Moving To Melbourne Tip: How To Choose A Suburb To Live In

Being a city spanning a very large land area, Melbourne consists of many suburbs of differing traits and character. Comparing all the various areas can be mind-boggling for anyone, let alone an immigrant moving to Melbourne.

So how do you choose a suburb to live in Melbourne that is suitable for you?

Here are 3 areas of considerations that I reckon will be help to narrow down your shortlist to just a few suburbs making your choice a whole lot easier!

Distance

A good starting strategy would be to draw a 10 km radius around either the Melbourne CBD or your place of work, and see which suburbs fit into your budget.

Since you’re only just moving to Melbourne, I would recommend you start off renting first so as not to commit to a big mortgage on a house until you are more familiar with the lay of the land and eventually find the suburb of your dreams.

Education

If you have children, a key driving factor might be the location of a specific school.

Many public schools (especially the popular ones) are “zoned”. What this means is that you must live within the defined neighborhood boundary in order for your child to be eligible to study there.

Lifestyle

If you like a specific lifestyle then that may influence your decision. For example,

• If you like beaches, places like St Kilda and Altona might appeal to you


• If you like rivers, you can’t go past the scenic locations around the Yarra or Maribyrnong rivers


• If you enjoy shopping and a poshier lifestyle, South Yarra or Prahran might appeal to you


• If you like the artsy and hippie crowd, then places like Fitzroy would be your pick


• And many more!

Conclusion

Moving to Melbourne is a big change in anyone’s life and filled with many decisions to make. I hope this article about how to choose a suburb to live in will help to make things a bit easier.

Whichever suburb you have shortlisted, have a leisurely walk around the town centre, sit down for a coffee and soak up the area’s ambience. Also do drive around the neighbourhood, visit the schools, chat with the locals, pay a visit both day and night, etc .. then decide.

As usual, local knowledge helps a lot so feel free to post questions on specific suburbs here and I will do my best to answer them.

 

Ed: This post was originally posted at the Melbourne Ahoy website - Moving To Melbourne Tip: How To Choose A Suburb To Live In

ANZAC Day

ANZAC Day is tomorrow and it marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during World War I. (ANZAC stands for Australia and New Zealand Corps)

Starting in 1916, Anzac Day became established as a national day of commemoration for the 60,000 Australians who had died during WWI. As the years passed and more wars too place, the focus broadend to include all the military operations in which Australia has been involved.

Hence these days in Australia, ANZAC Day is an occasion to reflect on the cost of war and commemorates all Australians who served and died in military conflict. (There are also commerative ceremonies held in New Zealand)

In Melbourne, it is celebrated by a dawn service at the Shrine of Remembrance. This is followed by various ceremonies including the traditional ANZAC Day march from the CBD down to the Shrine. An emotionally moving experience, the ANZAC Day march involves past and present servicemen and families representing those who have been lost.

Lest We Forget.

 

Ed: This post was originally posted at the Melbourne Ahoy website - ANZAC Day

Good Friday Appeal 2014

It’s the Good Friday / Easter long weekend again !

It is also time when Melbournians open their hearts (and wallets) and show the world what a beautiful caring society we have here in Melbourne.

The Good Friday Appeal is a proud Melbourne tradition and is held every year to raise much needed funds for equipment, research and education to support the work of The Royal Children’s Hospital.

The strength of the Good Friday Appeal lies with the thousands of people who volunteer their time, expertise and creativity to organise fundraising activities throughout the year. This includes many individuals, small business and large corporates all running their small activities in order to raise funds in the days leading up to the appeal. Together they have raised more than $258 million for the benefit of the hospital since the Good Friday Appeal began in 1931. Last year in 2013, the appeal managed to raise over $16m.

The Good Friday Appeal comprises of many events such as:

• The main event which is the telethon which is broadcast live on TV from 9am till midnight. Throughout the day, Australia’s most popular celebrities, athletes, etc will make appearances and performances to raise money. Many of them will actually man the donation hotlines. So dial in and donate ! You never know who you might get on the other line.


• Kid’s Day Out – The Melbourne Exhibition Centre will be transformed into a wonderland for kids, with Australia’s biggest roller-skating rink, Laser Strike, the popular Teddy Bear Hospital, art and play zones, kids cooking classes, music and dancing and so much more.


• The Cadbury Easter Egg Hunt & Family Picnic at Werribee Park on Good Friday which is the LARGEST Easter egg hunt in Australia.


• Run For The Kids – This is a run event held on the Sunday before Good Friday. This year it attracted over 35,000 participants and raised $1.9m.

