I treechanged from Northcote to Woodend a few years ago.
Love Woodend.
BUT. I'm now a single parent. Am studying for a career change from communication to social research.
When I get a job, it is likely to be in Melbourne which is a three-hour round trip commute from here. And that's if it's in the CBD. If it's outside the CBD such as at Deakin or Monash, it will be almost impossible to get there from Woodend. My girls are with me every weeknight so I need to be home by 6.30 and then I need to start dinner/bath/bed and get everything ready for the morning.
I will wait until I have a job in the next 12-18 months, but am toying with the idea of moving to Eltham.
The pros:
Beautiful area
Great houses, similar prices to Woodend
Country feel
Metro train line
Great schools (Woodend has good primary schools but not great public secondary schools)
The cons:
I will be doing school drop offs/pickups so factoring these into a commute into the city, still makes it a trek
Tell me about how you find the school drop off/pick up in Eltham in terms of the time it takes/traffic etc.
Honestly, if you start at 9, you need to be on the road (after drop offs) by 745. Earlier depending on where you work. If you're using public transport to commute to the city, you will struggle to get a car park after 7 at the station.
But we did it for a long time. We lived in eltham when dd1 was born. Both worked in the city Nicholson st and Gertrude st). After we moved to Greensborough when she was 10 months, she staid at the same long day care until she started school. So we still commuted via eltham. Oh, and her crèche was right near alistair Knox park so on the city side of eltham.
Main rod can be a nightmare but there are ways around most of it (use back streets and come down mount pleasant rd).
The bonus is that at that early hour, you kids most of the madness of school drop offs if you use before school care.
Thanks MG, that's really useful. I did think that parking would be an issue. I think I'll stay put if I get a job in the CBD and only consider a move if I get a job I love at Deakin or Monash and I can see being there for years. Secondary schooling might be another push factor.
Ginger - my house is worth around $580K. I can get something similar with less land in Eltham for that, give or take $50K. Starting prices for a 3br older style house would be around $400K in Woodend. Infact, there are units for sale for closer to $475K. Upper end houses on a few acres are pushing a million, on substantial acreage, over a million.
There are ways around the parking at station things. You can hop somewhere further down the line - Rosanna or Macleod you have a better chance of getting a park a bit later. Watsonia definitely, I have found parks at Watsonia as late as 8.30am, but it is a bit the wrong way from Eltham.
I used to work in the CBD and DH works at Tulla. When we were looking at buying, i looked at the train system pics, including vline and had a look at towns/suburbs along the lines. We looked at a few areas along the hurstbridge line, but then ended up buying along the mel-syd (vline) - extension of broadmeadows/crazyburn line. This wouldn't help you if you were at deakin, but is great for access to the cbd.
Have a look at Hurstbridge too. Good schools around, childcare centre being built in the same street as the station. Far quieter than Eltham plus you'd probably get a bigger block for your budget than you would in Eltham.
I commuted from Hurstbridge to the CBD for a few years - it added about 20 minutes to the train ride from Eltham. I know people using the Epping line come over to HB - easier to park, same length of time to the CBD.
Eltham is nice but it's getting very busy. I worked in Eltham before kids and if I left work when the train arrived, it would take me 20+ minutes just to get through Main Street.
Eltham/Commuting/Making New Friends
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