Northern suburbs

[Kimanda]

Hi, partner and I are hoping to move out to Melbourne on a 457 in oct, and were thinking of these suburbs:

 

Greensborough

Essendon

Pascoe vale

Moonee ponds

Glenroy

 

Does anyone live in these suburbs, and if so what do u think of them?

 

The area seems affordable with some really nice houses etc with good connections to the city.

 

We have no kids, partner is a rmn and I work in telecoms. Any help appreciated-thanks!

[olly]

Those suburbs are all very handy, with Greensborough being the outer suburb, about 30-40 mins on the train to the city, and the rest quite a bit closer. Essendon is expensive, as has some lovely period homes and other mixes of homes, but very handy to the city, with Moonee Ponds just along the way from there as well. Do you need to be in the city for work? If not, Greensborough would be cheaper and is nice, but closer to the city might be good if you are wanting nightlife access. Essendon and surrounds you mentioned also have trams into the city too.

[Kimanda]

This is a great help, thanks for posting olly

[Guest jenpaul]

Hi Kimanda

We rented a house in Moonee Ponds when we first arrived, we stayed there for a year and loved the area, its a great location to settle into Aussie life and only 20 mins from the city, and as Olly said perfect if you want the nightlife. There are several very good restaurants in Moonee Ponds, a couple of very nice wine bars and you have plenty of shops \ cafes to choose from too.

Essendon is pretty similar and only 2 minutes further on the train but personally I would avoid Pascoe Vale.

 

We have since bought a house out East as we wanted a bigger property and more for our money, $700k won't get you much in MP or Essendon, they are really expensive places to buy but great for renting...

 

Good Luck :biggrin:

[boganbear]

Dame Edna comes from Moonee Ponds

[Kimanda]

Hi Kimanda

We rented a house in Moonee Ponds when we first arrived, we stayed there for a year and loved the area, its a great location to settle into Aussie life and only 20 mins from the city, and as Olly said perfect if you want the nightlife. There are several very good restaurants in Moonee Ponds, a couple of very nice wine bars and you have plenty of shops \ cafes to choose from too.

Essendon is pretty similar and only 2 minutes further on the train but personally I would avoid Pascoe Vale.

 

We have since bought a house out East as we wanted a bigger property and more for our money, $700k won't get you much in MP or Essendon, they are really expensive places to buy but great for renting...

 

Good Luck :biggrin:

 

Thanks jenpaul

Just curious - may I ask why you'd avoid Pascoe Vale?

 

Our plan is to rent, and then build our 'dream home' - (im dead set on getting my charcoal and black ensuite with double shower among other things hee hee!)

[blobby1000]

Hi,

We live in Greensborough, we moved out here in November. Although there is some beautiful parks I certainly wouldn't recommend it, we can't get out of here soon enough. It's not the idylic life we wanted, far from it. Its full of graffiti, the hoons (boy racers) drive up and down the roads all day and night performing wheel spins and various dare devil manoeuvres all around our street (and its a bloody cul-de-sac in a nice area!), the lake seems to double up as a place to put your abandoned shopping trolleys and (most importantly) the locals are bloody unfriendly generally and downright rude (you would never think you were in Australia) today I even got a parping for having the nerve to reverse into my drive!! There is a wonderful bar in the town but other than that all shopping is located in the 1970s concrete plaza, about as soulless as you can get. DONT MOVE HERE but if you really want to, perhaps you would like to take over the contract on our 3 bedroom house with the noisy neighbour!

[blobby1000]

Oh, incidently Im an RMN woring in nursing here, where is your partner going to work? we are also on a 457. We would be happy to answer any questions, just ask!

[olly]

Hi,

We live in Greensborough, we moved out here in November. Although there is some beautiful parks I certainly wouldn't recommend it, we can't get out of here soon enough. It's not the idylic life we wanted, far from it. Its full of graffiti, the hoons (boy racers) drive up and down the roads all day and night performing wheel spins and various dare devil manoeuvres all around our street (and its a bloody cul-de-sac in a nice area!), the lake seems to double up as a place to put your abandoned shopping trolleys and (most importantly) the locals are bloody unfriendly generally and downright rude (you would never think you were in Australia) today I even got a parping for having the nerve to reverse into my drive!! There is a wonderful bar in the town but other than that all shopping is located in the 1970s concrete plaza, about as soulless as you can get. DONT MOVE HERE but if you really want to, perhaps you would like to take over the contract on our 3 bedroom house with the noisy neighbour!

