Moving to W.A

[Tom Brody 17]

G'day guy's.

I'm moving over from QLD to Western Australia in January. Just looking for a fresh start and fancy a crack at W.A. I was hoping for some pointers on nice area's to live. I'm happy to be within 30 -45 minutes of Perth, or even closer. I'm not looking for lively Night life place, (way too old for that) but on the other hand not like in the back of beyond. Type of house would be new modern and bright, a nice suburb somewhere. It's a big challenge starting off in a new City. I have been to Perth a few years back for a couple of days and really like the ambience there and it was there that my desire to live permanently in Australia really took shape. Work is not an issue because I work for myself via Internet, all I need is a good reliable fast Internet connection.

 

So here goes. I like Brisbane very much, but feel like a change and new start. Thanks for any advice and comments.

Edited November 15, 2013 by Tom Brody

[calNgary 9,279]

Hi Tom we have a few members living in WA so hopefully they will be along soon to help. Do you know where you would be working over there as this may play a part in where to settle.

 

Cal x

[Tom Brody 17]

Thanks for the reply Cal. Work is not an issue because I work for myself via Internet, all I need is a good reliable fast Internet connection. I should have mentioned that in my original post so I just amended it. Thanks again.

[calNgary 9,279]

No problem, and working for yourself will certainly open up areas in which to live. Wish i could help more but visiting WA is still on my To Do list,lol so suburb wise i am clueless,lol.

 

Cal x

[VERYSTORMY 3,405]

It all depends on budget. Then on are you looking to be on a beach, or somewhere more inland and things. But budget is the big one.

[Guest Guest26012]

As VS says, the price you can afford will guide the advice you get and whether you want coastal or other.

[Bibbs 217]

If it's mainly Internet speeds you are worried about, have a look at the NBN website.

 

Friends in VicPark have it (100MB) but I don't (VividWireless, about 5MB), even though we are about 10mins drive apart.

[scuffythetugboat 10]

South Perth has the NBN and it's good for transport.

[Grobbelrevell 10]

As others have said, it depends largely on where you would prefer to be situated (coastal, central etc) and your budget.

 

I lived in Mt Lawley (northern suburb) for 6 months and loved it. It's 5 minutes on the bus to the CBD and they run regularly, all day. You can walk it as well in about half an hour or so if you're feeling energetic. In addition, it's just a very nice area. Two or three nice bars as well as various restaurants and shops - and of course, a bottle-o or two! The one real downside is it's just about as far away from the coast as you can be in Perth, but again, that depends on what you're looking for.

 

Alternatively, I also loved Fremantle (which was my first choice when I moved there). It's a bit more out of the way if you will be working in Perth itself, but the transport links are good, with train and bus services running regularly, as well as the highway if you're driving. The area itself is more laid back than Perth, with a bit of a hippy feel to it. Reminded me a little of the seaside towns here in the UK. Again though, some very nice bars and restaurants, and the market's worth a look as well, particularly the fresh food section.

 

There really aren't very many 'bad' areas in and around Perth though. It's a very new and clean city, and frankly, I loved it.

[Bibbs 217]

I lived in Mt Lawley

..

far away from the coast

Nice area.

 

And the coast isn't everything. Once you are here you'll realise, unless you live ON the beach, you'll rarely walk to it (esp in summer when it's 40+).

If we go, it's a 20min drive. And that's fine, as we'd have to be in the car anyway.

[docboat 609]

Have you thought about a serviced apartment in the CBD for a while - internet connection available - and visit the areas of interest? Take a few months or more to really understand the options. I would suggest life in the hills - rural feel with large property, but close to Perth. Issues with bushfire protection of course. The northern suburbs (we refer to them as South Geraldton) are also reasonable, close to beach if that is what you want, but the issue there is one of salt water in the air making houses a little more open to deterioration. South of Perth there is also good communication, rural/semi-rural in places, good lifestyle - as said, use short term accommodation first and check the areas out

[Bibbs 217]

Have you thought about a serviced apartment in the CBD for a while

Good call. We were at Burswood for 18 months in the towers. Really gave us an idea of all the areas before we bought.

 

Beware of Burswood now though, the golf course is being torn up and replace with a building site for a few years (not that Perth is any different).

[Candygirl 784]

There seems to be a big divide here in Perth as in Brissy between which side of the river to live and it always seems to divide opinions.

 

You will soon realise that Perth is vast. We spent 3 weeks all day, every day just driving round and looking at houses. We went NOR, SOR, East & West. Each area is completely different. We have settled SOR in Willetton which is 10 miles to the CBD and is well served by shopping centres and several highways too for easy access. As traffic is not going to be an issue, you are very lucky not to have to worry about this. We have Iinet internet and have 125GB pm and I have also been told that we are in an NBN area.

 

I agree with the comments about Freo. It is quite bohemian and has a good feel about it and good if you want to live in a town with a good vide and a bit more to do. We found that there are some lovely areas SOR on the coast, but not much else going on. We are 10 mins to the nearest river beach at Attadale and were there last night. If we want a proper beach then the nearest will be Leighton Beach slightly north of Freo. We can drive or take public transport into the city in the evenings without any fuss too.

 

We liked NOR and preferred the beaches up there, but just could not find a suitable home in an area that we liked within our budget.

 

The Hills are stunning and really beautiful, but we are not ready to live there at the moment.

 

We rented a short term unit in Yokine. Yokine gets a bit of a bad rep, but to be fair, we never saw anything untoward and felt perfectly safe there and would have rented there, again if there was something suitable within our budget. Yokine is 4 miles to the city.

 

What we found was that there is a lot of hoons over here (boy racers) and you may well see the tyre marks all over the roads and this put us off as we did not envisage the thought of being woken up in the early hours each night.

 

If you are single and want a bit of nightlife then I would say stay nearer to the city. East Vic Park has a lot of good restaurants and bars etc. Not far from Crown Casino (we were there on Sat night and it was heaving). Mount Lawley, Subi, Leederville, Como are really good areas and have lots of units. We have also been told that Maylands is good for singles too.

 

If you check out www.streetadviser.com.au, it really helps to narrow down areas and read other people's comments.

[gpo1971 822]

Have a look at West Perth, Subiaco, Wembley, that type of area.

 

As said, Mount Lawley & Maylands are also good.

[Paul1Perth 5,858]

As others have said it would be great if you could give us an idea of your budget and whether you want to be close to the beach or further out with a bit of land.

 

Personally I love being in walking distance of the beach. Contrary to another comment on here about not walking 'cos of the heat, we walk or bike down a lot. The carparks get full early on nice days and it's handy to not have to take the car.

 

There are some really nice beaches in good suburbs not too far from the City. When we moved to where we have lived for the last 21 years our landlord (We were renting in Como for about a year) at the time referred to it as South Geraldton. At the time the freeway stopped at Hepburn Ave and Marmion was a single track quite road.

 

It takes us about 30 mins to get into the City and I work on Stirling Highway, go down West Coast Highway to work and it takes me about 40 mins.

[Tom Brody 17]

I am very grateful to everyone who responded to my post and I think I will take the advice to go into a serviced apartment for a while and then decide having given myself some time to look around properly. Thank you all for the time and effort to reply to my thread, really appreciated. :notworthy:

[ThamKM 10]

To enjoy the lifestyles/ amenities of the NOR & SOR, trying consider living in suburbs in the middle region of the metropolitan areas.

[gee13 601]

Kallaroo if you can afford mansions, ..or maybe they should have called it Killaroo?

 

Currambine has the largest pom poulation outside of Rockingham.

 

Both close to freeway and beeatches