I have had good experiences with Bendigo Aviation Services. Would be hard to replace the CFI Chris.
The fashionable place to do Instructor Ratings in Melbourne seems to be MFT at Moorabbin. Very good reputation.
My suggestion would be to find a flying school that could offer you some at least paid work at the end of the Instructor Rating.
This might not be an option at MFT who train a lot of instructors, but might be more likely at a smaller school like BAS.