Petals Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Yesterday in the papers I read an article about how happy people were and how much community involvement they had. Turns out that young families who live close to the CBD in flats, apartments and town houses are very happy, they have good community and of course great infrastructure. I must say I was surprised as I live out of the city and love it. However we did not move here until we had been living here in Aus for 11 years. The upshot is that because these young people or even the older ones have limited space at home they use the community parks and other facilities which enables them to meet more people. Its so important that Mum is not left at home with the children in a suburb where everyone works and there is not a sole to be seen during the day. This is quite devastating coming from a place such as the UK with people generally living a lot closer together than we do here. Also being able to nip to a local shop or coffee bar, get out of the house, does not really happen in new burbs, it involves getting out the car, putting the children in, dragging them around etc etc. No spur of the moment outings. Isolation I believe is the prerequisite for home sickness. We need people other than our families in our lives. Men go to work straight away, meet people and as we know they do not have the same social networks as us and often they do not want one, my oh Mr no mates leave me alone. However I do need my mates and often think I am so lucky that I have them and even though I did not have much stability in my life as a child I have since I grew up and left home. My parents, the wandering family, not town to town, country to country. Please give this consideration when looking at the wonderful four bed with every modern con, it cannot keep you company. The old house which may be drafty, colder, hotter, all sorts of probs lets us out and about where people do speak to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBC Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Couldn't agree more. With our PR looming we have been looking at places to buy and were tempted by the new builds. However, we are currently renting in Mentone which means a short journey to work for my husband on the train and so he sees our little girl each night for dinner and bedtime. I have 2 dogs and walk them down at the beach each day - no getting in the car, we see the same people each day who are always ready to stop and chat and have so many lovely facilites within walking distance. We have another baby on the way and I would hate to be isolated. I have not felt homesick yet and I think much of that is down to where we live. Our house in the UK was small but we spent a few years doing it up so it was lovely, new kitchen, bathroom etc. Our house here is old and dated (but very well looked after by our landlord) and not something I would have seen myself living in. We've been lucky in that we've been allowed to make some changes and we've made it our own. I wouldn't swap the space and location for shiny new fittings (unless they were around here but I'm not sure we can afford that at the moment!) I'm sure lots of people will love living on the new estates and will come on here to give their opinion - I guess we're all after different things and the same thing doesn't suit everyone. These estates must have quite a bit going for them to say that so many people live on them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest trasi Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 great post petals and food for thought..... my situattion will be reversed... me working, OH house husband..... he doesnt drive and so will need to be near shops, schools etc..... mates and company are very important to him. I have been looking at the entrance, but they seem to be mainly apartments, though this doesn't bother me. With 2 young uns and 2 teenagers, i need a lively place, near a town and good amenties for the teenagers....... so locationa nd what it offers is now my priority over what we live in :0 xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 If you speak to any estate agent and ask why houses are being sold in the new burbs its often because of marriage breakdown. They may be cheaper to buy but its so much more expensive to find the money for the extra petrol, maybe a second car because there is no convenient transport, getting children into kinder is difficult due to numbers. Schools are overloaded etc etc. Of course there are a lot that are happy and they are usually the people who have moved out from inner areas to upsize and have a social group already in place. Children are settled in schools etc. Good jobs. We lived in a flat in South Caulfield when we were first here and my oh went to sea so I did not see him for six months at a time. I had lived in Melbourne before I was married but it was still hard when we came back from the UK, I knew people but I was married they were single so we did not have the same social life any more. However because I lived close to the CBD and in the inner area there was a lot I could do on my own. As I said just seeing people around is good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 I have always been under the impression that surburban living can lead to mental health issues. Never done it myself nor could I.It just seems bizarre to me to be so reliant on the car for everything. Isolation is something of a modern day curse with folk becoming more self absorbed in recent times. I can't say I find much of a community sense of feeling living in the inner city here in Perth though. Folk tend to keep to themselves. Still only a five minute walk to dozens of cafes/eating houses/pubs and supermarkets. There is a bit of a buzz but the vibe and street diversity pales to other big cities. I do find folk a little too reserved and spontainity is not a word that comes to mind in connection with social contacts.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackboots Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Great thread Petals , its a thing that i have found hard since being here .. living in lego land suburbia .. i would much rather live in a smaller house nearer somewhere like Freo Or perth .. One day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 That's an excellent post. I've often thought that when people say things like there's no vibe, or it's boring it's because in the UK there are people and crowds around wherever you go. It's totally different here, you can go out to a really nice place, on a gorgeous day and there might be next to no-one there. I don't think a lot of people coming from busier places, especially bigger cities, like the feeling and find it a bit off putting or disconcerting. I think some people need people around to make them feel at ease. I can see your point totally that it's important for the one left at home to have something to do, someone to see, somewhere to go. My wife started work after being here a week, we had my the 2 year old in day care, in case I needed to go for interviews and I was out of work 5 months, living in a rental apartment and knew no-one. I used to go out on the bike and go miles, just looking round the place. Or go to the beach or a pool for a swim. My wife thought I was having