Victoria
Rooms for rent in Geelong
Most people arrive with an idea of Geelong that is half right. The train is faster than they expect, the town is more divided than a map shows, and the cheap months are not the ones they planned for.
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People pick a postcode. Locals pick a side of the river.
Geelong sits on Corio Bay, about seventy-five kilometres down the highway from Melbourne, and the Barwon River runs across the bottom of it. People arriving from a capital tend to shop by postcode. Here the first thing anyone asks is whether you are north of the river or south of it, and that answer carries most of the information. North is the older half: weatherboards, corner pubs, two shopping strips, and a walk or a short bus to the waterfront. South climbs the hill through Highton and Belmont, where the blocks are bigger, the estates are newer, and a car is assumed.
The other surprise is what a share house here looks like. Most of them are those older three- and four-bedroom places in Geelong West, East Geelong or Herne Hill, with people already living in them. Closer in, the flats above the Malop Street shops are often two-bedroom, so a room in one means a single housemate instead of four.
Regional does not mean car-dependent here, but it depends where you land
Eight stations sit on the Geelong line — Lara, Corio, North Shore, North Geelong, Geelong, South Geelong, Marshall and Waurn Ponds — so living near a train means something different here than it does in a capital. Buses take myki, the same card Melbourne runs on, and a day's regional travel is capped at the metropolitan price, which catches people out in the good direction. The town is flat enough to ride across, once you have made peace with the wind coming off the bay.
What gets underestimated is the other side of the trade. Outside health, education and the offices that moved down from Melbourne, the job market is smaller. There are fewer venues. The last train home is a real deadline. In exchange, rent goes further, the water is fifteen minutes away and you can cross the city in twenty.
- Trains to Melbourne. About an hour from Geelong station to Southern Cross, running out through Wyndham Vale and Tarneit.
- Buses. They thin out through the evening, so check the last one before you take a room a long way from a station.
- Match days. Kardinia Park sits in among the houses, so a Cats home game rearranges parking across South Geelong and the centre.
Summer is the crowded season, not the quiet one
Plenty of people plan a January move on the assumption that summer is the quiet season. It is the opposite. Late January through March is the crowded stretch — Deakin's year starts, the Festival of Sails takes over the waterfront, and people who spent summer on the Bellarine head back inland once the holiday rates begin. Winter is slower. A room that sits for a fortnight in July would not last the weekend in February.
The coast runs on the same clock. Torquay, Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads are priced against holiday letting from December, so the cheaper months out there are the cold ones, and a car is close to assumed either way.
Where people look in Geelong
Central and East Geelong
Geelong CBD, South Geelong, East Geelong
Two stations sit within walking distance of each other here, which people do not expect of a regional centre, and the flats above Malop Street put you close enough to swim at Eastern Beach before work.
Geelong West and Newtown
Geelong West, Newtown, Manifold Heights, Herne Hill
Pakington Street — everyone says Pako — is the strip these suburbs are built around, and it is the part of Geelong most likely to still be busy on a weeknight.
South of the river
Highton, Belmont, Wandana Heights, Grovedale, Waurn Ponds
Waurn Ponds has its own station and Deakin's main campus, so people renting out that way often go weeks without driving into the centre at all.
The northern suburbs
North Geelong, Bell Park, Hamlyn Heights, Norlane, Corio, Lara
Rooms are cheapest here, and Lara, Corio, North Shore and North Geelong all have stations on the Melbourne line, which is why daily commuters tend to land north rather than south. Bell Park and Hamlyn Heights are a bus ride from the nearest platform.
The Bellarine and the Surf Coast
Ocean Grove, Barwon Heads, Torquay, Drysdale, Portarlington
Twenty to forty minutes out, and holiday money sets the price over summer, so it is easier to look there in the cold months, and you will want a car either way.
What Kip Haus is
A free iPhone app that introduces somebody with a spare room to somebody who needs one. Drop a pin anywhere on the map, choose how far around it to look — 2 km out to 100 km — and go through the rooms one at a time.
Rent is shown per week. Browsing, listing and messaging are all free, and signing up is a six-digit code emailed to you: no password, no documents, any visa. It works from overseas, before you fly.
Kip Haus reads incoming messages for the pattern scammers use and warns you in the chat. The rule that does the most work is simpler than anything software can do, though: stand in the room, or have somebody you trust stand in it, before any money moves.
iPhone, iOS 16.4 or later. Nothing to pay, at any point.
Geelong: questions people ask before they move
What do people in Geelong mean by north of the river?
The Barwon runs across the bottom of the city, and the phrase is shorthand for two different kinds of living. North of it is the older, closer-in half — the centre, Geelong West, Herne Hill, East Geelong — weatherboard houses, and a walk to a shopping strip. South is Highton, Belmont, Grovedale and Waurn Ponds: up the hill, newer, and most people drive. Neither is the good half. They suit different weeks.
Which Geelong station should I live near if I commute to Melbourne?
There are eight to choose between: Lara, Corio, North Shore, North Geelong, Geelong, South Geelong, Marshall and Waurn Ponds. Lara and Corio are first out of town, so you get a seat and shave a few minutes off. Geelong and South Geelong put you within walking distance of the centre. From Geelong station it is about an hour to Southern Cross, out through Wyndham Vale and Tarneit, and a day's travel is capped at the same price as a day in Melbourne.
Can I live in Torquay or Ocean Grove and drive into Geelong for work?
People do. It is twenty to forty minutes, depending which end you pick and what the highway is doing in January. The catch is the calendar: the coast is priced against holiday letting from December, so the cheaper stretch out there is the cold half of the year. A car is close to assumed, and the evening bus times are worth reading before you commit.
Why are rooms cheaper in Geelong's northern suburbs?
Norlane, Corio and Bell Park sit further from the centre and are built largely of post-war estate housing, and that is most of the difference. The trade is a fair one: Lara, Corio, North Shore and North Geelong all sit on the Melbourne line, which is why daily commuters tend to land north. Bell Park and Hamlyn Heights are a bus ride from the nearest platform, so check the timetable before you settle on a street.
Have a look at Geelong.
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