recommend it but others start at 9am so wouldn't worry about it). There's also a bus leaving from both Alamanda and Sanct. Lakes to the train station. At your time in the morning it would take around 20min to get to the train station (plenty of people chose to do that). However, depending on where you live, you might end up having to walk a long way to the bus stop like me, would take me 20min walk, then 20min bus, then 20 min to North Melbourne and so on...too much but still an option for you to consider when it comes to choosing a house perhaps. The journey into the city on the train is fairly nice, I tend to do some work or sleep lol. As for the new train station, not sure when it's gonna be actually finished also they said Nov this year. I also don't know if it is going to be Zone 1 or Zone 2 (Zone 2 costs $180/month, Zone 1 only costs $112). This is also why most people park at Laverton and not Aircraft as Laverton is Zone 1 and Aircraft in between the 2, charging you extra (and they are a walking distance apart!). Overall we are very happy with our choice and although the commute is hard work at times, we have no regrets. Point Cook is a great area, you feel like you are on holiday all the time (apart from Monday-Friday when you leave to go to work) I hope this helps, let me know if you need anything else answered, we had lots of strange, small, silly, god knows what questions- I'm more than happy to help as much as I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted October 6, 2012 Share Posted October 6, 2012 ^^^ Great post Marie !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolst77 Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 Hi Been in Melbourne since the beginning of September and hopefully moving into the Alamanda estate in the next couple of weeks (fingers crossed as the application went in yesterday). I’m currently staying with friends in Eynesbury since leaving a corporate apartment I had at the Docklands last weekend. I also hit the same Point Cook traffic in the mornings where the ring road merges with the Princess Freeway a couple of miles before the Westgate Bridge. To be honest I think the UK is worse for traffic volume into a major city compared to here, but IMHO the standard of driving out here is far worse to the UK so it compounds the congestion problems. Most of this below is based from my car journeys so far and conversations with friends who do the commute. Here is what I have experienced/learned so far (in no particular order) ... Currently it takes me about an hour to get to the office and that is leaving Eynesbury at 7:00 am, it's a 48 km journey to the office and I'm generally sat at my desk at about 8:15am I have drove from Point Cook town centre to the Docklands in 18 minutes (which included speed restrictions on the Westgate bridge). This was leaving Point Cook at 7:30pm on a Wednesday evening. Just thought I would include this to try to put the distance and time into perspective outside of "Rush Hour" I have left the CBD to attend house viewings mid week and to be honest getting to the freeway is the problem, not the journey on it (maybe just the location I am in the city). My office is near the Shine of Remembrance and one day it took me 35 minutes to get to Point Cook and a couple of days later 45 minutes. This was leaving the car park near the office at approx 4:15pm. Friends in the office commute from Hoppers Crossing (which is Zone 2) every day. They catch the 7:00am train into Flinders Street then catch a tram down St Kilda Rd for approx 5 stops. They are generally in the office for around 7:50 - 8:00 am. They leave for the return trip at 4:30 pm and are home for approx 5:30pm. As they are getting on at the stop before most of the Point Cook people get on, the train is only at about 70% capacity at that time. Once I move into the area in a couple of weeks, I will be working out timings for my commute into the city (going to leave the car with the wife when she gets out here at the end of November). The original plan was to sneak around the back lanes and catch a train from Hoppers Crossing, therefore avoid the three main roads out of Point cook. But with the new Williams Landing train station apparently Zone 1 (did not know Laverton was Zone 1) I will be re-thinking my plan of attack when it comes to commuting. I am lucky my work is flexible, so I will make a point of trying different train times and report back my findings in due course regarding parking, over-crowding etc. I think Point Cook is great from what I have seen so far, it is a proper town not a suburb. Also you need switch you mindset in terms of size over here, it’s a lot like America in that things are a lot bigger. The suburbs here are not like UK suburbs whose shopping area consists of a Spar, Chinese takeaway, kebab shop, laundrette and Bargin Booze. They are full on mini towns with everything that comes with them. I have encountered a few people in work who comment about how its chocker travelling over from the west, yet they live 30 - 40 km in the eastern suburbs and spend over an hour on the train / trams getting into work. There is a distinct bias to the eastern suburbs in Melbourne, but everyone I’ve spoken to from outside Melbourne (some are Australian colleagues who have transferred from Sydney) think Point Cook is great. Apart from two main things, broadband (depending which estate you’re on) and it’s a bit of a pain getting out of the estate from about 7:15 to 8:45 am. At the end of the day it's not East Enders where everybody