Perth vs Melbourne

Originally Posted by Dolly

Yes, that is true. But the fatal flaw a lot of people make is choosing the wrong area to live in. It makes such a huge difference if you've moved to an area you end up not liking (for whatever reason).

Dolly

Hiya Dolly! yeah, basically each for his own! I personally felt more 'included' and 'at home' after arriving in London....(the East End) than what I do here in Perth!! I love people popping in for a cuppa, without being invited....it is human bonding, that I and many of SA have felt is lacking here in OZ.......the Brits are the best at including one and the warmth they produce makes up for their crap weather.....I am so happy to hear that there are so many Brits in NZ, and the NZ folk are , from what I hear and have seen, are warm and hospitible! Hey, that saying....different strokes for different........yeah, yeah, yeah.........!

....we are on our way to a more 'included' neck of the woods.....YAHOOOO!!!!

Erica

[calpico]

thanks for the comments on my first and very long post - hope that i can be good help... im in melb at the moment and plan to go back to perth soon...

[calpico]

Dolly, with the flaw - yes, that's always hard but I guess you need to visit the place for about a week or two - to see how the place is like first. If that's not a good option, then you're free to ask any of us or family or friends that can give you a better view or opinion.

Hmm... to me, any place and every place has a good or bad - I think the key things when moving to any city is:

1. Check the suburb you live in, last thing you want... is hoons making burnouts down the street. I mean bad neighbours are already a pain but a corrupt suburb is not going to help.
2. Look for reputation. Crime rates and statistics may help but... every where is a potential target. These days - it looks like they are doing round robins from place to place. (in my opinion that is...) Schools, clubs, activity-type societies, shops, transport are also a key thing. Parks and also lighting and a good council are all helpful.
3. Services. You'd always love to have a place that's near a post office, a bank, a lawyer, doctors, pharmacies/chemists. Hospitals, fire stations and police stations also come in handy at those emergency situations - but you can get your documents certified easily and quickly at a police station.

As a student, I find... going to a place where the staff and academics treat you well and special is the key. It's not about the scores or reputation or popularity... it's how you work well around your peers and schools. If you were being bullied in school, you wouldn't feel like going to school right? - Well it's like moving to a city, you wouldn't like to go to a city, if you were bullied by neighbours, pranked by hoons and feel insecure.

It's what surrounds the place you live - that makes you feel comfortable. I think if you have that, you can live in any city regardless of what it has.

[berkeley_flyer]

One quick thing I would like to add and never considered before I moved 'out West' is for those with families in UK or Europe, remember the time difference.

We are from the UK and now live in Perth and 8 hours is very reasonable. You can talk to UK banks and rental people etc etc for large portions of the normal day or weekends without having to carry out a military precision op just to schedule talking to your mum. EST is a pain with that, no matter what people say. We had many 'drowsy' conversations.

[berkeley_flyer]

Sorry, couldn't resist keeping my mouth shut.

My quick thoughts:
Perth is sunnier without being abrasively hot. There's easier access to water, (both piped!) and sealife. Melbourne has a lot more concerts/sports event, high profile stuff. I miss that. Said I wouldn't but I do. Perth is/seems a lot safer (so far). I don't see drug users hanging around all the place like I did in Melbourne. As to food/cafe's Melbourne's streets better, better than Sydney, but I never ate out all the time anyway. For food Singapore beats all Oz cities hands down! And all British ones come to think of it. Perth is booming, the mining in WA is driving Australia and the business rolls in but the danger is it won't be recognisable soon. Too many Brits As to clicky everywhere is. No where I've been in Oz is anywhere like as bad as UK for that, be friendly and they are too, that's life. Now I'm a new dad I'm glad I'm in Perth, if I was in my early 20s again then I'd be back in Brisbane or Melbourne.

[calpico]

I have to agree that Singapore food is good and very cheap - but if you're looking at Australia as a whole or even Perth/Melbourne - I find that there are mixed feelings. At first, I thought Melbourne had better places to eat and Perth food was really expensive and not up to scratch but there are heaps of new restaurants popping up.

Takeaways:
Both sides have the same major take aways. Perth has less KFC's than Melbourne. Yet again, I see a lot more Red Roosters in Perth plus their own chicken chain Chicken Treat. You'll find a lot more Nando's outlets in Melbourne but Perth has the right locations for every Nando's that they got. Melbourne's got Oporto thanks to the owners up in NSW but Perth's got Bucking Bull to cover up for that.

Kebabs & Middle Eastern:
Melbourne rules the kebab chains with so many souvlaki and kebab outlets to name from. Perth is still quiet in the kebab world but if you go to the shop next door to Telechoice on Corner William and Murray Streets, you'll find Lozend Express and they also trade late night as well. Good kebabs. Both places have KebabBBQue.

