What do you think of these areas?

[KazzKing]

Hi all,

 

Just wanted to know what you thought of the following areas in Hobart, Tassie:

 

Bellerive

Blackman's Bay

Howrah

Kingston

 

We're a british mixed-raced family looking for the usual - good schools, don't want to be on the doorstep of CDB, happy to be 30-40 mins away at most. Good quality affordable housing (rental and sales), usual amenties and open spaces (parks etc).

 

Daughters will be 12 and 5 when we move, want an area where they can feel settled. I know that will take time where ever we go though.

 

I've done some research and like them all :laugh: so need help to narrow them down a bit.

 

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

K

[Skani]

They're all nice areas.

Bellerive is the closest to the CBD - virtually just over the bridge, and Howrah the next suburb along.

 

Schools in these 2 suburbs are Howrah Primary, Bellerive Primary, Clarence High (years 7-10) and Rosny College (years 11 and 12) - all state schools: Corpus Christi (Roman Catholic primary) and The Cottage School (independent, primary).

 

Kingston and Blackmans Bay are probably 30 minutes from the CBD in peak hour traffic but do have a nice "separate community" feel - they are physically separated from Hobart proper by a green belt. They seem to be very popular with families - I think most PIO recent arrivals with children have settled there.

 

Schools include Kingston Primary, Blackmans Bay Primary, Illawarra Primary (also at BBay), Kingston High School - all state schools; St. Aloysius (R.C. primary and secondary), Calvin Christian (primary and secondary, originally established by the Dutch Reformed Church as there was extensive migration from Holland to Kingston from 1946 onwards) and Tarremah at Huntingfield (next to Blackmans Bay) which is a private Rudolf Steiner school (primary and secondary).

The nearest secondary college (years 11 and 12) is Hobart College which is at Mt. Nelson, between Hobart and Kingston. There has been talk about building a secondary college at Kingston but no timeline given.

 

Good beaches, river mouth with sandbar (safe for small children to swim), coastal and cliff walks, dedicated dog beach, golf course, great sports and fitness centre

http://www.kingborough.tas.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=342'>http://www.kingborough.tas.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=342

dance school, gymnastics, horseriding, surf lifesaving, scuba and sailing clubs etc.

 

Personally I've always preferred Kingston/Blackmans Bay but you really need to have a wander around and get a feel for each area yourselves. Bellerive and Howrah have a couple of advantages - closer to two 50 metre pools, if swimming is important (Kingston does have an indoor pool but it's small) and Bellerive has a sheltered yacht marina if you are likely to be purchasing a yacht!! Bellerive has a cinema: if living at Kingston or BB you have to go to the city.

 

These are the links for the two councils concerned - Kingborough and Clarence.

 

http://www.kingborough.tas.gov.au/site/page.cfm

http://www.ccc.tas.gov.au/site/page.cfm

 

A profile of every school in Australia can be found here

http://www.myschool.edu.au/

where you will also find a link to each school's own website.

 

Hope this helps. Don't hesitate to ask if you have other questions.

 

Vivien

[KazzKing]

Hi,

 

Thanks for your reply, great info (as always!).

 

Ta

K

[runslikeafish]

Those are the areas that we're looking at too (Arrive 1st Nov). Someone on here (can't remember who now) mentioned that the Eastern shore is appreciably warmer than the western shore as it isn't in Mount Wellington's shadow.

 

One thing I find very useful/fun to do is look on Google street view. You can get a really good general feel for an area - how built up it is, what the houses are like etc. Of course it's not as good as being there but it's still pretty good.

[Skani]

Those are the areas that we're looking at too (Arrive 1st Nov). Someone on here (can't remember who now) mentioned that the Eastern shore is appreciably warmer than the western shore as it isn't in Mount Wellington's shadow.

 

 

 

I think they said something like 5 deg. warmer. It is a bit of a standing joke by people who live on the eastern shore that it is warmer than the western.:cute: It may be 1 or2 degrees warmer on average but certainly not 5. (They were probably told that by a real estate agent trying to sell them a house on the eastern shore :biggrin:)

In fact sometimes when a strong southerly or southwesterly gale is blowing it is probably colder, because the eastern shore is more exposed than the other side of the harbour which is protected by the mountain range. Because of the interesting topography here - lots of hills, mountains and waterways - there can be many different microclimates within a comparatively small area.

 

But it is true that the eastern shore gets less rainfall. Our prevailing weather comes from the west and the clouds hang around the mountain and drop their rain on Hobart city. But that can have its downside too: in a dry summer with water restrictions your eastern shore garden is likely to suffer more and water restrictions are likely to be imposed earlier in the season. :yes:

[runslikeafish]

Good points Skani! I nearly mentioned the rain as well. It's quite interesting maybe having to go from an English attitude to rain to an Australian one! :biggrin:

 

Just on a similar topic, what's Old Beach like? Is it a really long commute to Hobart? I only ask as whenever we're salivating over houses on realestate.com.au we often see houses there that look fantastic. Any other areas that are particularly nice?

 

I'm completely undecided at the moment between Eastern shore and Western shore - but it will be fun doing the research. Exciting times! :jiggy:

 

Thanks for your helpful posts! :notworthy:

[Skani]

Good points Skani! I nearly mentioned the rain as well. It's quite interesting maybe having to go from an English attitude to rain to an Australian one! :biggrin:

 

Just on a similar topic, what's Old Beach like? Is it a really long commute to Hobart? I only ask as whenever we're salivating over houses on realestate.com.au we often see houses there that look fantastic. Any other areas that are particularly nice?

 

I'm completely undecided at the moment between Eastern shore and Western shore - but it will be fun doing the research. Exciting times! :jiggy:

 

Thanks for your helpful posts! :notworthy:

 

Hobart city's annual rainfall is only about 24 inches, so the eastern shore would be less.

There are times even in Tasmania after a long dry spell where I've caught myself looking up at clouds and thinking "Rain, you b****ds, rain!" - and I'm not even a farmer:biggrin:

 

It depends what "really long commute" means to you. I wouldn't call it really long. We have friends who live at Old Beach - I'll ask them how long it takes into town in peak hour traffic. Old Beach is mostly new houses. The only possible negatives are that it is next door to possibly the least desirable suburb (Gagebrook) and I'm not sure how regular the bus service is.

 

As for "particularly nice": areas I like are Battery Point, Sandy Bay, Mt. Nelson,and Taroona. But they can be expensive.

[Skani]

 

Just on a similar topic, what's Old Beach like? Is it a really long commute to Hobart?

 

 

 

I checked with friends who live at Old Beach. Commute between OB and the centre of Hobart is 25 minutes in peak hour traffic; probably about 15 in non peak hour.

 

Re eastern shore temperatures: this site (in the right hand column) shows temps for Hobart and some surrounding suburbs including Bellerive on the eastern shore. I've noticed in the last few days that the latter has been the same as or slightly cooler than Hobart.

http://www.bom.gov.au/tas/forecasts/hobart.shtml

[runslikeafish]

Nice one Skani, thanks a lot.