lives and works within 3 minutes of Albert Square, so of course there are going to be good days and bad days when it comes to commuting 25 km each way. Hope this helps, I will post my train commute timings on this thread in the next couple of weeks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott M Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 (edited) I do get it that you're not sure where you're working, but if you're in the City Centre, then the trains from Laverton take about 30 minutes-I've been using them for a couple of weeks, and it's a pretty good service. Oops - just read Marie's post : far more useful, and is my experience as well. Also, there are a couple of bike cages there for $50 deposit IIRC for the key, even at 8am there still seem to be some spaces. Edited October 7, 2012 by Scott M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mariegreyer Posted October 7, 2012 Share Posted October 7, 2012 Thanks Fish.01. I also completely agree with gewolst77 and Scott M! The funniest thing is, if someone asks you where you live their jaws often drop- "Point Cook? That's miles away!"....don't be disheartened by comments like that, PC is not far away as said in an another post, its around 25km or so and if you drive outside of rush hour it takes around 20-30min, depending on where you need to go. And it's a beautiful place Gewolst, good luck with the application for the property! It's quite a stressful time waiting to hear back from them but will be worth it once you get the house you want. Once you are settled you can check various pages on facebook for expats living in PC. There's plenty of us and we all share and communicate with each other. It's great and also a good way of meeting people Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonK Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 We live in Point Cook and really enjoy it here. I drive my partner to Laverton every weekday and sometimes theres a bit of traffic but it's nothing compared to London, or Richmond for that matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig filer Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I recently posted regarding the Highton and areas to settle upon our move over from the UK, but my dear wife has now looked at the Point Cook area. She has heard that there are issues with Mosquito's, and smell from the nearby refinery . Is there any truth in this? Just i though we knew where we were going to move? Also i am looking for a fully furnished contemporary apartment for a 4 month Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzy--bee Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Also i am looking for a fully furnished contemporary apartment for a 4 month Hi Craig, we may be able to help with this depending on what your dates are. If you PM me your email address and your dates I will send you photos and details. Cheers BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northernpommy Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 hi Craig, we live in sanctuary lakes and never smelt the refinery. as for mossies. yes there are lots in summer, but there are mossies all over Australia, comes with the climate. Point cook/sanctuary lakes is a lovely place to live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolst77 Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Agreed with Northenpommy Great place to live especially if you have got kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mariegreyer Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 I have to admit that about once a week you get a funny smell for maybe a couple of hours. In fact I just smelled it now when I went to empty the rubbish. We live in Alamanda which is about 5min drive from S. Lakes. I too have heard about this before we made the move and always wondered if there's any truth to it. Well, there is but in all honesty, it isn't a problem, not even worth mentioning if you'd ask me. We love living here, as said above, a fantastic place for families with children and now as the weather is slowly getting warmer, we are also starting to enjoy the benefits of living in such an amazing place where everyday feels like being on holiday! I am convinced that when you come down to look at PC your wife won't want to life anywhere else- that's what happened to me best of luck with everything! Gwolst77, did you get the house in Alamanda? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolst77 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 I have to admit that about once a week you get a funny smell for maybe a couple of hours. In fact I just smelled it now when I went to empty the rubbish. We live in Alamanda which is about 5min drive from S. Lakes. I too have heard about this before we made the move and always wondered if there's any truth to it. Well, there is but in all honesty, it isn't a problem, not even worth mentioning if you'd ask me. We love living here, as said above, a fantastic place for families with children and now as the weather is slowly getting warmer, we are also starting to enjoy the benefits of living in such an amazing place where everyday feels like being on holiday! I am convinced that when you come down to look at PC your wife won't want to life anywhere else- that's what happened to me best of luck with everything! Gwolst77, did you get the house in Alamanda? Yes I am on Alamanda Marie been here a couple of weeks now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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