U.S girl trying to move to Melbourne, Australia.?

Question

I've lived in the U.S (Atlanta, Ga) for 15 years and i need a change. My aunt own a 3 bedroom apt in Melbourne and my cousin also goes to school there. How is Melbourne diff from the U.S?? I've been to perth and it was too country for me. I'm a hairdresser and we have a salon in Melboune so how would that work if i wanted to tranfer there???

Answer 1

G'day,

The best thing for you will be to go to the nearest Australian High Comm/Embassy, inform them of your situation and they may be able to give suggestions on how to proceed to apply for your visa. I would imagine that you will probably need to apply under skilled migration visa, as you have already got the skill, altho i dun think hairdressers are highly in demand at the moment, but you never know your luck. It may help as well if your aunt (I assume the owner of the hairsalon in Melbourne) gives a referral letter as well.

I might also suggest, if budget permits, to visit Melbourne as well to get the feeling of the city living itself. I've been living in Melbourne for over 16years and personally I enjoy it very much.

Basically, this is what you'll see in Melbourne:
1. First of all... some people do not like the weather in Melbourne (you can have 4 seasons in one day). However, if you read the first article from The Age newspaper, you will find out that the weather is still more preferable than the other cities. Sure you can have 42C day like last month, but almost immediately you'll get a much cooler weather pretty soon afterwards. It is very rarely that you got 2 or 3 consecutive days of hot weathers (unlike Sydney, Brisbane or Perth).
2. Melbourne is a city of diversity. If you are a newcomer, and you do not look 'Anglo-Saxon', you do not feel like an 'alien', since you can find almost every race in the world walking in the city. They are both immigrants and overseas students.
3. THE FOOD!! Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Thai, All-you-can-eat, African, Lebanese, Mexican, Sea Food... anything else? All available and lots of them in a very-very-very affordable price
4. Pretty good public transport system. With one ticket, you can switch from train, tram and bus. They do not always come on-time, but still reliable and improving (www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au).
5. SHOPPING!!! Original branded clothing sold very cheap. There are even shopping tour, where the participants are taken to retails outlets just for shopping. Big temptations for ladies.
6. Crime rates... just read the second article on the bottom.
7. Cost of Living... I'll say it's second most expensive city after Sydney. Altho I have to say that some cities in Queensland can be more expensive to live.
8. Night Life... hmmmm... I'll say the centre of nite activities will be Crown Casino and Docklands. Altho there are still plenty of cafe's and clubs scattered around the suburbs as well.
9. Tourist attraction. This is the area that I think Sydney is better than Melbourne, since it has most of it's attraction within its suburbs. Most Melbourne attraction are pretty much out of Melbourne, such as the gold mines in the cities of Bendigo and Ballarat, The Great Ocean Road, Lakes Entrance, Grampians, skiing in Mt. Buller etc.

Running out of ideas, but I hope that I can at least give you some more informations that have been provided by the answerers before me.

Good luck and welcome to Melbourne. I've visited some other capital cities in Australia and still giving Melbourne 10/10 for the best city.

Answer 2

Melbourne is the home of Australian football and a pilgrimage to the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch an AFL game is required of all football fans sometime in their lives. Melbourne is a lovely and exciting city (which thinks it is superior when it comes to fashion and food but it isn't really, Sydney is just as good). I've lived in Melbourne three times and have always had a good time there. Victoria, the state of which Melbourne is the capital, is relatively small so everything is just a few hours away at the most - the snow, the River Murray, the wineries, the penguins on Philip Island etc etc. You will enjoy yourself in Melbourne, of that I have no doubt. There is very little not to enjoy.

Answer 3

I agree with you about Perth. It depends on how big a city you live in now; Melbourne really is the only place to be in Victoria but could be disappointing from a size comparison with Atlanta. When I first came here over 20 years ago I thought that it was like a country town. But it has changed and they have kept a lot of the facades of older buildings and integrated them into being the street fronts for more modern high risers. It was voted as being the world's most liveable city a few years ago and it is a world centre for sports such as golf, tennis, Formula 1. The world swimming championships are taking place here at the moment. Bearing in mind that the place only really started to develop from nothing in 1837 it has done very well.
It is a very cosmopolitan city, in some shopping centres you could be excused for thinking that you might be in Asia.
I have travelled the world, seen and lived in many countries (Houston Texas was my home for nearly 2 years once), Melbourne is my current home of choice.