Finding the right area to settle

Hi!

I'm looking for a nice area in Sydney to base ourselves when me and my fiancé arrive in the next month or so.

When I was over earlier this year, I moved around a bit to try get a feel for different areas.

I stayed in Coogee, Randwick, Rockdale and Turramurra. Coogee was really nice but thought I couldn't live there as I'd probably be on the piss all the time. Randwick was also nice but could never park the bloody van close to wear I was staying. Rockdale, not the best, got most things on your doorstep but couldn't live there. And Turramurra was lovely, just a bit quiet.

So I guess we are looking for somewhere not a million miles away from the beach, a few bars within a 10-20min walk, parking, and close to a train station for the mrs.

When I had some spare time I took a drive out to different places and liked the look of Miranda. Being close to Cronulla was a bonus and they have a decent shopping centre. Just not sure what it's like to live there. Anyone got any other recommendations? Cheers

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mainly depends on budget

Mainly depends on budget

As it's just the two of us, we were thinking to get an apartment around the 500/600 mark until the mrs finds a job.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cronulla is great. We lived there when we first arrived but driving to the city is painful but the train is so easy. Good pubs, good people and we loved it. We are now in caringbah almost 3 years later.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey mate,

Tell us a little about yourselves, what ages are you and what do you like to do for fun? How important is being close to the beach and to the city? If you want both the beach & city, then it's the Eastern suburbs but it can be pricey (& a bit stuck up) and Bondi, Coogee quite backpackery. Somewhere like Tamarama, Bronte, Clovelly may work, a bit quieter but close to the action if you want to go that way but they are pricey. No trains, buses to Bondi junction and then the train to the city.

Manly has the beach and a bit of life. No train though, you're ferrying it to the city and it's an exxy cab home if you miss the last ferry. People who live over there tend to socialise a lot over there too.

I'm a bit biased but I think the Inner-west is best. I live in Balmain (look Rozelle too), very close & easy to the city, a drive to the beach (20-30 mins), but I'm not that much of a beach person. It's quieter than it used to be but still plenty of restaurants, cafes & pubs all within walking distance. A real village atmosphere about the place and it's a peninsula so no through traffic. Not on the train but good bus & ferry connections to the city. $500-$600 will get you a good 1 bed place and maybe an older 2 bed place. I pay $640 for a big older 2 bed place in a great quiet spot but walking distance to Rozelle and Balmain villages (& lots of pubs), bus is 3 stops to the city. Will be moving interstate in Jan & getting rid of a load of stuff if you are trying to kit a place out.

Glebe, Newtown well worth a look too. A bit busier than Balmain and benefits from having lots of students from the uni which always gives a place a bit of life.

I tend not to go OTB much (over the bridge). I joke that everybody is in bed by 9pm over there, a bit of life in Neutral bay and Crows nest has improved, North of that is suburbia (like Turramurra)

Hope this helps

Colin

Cronulla is great. We lived there when we first arrived but driving to the city is painful but the train is so easy. Good pubs, good people and we loved it. We are now in caringbah almost 3 years later.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I love Cronulla but I remember it being really busy with a lot of traffic. What's caringbah like? Seen a few properties there, reasonably priced aswell.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey mate,

 

Tell us a little about yourselves, what ages are you and what do you like to do for fun? How important is being close to the beach and to the city? If you want both the beach & city, then it's the Eastern suburbs but it can be pricey (& a bit stuck up) and Bondi, Coogee quite backpackery. Somewhere like Tamarama, Bronte, Clovelly may work, a bit quieter but close to the action if you want to go that way but they are pricey. No trains, buses to Bondi junction and then the train to the city.

 

Manly has the beach and a bit of life. No train though, you're ferrying it to the city and it's an exxy cab home if you miss the last ferry. People who live over there tend to socialise a lot over there too.

 

I'm a bit biased but I think the Inner-west is best. I live in Balmain (look Rozelle too), very close & easy to the city, a drive to the beach (20-30 mins), but I'm not that much of a beach person. It's quieter than it used to be but still plenty of restaurants, cafes & pubs all within walking distance. A real village atmosphere about the place and it's a peninsula so no through traffic. Not on the train but good bus & ferry connections to the city. $500-$600 will get you a good 1 bed place and maybe an older 2 bed place. I pay $640 for a big older 2 bed place in a great quiet spot but walking distance to Rozelle and Balmain villages (& lots of pubs), bus is 3 stops to the city. Will be moving interstate in Jan & getting rid of a load of stuff if you are trying to kit a place out.

 

Glebe, Newtown well worth a look too. A bit busier than Balmain and benefits from having lots of students from the uni which always gives a place a bit of life.