If you want to donate, please go to this page. I’m sure they will accept international donations as well.

From Melbourne Ahoy, May your world be a beautiful place today and always. Have a blessed Good Friday !


Ed: This post was originally posted at the Melbourne Ahoy website - Good Friday Appeal 2014

Top 5 Things To Do In Melbourne On A Rainy Day

With all the gloomy wet weather recently in Melbourne, I thought the perfect blog topic would be – Top 5 Things To Do In Melbourne On A Rainy Day !!

The rain has been forecast to last a whole week and with the school holidays in full swing, the kids must be bored out of their mind too !

So here is a list of interesting things to do in Melbourne and hopefully stay dry in the process ! There’s a bit of something for everyone and not just the little ones.

Without further ado and in no particular order …

1. Attend an exhibition or show event

Melbourne is The Event Capital of Australia so there is ALWAYS something on throughout the whole year !

In fact, just this weekend alone there are the following awesome events to choose from:

- Supanova

The Sci-Fi and Pop culture event of the year featuring Lucy Lawless (Xena) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) among many others. A must attend event for all fans of sci-fi, anime, comics, etc.

Supanova

- Dreamworks Animation exhibition

Produced directly by the people who brought you Shrek, Madagascar and the awesome Kung Fu Panda a world-first behind the scenes celebration of 20-years of DreamWorks Animation!

It features over 400 items including rare and never-before-seen concept drawings, models and original artworks, interviews and interactive displays from DreamWorks much-loved and favourite animated classics.

A bit more time to attend this one though as it will last until October.

- Melbourne Home Show

Building, renovating or making home improvements? Then visit Melbourne’s largest, most popular Home Show for all the latest products, services and innovations in home renovation and new home building.

- Australian Quilt Convention

Australian Quilt Convention

 The Australasian Quilt Convention is Australia’s largest event dedicated specifically to quilting and held at the Royal Exhibition Building. This annual gathering presents quilters with opportunities to be involved on a number of levels.

Not my cup of tea but apparently this event is wildly popular attracting visitors from all over Australia and even international. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, it is expected to be even more crowded this year.

2. Rock Wall Climbing

Situated conveniently in the CBD, the Hardrock wall climbing venue caters for climbers of all ages. Perfect fun for both singles and families alike.

Not for those who are  afraid of heights !

Hardrock Wall Climbing

3. Catch a movie at iMax Melbourne

IMAX Melbourne’s screen is the world’s third largest and combines with a set of revolutionary projection systems, customised theatre geometry and 15,000 watts of digital surround sound to deliver the ultimate movie going experience.

The last movie I watched there was the robot-monster fight fest “Pacific Rim” and it was amazing. It’s currently showing “Captain America : Winter Soldier”.

Imax Melbourne

4. Melbourne Aquarium

A favorite haunt of mine as there is just something peaceful and de-stressing about a visit to the Aquarium. I have been there numerous times and it’s definitely not just for tourist.

Home to over 10,000 aquatic animals, including one of the world’s largest crocodiles, SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium takes you on an interactive adventure from the depths of the ocean to icy Antarctica.

The King Penguins are always a crowd favorite!

Melbourne Aquarium

5. Spend a day at the Victoria State Library

A visit to the library may sound boring but not the Victoria State Library. This HUGE building is more than just a place to read books, magazines and newspaper. There’s classic architecture to admire, art galleries, historical books and maps museum, etc.

And to increase the fun factor, you can play high tech games on the  Playstation / Xbox / Nintendo Wii consoles, have an intellectual game of Chess room, and enjoy the large collection of films and music.

Victoria State Library

Top 5 Things To Do In Melbourne On A Rainy Day

H&M arrives in Melbourne !!

H&M opening day queue

 

H&M arrives in Melbourne !

The global superstore opened to much fanfare yesterday and was greeted by thousands of Melbournians eager to check out this new shopping experience.

A typical queue wait time – for most of the day – to get into the massive store was around 3 hours ! I do love shopping but personally, I think I shall wait for the buzz to settle down a bit and avoid the queues !

Located in the historic Melbourne GPO (General Post Office) building, this  iconic Swedish retailer is the latest in a growing list of new overseas stores to hit Aussie shores like Zara, Topshop, Muji and GAP just to name a few.

I have been to H&M during overseas holidays and I reckon it is a nice addition to the department store landscape in Melbourne. It will be very interesting to see how the other big boys like Myer and David Jones react.

Hopefully, it’ll just mean more BARGAINS for Melbourne shoppers !



This post was originally posted in the Melbourne Ahoy website at http://melbourneahoy.com.au/hm-arrives-melbourne/