10 November 28, 2021The Sunday Times
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DAVID M BENETT/ZETTER/GETTY IMAGES; PAVEL DUDEK/RICARDO GONCALVES/ALAMY
children, Jessica, 18, and Tyler, 15, attend
good state schools (many Melburnians go
private). She brought her mother, Dawn,
84, over on an aged parent visa seven
years ago. “I have an amazing city/beach
lifestyle. One of the best things about
Melbourne, apart from the weather, is the
low crime rates. I feel safe walking about
at night. A lot of Brits comment on that.”
Melbourne’s culture scene makes it a
more natural choice for Brits than Sydney,
according to Olivia Wilson, who moved to
Australia from Somerset in 2014. “It feels
more European,” says Wilson, 40, a
freelance writer. “You’ve got a bigger
foodie scene, you’ve got the beautiful
laneways. In Sydney it’s high-rise buildings
and go-go-go; Melbourne is more chilled.”
Wilson has settled in the beachside
suburb of Edithvale, about 30 minutes
southeast of the city, with her husband,
Tim, who works in the food industry, and
their children aged 13 and 9. They
recently bought a three-bedroom semi,
50 metres from the beach, for A$700,000
(£375,000). “We have the best of bothLOVE AT
K
ylie Minogue broke British
hearts last month when she
announced she was moving
back to Australia after
30 years of living in the UK.
The smart money is on the pop princess,
53, returning to her home town of
Melbourne to be close to her family.
If she misses Britain, she won’t have
to go far to find a pom: there are 3,700
members of the British Expats in
Melbourne Facebook group, which is run
by Gail Owen, who moved over from
Hampshire in 2007. “Kylie Minogue was
the reason I moved to Melbourne,” says
Owen, 52, a management consultant.
“It was my dream to move here after I saw
the first episode of Neighbours [which is
filmed in the city] when I was 16.”
Fourteen years ago Owen was living in
Hampshire and tried to go to the beach on
a bank holiday Monday. “I couldn’t get on
the M3, the traffic was so bad. I thought,
‘Too many people live here.’ And I was so
over the English weather. So I applied for
a permanent visa to Australia and movedAustralia-bound singer Kylie is tipped to settle in Melbourne.
She’ll find beach life, low crime rates and plenty of British expats
Kylie
Minogue has
announced
that she is
leaving
Britain for
her native
AustraliaHUGH
GRAHAM@HughGrahamST
over with my husband and two kids,
aged four and one.”
Today she lives in a three-bedroom
apartment overlooking the sea in Port
Melbourne, an affluent suburb that’s a
ten-minute tram ride southwest of the city
centre, where similar properties would
cost A$2 million (£1.07 million) to buy and
A$1,400 (£755) a week to rent.
Her block has a large swimming pool
and she walks out on to the beach, where
there is a cycle path lined with palm trees
and toned bodies. “I said it’s not worth
moving to Australia unless you’re living by
the beach. On the weekend I wanted to
feel like I was on holiday, and I do. I’m
living the dream. I’ve lived in England,
Bermuda, Switzerland, and there’s
nowhere I’d rather be than Melbourne.”
Even though she lives in the city, her