Melbourne for newcomers (2) - transportation & finding a house to rent

I will cover transportation and finding a house to rent together because I think this will be the next items on your agenda after you'll arrive here in Melbourne : that is - how can I get from A to B and where and how will I find something to rent.

Transportation

Depending on where you are staying at the beginning, you'll have (or not) some public transportation options available.
These might be : bus, train, tram. For all of them you have the same ticket - you can for example buy one for 1 day and not have to worry about where you are going (depending on zones).
You'll see that the tickets will be on zones - that is Zone 1 - the centre of the city and the nearby suburbs, and Zone 2 - other suburbs. The prices at this moment are (a few prices, only to give you an idea) : daily full fare zone 1 -$6.8, 2 hour full fare zone 2 - $2.80, daily full fare zone 1+2 - $10.60. In the train stations or in trams there are automatic machines where you can buy tickets.

It all depends on where you are staying at the beginning. You'll see that in order to go an see some houses to rent, access to transportation is very important (it is always better to buy a car - I'll cover this subject in a future post). As I mentioned in the previous post, South Yarra is a great location for newcomers. You can see in the Melbourne Train Network map here that the South Yarra train station is near to the city loop (the centre) .. and also offers great connections to other areas of the city where you might go later to find something to rent.





Finding a house to rent
This might be the most difficult thing to do for a newcomer, or it can take a while before you'll find a place that you like.
The renting process here is quite difficult : you need to provide references from you previous place, from where you've worked and will work + photocopy of the passports. If you have an account at a bank here you can ask for a bank statement showing the amount of money you have and you can link it to the renting application form.
If you'll have internet connection (I think is necessary to have internet connection where you'll be staying - you'll need it to search for a job/house etc) then you can visit http://www.domain.com.au and search for a house in the suburb you like. This site offers also information about each of the - you can find there a link "Profile" near the suburb name. On the profile page you can find information on the population of that suburb, but also the real estate agents and their addresses. The next thing to do is to check when the inspection will be on the houses you like and go there to see them.
As I saw, the real estate agents are mainly located on the Centre Road of the suburbs (or in commercial centres in the suburbs). The train usually has a station near the Centre Road so one other option is to take the train, get off at the suburb you like, and walk on the Centre Road to find Real Estate Agents offices (please get a map and check first that the train station is near the Centre Road). Some of them also keep "key in office" so you can pick up keys and go to see the house by yourself (you'll be asked for a deposit of $50/$70 and they'll make a photocopy of your passport - and you should be back in 1 hour). Usually the inspections are in the weekend so if you see the house over the week and you like it and apply for it you might be accepted.
Good luck !!