My first impression of Melbourne

brumby33
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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby brumby33 » Mon Oct 15, 2018 11:23 pm

Jmuzz wrote:
brumby33 wrote: Have some friends who live in Maryborough that belong to the same Motorcycle website group as I do....they often go riding up around the Grampians etc. I enjoy all 2 wheeled touring...motor & pedal so keen to check out the Victorian Countryside.
Victoria is far nicer than NSW for motorcycle touring, you won't be disappointed.
Food is a far better standard too.
Thanks Jmuzz, looking forward to testing out your recommendations :D
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fat and old
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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby fat and old » Tue Oct 16, 2018 7:49 am

brumby33 wrote:
fat and old wrote:Tornado? Melbourne? Bwaaaaaahahahaaaahaha! These days the stupid media wil call tornado just cos old mate let go a strong fart! :lol: We have strong storms sometimes like everyone else. Tornado :roll: Yeah, and “super cell” storms, and “First Nations” people. It’s just the media jumping on every Americanism they can.
A willy willy is a tornado innit? :lol: :lol:
:lol: Spot on!

I second the M/C touring aspect. Some great roads to be explored. Dunno if it's "better" than NSW; I remember having some great rides there too. But definately good.

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P!N20
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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby P!N20 » Tue Oct 16, 2018 9:28 am

DavidS wrote:
You would suggest Essendon on a cycling forum? We have enough problems with PEDs.
Didn't help much.

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rodneycc
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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby rodneycc » Tue Oct 16, 2018 9:47 am

I've lived in outer Melbourne all my life and its a great place to live overall but I still hate the winters here. Also aren't overally keen on late Jan to Feb either here where its constantly really hot.
I guess you get those extremes everywhere but I'm all for taking holidays in those periods.

Think I will be a migrate north for winter and escape to Tassie or the coast for Summer kind of retiree when the time comes.

As for areas in Melb to live/rent/buy. Inner Melb is expensive to buy. Its also got this strange North of the yarra vs South of the yarra rivalry which is just as weird as the Melb v Sydney thing. Inner North is kind of the more bike rider friendly but is also hipster heaven. Inner south east is a bit posh. Direct east is nice like Hawthorn, Canterbury, Glen iris, out to Surrey hills (without really living there but like the area to visit). That would be my pick for inner Melb but still very busy and I like the more open spaces of Whitehorse/fringe Knox/fringe Maroondah council area (where I have lived) but transport is restrictive and you can't just decide on the day to jump on a train/tram and be there at an event or a catchup around the city in 15-20mins like you can living inner Melb. All pros and cons. Cycling heaven for me would be somewhere near the Gardiners Creek trail. Cycling heaven and lifestyle heaven sometimes isn't the same thing.
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brumby33
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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby brumby33 » Tue Oct 16, 2018 9:59 am

fat and old wrote:
brumby33 wrote:
fat and old wrote:Tornado? Melbourne? Bwaaaaaahahahaaaahaha! These days the stupid media wil call tornado just cos old mate let go a strong fart! :lol: We have strong storms sometimes like everyone else. Tornado :roll: Yeah, and “super cell” storms, and “First Nations” people. It’s just the media jumping on every Americanism they can.
A willy willy is a tornado innit? :lol: :lol:
:lol: Spot on!

I second the M/C touring aspect. Some great roads to be explored. Dunno if it's "better" than NSW; I remember having some great rides there too. But definately good.
Yeah F&O , theres some great M/C riding up here too but you've got to travel a fair bit to get to them, one I did recently was from Walcha to Port Macquarie from Newcastle, having to ride up the great dividing range from Gloucester, then Walcha, then it's time to come down the range again via the Oxley HWY (if you could call it a HWY...probably was 60 years ago) over 300 tight corners to test the mettle...I was on a 650 V-Strom and my mate was on a 1700cc Victory 8 ball...he got away from me in the end as he's a far better rider than I and those bikes can corner better than any Harley albeit being so big and heavy...entirely exhausted by the time we got to Port Macquarie...after 520kms of mostly throwing the bike into corners. My mate Chris almost cooked his back tyre in the process. I was living up in the Hunter Valley at that time (2 yrs ago) and there's some great adventure bike riding up there.


