Moving to Melbourne (Australia) with young children

[rebeccalfairbairn]

My husband, has been offered a fellowship post at the 'Royal Melbourn Hospital' to start next August 2019. We are from Scotland and this is quite an adventure for us and as I know nothing about Australian life and it's going to be quite a challenge. There is a lot of work involved for me with getting over as we have three young children aged 3, 5 and 6yrs old and I wondered if you had any advice for moving over (initially for 1yr) with a young family. If we love life over in Australia we have every intention to stay and make it work especially if it is right for our Children. What suburb areas are good for kids/families, good schools/advice, transport etc with good commuter routes to the hospital? I think we would hope to rent a car (mainly for me and the kids) so public transport from our rented house to Royal Melbourne for my husband would be a must with not too long a commute... I think it may also be better for us to buy a car as the car rental for the year looks expensive? Do you know if it is fairly straightforward to buy a second hand car and get insurance etc? Would I need to do additional driving tests or need an Australian drivers licence?

How is best to prepare for this huge change and what are the biggest changes we would face?

Is it straightforward to register the kids with a GP/dentist when we get there or do we need to look into private health care? Do public schools cost? Are there any fees you can think of that we may incur compared to living in Scotland?

I would also hope to have activities for the kids. Are there any fun Australian Sports/Must see or do that you recommend?

Are there family clubs or anything like this for golf, gym, swimming polls etc where the family can all be members and use?

Any advice you can think of would be much appreciated.

Many thanks.

PM'd.

Embarrassing the bits I don’t know! Parkville is slightly north of the city, a lovely suburb but family sized homes would be expensive (single fronted Victorian terraces and flats prob the norm). It’s an easy tram or walk to Melbourne central ie the city loop train route so all Melb trains would come into here- easy commute. I’m from the Eastern suburbs now have a house in the northern and will move back to the east for high schools (private). State primary schools are generally well attended and free or close to, but private high schools need early enrolment to guarantee a place. The majority of good private high schools are central and south / east but not all.

I dont imagine public schools cost a lot, maybe a few $k a year for levys trips uniforms etc?
Sports - some Saturday options in primary school are auskick - Australian football :) a wide spread prog there will be one near . Little athletics is athletics for kids if there’s an aths club ...
I don’t think the gp system is connected to private health insurance. You pay a ‘gap fee ‘ typically per gp visit. Just about everyone I know would have private insurance but there is a reasonable public system, and I don’t know how private health INsurance works for expats. Also it has waiting periods before cover kicks in so might be money down the drain I’d just a year - your husbands work probably has people familiar with this as would have people coming in on fellowships. Ambulance cover is also separate and prob worth getting, it’s not a lot on its own. Feel free to ask more specific questions!

I live in NSW and just changed my licence easily - no test or anything required but I think it had to be done within a certain period after I became a Permanent Resident.
See billing.vicroads.vic.gov.au/bookings/Overseas

Another one in Sydney, so things might be different in NSW than Victoria.
SO my first question is what visa will you be on, as there are differences when it comes to healthcare if you are on a temporary or permanent visa.

There is a public system but it doesn't cover all the cost. A neurosurgeon visit will cost you 320$ and Medicare will pay back 70, so you are out of pocket of 250$. Imaging is hugely expensive and again medicare will only partially cover the expense of an MRi.

Private health will NOT cover for specialist visit or test, but will cover in the private what Medicare would cover in the public, so if you have a surgery with a private surgeon, the private health provider will reimburse you the rebate for that surgery. You will probably be out of pocket in the orders of thousands and your private health will reimburse you hundreds only.
The cost of your stay at the private hospital, not the surgery, will be covered partially or fully by the private fund.

Even if you go through the public system, you can end up with a huge medical bill. My geneticist at public hospital is free, but she sends me to a private neurologist ($640) who then sends me to a private neurosurgeon (300 something) who send me to an MRI $800. Unless you are an in-patient, and seen within the hospital, specialist and test will cost you enormous amount of money even with a platinum top private cover.

