Living Aboard in Melbourne, Australia

[NoobSchoolBus]

Gidday all,

This is a great community, we've been lucky enough to learn a lot just reading about every ones adventures, and we're getting really jealous.

It's been a few years now that we (wife + me + dog) have been trawling the sailing blogs, and trying to understand what to expect going ahead with a yacht and living aboard.

We're really attracted to the idea for many reasons, rather than setting up a house at such high prices, and one day we could be lucky enough to cast off and sail around the world. Meanwhile we'd be paying off the boat and learning the ropes while living closer to work, or so it would seem...

After dreaming about it for so long I finally started this week emailing marinas in the our area, which is Melbourne in Australia(Port Phillip Bay), and looking more closely at the terms and conditions on their websites. Just trying to figure out if it could actually be a reality. We're from New Zealand and kind of just took it for granted that we could live aboard. But the responses coming back makes the idea seem unfeasible


Allowed to live aboard long term (Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne, Australia):

1. New Quay Marina -> The only marina so far found to allow live aboards (one email, which needs confirmation). [great location but prices around AU$10,000+ per annum].

NOT ALLOWED to live aboard long term (Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne, Australia):

1. Sandringham Yacht Club -> Management doesn’t allow living aboard on a permanent basis.
2. St Kilda Marina -> Management doesn’t allow living aboard on a permanent basis.
3. Marina Yarra's Edge -> Management doesn’t allow living aboard on a permanent basis.
4. Yaringa Marina -> Management doesn’t allow living aboard on a permanent basis.
5. Waterfront City Marina -> Only short term berthing.
6. Victoria Harbour marina -> Live-aboards not allowed.
7. Pier 35 marina -> Live-aboards not allowed.
8. Royal Brighton Yacht Club -> Live-aboards not allowed.
9. Savages Wharf -> Terms state shall use the Facility solely for the use and enjoyment of the Craft. Also the terms of this marina seem a bit extreme http://www.savageswharf.com.au/pdf/23-02-2005_marina_storage_agreement.pdf , particularly: The Licensor shall have a lien on the Craft, its fittings and contents for the payment of all moneys due to the Licensor under this Agreement. The Licensee authorises the Licensor to take possession of the Craft, its fittings and contents on default in payment of an account and authorises the licensor to sell the Craft, its fittings and contents if the account remains unpaid for 21 days).

Waiting for response:

1. Anchorage Marina
2. Royal Geelong Yacht Club

Still to try:

1. Hobsons Bay Yacht Club
2. Royal Victorian Motor Yacht Club
3. Royal Yacht Club of Victoria
4. Mordialloc Motor Yacht Club
5. Mornington Yacht Club
6. Martha Cove Harbour
7. Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron
8. Queenscliff Harbour
9. Queenscliff Cruising Yacht Club
10. Western Port Marina
11. San Remo Boat Harbour
12. Newhaven Yacht Squadron
13. Patterson Lakes Marina -> although this would probably have height restrictions.
14. Melbourne Superyacht Marina -> unlikely to be suitable.

Marina Location Maps:
Victoria Marina Map
Australian Marinas Guide, Victorian marina, Docklands ,Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne marina


Other options:

1. Anchoring -> Free is this possible in Port Phillip long term? Unsecured, Need to get to and from work during week days, probably not sustainable in the long term, dog.
2. Swing moorings -> Need to get to and from work during week days, probably not sustainable in the long term, dog. Are you allowed to live aboard swing moorings in Port Phillip Bay? Allowed is an annoying term to use, people shouldn't be impaired from pursuing such a positive lifestyle, with a smaller environmental footprint.

I'll update these lists as I find out more.


We don't want to have to sneak-a-board and want to feel at home in our investment on the water. We really dont want to end up in this situation:
Boat dwellers ordered out - ABC Melbourne - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Since that occurred I notice that the Mooloolaba Marina has updated their website with a maximum stay of 4 months , such a terrible situation for those people. With only one marina so far allowing live aboards around Melbourne it would be too risky to pursue the life style we're so looking forward to.

Does anyone have any experience living aboard in Port Phillip Bay? or around Australia in general.

Thanks for taking the time to read all of that

[beneteau-500]

G'day, noobschoolbus as a ex pat who has been abroad now for 17 yrs i look forward to your info i use to sail out of mornington and metung many light yrs ago and am heading back to victoria next november and at this point in time am looking to heading to welshpool/ port albert so any info would be great ,

[hoppy]

I'm from Melbourne and have been abroad for a mere 12.5 years but I have tried keeping in touch reading theage.

I vaguely recall reading something about the state government being against liveaboards in Port Phillip Bay and how the attitude was different to here in Stockholm.

I think it was pushed as an environmental thing by the same tree-hugging-hippies who protest any time some developer proposes a new marina or an upgrade of existing marinas or breakwaters.

I also think there are restrictions on what work you can do on the boat whilst it is in the water. Things like sanding decks and varnishing outside wood may be banned.

I hope I am wrong this, but the longer I stay away and in spite of all the things I moan about regarding Sweden and Swedes, it feels like Aus is becoming a real backwards nanny state with rules for anything and everything and it is getting easier to stay away.

I am trying to get on to the epa.vic.gov.au site to see if what I wrote was accurate or just a fantasy to justify to myself I should stick with the freezing winters here, but the site is down

[NoobSchoolBus]

Originally Posted by beneteau-500

...looking to heading to welshpool/
port albert so any info would be great ,

I'll keep an eye out if i come across anything for that area, I haven't found a website for port albert but there was this:
http://www.portbooker.com/en/mooring...rt-yacht-club/
Beautiful area Wilsons Prom though, we've walked round there a couple of
years ago.