 

There are different parts of Greensborough, maybe move to Eltham or St. Helena !

[Kimanda]

Oh, incidently Im an RMN woring in nursing here, where is your partner going to work? we are also on a 457. We would be happy to answer any questions, just ask!

 

Hi Blobby, thanks for the post. He's not sure yet, as we are waiting for registration. We think we'll be in a better position to apply for jobs once this is all done.

 

How is it where you work at the moment? Ive heard that the mental health works quite differently in oz and it takes some getting used to. OH works here in EIP, and is now moving to into alcohol and drugs misuse (he prefers it)

 

Thanks for giving us the heads up about Greensborough lol, i think were going to check out Moonee Ponds or Pascoe Vale to start - but it depends on where OH gets work

 

Sorry that your oz dream life is being ruined by some sh**y neighbours, i guess they cant always be avoided! How long have you been living in the area? Have you got long left on the contract? Big hugs, have a glass of wine on the beach in the sunset for me - that should take the edge off :biggrin:

 

Has Melbourne been good to you otherwise?

[blobby1000]

Been living there 5 months, very difficult when you gotta find an area when arriving cos we needed temporary accommodation (expensive) and only had 12 days to find a place, but we intend to move on at the end of the contract. The first year is hard for this reason i reckon, but we are using it as an opportunity to find where we want to settle.

Nursing is different and thats an understatement, some things worse, some better. The pay is great (twice as much as the UK). Overall its been ok and just gotta stick with it. I would give yourself a month to potter around when you get here and have a good look at suburbs/city/beaches. I think melbourne beaches are pretty crap which is a bit disappointing, the city itself is good and there is just so much going on its amazing.

[Suzukiscottie]

We're in Watsonia North, next to Greensborough, and we can't really fault it. 4 bed house, lounge/dining with family area/dining in kitchen, double garage with workshop area under house. We do some local shopping in Greensborough which is close enough and also in Eltham at the weekends for the weekly shopping and a cafe visit for Saturday brunch :-). Good rail link to the city, plenty of areas to bicycle, kids can walk to school easily, nice area, no issues with neighbours, fairly quiet street (no evidence of hoons). Straight on to the ring road for a quick drive to the city if needed. Watsonia Station is nearby (as is Greensborough) and we've got a couple of good bus routes too.

 

For beaches we head to Brighton sometimes, but more often of late we head to Edithvale (great areas for kayaking); depending on traffic it can be 40 - 60 mins. If you like shopping, there are shopping centres aplenty on this side of Melbourne all fairly close by. We've found all the usual local facilities that we'd need are fairly close by too, doctors, library, restaurants etc.

 

We took a 1 year lease on the house we are in at the moment, and would be happy to extend that when the time comes. Having said that, we'll prob have a look around nearer the time to see what else is on offer elsewhere anyway.

[Guest helenandrae]

I am an Aussie and lived in uk for over 10 yrs, my partner and I relocated to Melbourne on a 310 visa, renting in Macleod but are due to move into our new house in "GREENSBOROUGH". we love the area and have found ppl to be very friendly & welcoming hence our decision to buy in the vicinity. It is very much in the suburbs, which appeals to both of us, train into city can be as stated about half an hour or so.

 

Good luck. I am new on here so hi to all

 

Rae

[Guest nicola c]

hi,

i live in hadfield which is between glenroy, pascoe vale and coburg and my sister in law lives in research (nr eltham).

 

where are you wanting to work as greensborough and glenroy, essendon, moonee ponds are pretty far apart.

 

essendon: expensive, suburban, tram & Train, not far to the city or highpoint.

 

moonee ponds: expensive, shops, restaurants, close to city, tram & train

 

pascoe vale: suburban, moderate prices, tram & train easy to get to coburg etc

 

glenroy: suburban, cheap, not much night life apart from the hoons. when i used to take public transport to glenroy station there would always be someone there who would make me laugh with their antics and i coined the phrase "only in glenroy" its not that bad haha, their are some characters though. if you do consider glenroy then go nearer hadfield and the golf course.

 

eltham/research: suburban, moderate prices, quite green, my sister in law had a koala in her garden! limited train.

 

what about pascoe vale south, strathmore, coburg or thornbury/preston?

 

for the money i would go for pascoe vale/ pascoe vale south. easy access to freeway, tram and train. also if you want to go out id go to the city, moonee ponds is overated and the prices to live dont make it worthwhile. also theres an outdoor pool.

 

nic

 

 

 

hope this helps