Just arrived in Melbourne from the UK...

[Berry]

Hi,

We have just arrived in Melbourne and will be here for 2-3 months (with my husband's work). I have an 8 month old daughter and I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of some good playgroups and any other information that might be useful. We are staying in the CBD.

Thanks
Berry

[Lilyloo]

Hi Berry and welcome!! :wave:

I'm from Sydney, so not much help here, but if sure there are plenty of Melbourne mums who'll be able to point you in the right direction. :)

Enjoy your stay!

[beaniebabez]

Hey and Welcome
Ex Uk here too
Im from Sydney too so not much help..
Hope to get to chat to you.

[jaq]

Welcome Berry!

I am in Melbourne, but I'm a long way out of the CBD, so can't exactly advise on "good" playgroups etc. Best place to start is Playgroups Victoria, stick in the postcode and go from there.

http://www.playgroup.org.au/Location/join-a-playgroup.asp

I'm not sure whether there will be much in the city centre, but some of the nearby suburbs should have some. You can probably tram it easily.

Something else to look out for are pramwalking groups, quite a few of the councils sponsor them, and of course, you'll enjoy exploring our lovely parks and gardens. The Royal Botanic Gardens are gorgeous, as are Carlton Gardens, Fitzroy Gardens ... the list goes on and on.

Also very big in Australia are baby swimming lessons. Many pools have them, your local Y is a good place to try. Formal swimming lessons at the Y start from about 18 months, but they have "AquaPlay" for mums and babies before then. And the YMCA gyms usually have a great creche, too.

Have a great time settling in!

[Berry]

Hi,

Thanks for your replies. I have found a couple of playgroups that I'm going to go along to this week. I'll check out the pramwalking as well -the exercise will be good especially as there are just too many good food places around here!

The swimming has proved a little more difficult. My DD loves the water and I thought it would be a fun way to meet other mums and bubs but it seems that many of the pools have now 'closed' their sessions for this term or the sessions are full. Well, I'll look a bit further out and hopefully find something.

Thanks again
Berry