Cheers


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fat and old
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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby fat and old » Tue Oct 16, 2018 6:38 pm

Well, it’s official! Pauline says “ it’s ok to be a Victorian”! 8) :lol:

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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby brumby33 » Tue Oct 16, 2018 10:24 pm

fat and old wrote:Well, it’s official! Pauline says “ it’s ok to be a Victorian”! 8) :lol:
:lol: :lol: even a white one? :mrgreen:
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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby simurs4 » Tue Oct 16, 2018 11:34 pm

I felt extremely lucky to have lived where I was in Melbourne until recently. I was along the bay in Chelsea about 35km south of the CBD, so I was greeted to lovely beach views everyday on my commute to work and back and I could spice things up some mornings by joining the NRR group ride if I wanted a free ride into work.
I was about 35km from the base of the 'Nongs and approx 25km from Mornington/60km from Sorrento so I felt like I had a pretty good spot.
The only thing that shat me about Melbourne was the constant hurricane like winds which always seemed to be everywhere, not just near the water and I always hated the mundane boring KM's working through the urban sprawl of outer Melbourne no matter where you wanted to go, which I suppose is the same in any major city.
If my circumstances hadn't changed I would still be where I was in Melbourne for sure, apart from the nit picky short comings I mentioned, I wouldn't have wanted to life anywhere else, except for where I am now :).

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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby brumby33 » Wed Oct 17, 2018 5:19 am

Yeah that's a bit different...from Melbourne to Germany and here I was thinking such a big move from Sydney :lol:
But I do have a house full of gear to truck down so the economics of it need to be justified somewhat.
Mate you have the world at your fingertips over there, they say Germany has some great bike paths etc to some of the best places in Europe....but Winters are very cold and I think it gets dark by 3.30pm in the arvo.

It can get pretty blustery up here in Sydney too during the Summer Months, whilst we've had a decent amount of rain up here this Month, it's no where near stemming the drought we're having and it looks like a possibility of an El Nino weather pattern forming this Summer and they are forcasting a very dry Summer....so that'll mean hot days, fire bans and probably gusty.

Our sunburnt land.

Cheers

brumby33
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fat and old
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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby fat and old » Wed Oct 17, 2018 1:10 pm

brumby33 wrote:
fat and old wrote:Well, it’s official! Pauline says “ it’s ok to be a Victorian”! 8) :lol:
:lol: :lol: even a white one? :mrgreen:
I dunno about that. Maybe in the outer eastern burbs? Seems to still be old white Anglo/Western European still :lol: Definitely wouldn’t be promoting that around the inner north, or one of the possum wearers will get ya! :lol: Anyway, aren’t you a bus driver? Down here they’re all middle aged white guys except for the western suburbs....and no one bar reffos moves there from somewhere else. You’ll fit right in!!

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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby brumby33 » Wed Oct 17, 2018 1:28 pm

fat and old wrote:
brumby33 wrote:
fat and old wrote:Well, it’s official! Pauline says “ it’s ok to be a Victorian”! 8) :lol:
:lol: :lol: even a white one? :mrgreen:
I dunno about that. Maybe in the outer eastern burbs? Seems to still be old white Anglo/Western European still :lol: Definitely wouldn’t be promoting that around the inner north, or one of the possum wearers will get ya! :lol: Anyway, aren’t you a bus driver? Down here they’re all middle aged white guys except for the western suburbs....and no one bar reffos moves there from somewhere else. You’ll fit right in!!
Haha....now thats good to know F&O..
You've pretty much sold me already....and yep...this worn out ol bussie fits your description :lol:
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simurs4
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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby simurs4 » Wed Oct 17, 2018 5:10 pm

brumby33 wrote:Yeah that's a bit different...from Melbourne to Germany and here I was thinking such a big move from Sydney :lol:
But I do have a house full of gear to truck down so the economics of it need to be justified somewhat.
Mate you have the world at your fingertips over there, they say Germany has some great bike paths etc to some of the best places in Europe....but Winters are very cold and I think it gets dark by 3.30pm in the arvo.

It can get pretty blustery up here in Sydney too during the Summer Months, whilst we've had a decent amount of rain up here this Month, it's no where near stemming the drought we're having and it looks like a possibility of an El Nino weather pattern forming this Summer and they are forcasting a very dry Summer....so that'll mean hot days, fire bans and probably gusty.

Our sunburnt land.

Cheers

brumby33
Haha yeah it's a little bit different, I came here with only a suitcase, my mrs will be joining me soon and all of our junk that we didn't want to sell including my nicer roadies will be getting sent over by boat, which will take a couple of months, but it will be bone chillingly cold soon anyway so it won't matter much.
Yeah the winter here is going to be interesting, I'm used to riding all through winter in Melbourne, it never gets THAT cold that you can't ride, here it will be abit different haha.
I am in a pretty ideal spot for cycling, depending on the direction I go there are lakes, flat lands, small rolling hills or I can go about 30km south and then the Alps begin and I am right near the border to Austria also which has some monster mountains so I definately won't be starved of variety here. I am pretty useless when the road starts to go up, so that will need to be worked on!

