Info on French's Forrest / North Sydney please?

[Guest irishwench69]

Hi everyone

 

I'm new here!

 

I'm looking at moving to Australia.......I'm likely to be offered a position in French's Forrest, North Sydney........

 

It is a good position, and I would definitely be interested, I just want to try and think through the practicalities of it all more.......particularly what Frenchs Forest is like. Does anyone on here know that area, or around North Sydney?

 

From looking at stuff it seems that Sydney, and especially the Northern parts, are very expensive........where would be a good place to start looking for accomodation? Also, where are the good areas around Frenchs Forrest?

 

Thanks!

 

IW x

[Guest Bridgend Lad]

Hi there,

 

To be honest it's a good area and there's no area that i would descrive as no go; just depends on what you want.

 

North Sydney obviously close to the city and all that it offers, Frenchs Forest getting close to the sea but not walkable. I'm in Narraweena, about a 10 minute drive away from FF, I can walk to the beach in Dee Why in about 20 minutes.

 

To the CBD from here is an hour in traffic, I leave to get Lidcombe (near the Olympic park) at 6.30 to get in for 7.15. Nearest train station is Chatswood but buses are not too bad; ferry from Manly into the CBD.

 

Yep, housing is expensive, have a look at www.domain.com.au , I'm biased but you get the lifestyle here that Judith Chalmers shows you on the TV!

 

Hope this helps.

[Purplethunder]

Is that the same as the buses? I'm looking at Curl Curl, Dee Why, Harbord, Brookvale, Cromer and Collaroy and wondered what the public transport links where like into the CBD?

[Guest IanH]

Hi

 

I lived in North Sydney for 6 months and although its walkable to the CBD over the bridge, its absolutely dead on a weekend and can be expensive for accommodation. Better places to live are along the Northern Beaches from Manly upwards to Palm Beach. But again this can be expensive as it is very popular.

 

 

The buses are ok but train services non-existent. I'd suggest a cheap run around.

 

Home - Sydney Buses

[Lisa&Martin]

I don't live in the area, so can't speak from personal experience, but have spent a few weeks driving around that area looking for a nice area to move to. This is what we've found:

Manly is lovely but very popular, I think living there would feel a bit like living near Covent Garden - charming for a visit on a sunny day but maybe not the place to call home. Lots of competition for property so you wouldn't get a lot of land for your money. The serviced apartment we stayed in looked out over the Manly bus terminal and lots of people seemed to get the bus to this area to then catch the ferry to the CBD, However, if you're working in Frenches Forest this won't be a concern but it's nice to know it's there if you do want to go into the city. We really liked St Ives, but the whole area around Frenches Forest & St Ives has quite a lot of character with more established housing and more big trees than elsewhere....sounds like a minor thing but so many areas seem souless and scrubby because there are no large trees around - arrive in St Ives area and it's like a little bit of Eden.....We have friends that moved from Edinburgh to Frenches Forest 2 years ago and liked the area a lot, they have ended up buying in Allambie Heights. That particular area has quite steep hills, just a consideration if you've got kids who want to cycle to friends' houses or if you would consider cycling to work yourself. They said the hilltop position meant the temperature was generally a bit cooler on stinky hot days, so there's pros & cons..Main shopping malls in the area were Wahringah Mall (about 10 mins from Manly) and Hornsby. Hornsby seems to be where people go if they want to go to a larger shopping area without going into the city. Our friends took us out on a boat in the KuRingGai National Park, only about 15 mins drive north, it was really stunning. We want to move to the area because it just seemed to have the right combination - nice housing, short drive to the beach, good transport routes to the city, big green park & lake areas, not right under a noisy flight path, a bit of shopping and culture when you need it. You could of course head to one of the beachy suburbs but my impression was that there were a lot of newish units built along the main road just to have a view of the sea. Personally I think it's nice to be able to get to the beach easily when you choose to, but I wouldn't be bothered about paying extra to be right next to it every day.

So I'm no expert but those are my impressions so far. I certainly don't think you'll get there and hate it unless you are a 24hour party animal looking to have a wild life!