Choosing a home down under

[Marisawright]

44 minutes ago, FirstWorldProblems said:

Well that's it.  No, no and thrice no.   I'm going to need a plan B.  I can't stand cockroaches and don't want to be dealing with them all the time

Believe it or not, you will get used to them. I had never seen a cockroach till I went to Africa with my first husband. I thought I would have a nervous breakdown. Then I discovered the big ones could fly.  But I survived.

The thing is, the big ones live outside, not indoors.  They come in looking for moisture, but you can keep them out with good flyscreens and pest control.   They're worst in the blocks of units in the beachside suburbs so you won't have such a big problem on the Upper North Shore. 

[InnerVoice]

7 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Believe it or not, you will get used to them. I had never seen a cockroach till I went to Africa with my first husband. I thought I would have a nervous breakdown. Then I discovered the big ones could fly.  But I survived.

The thing is, the big ones live outside, not indoors.  They come in looking for moisture, but you can keep them out with good flyscreens and pest control.   They're worst in the blocks of units in the beachside suburbs so you won't have such a big problem on the Upper North Shore. 

I remember when I first moved up to Brisbane and was staying in a house-share (there was about 8 of us in there from recollection). It was stinking hot so we had all the windows open, and an army of cockroaches flew into the kitchen. Oh they were huge, and made a deep buzzing sound like a WW2 bombers. One of the lads went to his room and brought back a couple of badminton rackets, and we had a merry time trying to swat them over the balcony.

[Parley]

28 minutes ago, InnerVoice said:

I remember when I first moved up to Brisbane and was staying in a house-share (there was about 8 of us in there from recollection). It was stinking hot so we had all the windows open, and an army of cockroaches flew into the kitchen. Oh they were huge, and made a deep buzzing sound like a WW2 bombers. One of the lads went to his room and brought back a couple of badminton rackets, and we had a merry time trying to swat them over the balcony.

Even in Melbourne we have fly wires on every window and sliding door.

[Toots]

28 minutes ago, Parley said:

Even in Melbourne we have fly wires on every window and sliding door.

We do too and we don't have mozzies and only a few flies round about the end of January for a couple of weeks.  Also never seen a cockroach here.

[rammygirl]

12 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

 

I lived on Scotland Island for a year which is in the Northern Beaches, so technically part of Sydney. There were mozzies in the millions, cockroaches, spiders, and bull ants the size of your thumb. People are always worried by the snakes and the spiders, but I can assure you if you've ever sit down on a bull ant you will never ever sit down again without looking first!

Too right! Been bitten/stung here through gloves I am more careful now.

I did have an incident with fire ants in Florida a few years back.  Sitting on a bank admiring the view on a cycle ride.  Yes ants in my shorts.  I have never stripped off in public before but no option to remove the buggers.  Fortunately a lovely lady from a house nearby saw me and husband and realised what had happened.  Ice and painkillers helped me get home on that bike but I was crying with pain.  

[Quoll]

I'd forgotten the bull ants - nasty little buggers. My FiL carried an epipen because he was allergic to them. I've been bitten by them (do not wear flip flops when walking in the bush!) - the pain is right up there! 

[InnerVoice]

11 minutes ago, rammygirl said:

Too right! Been bitten/stung here through gloves I am more careful now.

I did have an incident with fire ants in Florida a few years back.  Sitting on a bank admiring the view on a cycle ride.  Yes ants in my shorts.  I have never stripped off in public before but no option to remove the buggers.  Fortunately a lovely lady from a house nearby saw me and husband and realised what had happened.  Ice and painkillers helped me get home on that bike but I was crying with pain.  

Oh, that would've been nasty. I was bitten a couple of times by fire ants in Singapore (they call them red ants there), and a single bite was painful enough - never mind a whole army of them!

5 minutes ago, Quoll said:

I'd forgotten the bull ants - nasty little buggers. My FiL carried an epipen because he was allergic to them. I've been bitten by them (do not wear flip flops when walking in the bush!) - the pain is right up there! 

Just looked them up - people have died from them, by all accounts. I wasn't aware of that.

Edited August 14, 2023 by InnerVoice

[mxh]

We've been living on the North Shore for 5 years now and back directly onto the bush. Can't recall seeing a cockroach in all the time we've been here, but as others have posted, the other wildlife is around (including wallabies, which eat all your plants!) and you will definitely get to see and hear it. 

As for bushfires, of course you've got to take the threat seriously and it's wise to keep gutters clear, have your emergency plan ready etc. But I think the risk is pretty small in the scheme of things, and certainly a small trade off for being able to walk out of the back door and wander off into bush, having all that nature around you etc. 

