Guest Architect&Dentist Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 We've started to entertain this idea of moving down under in a few years time. We're not in a rush. At first we looked at Perth, then at Adelaide, then back at Perth, then Vancouver (yep, you read right), but then it hit us: why not Melbourne? We're now a couple of professionals, 30 somethings, no kids and enjoy living somewhere with temperate weather (no extreme cold or heat), seaside, with good job prospects and culturally engaging. When we move we may already be in our early 40s. Another thing we like is to live in a city suburb which has its own life with shops and amenities (library and community centre, sports centre, park, very good transport links, local shops, cafés and restaurants, etc) Finally we want to be within easy reach of the city centre by public transport (train preferably). We have never tried actually living in the city centre (or close), but walking or cycling to work is rather appealing. So, to all advocates of Melbourne and Victoria, tell me: is this possible in Melbourne, and still enjoy weather which is good enough to take us to the beach for a swim? I've looked for job ads looking for architects and dentists and we reckon we can earn about 80K to 100K AUD. How far would this take us in Melbourne? Thanks in advance for all the help. P.S.: How do we go about getting the famous guide to Melbourne? Cheers! A&D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted November 17, 2008 Share Posted November 17, 2008 In Melbourne you can live around the city there are lots of Apartment Buildings and walk into the city. I would have thought you could earn more than what you state most dentists work in partnerships and they have high incomes as we pay for our dental work here. My friends live in an Apartment right in the city and have been there for 8 years they love it. So they can walk to everything they want restaurants, arts centre, botanical gardens etc etc very very suitable for them. I also have other friends who live in East Melbourne and they love it too. They have a house though. They can also walk to everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest treesea Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 Why train travel? The best way to travel in Melbourne, imho, is tram. They run a lot more often. Though it is also good to be close to both, for instance, South Yarra (good shopping and eating around Chapel Street) . If you like the beach, St Kilda is a good place to live. On a light rail route to the city, so quick. There are cycle paths here and there, though they aren't all that connected. The north side is good to live, up to about Coburg. i wouldn't go beyond Bell Street though. No so keen on the train route. They have one, but it isn't as good as the sourthern routes. The whole of the area on the south side, inner city, along the beach, extending from St Kilda (on the east side) to Port Melbourne on the west side of the bay would probably appeal to you, if you like wandering along the beach. I always lived to the north of the city, but if I were moving back to Melbourne, I would live on the south side. Just to be close to the sea. Even so, I would still recommend checking out places like Carlton, and Fitzroy on the north side. Moving a bit away from the city, but not too far Camberwell, is a pretty nice place to live. Good shopping, library etc. Though on the topic of libraries, I have nver seen libraries as good as the ones here in Edinburgh. Even the suburban ones have big foreign language sections. And the main one covers buildings, not just floors in a building. Australia's libraries can be a bit basic in comparison. Carlton, St Kilda and Camberwell all have cinemas. South Yarra and Carlton have very good fringe theatre places. La Mama in Carlton puts on some pretty good stuff, as does Chapel off Chapel in South Yarra. Windsor, Prahran, South Melbourne and Port Melbourne are nice. Williamstown is beautiful but I would probably not choose to live that side ,i.e. to the west of the city and close as the crow flies, but over the west gate bridge and definitely not walking distance to the city because yo have to go on a long convoluted route. As to weather, compared to here it is relatively extreme. Adelaide and Perth are shockers for the heat in Summer. 40 degrees plus. Melbourne can be just as bad. the way to defeat that heat is to live on or near the bay. And winters definitely do have their freezing, "snow in the foothills" moments. We don't have central heating here in Edinburgh and are still wandering around the house in bare feet, but we had it, and used it, in Melbourne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 I have to disagree with the op on trams, trains are much quicker, trams get stuck in traffic. I used to get the 67 tram from Caulfield and it took me an hour to get to work it takes an hour from Frankston to Melbourne on the train and its a much further out then Caulfield. You have not mentioned children and I guess if you have them then you would need a house. Kew and Ivanhoe are very nice suburbs, also Hawthorn, Hawthorn East. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Architect&Dentist Posted November 23, 2008 Share Posted November 23, 2008 Thanks Forgetmenot and Treesea for the input. We're pretty much inclined to Melbourne now since we have read most of the info available on the web and seen a few movies on Youtube (highly recommended! Just type melbourne on the Youtube website and there's quite a few good ones). Adelaide will be our Plan B and we're thinking of visiting sometime in the next year or so. What is the best time of the year to visit (the famous reccie visit)? Summer, Winter, Spring/Autumn? Cheers! A&D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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