Originally Posted by hoppy

I vaguely recall reading something about the state government being against
liveaboards in Port Phillip Bay ... it feels like Aus is becoming a real backwards nanny state with rules for anything and everything and it is getting easier to stay away.

Spot on there, it's hard to have fun over here these days without someone getting on your case, just recently we took a little mini motorbike into a massive public paddock behind our house for 10 minutes and had an armed police officer on a big XR450 show up to try and give us a fine.

Sweden sounds nice its definitely on our list.


I found another resource for ports in the area:
Slips in Victoria / Australia: rental mooring and boats - Portbooker.

I asked the moderators to let me update the initial post but its not set up to let me so ill just have to provide updates here or start filling out the wiki or something.

newly waiting on these to get back to me:
- mordialloc
- hobson bay
- RVMYC

we went for a walk around the docklands area last night. I had no idea it was that nice there, its a lot like the Sydney waterfront scene. Really nice, but unless you feel like living in a pub it would be too loud to live long term at New Quay especially at such a premium price. There's a pub that has loud live music playing (awesome when we were there but I cant imagine being able to study with it in the background), there was a section there you probably could get the noise level low enough for us but that was for much larger boats like the 60' something super yachts that were there at the time.


I found a weird section up the maribrinong river that has some boats tied up, wonder what the deal is there:
Maribyrnong St - Google Maps

[hoppy]

My father keep his yacht here Marina | YE marina ye - Google Maps
great location and quieter, but expensive.

[NoobSchoolBus]

Originally Posted by hoppy

My father keep his yacht here Marina | YE marina ye - Google Maps
great location and quieter, but expensive.

yeah perfect location there but they dont allow live aboards though, we'll try drive down to williamstown and around the bay tomorrow and see if we can get any more info.

[NoobSchoolBus]

Mordialloc yacht club just got back to us to say that it is not allowed.

Wow, when we started making plans to get a yacht and live aboard we had no idea that it wouldnt be allowed around here. We're yet to find a marina anywhere in the state of Victoria that would let us it seems as though even if you were allowed to at a couple it has a real stigma attached to it in Australia... have other people found this in other areas of the world???

[paulynavigated]

There is no livaboard anywhere near Port Phillip Bay. Not in the Yarra and not in any of the creeks. Politics has changed here so much that it is very expensive even to moor a yacht. Moorings are around $2000 to put in (can only be done by a registered mooring diver. Heavy fines apply) ;$80 a year for the permit; and MUST be inspected every year by a registered mooring diver at a cost between $500 and $2000 a year. If this is not done the mooring is removed by Parks Victoria. If you sell the mooring it must be pulled up for inspection and re installed.
Melbourne is a very cold and windy place anyway. Perth is nice, and what an economy.

[NoobSchoolBus]

Originally Posted by paulynavigated

There is no livaboard anywhere near Port Phillip Bay....Melbourne is a very cold and windy place anyway. Perth is nice, and what an economy.

Hey paulynavigated, Thanks for the info, that's definatly what we've found.

We'd hoped to start here but it's just not an option Such a pity, I guess we'll have to reconsider things now.

Are there many marinas in perth that you can live aboard?

found this:
http://www.hillarysyachtclub.com.au/...modation08.htm


nice name by the way

[Johnathon123]

In NSW - Not allowed

Having said that on Pittwater they tend to look the other way as long as you dont make trouble

[NoobSchoolBus]

Nice, it sounds ok in tasmania too, ive found a few things for there including this:
My Sailing: Long-term living aboard

[Weyalan]

I can confirm that some marinas in Tasmania do allow, or at least tolerate, live aboard. Whether this is official policy or a nod, a wink and a blind eye, I couldn't say for sure. I know people who have lived aboard at PDYC on the Tamar, plus BYC, DSS and MYCT in Hobart. There may be others too.

[lockie]

Yaringa Marina in Westernport Bay does allow liveaboards (or did about a year ago). It's about a one hour drive from Melbourne (out of peak hour), and is a nice spot, if a little isolated for long-term living.

Forget about Port Phillip - none of the marinas will let you live aboard, and you aren't allowed to live aboard on a swing mooring. And anyway, Port Phillip is pretty exposed and it would be a pretty bumpy existence.

Before the Yarra and Docklands was developed, quite a few lived on boats for a trifling amount virtually right in the city! There might be one or two still left in the Maribyrnong river near Footscray, but you certainly wouldn't be allowed in as a new live-aboard resident.

You might have to rethink either your plans or your location. Good luck, whichever way you go.

lockie

[NoobSchoolBus]

thanks for the replies, i cant edit the origonal post but I might get one of the moderators to once the list is complete. I think you might be right about Yaringa, I think I must have crossed them off early on because they dont allow domestic animals there but we have a dog. Its a small clause down the bottom of the price list:
http://www.yaringa.com.au/FILES/PriceList.pdf
could be a good place to start

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by NoobSchoolBus

Hey paulynavigated, Thanks for the info, that's definatly what we've found.

We'd hoped to start here but it's just not an option Such a pity, I guess we'll have to reconsider things now.

Are there many marinas in perth that you can live aboard?

found this:
Boat Accomodation, Perth


nice name by the way

It isn't a case of living aboard or not in Perth, it is a case of NO berths available whatsoever. All the marinas and clubs are fully occupied and those with a waiting list tend to be measured in years not months.

There are very few moorings available and the prices start at >$10K for a river mooring. You can't put in new moorings, there is no room left.

They are building more facilities away from the city area and new moorings MAY be permitted around Rockingham some time in the future.

IMO, Perth is not a good cruising destination!