the opportunity may arise for us to move to Melbourne. Nothing is really clear yet and its still far in the future but not knowing Melbourne that well I would like to know what you think where we should move to. Road riding is the most important factor to consider after the usual staff like nice neighborhood and what not. We currently dont have children but that may also be something to take into account. But for now I’d rather like to know in what area we should start looking. My gf work would be in Mount Waverley but that shouldn’t matter to much I think. At the moment we live one block from the beach and with a National Park in our backyard to ride our bikes. It would be a big change for us to not have that anymore but on the other hand I’d be looking forward to experience a more bike friendly culture. I also love to mountain bike and I do think thats way better down there than it is here. We know Melbourne from many visits and love the city, its just a matter of if we would also love to life there.
Anyway, your thoughts are much appreciated.
If you like the riding/outdoors more than a city I’d check out around the Dandenongs, Upper Ferntree Gully / Upwey or Belgrave.
Still good train service to the city.
Good road/gravel riding around the Dandenongs, Lysterfield MTB park is ok and rideable distance away.
Mount Waverely isn’t to far away and withing riding distance if your keen.
I’ve been in Collingwood for 10+ years and its pretty ace but wouldn’t be a good commute to Mount Waverley.
It’s unclear to me if your keen on inner city or suburbs. It sounds like if you choose suburbia you may end up comparing it unfavourably to your current situation close to the beach.
Moving from Perth the attraction for me was being able to live walking distance to a large vibrant city. If you want inner city Richmond would be OK commute to Mount Waverley
How far your girlfriend is willing to commute in Melbourne traffic, or if her work is on a train line, will depend on where you live.
Elwood is a pretty popular beachside suburb, with Beach Road easily accessible for smashing beachside km’s.
Google maps says it is 35minutes to Mt Waverley, which could easily blow out to an hour each way in a car.
There are a number of good suburbs off the Monash that could make getting to Mt Waverley pretty easy in a car.
I live in Hawthorn East and my girlfriend drives to Bentleigh East each day while I ride my bike to the CBD for work. I can ride to Yarra Trails in about 20 minutes, Boulevard etc also.
RIchmond, Collingwood etc are all easily accessible for cool guy hangs.
Only negative with most nicer suburbs is the price of housing. I won’t live in Hawthorn forever, I can’t afford to buy here.
What is your budget for rent/mortgage? That usually dictates where most people live!
Another option is Ivanhoe, which is on the north side of Yarra Trails. I’ve never lived there, but almost thought it’d be nice in theory. There is also Heidelberg out that way also.
It’s Melbourne, so to be honest, most places are pretty good.
Thanks for the input so far. Its pretty hard to even get an idea when you don’t know the city that well. In regards to city vs suburbs I would have spontaneously replied with suburbs but you have a point there in regards to accessibility of the city. This is what we are currently missing living on the Northern Beaches that we cant do anything by foot or even bike. We also don’t have public transport readily available so it takes us an hour to get into the city. Same with our commute, we both spend 2hrs a day getting to work and home again. Would be nice to at least half that time.
We are currently renting and would do so in MEL as well. We pay roughly $550 a week at the moment and wouldn’t be willing to spend much more as we do look into buying in the next 2 years. I guess $600 would be the max.
We both like to live in rather quiet neighbourhoods but that doesn’t has to mean that its out of town. I just don’t like to have people and traffic at my doorstep 24/7.
She’ll definetly continue commuting by car as she needs it for work.
I am currently looking at property in Melbourne, anywhere from Glen Waverly out. I currently live near Mount Waverly in an ordinary little 4 bdr brick veneer on about 750sq mtrs. It will probably sell for $1,100,000 and it really is nothing special.
My wife and I will be getting divorced and then we need to buy two places, so we need to move a lot further out. I had a drive around on the weekend and I had to go out past Croydon and the base of the Dandenongs before prices started to drop under $600,000. But I like it out there for all the reasons that MikeD mentioned. I’ve got no idea about the other side of the river. It gets cheaper as you head south east towards all those outer suburbs past Dandenong.
As for rent, you will get something pretty nice for $600 a week. Although, $600 a week is about $30,000 a year and you could pay off a pretty big loan with that kind of money.
If your girlfriends needs to get to Mount Waverly every day then I reckon you’d want to be south of the river. Gardiner’s creek bike trail goes from the city to (pretty much) MW, so anywhere near the trail would be fine. If you’re happy to be further away from the CBD then going further south-east from MW gets you closer to MTB/gravel riding.
I don’t think the bay beaches are worth prioritising but up to you how much you love a salty swim
If your girlfriend is ok with a longer commute then somewhere along the Yarra might suit you guys (Heidelberg, Templestowe, Lower Plenty, Eltham, etc). Great commuting into town, MTB trails, etc. Probs not much fun getting to MW though.
Richmond, seriously. You can def get a really nice apartment with that kind of rental money, plus it’s really close to the Monash which means 20-30 minute commute to work for your girlfriend. Going against traffic should help that a little bit. Then you are close to the Yarra, close to the Yarra trails, close to the southside, northside and the city plus there are some good eateries etc in the area. Also Abbotsford, but I’m biased, I love Abbotsford as it’s quiet, close to most things, and super close to Fitzroy/Collingwood. Only downside is it’s pretty expensive and full of yuppies like me.
