melbourne, australia

amother

Tue, Oct 05 2010, 10:49 am

I'm writing on behalf of my sister who might be moving to Melbourne because of her husband's job offer. She's a bit overwhelmed with the long distance move and would appreciate information about the community. They're in late 30s, shtark DL/MO (my sister is tzniusdik but stylish, wears denim and sandals, no stockings in warm weather, TV in the house and watches DVD) with school age children, BIL is a professional.

What are the choices of shul? Something that's welcoming to newcomers, good for families with children, ladies shiurim would be nice. She won't like shuls where ladies gossip and do fashion shows every shabbos.

What are the school choices? They don't mind co-ed in early grades but would like to send them to single-gender for middle schools. They value secular education highly but detests materialism in many MO schools. What are the tuitions like?

What are the housing options like in Jewish neighborhood(s)? They'd like a house with a garden ideally, will need 3-4 bedrooms. What's the rent like?

Is the eruv accepted by everyone? She has heard it's near the beach--are there separate beaches like we have in Israel

Do they need a car? Two cars necessary? How bad is the school run and commuting trafic?

If her husband gets a work visa, does that allow her to work as well?

Is it easy to get cholov yisroel milk and yogurt? Is there a problem with getting kosher meat or problem with arabs and antisemitic attacks, chas vesholom?

Also what's the weather like, does it get really hot in summer or does it rain a lot or have hurricanes? I guess u don't have to worry about earthquakes?

How do you manage if your family is in Israel. It just looks so so far. How difficult/expensive to fly to Israel?

toda rabba indeed.

Atali

Tue, Oct 05 2010, 11:28 am

amother wrote:

There is a large selection of shuls, but someone else could probably answer this one better than me

Quote:

What are the school choices? They don't mind co-ed in early grades but would like to send them to single-gender for middle schools. They value secular education highly but detests materialism in many MO schools. What are the tuitions like?

The MO school there is Yavneh, but it is probably too far to the left for your sister. It is coed all the way through.

More right-wing MO people send to Yeshiva/Beth Rivka, which is run by Chabad but has a mix of everyone.

Those are really the only two choices that would be remotely okay for her.

Quote:

What are the housing options like in Jewish neighborhood(s)? They'd like a house with a garden ideally, will need 3-4 bedrooms. What's the rent like?

If it is anything like it was when I moved away a few years ago, rent is really, really, high. For a house that you are describing rent would be at least $400 per week, and probably more.

Quote:

Is the eruv accepted by everyone? She has heard it's near the beach--are there separate beaches like we have in Israel

The eruv is accepted by everyone except some Lubavitchers. No separate beaches.

Quote:

Do they need a car? Two cars necessary? How bad is the school run and commuting trafic?

If her husband gets a work visa, does that allow her to work as well?

One car is necessary and depending on where DH works they may need two.

Quote:

Is it easy to get cholov yisroel milk and yogurt? Is there a problem with getting kosher meat or problem with arabs and antisemitic attacks, chas vesholom?

Also what's the weather like, does it get really hot in summer or does it rain a lot or have hurricanes? I guess u don't have to worry about earthquakes?

How do you manage if your family is in Israel. It just looks so so far. How difficult/expensive to fly to Israel?

toda rabba indeed.

Kosher food is easy to get (but pricey), weather is quite nice but tends to be very dry. It is definitely expensive to fly there.

amother

Sun, Oct 17 2010, 5:03 am

What are the choices of shul? Something that's welcoming to newcomers, good for families with children, ladies shiurim would be nice. She won't like shuls where ladies gossip and do fashion shows every shabbos.

Large variety of shuls to choose from. Alot of shuirim to choose from

What are the school choices? They don't mind co-ed in early grades but would like to send them to single-gender for middle schools. They value secular education highly but detests materialism in many MO schools. What are the tuitions like?
There is Beth Rivka, Yeshiva which is a chabad community school it is one of the highest school for secular education in the state. Tution is flexable depending on income. Goverment here helps alot

What are the housing options like in Jewish neighborhood(s)? They'd like a house with a garden ideally, will need 3-4 bedrooms. What's the rent like?
rent 3-4 bedroom is $2000+ a week. Buying a house taht size is $800,000 plus

Is the eruv accepted by everyone? She has heard it's near the beach--are there separate beaches like we have in Israel
Everyone except some of chabad use the eiruv. `The beach is a few miles away. There are no separate beaches. You could go far out and possibly find a seculuded beach.

Do they need a car? Two cars necessary? How bad is the school run and commuting trafic?
Most people live in the neighbourhood. Depending on where they live school is very possible to be walking distance. The downtown is approx 6 miles away or a 20 min drive. You could survive with one car. We do.