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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby 1Rowdy1 » Wed Oct 17, 2018 5:29 pm

Tamiya wrote:Tbh glenhuntly/Malvern/Carnegie don't have that much "fancy lifestyle" :P unless you're referring to families driving their progeny to private schools & extracurricular activity in their SUVs, empty nester retirees dawdling to/from the Aldi or for some, marching to temple on Sabbath. South East inner suburbs aren't cheap, I doubt I'd choose/pay to live there unless my rellos that I want to be nearby were already there.

If you don't have a family & baggage in tow, zero advantage for a landed house IMHO... gardening can take whole weekends. Townhouse or flat/unit has its benefits if you value your time. (Sure you can pay others to do it, but Jim don't work cheap)

If you're still working, white collar mainly in CBD? Areas like Fitzroy or Brunswick has more attraction depending on whether you prefer hipster or multinational flavour. Both those are also north & slightly *uphill* of CBD... which I might find handy if commuting south on bike every morning in dress shirt & pressed pants - no sweat ;)

Docklands, St Kilda, Port Melb... all also nice places to be centrally located for cafe culture, nice bike paths at your flat's doorstep.

If you have no ties to CBD... going further out is much cheaper. Go Frankston, Eltham, Knox or heck even head towards Geelong and you'd halve your rental. Avoid the crazy city traffic & crazier construction zone disturbances... ain't no fun cycling thru city.

WOW, you bag glenhuntly/Malvern/Carnegie then recommend Frankston, everyone is entitled to an opinion but really Frankston over glenhuntly/Malvern/Carnegie.

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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby 10speedsemiracer » Wed Oct 17, 2018 5:49 pm

1Rowdy1 wrote: WOW, you bag glenhuntly/Malvern/Carnegie then recommend Frankston, everyone is entitled to an opinion but really Frankston over glenhuntly/Malvern/Carnegie.
Similar thoughts went thru my head as I read it, but hey, each to their own I s'pose...
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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby brumby33 » Wed Oct 17, 2018 7:45 pm

I'm a firm believer that if you're going to live near a major city, its best to locate near public transport (for those nights out) medical & / or Hospital facilities, good bike paths or easy commuting roadways...not sure how far Frankston is away from CBD but i looks a decent distance on google maps.
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ironhanglider
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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby ironhanglider » Wed Oct 17, 2018 10:48 pm

brumby33 wrote:I'm a firm believer that if you're going to live near a major city, its best to locate near public transport (for those nights out) medical & / or Hospital facilities, good bike paths or easy commuting roadways...not sure how far Frankston is away from CBD but i looks a decent distance on google maps.
Not quite sure of the distance, 40km perhaps? Many people on a weekend will ride from near to the city to Frankston and back and will call that enough. The ride itself is unremarkable but it it a popular place to ride and that means that the drivers are aware of cyclists, for better or for worse. It also has a train line, and a good bike shop (Duck!'s neck of the woods).
1Rowdy1 wrote:
WOW, you bag glenhuntly/Malvern/Carnegie then recommend Frankston, everyone is entitled to an opinion but really Frankston over glenhuntly/Malvern/Carnegie.
Suburbs closer to the city come at a price. I haven't heard too many stories of bus drivers sitting around trying to decide where to invest their millions.

In the late nineties my wife and I lived in Brunswick, and then bought off the plan in the newly opened bit of Kensington, (former Army barracks and Saleyards). We enjoyed living there, close to two train lines, several bus lines, and easy access to the big toll roads. I even walked to work in the CBD on Walk to Work day. Shopping was at the Footscray or Queen Vic markets or in the main drag of Kensington. It was a handy place to live. (Or it was then, I may be out of date)

Brunswick was pretty handy too. Lots of transport around, we'd usually catch the tram to work from there and could walk to the supermarket.

However where you live will also need to revolve around the workplace. I'm not much of a bus user, but I do interact with a few on my commute. In my experience the most consistently professional drivers I've come across are those on the 612 bus route between Box Hill and Chadstone Shopping centre. Every single interaction I have had with the busses on that route has been positive. That may be an indicator of the culture there, or that I only meet up with the same one or two good drivers because I am pretty regular with my riding habits.

Cheers,

Cameron

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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby Tamiya » Fri Oct 19, 2018 12:37 am

1Rowdy1 wrote:
Tamiya wrote: If you have no ties to CBD... going further out is much cheaper. Go Frankston, Eltham, Knox or heck even head towards Geelong and you'd halve your rental. Avoid the crazy city traffic & crazier construction zone disturbances... ain't no fun cycling thru city.
WOW, you bag glenhuntly/Malvern/Carnegie then recommend Frankston, everyone is entitled to an opinion but really Frankston over glenhuntly/Malvern/Carnegie.
Money talks... it's cheaper & less rail line construction disarray. :? Want posh, go closer to Red Hill.