 

I tend not to go OTB much (over the bridge). I joke that everybody is in bed by 9pm over there, a bit of life in Neutral bay and Crows nest has improved, North of that is suburbia (like Turramurra)

 

Hope this helps

 

Colin

Hiya mate

We are in our early 30s, I'm getting back into mountain biking, not fussed about being near trails as I'll just drive out for that. Getting into surfing aswell so a beach not too far away would be ideal. My Mrs is yoga mad, so hopefully will be able to find her some yoga clubs.

Eastern suburbs as you say, is pretty pricey and haven't seen a great deal of rentals in that area in our current price range. A train station close by would be pretty ideal but not essential as long as bus routes are close.

My boss lives in Stanmore and I have worked on a few places in the inner west. It seems nice and there are some cool little places around there, decent coffee shops. I just worry about parking around there as I get worked up into a right state trying to find a parking space!

Good luck with the move and yes we maybe interested thank you!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey mate,

Balmain/Rozelle would be perfect for you. Just get a place with off street parking. Unless you need a vehicle for work, I wouldn't bother with one. I went 31/2 years using Go Gets (car shares). You really don't need 1 around here. I eventually bought a car ( for the baby) and have only done 20k km in 3 years including about 8 trips to the snow.

Inner city, I find public transport generally ok or uber for somewhere awkward to get to.

Have a look on domain.com.au or realestate.com.au

Hey mate,

 

Balmain/Rozelle would be perfect for you. Just get a place with off street parking. Unless you need a vehicle for work, I wouldn't bother with one. I went 31/2 years using Go Gets (car shares). You really don't need 1 around here. I eventually bought a car ( for the baby) and have only done 20k km in 3 years including about 8 trips to the snow.

 

Inner city, I find public transport generally ok or uber for somewhere awkward to get to.

 

Have a look on domain.com.au or realestate.com.au

I'll have a transporter van for work so parking is very important! Thanks for the advice I'm on those webpages quite a lot recently!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I love Cronulla but I remember it being really busy with a lot of traffic. What's caringbah like? Seen a few properties there, reasonably priced aswell.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think Cronulla is still ok with traffic compared to north Sydney and parts of the east. Sydney is busy where ever you live in all fairness. We were looking at buying a place in Camden but the traffic completely put me off. Caringbah is great, you have a pub, some shops and restaurants and you are 5 minutes from the beach.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The coast side of Sutherland Shire sounds like it would be a good match. Miranda has a huge Westfield centre with cinema, restaurants, shops etc. There is also a train station from which you can catch the train directly to Sydney. Caringbah would also be a good option. Parking might be less of an issue in Caringbah, unless you are in one of the streets near to the station. Cronulla would also be perfect. Lots of bars and restaurants, the beach on your doorstep. Lots of the apartment blocks will have allocated parking, but the traffic and parking can be bad over the summer holidays. I live in Sutherland Shire (albeit the other end to Cronulla) and people are always moaning about tourists parking in their spaces on our local Facebook pages! That said, many apartments come with garaging, so you could look into those. Cronulla seems to have quite a laid back beachy vibe to it, and although we don't go over that way very often, it is nice. Great for surfing if you are into that. There is quite a bit of development going on at the northern end (Greenhills Beach I think it is called), so traffic may get worse, but I would think that the roads would be improved inline with that. Another area that might be worth a mention is Sutherland. It isn't quite as nice as Cronulla or Miranda, but there are lots of apartments there and prices are a bit cheaper. You are still only five minutes from Miranda and 15 from the beach, plus Sutherland train station is on both the Cronulla line and the Illawarra line, so there are two lots of trains that pass through making it more convenient for getting to and from the city.

The coast side of Sutherland Shire sounds like it would be a good match. Miranda has a huge Westfield centre with cinema, restaurants, shops etc. There is also a train station from which you can catch the train directly to Sydney. Caringbah would also be a good option. Parking might be less of an issue in Caringbah, unless you are in one of the streets near to the station. Cronulla would also be perfect. Lots of bars and restaurants, the beach on your doorstep. Lots of the apartment blocks will have allocated parking, but the traffic and parking can be bad over the summer holidays. I live in Sutherland Shire (albeit the other end to Cronulla) and people are always moaning about tourists parking in their spaces on our local Facebook pages! That said, many apartments come with garaging, so you could look into those. Cronulla seems to have quite a laid back beachy vibe to it, and although we don't go over that way very often, it is nice. Great for surfing if you are into that. There is quite a bit of development going on at the northern end (Greenhills Beach I think it is called), so traffic may get worse, but I would think that the roads would be improved inline with that. Another area that might be worth a mention is Sutherland. It isn't quite as nice as Cronulla or Miranda, but there are lots of apartments there and prices are a bit cheaper. You are still only five minutes from Miranda and 15 from the beach, plus Sutherland train station is on both the Cronulla line and the Illawarra line, so there are two lots of trains that pass through making it more convenient for getting to and from the city.

Thanks for the advice. I think I will definitely be basing my search in the Sutherland shire area! Seems to have just what we need without being too far away from the city.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk