All things Melbourne please!!

[mimsie]

So hubby and I are feeling nomadic and we're leaning southwards - Melbourne southwards.

So I need to know everything... good suburbs to live, mostly Hubby is a chef, and we have 2x primary school kids. That's about it!

We've barely even been before (he did once) so we don't know anything about it or what suburbs might be great or too far - if we wanted to be nearish (ish) the city etc... we don't know how far things are!

All help is greatly appreciated!!

[mummabec]

hey aylaah,
I live waay out east (near the Dandenongs) but have lived in the inner south before.
Just how inner do you want?
There's St kilda which is about 10-15 mins outside the city is on the beach and in melbourne is known as a lifestyle rather than a postcode. Its beautiful but probably not so great for bringing up kids although I may be wrong.
Then theres Sandringham/cheltenham which is probably another 10 mins out again and your starting to look more suburban but still inner suburban. There's a very large shopping centre in Cheltenham.
Then about 10-15 mins again is edithvale/chelsea which is now suburban.
They are all quite close to the beach, as for schools I don't really know as when I lived there I was young with no kids so didn't really car eabout that.
I would reccommend if you look as far out as Frankston you get very picky about where you live as some parts of Carrum and Frankston are quite bad in regards to drugs, crime etc.
However on the other side of Frankston is Mornington peninsula which Mornington itself is only 45-50 out of the city but is really lovely and has some beautiful beaches.
HTH

[nikki78]

hi weve just moved from Frankston to Sandringham, and the area is friendly very quiet but can be pricey,,, if your not look to pay as much id suggest moorabin or cheltenham which arent far away from city my DH is also a chefand there is alot of jobs around up here which is great.

[EmPowering]

i used to live in beaumaris and then cheltenham loved both areas !

only about 20/30 mins to city, close to the bay, good shops (southland westfields) and cafes are good too.

beaumaris is more expensive as its near water i went to the primary school there- great school !

cheltenham is like 10 mins more in than beaumaris- loved it there too rent and houses are cheaper than beaumaris, but its still got all the good things shops, onlh 10 mins to beach, the main street, libraries, parks, pretty gfood schools ive heard etc

if you have any questions just ask !

[Amara]

It all depends on how much money you are willing to pay for housing. The closer you get in the more you will pay for something decent. Outer suburbs are way cheaper & often have far more newer houses.

Melbourne is the kind of city that you can easily live in the outer suburbs and never have any reason to go in to the city at all. I can't remember the last time I went in to be honest.

There are large shopping centres all over the place which IMHO are far better than city shopping & if you get work out the in the suburbs too you don't need to go in for work either. There's also no need to go to the city for restaurants as there are heaps of great ones in the suburbs. I guess if you are in to sport or live shows then you might like to be closer to the city.

I'm at Hampton Park & have also lived at Hallam & Berwick (all outer south eastern suburbs). I have loved living in all 3. I have no idea about schools as I haven't had to face that yet.

[mimsie]

I got in trouble from my 10yo for looking at 'activities' with them instead of schools, online today, lol.

We've got plenty of time, so it's not a massive rush or anything to get going and obviously we need a good visit ourselves first! But I thought it was worth asking, sometimes it's a bit scary moving to a completely new place and you never know what is decent, what's not, what issues come up and what to avoid etc... allll of that fun stuff!

[jlea]

Melbourne is a fantastic place to raise children, I think!

It has everything you could possibly need - beach/ocean, parks, mountains, lakes etc. All relatively close to the city.

Like previously mentioned, Melbourne (inner city) is indeed a lifestyle. I was living in the city for a long time, I then had DS and moved out to the SE suburbs. After about 6 months, we moved inner city again, this time to a house but they are CRAZY expensive to buy think $1m+, but we purchased a house about 5 times the size out in the SE suburbs again for half of the price & our city place now rents for $700 p/w.
So that's just an example in the difference of living costs.

IMHO, I believe it is possible to raise children inner city, as long as you aren't stuck in a studio apartment We have plenty of friends/workmates who are currently doing it or planning on doing so, but again it all depends on how you are living now and if you'd really want to change your lifestyle once you came to Melbourne.

Though it is much nicer out in the suburbs, more room to move, cleaner, relaxed....

There are plenty of excellent schools in the South East that I am aware of - both public & private, so it just really depends on what you want kind of schooling you are after.

I am currently 35 mins from the city and approx. 20 mins from the beach and another 20 mins from the mountains. So pretty much in the middle of it all.

As previously mentioned, there are plenty of fantastic restaurants out in the suburbs also, so your DH could easily get a job close to home!

Best of luck, hope I have been of some help for you!