 

[FirstWorldProblems]

23 minutes ago, mxh said:

We've been living on the North Shore for 5 years now and back directly onto the bush. Can't recall seeing a cockroach in all the time we've been here, but as others have posted, the other wildlife is around (including wallabies, which eat all your plants!) and you will definitely get to see and hear it. 

As for bushfires, of course you've got to take the threat seriously and it's wise to keep gutters clear, have your emergency plan ready etc. But I think the risk is pretty small in the scheme of things, and certainly a small trade off for being able to walk out of the back door and wander off into bush, having all that nature around you etc. 

 

Thank you for sharing. You are describing how I imagine (and hope) it to be. I would get a lot of joy from that. 

[Marisawright]

@FirstWorldProblems, I was thinking, how old will your kids be?  I ask, because that area of the Upper North Shore is probably the last place in Sydney that any teenager/young adult would want to live. The population is predominantly executives and their ladies-who-lunch wives, or retirees who've been there for 40 years.   Margot from The Good Life would be very happy there. Public transport is poor, so getting into the city or trendy inner west for entertainment is difficult.

I'm assuming you need to be North for the relos, so I'd suggest looking along the North Shore train line.  Still plenty of leafy suburbs and cycle tracks.

Edited August 14, 2023 by Marisawright

[Tychen]

What surprised me most when we moved into a house in Sydney (an old Federation-style one) was how leaky it was. There are built-in vents top and bottom on all sides. There were gaps between floorboard and the wall where you could actually see through to daylight via the underfloor vents. Big gaps under all the doors, internal and external. I've read Federation style houses described as "tents on bricks" as far as insulation is concerned, and that's pretty accurate. This is a problem for heating as well as for wildlife. A few years later and we've just about got the ants and slugs under control. We've evicted the possum that's been a long-term tenant in the roof and we haven't had a brush turkey nest in the backyard (yet). But it's been nice getting flocks of colourful corellas in the garden during their migrations. 

[FirstWorldProblems]

7 hours ago, Marisawright said:

@FirstWorldProblems, I was thinking, how old will your kids be?  I ask, because that area of the Upper North Shore is probably the last place in Sydney that any teenager/young adult would want to live. The population is predominantly executives and their ladies-who-lunch wives, or retirees who've been there for 40 years.   Margot from The Good Life would be very happy there. Public transport is poor, so getting into the city or trendy inner west for entertainment is difficult.

I'm assuming you need to be North for the relos, so I'd suggest looking along the North Shore train line.  Still plenty of leafy suburbs and cycle tracks.

Thank you.  They will be 18, 21 and 27.  Ryde and Castle hill are where the family are that we are closet to.  The wife is keen to be within 20 mins of both, but I can imagine after 6 months renting we'll learn the reality is that people have their own lives to lead and we won't be in one another's pockets so being further away won't matter. 

So it might well be that suburbs of interest change several times between now and then, but right now I'm keen on suburbs that are either side of the A1 (the stretch that runs north west from Chatswood to Wahroonga Park.   On the north side the suburbs all back onto trails at Garigal, Ku-ring Gai etc and on the south side of the A1 they back onto what starts as Lane Cove national park and meanders up to Pennant Hills.   I'd not heard of that rail line, so I just looked it up.  It looks like it runs parallel to the A1 so that's perfect.

 

[Marisawright]

17 minutes ago, FirstWorldProblems said:

I'm keen on suburbs that are either side of the A1 (the stretch that runs north west from Chatswood to Wahroonga Park. 

If you're thinking anything north of Chatswood (or maybe Lindfield, at a pinch), then that's the end of civilisation as far as most young people are concerned, or at least it was when I lived in Sydney.  @Ausvisitor might be able to shed light on the current attitudes.   

[FirstWorldProblems]

4 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

If you're thinking anything north of Chatswood (or maybe Lindfield, at a pinch), then that's the end of civilisation as far as most young people are concerned, or at least it was when I lived in Sydney.  @Ausvisitor might be able to shed light on the current attitudes.   

Covid years excluded, the kids have annually spent 3 weeks in Castle Hill since they were born.  To them "Australia" is probably Castle Hill Towers (shopping mall), Raging Waters waterpark, Balmoral beach and the CBD.  But I'm sure that will change quickly now they are old enough to explore without mum & dad!

 

[Skani]

On 14/08/2023 at 15:53, can1983 said:

Its not the 27 degree winter days that's the problem its the 30 straight days above 35 in the summer!

...with high humidity. 

