Advice needed ??? West Melbourne

[Guest GVK on our way]

Hi everybody .. I,m getting brave now and starting to post on here.. we have seen a lovely looking house in Coburg at the right price... my partner who flys out on Jan 7th with our little girl (2) needs to start fact finding re - suitable housing ... she will be working in recruitment in Laverton ..I as early feedback suggests will be working at Tullamarine airport .. therefore Coburg looks in close proximity to both .. we are only scratching at the surface at the moment and any advice on Coberg would be gratefully received or if anybody can suggest a more suitable area (still in a relevant proximity for both of us) for an ideal starter rental 2 bed home of reasonable price and also suitable for little Georgia ... thanks for looking regards Keith Vicki and little G

[Guest treesea]

I've lived in Coburg. It's quite Middle Eastern. Sydney Road, which runs North South straight through it is has a big concentration of Middle Eastern bakeries. Quite a few mosques. I've lived there and quite enjoyed it. But I didn't really get involved with the community, even though my OH is Middle Eastern. I lived in a Pakistani area in Manchester when we first came back. While Coburg ws in much better repair than Cheetham Hill, there were a lot of similarities between the two areas. It's directly north of the city. Basically, Elizabeth Street becomes Sydney Road. Good tram links. Not so good train links. Quite expensive/gentrified these days, so I hear.

 

I know your child is not of an age to go to school so this isn't relevant to you yet, but our children were the reason we moved away from Coburg. All primary schools in Melbourne have a second language, sometimes two, and which one depends on the local population. The school we would have sent our children to, in North Brunswick, has Arabic as it's main foreign language. So why did we move away and send our children to a private school instead? Well, all apart from reservations about the quality of inner city state schooling, and even though my partner is from the Middle East, I didn't want an ethnic minority education experience for my children.

 

We went from North Carlton to Coburg. If I were going back now, I would live somewhere like North Carlton, Parkville, or West Brunswick. Ascot Vale is pretty nice too.

 

To the west of the city is an acquired taste. I don't recommend Laverton as a good place to live, nor the surrounding suburbs, with the exception of Williamstown or Altona, i.e. the suburbs on the bay. Williamstown has good transport links.

 

That reminds me of something else. Collingwood children's farm. There's an inner city children's farm in Collingwood, (just east of Carlton/North Carlton, so Carlton, then Fitzroy, then Collingwood) which my children absolutely adored. It's worth a visit. Likewise Ceres, in East Brunswick.

 

Going back to where to live in the West/ North west of the city:

 

West Melbourne: pretty grainy, lots of coverted factories, next to Victoria Market which is great, edge of the CBD, walking distance to everywhere, but not really the palce for children.

 

North Melbourne: directly north of Queen Vic Market. Good trams. A hike to a train station. A bit expensive. Can feel a bit sterile. Lots of doctors and nurses living there, due to proximity to Hospital and children's hospital. Both on the border with Parkville and North Melbourne.

 

Parkville: Can be expensive but good quality housing. Next to Melbourne Unviersity. The local high school, University High School, is one fo the best in the state.

 

Carlton: To the East of Parkville, directly north of Swanston Street/Russell Street. Italian area. Good theatre (La Mama) and cinema (Cinema Nova, semi arthouse). Schools are okay, but there are quite a lot of council houses and flats in Carlton just to the north of the shopping strip.

 

North Carlton: We found this a nice place to live. Good schools, including the high school. Lots of families who can afford to privately educate their children but choose not to.

 

Tracking to the North again, is Brunswick. This is a big suburb, with northern, western and eastern parts. West Brunswick is quiet, except for the houses next to the freeway. Good housing, but not so good for public transport. Brunswick and East Brunswick have a large ethnic (usally Arab, Italian and Greek) populations, and the housing is quite crowded.

 

To the West, on the other side of the freeway, is Ascot Vale. Good quality housing, older style, high ceilings and brick based, rather than wooden. There's a good shopping centre just to the west of Ascot Vale, a couple of suburbs further away, the name of which escapes me.

 

Coburg to Laverton in the morning would be quite a trek, be it by car or public transport.

 

Going back closer to the city, but west of North Melbourne (so closer to Laverton), first you come to Flemington. Lots of high rises, as in council flats. That's wehre a large number of north African refugees have settled. It's quite poor. But just beyond it is Kensington. I don't know about the high school for Kensington, but the primary schools were good. It has good quality housing, and heaps of character.

 

Of all these areas, the ones with the most character, imho, are Kensington and Williamstown. You could drive from Kensington to Laverton in 20 minutes. Likewise from Williamstown.

[KazzE]

Hi

 

I do not have such an extensive knowlege as the previous poster but I agree that Coburg would not be the best location to get to both Tullermarine and Laverton.

 

I am doing casual childcare work so I am going all over the place at the moment. Last week I worked in Altona Meadows which is one stop further down the line from Laverton.

 

we live in Strathmore so I got on a train at 6:50 to North Melbourne station, waited about 5 min and them got on another train at 7:15 to Aircraft (The station for Altona Meadows) which took about 25 min to start work at 8am.

 

We are lucky that we live a 10 min walk from a train station so I usually get around on the train and tram, hubby drives to work because he has to take a big heavy tool box and welding helmet with him, not good on a tram!

 

I would say you need to be looking more over where we are in the Moonee Valley - but some areas can be v expensive, Strathmore is - we are only here because we are house sitting until renovations start on the house, the rent for this house in good condition would be looking at paying at least $400 a week with a $1,700 bond. The childcare centres vary big time so I would prioritse finding a good one and the private run ones appear to be better than the bigger chains, this is just my experience so far.

 

Look at Avondale heights, Keilor, so you are travelling on the Western ring road rather than through the city which can be a bit of a nightmare.

 

have a look at this site www.whereis.com you can put in your start address ie the house you are looking at in Coburg and your work address and it will tell you how to get there by car or public transport. it is not perfect - it told me to get a bus to Essendon and then get a train, when I know I can walk to Strathmore train station rather than take the bus! and the car times do not take into account rush hour traffic.

hope this helps

 

Karen

[Guest treesea]

Strathmore is a nice area. On the west side of the freeway, so same side as Ascot Vale, Moonee Ponds etc. My advice would be to try to stay south of Bell Street. So not North Coburg, Preston, broadmeadows etc. Too far away.

[Guest GVK on our way]

WOW! what an incredible tool this forum is ... what a fabulous response Thank You to you both for your very informative guides... I think what we,ll do is keep these posts for future reference... We could do with our hands holding to some degree... we have little money after house renovations , flights , visa , meds etc etc so we are now financially inept.... i,m grateful for all the support we can get and we both feel rich at least in spirit lol .. We have a couple of contacts in Melbourne but we,ve entered this process with an inquisitive and adventurous attitude... i think i,ll take your advice and give Coburg a miss .. when I think back to posts i,ve read.. no-one points out Coburg as a place to be ... we have a lot of un answered questions but this will go a long way to helping our cause thanks again K V AND G xx

[Guest The Pom Queen]

Hi Keith Vicki and little G

Welcome to PIO!!!

You will find there is a lot of East and West divide, the locals say the West is where all the lower class live and that the snobs live in the East. Personally I think you can find nice areas in both. A lot of suburbs will depend on your budget and how far away you want to be from the beach etc.

There are some lovely areas around Diggers Rest and Sunbury.

Good luck with your move.

Kate