a great time but I used to go and pick the youngster up from day care, sometimes hours early, just to have some company or someone to talk to. Not that he could understand much at the time. I knew I would get a job sooner or later but it was pretty dire here in 92, middle of a recession. I still loved the place we had come to and didn't for one second think about going back or anything but it is a strange feeling. I would have taken a job as a paperboy if someone had offered.:wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 We had a friend I met through work. They had been here years, living in Woodvale and loved it. They decided to buy a house when the new development at Landsdale kicked off, not that far away really. They had a big new house built and tried to do a lot of the work themselves. He was sick of tiling, painting, flooring, every spare minute and his wife got sick of having to get the car out to take the girl to school, pick her up, go shopping. There were no neighbours as they were one of the first on the estate so his wife was lonely too. Their idea was they would make loads of money on the house and then be able to move back to a "nicer" suburb and have no mortgage. It got so bad they ended up selling up and going back to the UK, after about 20 years here. They came back again 4 months later and went back to living in Woodvale. They aren't the only ones I've seen make the same kind of mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob1 Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 lego land suburbia - perfect description! We moved into an older suburb and there was so much to do as everything was well established! I had 4 different play groups to choose from - two in local churches (I'm not religious but do the new estates have churches?), the local community centre is walking distance - they ran art/craft classes and had a creche attached. I joined a gym with a creche attached, local library had a toy library and story time for under fives and advertised a book club that I joined, also advertised a community choir that I joined. Local council ran a short term child care where you could just ring up and book your child in for three hours. And now whenever I go to the local IGA I always meet people I now. I am on first name terms with the chemist and the butcher and the lady in the post office. Legoland would not be my first choice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 I agree, some of those new builds are soul-less martian landscapes. I wouldnt want to live in Legoland either. Hadnt heard the stat about home sales often being related to marriage breakdowns in those areas but having worked in schools that service areas like that I wouldnt be in the least bit surprised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockDr Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 I can't agree more, been looking at properties recently, and I just don't understand how people cope with being in the middle of suburbia. Some areas, you'd have to walk for ages to find a piece of greenery. Personally I wouldn't be able to cope without somewhere I can go for walks from my front door, I'd just end up feeling claustrophobic. It's definitely limited the areas I'd be willing to buy a house in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 Its so difficult as a lot of people coming to Melbourne are heading out to legoland and honestly they are not going to habitable for a long time in my view lol. For a start if one buys a new home on a new estate no increase in price for at least five years or until the builders finish building on the estate. Why, because if you put the house up for sale you are in direct competition with a new build with stamp duty reductions, price reductions all that stuff. Whereas if someone bought the house second hand then they have to pay full whack. The places that have graffiti, bit run down, different types of housing, lots of shops and cafes are the places to be, that is where the living is going on. In Melbourne the Housing Commission flats in Collingwood have a community garden and its often in the paper or on the tele, its marvelous people love it, they only have a very small plot, not anywhere near as big as an allotment but they are growing all sorts of veg and swapping things and a community grew around it, its wonderful. Also I believe we need to have a cross section of ages to live near as well. We are lucky here where I live as it was a small village and even though it has grown we still can walk to everything and all the infrastructure is here. Can get by without a car if we had to. There is plenty of time for the dream home once you have built the dream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AKA63029 Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 I'm not a great socialiser Petals, but agree that the 'feeling' or lack of a community feel can have an enormous impact on peeps. The best community feel I have ever felt was when I was staying at caravan parks when I travelled around Australia. Admittedly a lot of the people there were transient in nature, but there were some long termers who always made me feel welcome and couldn't do enough for me. It could I guess get to some, as space was at a premium sometimes, but rarely did I fell 'alone' there. Cheers Tony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Great thread, petals. I think it is so very important to feel part of a community- particularly when you come and live in a new country. That was one of the very first things I did when we emigrated- joined all sorts of stuff and then 'filtered' it later when I'd worked out what I really liked and where I made good friends. Sounds a bit calculating but it worked and I still see some of those lovely people 35 plus years down the track. Even if you join some club and don't really like it, at least you are getting out and chatting to people and then that will lead to other interesting activities. I found the burbs quite good- plenty to do but I have never lived in a 'new' area- where we lived was always in an older burb with existing infrastructure. I remember reading about Knox in the late 1970s when it first developed , they called it Valium Valley and said most of the people living there were very depressed- guess nothing much changes with these new areas- build first, services second. The almighty dollar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supa Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Difficult one for us as if we do come over, I would like to move to Mount Martha/Mornington as I loved the places when we have visited. However, it may be that OH would have more chance of a job in Geelong (I'm guessing a commute from say Dromana to Geelong would be out of the question - OH fancies a trip on the ferry every day!). We visited Geelong briefly and it was OK but we didn't get such a good vibe. The problem with Oz is that there are so many different towns, that trying to get one that fits is difficult. I love the beach and would love to live by it, but not at the expense of a friendly environment for all of us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 (edited) Yesterday in the papers I read an article about how happy people were and how much community involvement they had. Turns out that