If her husband gets a work visa, does that allow her to work as well?
Both will need working visas. Long Term visas are hard to get if no one is already Australian. If one marries an Australian it is striaght forward. If her husband has a job lined up see if they could sponsor him to come in

Is it easy to get cholov yisroel milk and yogurt? Is there a problem with getting kosher meat or problem with arabs and antisemitic attacks, chas vesholom?
Cholov Yisroel milk, yogurt cheese is easy. 3 different butcher with different hechsharim to choose from
There have been antisemitic attacks like anywhere. All the shuls and schools have full time security guards during school hours and Shabbos.

Also what's the weather like, does it get really hot in summer or does it rain a lot or have hurricanes? I guess u don't have to worry about earthquakes?
No hurricanes. Till recently we have been in drought. This year there has been alot of rain. Winter are cold but mild - never snows. Summer we do get some very hot days over !00F or 40C but it is dry heat. Most of the summer is mild

How do you manage if your family is in Israel. It just looks so so far. How difficult/expensive to fly to Israel?
recently tickets have been close to $3000.

lalelo

Sun, Nov 28 2010, 9:07 pm

im from melbourne. what most people answered is exactly what I would say,

however to rent a house with 3-4 bedrooms and a garden would be at LEAST 1000 a week, and to a buy a decent house would be 1M plus, not for some gorgeous mansion but for something 'liveable'.

kosher food is very easy to buy, but is quite expensive. australia has great meat and steaks for reasonable prices, similar to the us. we have quite a few bakeries, all of which are amazing and dont compare to the ones in boro park, five towns etc.

beth rivkah and yeshivah are chabad schools and are great and have an extremely diverse crowd. they are the top schools with great marks for jewish and general studies. I wouldnt send my kids anywhere else!

that being said, melbourne is a great place to live. great schools. nice people. great weather. great lifestyle. I wouldnt live any where else!

amother

Sun, Nov 28 2010, 10:09 pm

amother wrote:

I'm writing on behalf of my sister who might be moving to Melbourne because of her husband's job offer. She's a bit overwhelmed with the long distance move and would appreciate information about the community. They're in late 30s, shtark DL/MO (my sister is tzniusdik but stylish, wears denim and sandals, no stockings in warm weather, TV in the house and watches DVD) with school age children, BIL is a professional.

What are the choices of shul? Something that's welcoming to newcomers, good for families with children, ladies shiurim would be nice. She won't like shuls where ladies gossip and do fashion shows every shabbos. -

What are the school choices? They don't mind co-ed in early grades but would like to send them to single-gender for middle schools. They value secular education highly but detests materialism in many MO schools. What are the tuitions like?

What are the housing options like in Jewish neighborhood(s)? They'd like a house with a garden ideally, will need 3-4 bedrooms. What's the rent like?

Is the eruv accepted by everyone? She has heard it's near the beach--are there separate beaches like we have in Israel

Do they need a car? Two cars necessary? How bad is the school run and commuting trafic?

If her husband gets a work visa, does that allow her to work as well?

Is it easy to get cholov yisroel milk and yogurt? Is there a problem with getting kosher meat or problem with arabs and antisemitic attacks, chas vesholom?

Also what's the weather like, does it get really hot in summer or does it rain a lot or have hurricanes? I guess u don't have to worry about earthquakes?

How do you manage if your family is in Israel. It just looks so so far. How difficult/expensive to fly to Israel?

toda rabba indeed.[/color]

[/color] Lots of choices of ladies's shiurim--people who go to one shule might go to shiurim at another.
you asked about work visas. I am almost 100% certain that she can work as well. Best to double-check on the dept of immigration website.
No real problems of anti-semitism etc anymore than any other place, even though we have guards etc at all the schools, it often feels like they're there more to make sure there are no meshugoim coming by rather than anything else.
no hurricanes, can rain a lot (occassionally) or have droughts. Can get really hot, but doesn't usually stay hot for weeks at a time.
Yes, travelling to family is the most difficult/expensive part.
Jewish neighbourhood wise, depending on how 'central' they need/want to be, will depend on the cost of the place.
Tuitions are not extraordinarily high and the schools here WILL work with you! (especially if you have a number of kids).
I third the motion that Yavneh-co-ed is probably more "left' than similar 'oriented' schools around the world. Yeshivah/Beth Rivkah (Girls/boys) is a Chabad-run school but caters to a diverse crowd, ranging from the non-observant to MO to 'shtark DL' (as you define it), just 'plain frum' and Lubavitchers.