Dentist are incredibly expensive and this is when the private funds helps you.
You don't register at a GP, you just go where you want. Some are bulk-billing, which means you don't pay any gap, but a lot pf practices are private so you pay around 75-80$ and medicare gives you back 37, again half out of pocket.

Search for a bulk-billing doctor. But google the reviews on google-reviews (not whitecoat or similar) as they keep both reviews, positive and negative whereas whitecoat will edit response.

In NSW, public school are free for permanent but with a 5000$ fee for temporary resident. Not sure about Victoria. Then of course, you add uniforms and other school fees.

Car: so so so so expensive. You need a double insurance which after 4 years, I still cannot understand. Your personal insurance and the CTP insurance linked to the car and on top the registration. Cars are expensive to buy and run, but without a car, you are lost. Distances are huge, public transport crap. If your son does soccer for example you will have to go to fields in the weekend which can be at 20 min drive.

Early childcare is very expensive, so you need to look at your options for your 3yold.

Time to wake up the kids for school, I have to go. Oh, one last thing for now. Australia is far colder than you think and they don't have heating in the houses, only air con heating or if you are lucky you have a gas bayonet and you can then add a gas heater that you guess cost a fortune $ 1200 for 1 heater!

We lived in Melbourne for 6 years, and loved our time there ☺️

We were in Bayside, which is not near Parkville, so I can't help there. But...

Buying a car is straightforward; just like in the UK. There are dealers and private sales. You pay an annual rego fee, sort of like tax here. From memory ours was around $750/year, but it depends on your postcode and type of car. Insurance is slightly different, you insure your car rather than you, so our policy was for any driver over 35 which knocked the premium down. It was around $800 (Mondeo, top of the range but a few years old). We could just transfer our UK licence to a VIC licence, you made an appointment and paid the fee.

I'm not sure if the current requirements, but our visa required us to initially hold insurance and we just continued it. It paid for nice extras like massage, physio led Pilates etc as well as essentials dental care (which was pricey) etc. You can tailor your cover to suit your requirements. GPs were a bit area dependent; some bulk bill (i.e. Push it all through Medicare billing so you never hand over money). We had out of pocket costs with ours which could partly go back through insurance. You have to figure out what works for you as a family.

Activities are like the UK; music, dancing, sports, swimming etc.

If you're on Facebook, have a look at 'Little Melbourne' and 'Tot Hot or Not'. Great ideas of parks and stuff to do. There's also a group called 'Melbourne mums play dates & coffee catch ups'.

My brother now lives in Melbourne, they got citizenship a few years ago. They live in Hawthorne, which they say is brilliant for families. They get the train into work in the city centre easily. Great schools in the area.

@KingIrving I'd totally forgotten how bloody freezing winter was!! No double glazing, no insulation and no decent heating. For 6 years my husband and I marvelled at the ineffencies of residential construction 😅

Hawthorn is great for families and schools but it’s not cheap!

If you go a bit north of the hospital and look at Brunswick or ascot vale the schools are good and the housing a bit less expensive than east like hawthorn. Carlton is lovely, a vibrant uni precinct. Have a look on domain.com.au to see the kind of rents you might be up for. Do you want the inner city with more cafes, shops,theatre etc, or in the suburbs with more space and parks?

We are in a similar position although further along than you! I also have 3 children and we are moving to Melbourne for my husband’s job at the beginning of October. I can’t really help on areas near the hospital, but we will be in a temporary apartment in Kew for a few weeks while we look for a rental property. Our search will be based around school catchment as our DS2 has additional needs. In Victoria you can drive on your British licence for the entire time you are there if you are on a temporary visa. I will send you a PM. I think it’s important to get the kids excited about the move, my 8 year old was really upset when we first told him but he seems a bit more enthusiastic now it’s sunk in.

Carlton, Carlton North, Parkville, Brunswick (+East and West).

Get a zoo membership. And a museum membership. Best possible investment with small children.

Thanks :)

Definitely suburbs wit more open space and parks I’m hoping

A few friends live in Yarraville and use cycle paths to get to the hospital (western suburbs).

