Living in Melbourne with 2 young boys : Will it be better?
My husband is a senior graphic designer and I am working as a Business Solutions Specialist for merchant services in a bank. We earn about NZD100k as total income for our family. We owned 2 properties with 2 cars and we are quite happy with our life here in NZ but now looking to move forward to a better place for our life n our 2 young kids. We are looking to move to Melbourne as been advised we will be able to get better weather, education, healthcare and higher salary with cheaper living cost.. less tax and will be able to save more for the family. We realised houses and cars will be more but hopefully can get good house below AUD$500k in great family suburb. Majority, seems living in Melbourne will be better than the life in Wellington... especially the weather here always causing the kids sick or trap at home due to the non-stop raining days... can anyone advise the good and bad to help us to make decision? Any comments will be appreciated! Thank you..
Hi there Winnie,
The main thing would be for you to check out the job market in Melbourne to find out how easily you'll both be able to get jobs, and what the average salary is.
You can find places to live for less than $500K if you are 30 minutes or further outside the CBD and there are many nice established neighbourhoods and new developments to choose from.
Melbourne Pros *Warm summer weather and often a lovely Autumn *Less colds & 'flu - we have definitely noticed a difference here. Don't get those terrible colds that last for weeks that we used to have. Make sure you buy a newer home though, as the old terraced cottages in Melbourne are freezing. *Huge variety of activities and events all the time *Public transport - if you choose your home carefully, you can get away with using a car way less. There are also a lot of bike paths around the city and suburbs if you are into biking. *Taxes are less and make a noticeable difference to how much money you have *Property is expensive, but not as expensive relative to income as NZ
Melbourne Cons *Everything is more competitive - buying a home, getting into a school, going shopping. There are more people everywhere and it puts the pressure on at times in terms of how much you pay, noise levels and the time it can take to get around the city. *Winter can be very grey and cold, with fewer sunny days than in NZ (although not as cold temperature-wise) *Sometimes you encounter a bit of the 'older' Australia mindset, which is noticeably more sexist & racist than NZ. Luckily it's getting less common all the time! *Not clean & green - rivers are all brown and filthy, even further out of the city. *The politics can do your head in! And as Kiwis, we can't vote to do anything about it.
Other comments *Some people say the education in the schools isn't quite as good as NZ, but it's not something I've personally had experience with. There are many more private schools here and some say this is to the detriment of the public system. *Healthcare is good, but I wouldn't say it's necessarily better than in NZ. Some things are actually more expensive like some prescriptions & dentistry.
I agree whole heatedly !!! We have been here for nearly 2 years - we are from Wellington and I must say we will NEVER move back !!!! We live in the South Eastern Suburbs ... Cheltenham, Highett, Morrabbin etc ..... Fantastic side of the city - We love it here - Winter is just like home !!! Except without the wind chill factor !
Thank you so much for your advised... i'm so keen to make this change for my family now.. we got a lot of tips from this awesome website and doing step by step to get ready our self for the move!!!! We have plan a 7 days trip to Melbourne in mid September and now doing research about the suburbs that suitable for young family like us to settle in.... will choose about 10 great suburbs to visit within the 7 days trip... once listed hope will get some up to date comments from the awesome people here before we go...really appropriate the tips and comments from you all!!