Tuesday 8th April

Another early start today as we were picking up a hire car to go and decide where we wanted to live, we already had a list of areas to view but wanted to see exactly where they were. Jason picked up the car just before 9 and it took us about 30 mins just to get out of the city due to lots of one way systems, it was quite stressful to say the least, not only are you watching the roads, the signals, the people but the trams too.

Eventually we set off down the Nepean Highway and it was so beautiful, it was also great to be out of the city, we all had our shorts on today, even Tom, it was warm with clear blue skies, the scenery was beautiful, so different, some really modern buildings and some really old, the mix was amazing and how they blended together, it was also really green. We were all in awe of the views, We had a steady drive and had agreed to head towards Mount Martha and Mount Eliza which is where I wanted to live, after about 45 mins we hit Frankston, we stopped and had a walk on the pier and watched the fishermen and the star fish, the water was so still and clear blue you could see the star fish. The kids were amazed.

(Click on the pictures to make them bigger)

We agreed that as it had already taken us 45 minutes, not in rush hour, to get to this point and Mount Eliza was probably another 15 mins away and Mount Martha even further than that we would not go any further South than this. It would take too long for Jason to get to and from work in rush hour each day.

We then headed inland to some of the places on our list, first stop was Langwarrin, well we eventually found Langwarrin, not sure where we were at first but it seemed far too rural for me, I could already imagine the creepy crawlies. The Pindar Estate looked really nice, but we could not figure out where the shops and schools were to start with, so although we liked the development, we weren’t sure if it was for us. We had a Sat Nav and we kept putting in the places but then when we saw a development we had seem on Realestate.com would turn round and go and have a look, the sat nav was always having to recalculate and was getting very cross with Jason.

Next stop was Cranbourne and Brookland Greens Estate, we won’t forget this development as Mollie coughed while we were driving round, I turned to make sure she as Ok, but she was sick, we managed to get her out of the car for the worst of it thankfully, the lads were not impressed as we only had limited tissues and had to drive to a petrol station for wet wipes etc to try and clean everything up.

Cranbourne also had Carlisle Park which again had some nice new and big houses , even the kids were oohing and aaaing in the back of the car. We did not know what Carlisle Park was called at first, it was not well signposted, but they had a display village, now these display villages are something else, they are part of large developments where builders go and build 3 or 4 of their house designs, you can then just walk down a street and in and out of say 20 show homes, all different by these different builders. We called into the Porter Davis office, mum and Nikki will know these houses as we have spent quite some time looking at these and the colour selections you can have, we asked where we were and got talking to Jo the sales lady, she was really helpful and told us where to look for rentals and also about a new development which sounded nice, she also told us to go and have a look at the Cremone show house and see what we thought. Well again the kids were in awe, it was beautiful, much bigger than it looks in the pictures, they kids had picked out there bedrooms and even one for nana and grandad before we had even looked downstairs, it really was beautifully finished. Cranbourne was lovely, it had a good feel to it and a little town too.

After a McDonalds lunch (they really are the same the world over) we set off to Lyndhurst and Sandhurst (BEAUTIFUL) which again were nice / lovely developments, Patterson Lakes and Harbour Town then back to the beach road.

I loved this side of the bay, it was a real mix of old and new, it reminded me of Clearwater Beach and was just how I had imagined it to be, the beaches are stunning and the sea just clear blue, but of course all this comes at a price for renting and buying, we need to be realistic and ensure that where ever we rent is where we want to buy too, well that is if we ever sell the bl**dy house, and so we are not moving the kids about too much. It is all very American, you can go miles and there is nothing then you came across a little village with new houses a shopping centre and that is it, some places you also HAVE to have cars, there is no such thing as walking to the local shops, unless you live actually on the coast which is going to cost us mega bucks and we don’t have mega bucks unfortunately.

From this side of the bay we headed back round the city to the other side of the bay where there are only a couple of nice beaches and it is much more industrial, but of course this then makes it cheaper to live, we had a look at Sanctuary Lakes and Point Cook, Sanctuary Lakes is the equivalent of Sandhurst, built around a Greg Norman golf course, it was lovely with some amazing houses, and walk ways and handy for schools and a big shopping centre. Adjoining Sanctuary Lakes is Point Cook, again all new houses, lots of different sizes with open spaces and play grounds. All very nice, but I couldn’t get over the drive down the other side of the Bay it was different not like all the industrial bits we had driven though to get to this area.

We then headed inland to Caroline Springs and Taylors Hill which are behind the city, this area was not as lush and green, and again my heart was still not in this as I had fallen in love with the Bayside areas, Caroline Springs was amazing though, all brand new, in fact it is a brand new town that has been purpose built, all new schools, swimming and activity centres, restaurants, parks, you don’t need to leave, we had a look in another show home as we all needed to stretch our legs, well this one was bigger, much bigger I hasten to add than the last one and cheaper too. Again the kids had it all planned out and even nana and grandads room, this even had a plunge pool which the kids liked too. Admittedly it was beautiful with an amazing outdoor living room which is what we wanted.

We got back to the apartment just after 7, after a very long day and an accidental circuit of Albert Park where they do the grand prix races, we actually drove round that. We had left over pizza for tea and the kids watched TV for a bit.

We now need to make some decisions as to where we are going to go back to look at rentals – tomorrow is going to be a fun day.