Moving to Melbourne - help and advice needed!

[woodvale]

Apologies in advance, this is a bit rambling!
My husband has been offered a job in Melbourne, starting at the beginning of January. We (me and two boys aged 7 and 6) will be joining him, probably at the end of February to give him time to settle in and scope things out.
I have never been to Australia, never mind Melbourne so I literally don't know where to start!
His work are paying for a one-bed appartment for him for 8 weeks somewhere near the office (St Kilda Road, near Albert Reserve) so we don't have to worry about that, but our main concern is finding a good school for the boys and a nice area to live in from March onwards.
I have done a bit of research and am hearing good things about the Bayside area in general (Hampton, Brighton, Sandringham etc) and looking on google maps, it looks like that would make a decent commute for DH, so I guess this is my starting point.
I would really appreciate any advice you can offer on schools/neighbourhoods which may work for us please?

We live in London in a really nice area with lots of parks, bars, reasturants, family-friendly pubs and where you can't move for organic butchers, lovely deli's and free range this that and the other! Sorry if that sounds a bit wanky but hopefully you het the drift! This area is full of young families and so we are ideally looking for a similar type area. We eat out a lot and are keen to find an area with good cafe society etc.
I will be a SAHM at least for a year while we get sorted which is a departure for me as I have a job I love in PR, so I will definitely be looking for a neighbourhood where I can find some like-minded friends (sounds desperate I know but clearly don't know a soul in Melbourne!)

Am not too bothered by living too close to the beach if that means that prices will be sky high - we have a big mortgage in London and I don't want to have the same stresses there as we do here. We will be renting in Melbourne and renting out our house here. Ideally would like 3-4 bedroom house with a garden.

My boys are currently at a lovely primary school (Year 3 and Year 1) so I am really anxious about finding the right place for them. Looking at some websites it seems that all primaries are pretty huge compared to here. Can anyone advise which year they would go into in Australia as i know it's all completely different? Any advice on schools at all would be amazing please.

Basically any steer in a good direction that anyone can throw at me will be received with thanks!

Hi there saffronwblue and everyone else who took the time to reply. All going well, flights are booked - the DSs and I leave 18 February, DH on the 5 Jan. Have narrowed it down to a few areas, pretty much ruled out inner north due to DH commute but waiting till he gets there to make a final decision. So much to think about between area, school, packing, shipping, renting the house and so on it's wrecking my head! The boys are really excited so that's a relief, sadly less so my mother but there you go.... I have resigned which was scary but exciting so I finish work on 21 Jan giving me a month to see friends and family and finalise bits and pieces.
Would someone pleasebe able to explain the medical system in Australia... i assume you have A&E departments like we do. Do you have GPs or similar. What about dentists. I assume they are all private and eye wateringly expensive?
crackers do you have experience of Hampton Primary School?
Thanks all

I have a friend who's boys went to Hampton school, one is still there. She is very pleased with it. Catchment is small. We lived in Hampton too and loved every minute. As for the A&E question, there is one in Sandringham, on Bluff Rd. Great place. Commute to city very easy, St kilda would be a train then tram or drive.
Brilliant kids park on Thomas st in Hampton and there are many amazing mumsnetters living in that area!
As for medical system, you have as a british person reciprical care, so you do not have to pay for emergency treatment. We live in Adelaide and my sister from the Uk got very sick and ended up needing ICU, chest surgery etc etc etc. Massive cost to the health service but she didn't pay a penny.
You visit the gp, you do pay. Average £60 a visit but if you do get private health you can claim it back.

Yes we have ER (you call A and E). We also have GPs and the specialists. Some GPs will bulk bill (cost is covered by medicare) but not many these days unfortunately. Yes to dentists too. Some are private but you can get public too. At the moment we also have the medicare dental scheme which is where medicare covers $1000 per child for 2 years. Private health also covers dental and any specialists such as OT, speech, allergy specialists if you have it.... If you or kids need psychology medicare covers 10 sessions per year (mental health care plan done at GP or paed). For speech, physio, osteo, dietician and OT you can get 5 sessions per year covered by medicare on a health care plan which is done through the GP. Medicare will also cover some costs of paediatricians.
The public health system has long waiting lists for specialists and operations but no or very little cost to the patient. Private health will cover much if you go private, depending on the level of cover.