young families who live close to the CBD in flats, apartments and town houses are very happy, they have good community and of course great infrastructure. I must say I was surprised as I live out of the city and love it. However we did not move here until we had been living here in Aus for 11 years. The upshot is that because these young people or even the older ones have limited space at home they use the community parks and other facilities which enables them to meet more people. ..... Everyone has different needs but as I have posted before this matches how we have found the move from the suburbs to the inner city in Brisbane. There are far more community events, little local markets, amenities, free events, kids in the parks, people on the streets, nearby big city attractions, high quality childcare and schooling while still maintaining a green, peaceful, safe feeling. We have a creek running through the area and the local families help maintain the creek: Local park has a fair on this weekend (http://redhillfair.com.au/) Brisbane is obviously no where near as built up as 4km from Sydney or Melbourne but the bonus is that more can afford a family home surrounded by trees rather than an apartment: Edited July 26, 2012 by fish.01 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supa Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Everyone has different needs but as I have posted before this matches how we have found the move from the suburbs to the inner city in Brisbane. There are far more community events, little local markets, amenities, free events, kids in the parks, people on the streets, nearby big city attractions, high quality childcare and schooling while still maintaining a green, peaceful, safe feeling. We have a creek running through the area and the local families help maintain the creek: Local park has a fair on this weekend (http://redhillfair.com.au/) Brisbane is obviously no where near as built up as 4km from Sydney or Melbourne but the bonus is that more can afford a family home surrounded by trees rather than an apartment: Looks like a cracking place - now I just have to find that in Melbourne! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Mac Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 I am quite surprised that so many people are unhappy in the suburbs. I live in SL and think it is a modern surburb. I have to say though I think the community spirit here is great. Lots of fb pages of different groups arranging outings and meet ups. Asking questions about things and generally being a support. I think you are right though that bigger and shinner isn't always better and that you have to know what facilities are important to you. I have never met so many new people or been invited to as many social events. Tomorrow Friday that's a ladies that lunch day and then fireworks with friends in docklands in the evening. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 I am quite surprised that so many people are unhappy in the suburbs. I live in SL and think it is a modern surburb. I have to say though I think the community spirit here is great. Lots of fb pages of different groups arranging outings and meet ups. Asking questions about things and generally being a support. I think you are right though that bigger and shinner isn't always better and that you have to know what facilities are important to you.I have never met so many new people or been invited to as many social events. Tomorrow Friday that's a ladies that lunch day and then fireworks with friends in docklands in the evening. :-) I do consider Docklands an CBD area and really is quite different from say Clyde near Cranbourne. I am guessing the article was discussing Victoria so not sure that it is the same in other States. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Mac Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Sorry maybe I wasn't clear what I was meaning I live in Sanctuary lakes in Point Cook in Victoria a new surburb with great community groups so we have lunch today and tonight it is close enough to travel about 25 mins to see the fireworks in Docklands in the CBD. I think we have the best of both worlds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 Sorry maybe I wasn't clear what I was meaning I live in Sanctuary lakes in Point Cook in Victoria a new surburb with great community groups so we have lunch today and tonight it is close enough to travel about 25 mins to see the fireworks in Docklands in the CBD. I think we have the best of both worlds. So many suburbs so many abbreviations lol. Good to see you are happy there. Horses for courses of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBC Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 I saw SL on Location, Location, Location last night and it looked lovely - it struck me as a bit different to many of the estates that are springing up and you have all of those communal facilities. We looked on real estate at some houses there but as my hubby works just south of the city I think travelling to work would be a bit of a nightmare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzy--bee Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 Hi, I haven't read the whole thread but here's my 2 cents. A lot of us would like a brand new house, with all the mod cons, as these are much harder to get in the UK. 98% of these are in new estates, so hence why we are drawn to new estates! However having lived on a new estate in Mordialloc and now in an established area on the Mordialloc/Parkdale border only a few blocks away, they are like chalk and cheese. Nobody from the established area ever goes to the new estate, some hardly know it's there. All the people from the new estate come to our established area for shops, school, everything. In our area we can walk 1 block to shops, 3 blocks to school, 3 blocks to the swimming pool and we always see someone we know for a chat. In the new estate everybody drives out from their electric garage doors away from their houses, so nobody ever talks to anyone. The ideal solution might be a new house in an established area. This is more money, as you would have to buy an old wooden house, knock it down and then rebuild, but if you are able to do this it is a fantastic lifestyle, much better than the new estates. If not, an older property in an established area would be the next best choice, some of these have real character and have been or can be renovated beautifully. BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBC Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 I know exactly where you mean - we had a drive round the new estate last weekend as there are a couple of houses for sale there. It was like a maze! I reckoned that it would take me weeks to get out and to the shops if I didn't drive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted July 27, 2012 Author Share Posted July 27, 2012 I know exactly where you mean - we had a drive round the new estate last weekend as there are a couple of houses for sale there. It was like a maze! I reckoned that it would take me weeks to get out and to the shops if I didn't drive! It used to be a race course. Quite a hike to the shops from it as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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