Have a look at a Melbourne train map. Suburbs are so subjective-some would not dream of living west/north/whereever, but it depends on you. Most places are child friendly.
Avoid: Frankston, Seaford, Dandenong and Footscray. They are the main ones.
This explains the suburbs well:

Get yourself onto the PomsinOz site. Lots of info there.

Thanks so much to all of you. Looking into things and your info is so helpful. Really appreciate it. Quick question: Does anyone know much about bank accounts? Like one we could have links with in the UK so it's easy to set up when we arrive? Or is it easy/straight forward to just go and open an account once we have sorted out where we will be renting? Thank you :)

Sort another question! Does anyone know if nursery/kindergarten is connected to the primary schools or are they in separate areas? My 4yr old will be in kindergarten/nursery and my 5.5yrs and 7yr old will be at school so wondered if they would all be together at the same place once we have found a school? Any advice? Many thanks :)

I think nurseries /Kinders are usually separate. The exception is the private schools which have a primary school as well as high school will often I think have a kinder or daycare as well, mine did. Expensive compared to regular kinder though! There might easily be some in close proximity though as families would need both.

For the banks I’d say no to links, possibly with a global bank like citi or HSBC but just about everyone will Bank with one of the four majors (nab, cba, anz, Westpac) or a number of smaller players (bendigo bank, Medibank private etc) and they are all local. Transferwise , currencyfair etc are all fairly efficient at transferring funds internationally once you have an account.

Bank accounts are I think still a lot easier to open than in the UK (we did the reverse move years back). You may be able to do something linked in advance, worth looking into.

Moving in August you will be going into mid-winter, so will need all your layers. The middle of the day can warm up a fair bit if it is clear, then get cold quickly at night. So be ready to put the jumpers back on late afternoon, have blankets and duvets for the beds. Melbourne can also do a good line in grey and wet. (Though I think statistically Sydney gets more rain / more cloudy days, those of us who grow up there always think Melbourne is colder/more miserable :) )

There's groups online connecting UK medics who've moved to Oz too, get your husband to look out for them for extra support links esp stuff about where to live for hospital placements etc.

Good luck, hope it goes smoothly for you.

OP, re kinder/nursery it really depends on the schools. Generally you have daycare under the age of 3, then they do 3&4 year old kindergarten elsewhere, then they start primary school somewhere else again. That’s in Victoria. Kindergartens generally have drop off hours that allow you to do the primary school drop off before or after.

Hi rebeccalfairbairn and everyone else who has commented! How are you getting on OP? Are you managing to make plans/get things organised?

Thank you to everyone who has commented. I've found the information really useful.

We should also be moving out in August 2019 as DP also has a fellowship at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, starting in September 2019. I have many of the same questions as you! i.e. where to live, what activities there are for children (two toddlers), where there are family friendly gyms/pools, what nursery schools are like/enrolment questions (we can't seem to get any straight answers!).

@TheGruffalo So once you know which council area your moving to check their website for preschool enrolment. If you get stuck and can’t find a sessional kinder (preschool) spot then you can use a daycare that runs a kinder program the teachers have the same qualifications. Lots of kids do daycare instead of preschool because they fit working hours better. 4 yos receive government funded preschool hours I have no idea whether you would be able to get that. If you can there is usually still an out of pocket cost. If you can’t get the funded hours it’s very expensive. Daycare or a private ELC might be a better option

Thanks for your advice Notanotheruser111. I think we will end up looking at daycare due to the children's ages (they'll both be under three) and the better hours. We won't be entitled to to the 4 year old funding. Typically we're leaving the UK just as DC1 gets his 15/30 hours free childcare ! I've had a look at prices and it's crazy expensive for two to be in daycare, but we think that may be the best option for them (shortly after we return to the UK DC1 will be starting primary school, so we think a daycare/nursery setting may help that transition...obviously everyone has different thoughts/feelings about these things though!).

Sorry if I have missed another post, but are you based in Melbourne? How long have you been out there?