New to Melbourne? Start Here

After saying goodbye to that last instructor, I went back to the second female instructor I’d tried before. She’s Australian, and she gave me an assessment. Then, she was super blunt: “Your driving skill is bad, you might need a couple of months.” Honestly, hearing that made me crumble… She explained that beginners shouldn’t start with 90-minute lessons right away. It’s much better to practice more often for shorter periods than one long session. ...

I really regret not making this decision sooner. I should have switched instructors back around the 4th or 5th lesson. I always tend to be too considerate of other people’s feelings. Why do I always worry about others’ feelings? If it’s not a good fit, it’s not a good fit – no need to make excuses for myself. The Instructor’s Core Problem: Too Much Talk, Not Enough Drive This instructor’s main issue was talking too much and practicing too little. Every lesson, I’d drive a short distance, then stop. He’d repeatedly go over the same issues (like turning too late or straightening the wheel too slowly), and he’d talk for 15-30 minutes each time. One lesson, we only drove 5 kilometers in 90 minutes! ...

Lesson 6: Back to Basics This lesson, my instructor spent a whole 30 minutes just talking. Honestly, he was going over stuff I already knew, like turning too late or not straightening the wheel fast enough. When your basic skills aren’t there, hearing it a thousand times won’t help; you just need more practice. I’d also taken a two-week break this time, and it felt like starting all over again. You really can’t stop practicing when you’re learning to drive. ...

Buying a second-hand car without much car knowledge can be daunting, but here’s how our experience went and some tips we learned. Where We Looked: We started with Facebook Marketplace, but there were too many scams to sort through. Next, we tried Google Maps to look for local dealers, but it was hard to figure out who had the cars we were after, so we had to call around. Eventually, we found carsales.com.au, a reliable website where we found a car, sent an inquiry, got a call back, and made a deposit on the same day. ...

In my last update, I mentioned trying out six instructors and finally picking one who seemed professional and friendly. At first, I had high hopes, but things did not go the way I imagined. Lesson 2: Hitting the Main Roads for the First Time My hands were sweating on the steering wheel. One moment I’d forget to brake, the next I’d miss seeing the traffic lights. My instructor would shout things like, “Don’t be afraid of the cars next to you… why are you dodging them?!” or “It’s a red light, why aren’t you braking?!” I seriously had no awareness and was so overwhelmed just trying to handle the basic operations. I just did what I was told, feeling like a puppet simply following commands. ...

Seriously, if you pick the wrong driving instructor, you’re just throwing money and time down the drain. Let me share my experience switching instructors; maybe it will help you avoid some pitfalls. Instructor #1: The L Lady Ms. L instructor I mentioned in my first note was super slow to reply. We’d set up a time, then she’d say she wasn’t feeling well. I said no worries, we could reschedule when she felt better. But then, two weeks went by, and not a peep from her. I decided to give up and keep looking. Instructor #2: The Local Facebook Find ...

My first driving instructor Ms. L was introduced by a casual friend. It’s $55 for 45 minutes. At first, she taught me all the car operations: what lights are for, wipers, different kinds of brakes… so many terms I didn’t know, and I was pretty confused. Then we just started driving. Turning was really hard; I had no idea how much to turn the wheel. All I remembered was her telling me not to cross my hands. ...

Next up in our suburban hunt is Preston, located about 9 kilometers northeast of the CBD. After looking at Rosanna and Point Cook, I wanted to see how Preston compares. Let’s dig into the details to see if it could be a good fit for our family. Rental Prices Rent here for a three-bedroom house ranges from $520 to $600 per week. The houses are pretty average, nothing fancy, but livable. Safety Here’s where things get a little worrying. Preston has a crime rate of 20/100, which is higher than some other areas we’ve looked at. In 2023, there were 1,677 reported thefts. That makes me a bit cautious, especially with two young kids to think about. It’s definitely something to consider. ...

Our next stop on this family-friendly exploration journey is Point Cook, located about 22 kilometers southwest of the CBD. This suburb has been popping up in my searches, so I wanted to take a closer look, especially after checking out Rosanna and Preston. Rental Prices Let’s start with rent—I found that three-bedroom houses here range between $400 and $490 per week, and a lot of the houses are fairly new. That’s nice to see! The housing prices seem reasonable too, but you know when something feels a little too good? The lower rent makes me wonder about the neighborhood. I guess we’ll need to check that out more closely. ...

Next up on our family’s Melbourne suburb exploration is Rosanna, located around 12 kilometers northeast of the CBD. We’re continuing our search for the right suburb, and Rosanna has some interesting features worth diving into. I am comparing it with other suburbs like Point Cook and Preston, so I look at rent, safety, schools, and community in the same way. Here’s what I’ve gathered so far. Rental Prices Let’s talk numbers first—because, well, that’s what I do! The rent in Rosanna for a three-bedroom house falls between $430 and $580 per week. That’s quite a range, but one thing to note is that many of the houses I came across seem a bit on the older side. Not a dealbreaker, but if you’re picky about more modern living spaces, it’s something to think about. Buying a house here is a different story—prices are over $1.2M, which is way outside our budget. ...