Ok, I'm almost certain to double post this inquiry into the politics and sex forum otherwise known as OMNI but hey, I figure I'd prefer asking a few locals first.

I've just initiated a possible move to Melbourne. At first blush, this would be a move for work. Longer term, I want to be in this region to be within a reasonable travel time from parents and other family. All things considered I hope that this will be one of my last major relocations. I've got tons of questions.

- What the hell is superannuation in layman's terms
- How are taxes otherwise?
- I'd love some general cost-of-living references that would help for someone earning six-figures in terms of the majority of major world currencies
- Where should I consider looking for accommodations in Melbourne? I don't want to have to use a car for every activity. I've heard that Toorak is a good bet. Any other suggestions?

Now to the stupid questions

- What's the social life like for a mature single woman with a 12 handicap? Good clubs to visit, join, etc...
- I might end up doing a lot of flying between MEL and SYD in eco. Survivable?
- BA has been my program of choice with shorthaul on LX around Europe. I've been 'up there' in terms of status for a while. What's transferable either in miles or status?

Any and all additional comments are welcome.

Superannuation is a pension plan. Taxes are high compared to US but probably lower than most of Europe. Cost of living is cheap except for housing which is high in MEL (and really high in SYD), rest of Australia is cheap. MEL has had a housing boom for the past 5 years with prices doubling or tripling during that time; this bubble is starting to burst with some prices falling in the past few months, often by 30% (depends on the type of property). Melbourne is one of the best cities in the world. Period. But I don't live there, so I can't fully comment. However I have looked at it somewhat closely (and I go there to buy wine, now that I know where to buy wine there -- save enough to pay for the trip).

= 401k

swissmich, as a financial planner, these are easy questions:

Superannuation, according to the Australian Financial Reviews Dictionary of Investment Terms (probably the closest to layman's terms as you'll get) is "a means of setting aside funds during working life for use as retirement income, under a regulatory system In Australia) which provides certain taxation incentives..."

Yes, as advised by number_6, in European terms it is similar to pension funds or in American terms, 401K Plans. In Australia, our retirement income policy is backed moreso by defined contributions accumulating retirement capital over our working life (by regular contributions by employers and/or workers) rather than defined benefit (akin to pension funds).

Currently, an employer must contribute 9% of gross ordinary time earnings (excludes overtime etc) of wages/salaries for employees (whether casuals, part-time or full-time; but not for contractors). Basically, so long as you are over 16 or under age 65 and earning $450 gross in a calendar month, your employer pays.

Now it is important as to whether you are going to be an Australian resident for tax purposes or maintain you residency status in Europe. If you are going to be a non-resident in Australia, your employer is not required to contribute to superannuation for you.

We have a tiered taxation structure here in Australia.

Individual Tax Rates for 2003/04 Financial Year (Resident) - Taxable Income

$0 to $6,000 : Nil
$6,000 to $21,600: $0 + 17% > $6,000
$21,301 to $52,000: $2,652 + 30% > $21,600
$52,001 to $62,500: $11,772 + 42% > $52,000
$62,501 + : $16,182 + 47% > $62,500

There are slightly different rates for non-residents:

$0 to $21,600: 29%
$21,301 to $52,000: $6,264 + 30% > $21,600
$52,001 to $62,500: $15,384 + 42% > $52,000
$62,501 + : $19,794 + 47% > $62,500

Those are best left for MEL residents to answer. Toorak is a very upper-class suburb but extremely beautiful (tree-lined streets)!! But if that's what you want...do it.

A few points:
a) be resigned to driving if you want to do much in Melbourne..public transport is best described as "barely adequate" (certainly far below most European standards), and the city itself is geographically very large.
b) Toorak is certainly very plush and not far from the inner city, but there are many other suburbs that probably offer better value and are similarly pleasant and convenient (eg Armadale, Malvern, Kew, Hawthorn, Camberwell). It depends very much on just what sort of atmosphere you like best. Shop around!
c) MEL-SYD is just a one hour flight, quite survivable in Y.