Asian:
Both sides have heaps of Asian foods. Restaurants in Perth are a little more expensive than Melbourne. Vietnamese food in Melb beats Perth by a long shot. Chinese is even except the fact that there are more in Melb. Indian food in Perth is on the rise but there are good restaurants out there. Perth has a few dim sums/yum cha compared to Melb but I have to say it is much cheaper, delicious, tasty and better service in Perth than Melb. You can walk out loooking like a stuffed dumpling in front of Northbridge Chinese Restaurant on a Saturday for only $15-20 p/head. Don't forget, better come in early on a Saturday or Sunday otherwise you'll be holding raffle tickets to get in.

European:
In general, Melbourne has divided it's eloquent European cuisines around the city. From the famous Lygon street (Italian), Lonsdale street (Greek) or even up at Brunswick (Turkish). You'll find heaps of pasta/lasagne outlets all over Melbourne. You can get a nice 'whoof' of Parmesan lingering down a shopping centre food court at any time. Perth's got their fare share as well and they are mixed and scattered all over which is good. It's multicultural.

Cafes:
Miss Maud and Dome is what Melbourne don't have. I mentioned previously in another post that Perth can survive without a Starbucks. (I have Malaysian student friends and they complain that they desperately need a Starbucks... but then I just go why not try Gloria Jeans? I don't see the difference plus its cheaper and I always carry a stamp card). You'll find more GJ's around Melbourne than Perth but like Melbourne the ones in Perth are located in shopping centres, busy areas and in Borders (of course). IKEA serve up the same food but I think Perth's IKEA breakfast went from $3.50 (when opened in late 2008) to $2 now and it's the other way around for Melb (last went a few weeks ago). There are more fancy Italian cafes in Melb but you'll find the same number of Jamaica Blue, the Coffee Club, Michel's all around shopping centres in both cities.

Fresh food:
Perth's markets are in one word "pathetic". Canning Vale Markets are probably the best market in Perth and if you were living up North of the river, then don't really bother come down to there early in the morning just for fish and a dozen of eggs. Woolworths and Coles supply fresh produce (duh...). A lot of the farms up in Perth are just a drive's away and you can get most of that stuff at Fremantle market or Subiaco market (recommended). Melbourne's QV Market, Sth Melb Market, Footscray Market, Prahan Market, Preston and so many more - are what you call markets. Like I said, you can still get fresh produce, at the same price in a Perth supermarket. There are local butchers and fisheries as well.

[Weebie]

Both cities have good things and bad things it depends what you want and really depends on why you're migrating here. The isolation factor in Perth plays a big part IMHO

Melbourne though can be very dangerous and despite haveing good restuarunts. cafes. pubs it is vastly overrated.

IF you're migrating to Australia to experience something new then go for a city, a new adventure or soemthing different then go for it. If you are migrating here because you think your life will be better then Australia is not for you.

Sydney is where the magic is and although it's expensive so is Melbourne and Perth

[kenneth]

hi its ken again forgot to ask can anyone tell me about schooling in perth or outside it.and the cheapest place to live (accomadation). and safest as we have a four year old girl. any info would be brillant ..???

[calpico]

If you know suburbs around Perth or intending to move someone that is cheap, you can search for schools within suburb at Find a school | ACARA - this site has sparked up some debate because it is similar to a 'name and shame' of school's teaching quality across the country. It shows the average school statistics.

Anyway, I think everyone wants both cheap and safe but that's always going to be tricky. I think it is best to look for safest places first, and then organise which suburb is the most cheapest. Perth houses are realtively expensive. You can also search estate in http://www.domain.com.au/

[sootea]

Dear DeMontfor
I know you have posted this a while ago but since I am looking for people with children who have moved from Perth to Melbourne, I was courious to know if you have actually made the move to Melbourne? can you share any info?
Thanks!!1

Originally Posted by DeMontfort

I was offered a job in Melbourne early 2009 - which eventually fell through at the last minute due to the recession - so my wife and I undertook a lot of research about Melbourne and Victoria in general. I would certainly agree with the 'cosmopolitan' comments from previous posts regarding Melbourne; however, when the job fell through we found that we still had the bug, so to speak and, as such, began researching further afield which then took us to Perth.

We're fortunate that we have friends in both Perth and Melbourne so the advise has been great, but for us as a family we now feel Perth is the best option because it seems to be more family orientated (if a major city can actually be classes as that) than Melbourne so we're now looking to move there. That said we appreciate that we may not settle in the first place we lay our heads so we're well prepared that eventually we may have to move in order to make the move to Australia work. In essence we'll go to Perth but if that doesn't work then we'll try Melbourne or some other city.