Thinking of Moving to Melbourne

[ItsReallyHappening]

Would love to have some guideance on things I should know about moving to Melbourne?

• What are the best suburbs to move to (thinking of getting into good primary schools)? What's the general rental costs and is that expensive for melbourne? What's the public transport like in those areas?
  
• What is a good primary school there? What do they cost? Do we have to apply (any special criteria)?
  
• Anything else you think might be useful?
  

Many thanks

[savoycabbage]

Melbourne and Sydney have high costs of living. Higher than Manhattan I heard on the news. Our rent is $560 a week. We live in the eastern suburbs. There is not much where we live. The real estate websites are domain and real estate.com

Melbourne is huge. Huge. So there will be enormous variations like london. My dh works in the city so we have to live somewhere where he can get in. If you don't need to get into the city every day then you can live further out like the Mornington Peninsula.

It's relatively easy to find a school. They all have websites you can look at. The schools are quite big. There are 538 children at my dd's primary school. Four reception classes and yesterday I visited a school with well over a thousand pupils. Some schools have catchment areas but most don't in my experience. I think you have to pay for state schools on certain visas but i don't know as my dc have Australian passports. Our school has 'voluntary contributions' of $300ish per child per year.

[saffronwblue]

Yes, Melbourne has a population of about 3.5 million but a large urban sprawl. Do you want to live near the city? Near the beach? Near the airport? Do you want a small, older house, an apartment or a large house with a garden?
Wealthy people live in suburbs like Brighton, Kew, South Yarra or Camberwell. Large houses in leafy streets - lots of private schools. Carlton is near the city and near Melbourne University- more diverse with lots of academics etc. The inner north west is less expensive and nice - Ascot Vale and Essendon with houses near the river. My cousin pays $350 a week for a plain 2 bedroom flat in Essendon.

Give us an idea of what you have in mind and we can give you some more guidance. Start by looking at domain.com.au.

[ItsReallyHappening]

Just lost my detailed post so please accept this short version.

We?re thinking south east ? Hawthorn to lilydale but with a wide circle so Glen Waverly, Heidelberg, etc.

We'll be commuting into CBD so will need decent trains. Having said that I understand trains run 15mins on peak and could be hourly in non peak times.

We are predominately looking for good schools and then finding a place near them. How do you know which are good schools? I.e. is there league tables, etc?

Can cope with a flat as a rental as long as we are in a good catchment area. Will need a parking space as we?ll have at least one car/people mover/van to transport the kiddies to schools, shopping, etc.

Also, there?s 1 o?clock clubs, etc here is there something similar for non nursery kiddies? Is there a charge?

[luluiso]

Hi Itsreallyhappening. I am moving to Melbourne with my 8 month old next month and am looking for similar info to you - particularly around classes to do with babies, 1 o'clock clubs - are you there now? Do you have any good insights you'd be happy to share?