Melbourne has some of the best sand-belt golf courses in Australia and a couple are inthe top 100 in the world. Alas, I've never played any of them (from a struggling 19 handicapper who doesn't play as often as he would like!). Joining them might be a little more difficult and impossible to play golf without a car to carry your clubs!!

Social life...golly, Melbourne is the social capital of Australia - cosmopolitan, great bars and restaurants...I'd live there if it wasn't for the weather (when compared with Brisbane where I live!).

From a woman's point of view, Melbourne has great shopping! I love Melbourne (even considering the SYD/MEL rivalry) & sometimes even fly down just to shop. I like the climate too - a bit (or should that be "a lot"?)colder in winter than SYD but none of the humidity in summer. Gorgeous houses in the areas mentioned above but lots of $$$$ to buy.

Alison.

Melbourne is a fantastic city. I have lived in a number of Australian and OS cities, but Melbourne has a great mix of all the most desired attributes.

The sand belt, as QF WP suggested, does have a number of fantastic courses. Most are tightly held private courses. Dependant on your membership affiliations overseas, you may be able to play on them, but access is limited. At present a number of these courses are fast tracking members who meet certain criteria. Public access courses in Melbourne are of a good standard, and very well priced. Further afield, there are a number of excellent championship courses, just over one hours drive from the CBD.

Whilst the inner eastern suburbs of Toorak and Camberwell/Hawthorn are regarded highly, the inner bayside would be my recommendation. The areas of Port Melbourne, Albert Park and Middle Park offer great access to the CBD (<5km), are well serviced by public transport, are close to sporting faciilties and in the midst of great restaurants and cafes. Given the proximity to these facilities, it is surprisingly quiet. It all depends on your interests and where you will be conducting business.

A 2 bedroom renovated porperty will set you back between $350 - $450 per week, with brand new apartments in high quality high risies costing similar money. Meals are excellent value, with high quality main courses between $25 and $35 dollars. Cafes do coffee for $3 and cooked breakfasts for $10-14. The ubiquitous Big Mac is $3.40. 5-10 km in a cab is around $15.

The MEL-SYD dash is more than survivable in WHY. With flying time of around 54 minutes it is enough to watch the inflight news and have a coffee. It is well serviced by QF with 20+ flights per day, with QP's at both ends.

Now that the weather has come up, I can guarantee you that if you are used to a cold climate you will find Melbourne winters cold (I've had Canadians complain about how cold the place is). Why? Not because of the actual weather itself (very rarely does the minimum dip below 4 C, except in outer suburbs, and very rarely is the maximum below 10C) . No the problem is construction - double glazing is very rare, drafts in buildings are common & even central heating is not as common as you would expect, and our public building (such as shopping centres) are if anything under-heated rather than over-heated. So if you're used to a hermitically sealed environment to deal with winter - be wary of these points when looking for somewhere to live!

Anyway, if you do want to get away from the cold in winter, a weekend or three in Queensland is not that difficult to organise & will help the miles and status to keep ticking over (you can get to Brisbane (2hrs, 15 flights/day) for as little as $200AUD return, and these days Cairns is often sold for as low as $300AUD return).

Other than that, ditto for the above comments - great place to live.

I'm not sure if I can add more to what's been said, but I'll try.

I grew up in Melbourne and lived there until I went to boarding school at 14 in the States. At the moment I'm in Melbourne and live here for about four months of the year.

Choosing a place to live will be very hard (but in a pleasant way) just so many great suburbs to choose from. Our family home was in Toorak, so I'm very familiar with that area and would be happy to address any questions about it. I found it a great place to live, nice parks, shops, cafes, close to the city and friendly people.

They only thing would be whether you're looking at an house or apartment. The nicest parts are really suburban with large family homes - this is how I grew up. However if you're looking at apartments I find that a lot of the ones in Toorak are old 70s style affairs which are overpriced and trade off the suburbs name.

In short for me, Toorak - house, yes, apartment, no.

