Moving to Australia

[SkinnyBoy]

Geelong is not bad per se, but it seems to close at 5:30 everyday. It's about 45 minutes drive along the freeway which is heavily camera'ed, some nice views. My favourite part of Melbourne is the Mornington Peninsular, in particular Portsea and Sorrento. House prices round the Blairgowrie/Rye areas are varied although expect to pay in the region of 400 large for a decent honest house upto the few million mark for something fancy. Beach is a stroll away and your only about an hours drive from the city centre.

[Jader1973]

Geelong...if you're thinking of working in Melbourne then it is too far out. Might be 45 minutes with no traffic, but the Westgate Bridge (the only main route in/out to the west) is solid most days.

There are some really nice bits of the city and if you choose carefully you can avoid most of the traffic. Takes me 35 minutes from Thornbury to Port Melbourne, which isn't too bad.

Melbourne is definately worth considering. I left work on Thursday and 5 minutes later was at the beach (okay it was only Port Melbourne beach and I did only go to take photos of the Queen Victoria). I couldn't do that in Swindon!!

Edited by Jader1973 on Sunday 24th February 08:27

[Colonial]

Geelong and Dandenong (but not the Dandenong Ranges) are both dumps.

Low income areas, lots of social problems, all those things.

Plus Geelong is too far to commute to Melbourne if you are thinking of doing it.

[kiwisr]

Geelong to Melbourne is commutable, easily by UK standards. 56 minutes from Geelong to Southern Cross station, then a max of 10 minutes to anywhere in the CBD by tram/walk. Certainly beats my 1:40 commute from Hove to Canary Wharf.

A manage of mine used to do that. Downside is only 1-2 trains an hour.

It's a typical Aussie town though so don't expect anything exciting, although the grammar school has an excellent reputation if you have kids.