[Nemesis]

22 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Believe it or not, you will get used to them. I had never seen a cockroach till I went to Africa with my first husband. I thought I would have a nervous breakdown. Then I discovered the big ones could fly.  But I survived.

The thing is, the big ones live outside, not indoors.  They come in looking for moisture, but you can keep them out with good flyscreens and pest control.   They're worst in the blocks of units in the beachside suburbs so you won't have such a big problem on the Upper North Shore. 

You never get used to those cockroaches. First place I lived in Oz, in a supposedly upmarket Brisbane suburb, we had an invasion one night coming up through the stupid drain hole in the bathroom. Flying round the room. Easily a couple of hundred. Even now it gives me the shivers, and even the sight of one or two after that was enough to put up my blood pressure. 

That was in my first week, I should have seen it as an omen and got back on the plane!

[Amber Snowball]

9 hours ago, Marisawright said:

If you're thinking anything north of Chatswood (or maybe Lindfield, at a pinch), then that's the end of civilisation as far as most young people are concerned, or at least it was when I lived in Sydney.  @Ausvisitor might be able to shed light on the current attitudes.   

My son and partner enjoyed Lindfield when they lived there. Cafe culture, gym, shops, train to work. But yes, don’t think they would have wanted to be any further out. I don’t know the area, so only what they said about it.

[Marisawright]

16 hours ago, FirstWorldProblems said:

Covid years excluded, the kids have annually spent 3 weeks in Castle Hill since they were born.  To them "Australia" is probably Castle Hill Towers (shopping mall), Raging Waters waterpark, Balmoral beach and the CBD.  But I'm sure that will change quickly now they are old enough to explore without mum & dad!

Yes, young adults have very different preferences. I don't think Castle Hill Towers will quite cut it...

[happy_chappy]

It's worth noting for other families contemplating a move to Sydney that the median house price in Lindfield is $3,830,000 or about £2m which is nearly 3 times that of greater Sydney.
The market is an expensive one, but there are many much more affordable areas that cater well for families.

About half Sydney's population lives in the west and a lot of people whose occupations are on the skills list are likely not going to be in a position to write off half the city when looking to buy.

[Ausvisitor]

On 14/08/2023 at 11:08, Jon the Hat said:

Double glazing is treated like a newfangled modern invention!

According to most glaziers in Sydney it doesn't exist - it's a science fiction that might see sometime in the future

[Ausvisitor]

On 14/08/2023 at 19:42, FirstWorldProblems said:

Well that's it.  No, no and thrice no.   I'm going to need a plan B.  I can't stand cockroaches and don't want to be dealing with them all the time

You can't really live in Sydney without having at least a monthly visit from the cockroach family that lives in your house but generally stays out of the way. 

If you live in Sydney and say you haven't got cockroaches what you really mean is you haven't seen them yet

[Toots]

1 hour ago, Ausvisitor said:

According to most glaziers in Sydney it doesn't exist - it's a science fiction that might see sometime in the future

Ingtegra is the company in Sydney my son used for his double glazing.

[Blue Flu]

No success looking for alternative property here in Perth. Have attended several home opens over the past year. Actually discovered two, perhaps three houses that came exceptionally close to fitting the bill. Just the same thing presently experiencing 'strongly suspected at all locations. 

[Tychen]

On 16/08/2023 at 09:07, Marisawright said:

Yes, young adults have very different preferences. I don't think Castle Hill Towers will quite cut it...

I visited Castle Towers for the first (and hopefully, last) time last year. It was huge and there were quite a lot of young people there. I understand teenagers from the other end of town might have different preferences, but all the Hills District / Bible Belt youths seemed to be enjoying themselves. I say hopefully last not because there was anything wrong with the shopping centre, but because it was a nightmare trying to get in and out. The place was basically the epicentre of three miles of swirling traffic jams in all directions. 

On the eastern end of the northwest there's Macquarie Centre - that's also huge, is also surrounded by queues of cars, and seems to have a greater variety of things that might appeal to young people. Cinema, ice rink, multiple book stores...

Everyone in the northwest seems to spend all their non-working hours either stuck in a traffic jam or in a giant shopping centre. It's obviously a lifestyle that works for people who live there... Sorry that's gone off topic. The upper north shore where OP Is looking is not the northwest.

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, Tychen said:

I visited Castle Towers for the first (and hopefully, last) time last year. It was huge and there were quite a lot of young people there. I understand teenagers from the other end of town might have different preferences, ...

The OP's children aren't teenagers, they're 18, 21 and 27.  @Ausvisitor is probably best placed to advise where they'll want to spend most of their time.  

Edited August 18, 2023 by Marisawright