Moving to Melbourne

[plastic packaging pom]

Hi

 

We are currently living near York & planning to move to Melborne March 2013. We have 2 children 6 & 2 yrs old.

 

We like the look of Berwick, Beaconsfield & Cranbourne.

 

We are currently researching schools & areas to live.

 

We are hoping to get our children into state schools. My wife would like to walk to school, cafes & shops if possible.

 

Please can anyone help us make our mind up before we make the big move.

[Guest The Pom Queen]

Hi there, I have moved your post in to a thread of its own so it doesn't get lost. My order of preference would be

Berwick

Beaconsfield

Cranbourne (East or North)

 

The high street in Berwick is lovely and if you can find a house in old Berwick you will be in the Berwick High School zone plus be able to walk to the cafes etc.

[Xtonite]

Buy my house...... Please!!!!!!

 

It's in old Berwick and there's not too much substantial renovations left to do!!!!

 

Seriously though, if yo have any more specific questions just ask.

 

Good lick,

Geoff

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Petals]

Welcome, its not easy picking an area and often people find once they arrive they prefer another area. Coming to Melbourne is not like moving to the next town in UK. Its a huge sprawling city over a hundred km across and takes up the area of greater London with four million people living here. Its suburb after suburb after suburb. The outer areas tend to be near the country and Berwick used to be an outer area but with the development of Officer and Pakenham its no longer on the fringe.

 

I have lived in Melbourne for over thirty five years and there are suburbs I have never been to and I can get lost easily when out of my pond.

 

Walking to the shops is not the norm unless people actually live very close to the shopping strips. I am fortunate that where I live we can walk to everything as the small village I moved to which is now a small town was well designed in the first place with development kept under control so that it did not become a sprawling suburb.

 

In Melbourne you can have the hills, the beach, the flat lands the undulating.

 

Schools are zoned and just like the UK for some they are very strict about living in the zone.

 

Suggest you join up with Life in Victoria, there is a link at the foot of this forum and being a smaller forum specifically for Victoria, posts do not get lost along the way.

 

Good luck

[starlight7]

Berwick is nice and leafy but it is quite a way from the CBD if that is an issue. I wouldn't have described it as a 'cafe culture' area though there are a couple of nice ones. Better than Cranbourne though ( bit flat) and less of a fire risk than Beaconsfield.

[devon67]

best thing to do is rent a furnished holiday rental for a month, then take a visit to all the places you have thought about

you will then get a real feel

we have been in mt martha/mornington, very nice, but expensive and a fair trek to the CBD, but we have driven through a few places i wouldnt think of living in

im glad we are moving to the sticks

petals you are so correct about the city, it goes for ks upon ks, so chose wisely before you commit to anything

[munchkinpie]

Hey Plastic Packaging Pom

We have just moved to Berwick after 4 months in a suburb about 20 mins further into the city.

We have 3 children (15,12 & 4) so currently have 2 at Berwick Secondary College and little man starts at Kinder in Feb.

We have only been here just over 2 weeks and I am loving it - believe me until then I felt like getting on the plane home almost every day, but again that was just my personal experience.

 

Why do I like Berwick?

I feel it has more of a Villagey feel to it than a city suburb.

It has gorgeous parks and open spaces as well as plentiful resources in terms of clubs and activities for adults and children alike.

The house we are getting for our budget is far superior to what we were getting closer to the city but we still feel that the transport links are on equal par.

We are virtually half way between the mountains and the coast so whichever mood we wake up to on a Sunday we can head off in the relevant direction and within little more than 30 mins we can be at either.

I like the fact that it has a lovely little High St that reminds me of a leafy UK village. There are also lots of fab shopping centres within close driving distance. (Essential with 2 teenage girls lol)

 

All the other posters are correct though in that you can only make up your own mind on what suits you.

I thought we had it so right when we chose the last area - but I was still in the UK and hubby was working full-time in the city so we didn't really get enough "personal" exploration of the area.

Also I do believe that unless you are living and working more inner city, it would be very difficult to get by without a car.

 

Anyway feel free to message me if you want to ask anything else

 

Good Luck

L x

[Petkula73]

Hi

 

Good luck with your plans.

 

Definitely don't commit yourself to anything until you have a proper feeling for what different areas are like. The city is pretty large and sprawling and getting around in practice is not always as easy as it looks on a map. I'd recommend a short term rent for a month, followed by a six month rent before you commit to buying. It might seem like wasted money, but it's better than ending up in a suburb you don't like.

 

Have you looked at the Bayside suburbs? Expensive, but good schools, close to the beach and good for families. Sandringham, Hampton, Brighton etc.