Where I chose to live and why- Victoria

Choosing somewhere to live in Australia is perhaps one of the biggest decisions you need to make.  Throw into the mix schools and work, and it’s important to get it right.

Hopefully, the fellow migrant posts here may help you.

For those that want to contribute, please let us know the general area that you live and why you chose that location. Was it work, lifestyle, family, convenience or education that helped you decide. Have you found any benefits or downsides since moving to you new location?

To add to this page, please click the button below and fill in the form.

My family and I moved to Australia in Dec 2022. We visited Thailand and then came to Aus staying with family in Lara until we secured a rental!

We chose the state of Victoria because as much as we love the hot weather we enjoy having seasons! We chose Mount Duneed, Geelong to live because we fell in love with the area. We loved the modern houses and loved how many amazing parks there were! We are close (15 mins) to amazing beaches and there are plenty of shops and restaurants close by! We’re about 80 mins from Melbourne so close enough for my partner’s work.

We chose to live on the Mornington Peninsula as we work from home and wanted to live closer to a beach front with some surf spots close by, we are about 70 mins from the city, we have lots of shops around, the schools seem great for our 2 boys 6 and 5 Y/O. We are not really city people after spending most our adult lives living in London, my wife is from Torquay so raising a family near the beach was important to our move.

As we came out on a 482 visa we knew that we had to make sure we were in commutable areas for work, I wanted to be by a beach but not on the beach, commutable to the city but not too close to keep house prices reasonable, be by schools, parks and be in a family friendly suburb… we found it in Chelsea Heights. We are a 5 minutes drive to the beach, close to the city and just as close to the Peninsula as well as other areas of natural beauty. My children for the first time can cycle to school on their own and we have the suburb park in our back garden where the kids make new friends every day and get to go and play freely. There is so much that this area of Victoria has to offer and we are still so excited that we get to explore everything new.

@thataustralianwelshbird- instagram

We visited Melbourne on a holiday and fell in the love with the quirkiness. There were plenty of activities and places to see. We visited the aquarium in the city, stayed in Geelong which had such a lovely family feel, especially when we were there over the Christmas period.

We wanted to move to Australia for the better quality of life, the weather is perfect for us as it’s not stupidly hot in summer as we can ski in the same state, which is a massive bonus!