Then again if I had no ties to CBD I'd probably choose Geelong... Corio feels nice up on the hill. Nothing cheap though

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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby brumby33 » Fri Oct 19, 2018 5:52 am

Hahaha nothing too posh....can't afford that on bus drivers wages.

I only chose the Glen Huntly and Malvern area because a close friend of mine lives in this area and we may have to stay with them for a little while till we find a place of our own....but we'll be renting most probably. We don't need a big place, probably a 2brm apt or townhouse may do as I intend on getting rid of a lot of crap before a major move.

Also at this stage, the move down there is only a possibility, nothing definite has been decided as yet and it could be up to a year from now before anything happens. I may head down there a couple of times to sus the place out more and to see if it's somewhere I could settle down.

In regards to location, we'd like to be within 30 minutes to work on either public transport or bicycling and without having to relying on the car....because I don't know Melbourne and the culture of the different localities that much, is why i'm asking for a feel of it from you guys. So far I've liked what I have seen and I thankyou very much for your input.

There are areas of note that we don't wish to go and that is, without sounding elitist or something is where recent issues of the black African troubles are....I've heard it's around the Northwest side of Melbourne, is this correct? I know it's generally a temporary situation as my hometown of Newcastle suffered the same fate a couple of decades ago when the Government sent up big groups of Sudanese to the area and they caused a lot of issues to the area for some time and it was often a No-Go zone. Whilst there are some there still, doesn't seem to be any issues now but that was 2 decades ago.


Again, thankyou to everyone here that has had input here....in the meantime i'll just have to keep buying my lotto tickets to buy my Mc mansion lol but i don't want it on the hills.....to hard to ride home after a big day :lol:

Cheers

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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby biker jk » Fri Oct 19, 2018 8:12 am

You wouldn't be allowed into the inner city suburbs with those politically incorrect views. :lol:

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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby brumby33 » Fri Oct 19, 2018 12:19 pm

biker jk wrote:You wouldn't be allowed into the inner city suburbs with those politically incorrect views. :lol:
There's one thing to be PC or in this case obviously un-PC than it is to be in denial as it seems the hierachy in the Ministry and Senior Police seem to be.....does it require somebody to be murdered for them to say "ok we've got a problem" but I hope it's not as bad as we see on the idiot box and it's all fake news hype.

Wouldn't it be good to one day turn on the Telly and the newsreader says " well...nothing to see here...absolutely nothin' happened today so I'm going down to the pub"


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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby human909 » Fri Oct 19, 2018 1:47 pm

brumby33 wrote:I've heard it's around the Northwest side of Melbourne, is this correct?
A pocket in the Northwest but most of it is in the outer South East. Dandenong, Rowville etc... Media has hyped it but there are definitely youth issues with wannabe gangsters. What makes it different and more reportable is the aggravated burglaries and car jackings on complete strangers.

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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby 10speedsemiracer » Fri Oct 19, 2018 2:58 pm

I think maybe take the media clickbait-y representations of the issue with a very very large chunk of sodium chloride. ..I've provided difficult type services to Financiers and Solicitors in the locations you've mentioned, much tamer than you'd believe. There are pockets of criminality in every diverse urban sprawl setting and the NW of Melb is probably no more or less of an issue than parts of Sydney west or parts of Brisbane etc.
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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby human909 » Fri Oct 19, 2018 3:09 pm

10speedsemiracer wrote:There are pockets of criminality in every diverse urban sprawl setting and the NW of Melb is probably no more or less of an issue than parts of Sydney west or parts of Brisbane etc.
Agreed.

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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby brumby33 » Fri Oct 19, 2018 5:34 pm

Yeah also agree...whilst crime and unruliness are evident in every major city, having being a bus driver in Sydney for 30 years, apart from minor skirmishes, have experience pretty much zero crime. I've never been assaulted (touch wood) whilst on duty.....i don't look for trouble....but wish sometimes i had Chuck Norris abilities :lol:
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fat and old
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Re: My first impression of Melbourne

Postby fat and old » Fri Oct 19, 2018 7:19 pm

There’s a lot of issues out west that don’t make the news. Lots. If you want to live in an area that has notable pockets of Africans or has been affected by them find out where the Islanders live, then live there. There are no African problems around Fawkner, Campbellfield, Craigieburn etc. :lol: If you’re looking at apartments then find one with owner occupiers, too many air bnb’s in some blocks, but I assume it’s the same everywhere.

BTW, Dandy doesn’t have that many issues really. But you can draw a straight line from there along that areas there are :lol:

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