Melbourne: Few questions about life

[ChrisFilter]

Hello,

As a lot of you will know due to my many threads, myself and Mrs Filter are about to start the process of emigrating to Melbourne. I lived there for a few months in 2000/2001 and we were over there again for a week at the beginning of this year.

I know the CBD, St Kilda, Prahran, Windsor, Brighton and South Yarra pretty well, but what's it like to live there as a grown up with a job, as opposed to a drug addled teenager who spent nearly every day lazing around in the pub?

Where would you recommend as a place to live? Ideally we'd be close to St Kilda / Chapel St but actually, as long as we're somewhere pretty green and not too far from the sea we'd be cool. Would need good transport links to the CBD as well.

With regards to income, from browsing job websites, we'd probably have a joint income of $130k/pa minimum, $160k mid-range, and $200k if we're pretty lucky. What's this like to live on? Seems pretty good. What should we budget for flat rental? Would want a 2 bedroom place in case kids come in the next couple of years (that's the plan).

Any general advice would be appreciated :cool:

[Kripcat]

Lunatrick probably has a lot more detalied information seeing as he's already done the first fleet thing. A Pm perhaps.

I live right by the beach so I least feel qualified to say.

Anywhere close to the sea and close the CBD is going to be quite pricey compared to other areas. I don't know what your experience of Port Phillip bay was but it's only really usable for Dec, Jan, Feb. The rest of the year it's a dog beach. So unless you wan't to be close to the beach for a reason you could probably save yourself a bit of cash and simply catch the 1, 69, 96 or 106 to the beach during the summer. They all take about 15 minutes from the CBD.

By the way.
The 2006 Australian Census Data comes out tomorrow if you care to take a gander.
http://www.abs.gov.au/

[ChrisFilter]

What bits away from the bay would you recommend? Somewhere nice and green.. I guess South Yarra is the obvious answer, but comes at a price. From browsing websites, it seems $300 a week could get you an ok place in nice areas?

[lunatrick]

We've got a house in Windsor - but that works out at around $2200 a month.......on the kind of wages you mention it's not a problem (however if you decide to have Kids then would a bit more of a stretch on one salary) In terms of green places yeah maybe South Yarra - also Brighton or Elwood are quite nice and close to the beach - bit pricy though....sorry I can't be more help - but kind of new to it myself....from what I've seen the suburbs are pretty dull much like anywhere on the outskirts of a big city......I kind of liked the look of sandringham / frankston way but a little bit of a commute.....

[ChrisFilter]

Have mates in Brighton, so would be a nice option. South Yarra is lush, but very pricey. Will check out Elwood.

Where in Windsor are you? I used to be on Chapel St dead near the station. Highly recommend Terrific Tastes sushi/Korean place on Chapel St. Really nice people, really good dirt cheap sushi. Plus, you can play the thank you challenge with the male owner. It is impossible to leave the shop without him saying 'thank you' last. He loves it :cool:

How long did the emigration process take you from beginning to end? We're thinking of making the initial application in August, expecting it to take a year to 18 months.

[lunatrick]

yeah I'm pretty close to the station.....haven't been in the sushi place - will check it...

the process took me about a year all up...

[ChrisFilter]

That's not too bad.. one thing i was wondering is do you have a time limit on when you have to immigrate once you've received clearance? IE. Congrats, you can live and work in Melbourne, you have 3 months upon receipt of this letter to do so" or can you just move at your leisure?

Simply because I'd want to move end of British summer / start of Aus spring.

[lunatrick]

I don't know if it's the same for all visa's - but mine was within a year of getting my police clearance checks....not sure why though? :confused: anybody?

[ChrisFilter]

Maybe just for statistics reasons.. immigration situation might change, and if they give out everlasting visas then they could be shafted.

A year is perfect.. so long to wait though, not sure I can deal with another shit summer, autumn and winter.

[Kripcat]

Stats are out. You won't be alone, 125,570 Poms in Melbourne last year. Maybe you two should start a club?

[ice-is-forming]

That's not too bad.. one thing i was wondering is do you have a time limit on when you have to immigrate once you've received clearance? IE. Congrats, you can live and work in Melbourne, you have 3 months upon receipt of this letter to do so" or can you just move at your leisure?

Simply because I'd want to move end of British summer / start of Aus spring.

it took me 18months from applying for residency to hearing that i had got it chris.

when it arrived i had 4 years on my visa to travel when ever i wanted between the uk and aus...i left it almost a year from receiving it to migrating as i was running a good business in the uk and wanted to make more money from it.

i applied for dual citizenship after being in aus for 2 years.:)

[ChrisFilter]

i applied for dual citizenship after being in aus for 2 years.:)

Cheers for the reply :)

Is citizenship guaranteed if you've stayed in employment and out of trouble?