As mentioned the other inner east suburbs are also quite nice, areas like Hawthorn and Camberwell again have some nice homes, they also have some terrible apartment blocks but some of the new developments are quite nice.
Malvern and Glen Iris are also good areas.

I currently live in an apartment that is part of the Park Hyatt development in the city. Living in the city doesn't suit everyone but it also worth considering.

I'm not a fan of the inner bay side suburbs - but that's just me - there's certainly nothing wrong with them. Even some of the outer eastern suburbs such as Mt Waverly are fine if you want to save some money (fairly long train trip into the city though).


Also plenty of great golf courses. I'm a member at Royal Melbourne and the folks there are superb. I'm also a member at a course down on Cape Shank, my favorite course in Melbourne. It's on the coast just under an hour out of town. There's quite a few nice public courses around town which are also great for a hit. 18 holes at yarra bend for example is only about $20. Pretty much all the public courses are fine - only downside is they can get pretty crowded.


http://domain.com.au is good to get a feel for property.

Melbourne also has the best pub rock 'n roll scene in Australia ... nay, in the whole world!

MEL-SYD in Y is a no brainer. Indeed it's a waste in C (specially with the crap QF called food I had the other month!). The snack box would be better!

Now, my wonderful city.. what can I say that hasn't been covered?

I disagree with whughes3's assessment of the public transport system. We have trams, trains and busses that serve the inner areas very well. Outer areas are more of a problem. I do not drive myself and live fairly near Toorak so I too know that area quite well. I have at my doorstep 4 busses and a tram, and 10 minutes walk to 2 train stations and 5 minutes walk to St. Kilda road with a ton of tram routes on it. In other words getting to/from the city is almost better by PT than by car.

As for living in Toorak - you really have to consider your income and end goals. It's a nice area, but as someone else said - better to live in a home there than an apartment.

I think your preferred lifestyle will sway where you'd like to live. For example, the trendy people live around St. Kilda/Albert Park so that might be your thing, or down at Port Melbourne (Beacon Cove) in a nice apartment (I have a friend who just moved down there and she loves it). Other trendy places to consider are Carlton (cafes, italian food, near the university) and Brunswick etc. Generally the eastern suburbs are considered the better parts to live in, so if you can't afford (or don't want) something so inner, say Surry Hills, Kew, Box Hill might be options (though that is getting out a bit0. Of course if your workplace is not in the city area that may well influence what area you choose to live. Considering golf (which I don't know a lot about) perhaps living closer to some of the courses down at the pensula would be an idea, though that would mean more travel time to the city.

As for social life.. Melbourne's got it all. If you're not a sports lover (note, if you move here you *M U S T* pick a footy team to barrack for - even if you don't care you will be looked at oddly if you don't have one - it's usually a good topic of conversation in the office!). If you're into Theatre, Music, Art there's a great deal of good stuff here: concert hall, arts centre, playhouse, theatres, national gallery etc. Lots of cafe life - specially st. kilda, carlton, southbank (near the city) etc. Even the casino if that's your thing (it's notmine).

Oh, weather: average winter say 0C->10C and summer 15C->32C (though it has got to 45C in extremes and we can have streaks of days over 35). No snow though so nothing like ZRH

Feel free to ask us more questions when your plans come together - I'm sure we can continue to give you more opinions and possibly conflict with eachothetr to make it even more fun!

WOW!! This place sounds fantastic. Is it real can anyone live there?

actually, it's really the city formerly known as West Podunk, Iowa, after the consultants got done rebadging it and the heavy lift aeroplanes did their job

Pardon? No humidity in summer?

I have stood on tennis courts at Melbourne Park (another advantage of Melbourne, home of THE best Grand Slam tennis tournament) in over 40 degree heat with humidity over 80% - it was bad enough to suspend play for the women and the juniors - and this is not an isolated occurrence.

I agree though that Melbourne is fine, but not as good as Sydney.

Transport is also very good down there, with cheap multi-modal tickets easily available.

Dave