Hi all,

We are coming to Adelaide in March. Never been to Oz before. We have no idea where we want to live.

If you don't mind could you say where you live and giving it marks out of 10 (if you have kids also marks for schools).

Thanks

This will help us greatly.

Joanne :help:

i'm afraid at the moment, on a subjective level, i give zero for where i live.
if i take a step back and become more objective then i reckon a .... 7

on schools i'm not sure there are some weird kids and weird parents. :unsure:
6 maybe. if not more.

Most people are going to think their area is great but for different reasons and because it suits them . You really need to get here and have a look :)


We have a young family and wanted to be by the beach and family so its Seaford for us . Id give it 9 out of 10 ,it loses a mark because Im so far away from some of my Adbrit friends and meets !!!! (prob wouldnt be a problem if I learnt to drive though ;) .


Love ; I can walk to shops/school/library , 5 mins away from beautiful beach , seabreeze on hot days , good size houses and land without feeling cramped,family, peaceful, .

hate; lots of flies (more than Unley where we lived for a little while) ,distance from friends ,.

Sean

Where are you?

If you don't want to say PM me.

thanks

Joanne

Seaview Downs

Area 7/10 But on the up, with lots of older properties being renovated or demolished. Plus points are quiet well kept area with strong neighbourly and community spirit, good coast and city views, near 'Marion' (Huge shopping/cinema complex), bus route passes through and not far from the beach. Not so good....a bit hard on the eye in places,but that's true to alot of suburbs.

Also (we hope!) a good investment, as this area is just inland from some of the pricey sought after coastal suburbs. With the population of Adelaide supposedly doubling in the next few years it may become a sought after area its self.

Schools 8/10 The school my kids are in is brilliant and they are flourishing there. I only looked at 3 (primary) when we were in our initial rental. I wish I'd looked at more including Private, just to make sure I'd got the best one for them . There are lots of Primarys, 2, possibly more Kindys, independent schools such as Montessori, daycare facilities and one main High School that I know of (I'm investigating this year)


I also would strongly recommend seeing for your self before you make any decision...it won't look anything like you imagine!

Good Luck :D

Jan

I was under the impression that we are a dwindling population, with more leaving than arriving?

I read somewhere that in 2023, the median age of South Australia will be 45 and the population will begin to decline.....unlike somewhere like Sydney, which is ok until around 2050

Fulham Gardens


9/10 Nice family friendly area, close to beach , city, shops etc,

Good primary schools, verdict undecided on senior schools,

Down side is the price of land is high,due to location, therefore houses tend to be less individual and smaller (for more money ) than in some other areas .

I like it, its quite cosmopolitan (high population of Italians and greeks ) , has a "beachy" feel but close everything thats happenning in the city etc .

Julie x

We've lived in a few places so:

Glenelg - 6/10 - great suburb but can feel a little touristy and prices are over-inflated

Port Noarlunga - 7/10 - has a "small town" feel, great local beaches but close to some rough areas and prices over-inflated

Coromandel Valley - 10/10 (cos i live here (not cos I live here)) - country town feel, peaceful & relaxed, cooler in hot periods (esp. after sunset), great local pub.

Hi

we live in Modbury North, in the North East of Adelaide. Its very nice, bigger lots, more house for your money, its a well established area and since we moved in I've found out it was a big british area in the 70's. We are 20 minutes from the hills. 25 minutes from the City, 15 if you take the O'Bahn. We are a bit far from the beaches, our nearest Beach is Semaphore and that takes 30 minutes but we were not bothered about being by the beach as we lived next to the beach in the UK and didn't go very much. There are lots of good shopping areas here including Tea tree Plaza which is the same as Marion only a little smaller. We have a waterpark with 3 pools and a water slide. Soccer teams by the hundred. My brother lives only 10 minutes away from us and that was also a deciding factor in where we decided to live, couldn't see the point of being an hours drive away from him. Plus property can be cheaper up here if you know where to look.

The schools are a little weird as said, my kids are both in a class of 28 and there are 2 year groups in a class. This threw me for a while as i couldn't understand how my year 6 & 4 girls were going to get the correct work when most of the class were 5 & 3 year group. Still they both got good reports and I wait to see which classes they are in next year. Teaching styles are different here and not so focused on cramming the curriculum into the kids.

I'd give the North East 8/10 but Steve wants to move to the East Side, Kensington, Unley Payneham, Magill etc etc as a lot of his work mates live that way and it takes him half an hour to get to work in the morning. Most days he has to be there at 6am so he's up at 5.15am it makes a very long day.

Jo

Athelstone/Paradise NE

8/10

Great for parks, hills, shopping, junior/primary schools. Not so good for state run Senior schools. My kids go to city based Senior schools - the O'Bahn bus service takes them there in under 15 mins from Paradise interchange (bus every two mins). Downside is we are 35mins drive from beach, but can't complain too much as we were 3 hours away in the UK! (installed a pool to make up for that).

Linear Park (runs adjacent to River Torrens) makes up for everything else which is lacking - a beautiful safe place to walk/ride bikes/play equip for kids etc and a fantastic place to meet people doing the exactly the same!

Judy

We live in Coromandel Valley and I'd probably give it a 9/10, it only loses a point on being too far from hubbies work (and that isn't really it's fault!)

It has a very villagey feel to the place, and lovely valley views, but is only minutes from Blackwood and all the shops needed. I must admit I like most of the areas up here around Blackwood too though. About 15 minutes from Marion, 20 from the beach at Brighton and 25 minutes into the CBD! Houses are more spread out and have bigger plots than down on he plains.

Only issue I have with the area is trying to get past Coro school in the morning to get to mine that starts 10 minutes later!

Nikki
xx

Sorry C!

Me thinks that you need to get out of bed earlier. Have you taken to doing the school run in your pajamas yet? :lol2:

Cx

Not yet but I'm sure it will happen!! Next thing you know I'll be walking round Coles in my nightie!! :lol:

I love my bed I'm sorry but I am not a morning person ...

Nikki
xx

That's OK, I have it on very good authority that your nighties are very nice!!!!

:sign53:

Thanks everyone. A great help. :D

Anymore out there????

Joanne

9/10 for Lockleys (just down the road from Fulham Gardens ;) )

Has a very nice feel to it, local pre-school is excellent and local primary has very good rep according to the other mums.

5 mins in the car to Henley Beach (excellent for the littlies as there are shallow tidal pools)

10 mins to the city

10-15 mins West Lakes

20 mins to the shopping mecca of Marion

40 mins for Hahndorf

There are some decent sized blocks to be had, although they are falling fast to sub-division. Deduct 1 point for the high cost of land and rentals few & far between.

Desiree
:D :D

Guys,
When you say land is pricey in Fulham Gardens and Lockeys , what kind of money are you talking?
We are coming for a recci trip in March and both of these areas are on our places to live list,

Martin & Caroline

Anything from low 300's for 3 bed to over a million for something on the largish side.

The latest median prices I could find were for Sep 2005 quarter:

Fulham Gardens - $368750
Lockleys - $385000


Desiree
:D :D

Were living in Fulham at the moment and i would give it 8/10. I like the area as its central to most things beach 10 mins walk, city 15-20 mins drive, nearly everywhere where we want to drive to is roughly around 20-30 mins away. Its very quiet here the schools both primary and high schools are good. The only downside is that property prices seem expensive for the size of land/house you can buy. You can buy a house for the same price that is bigger with more land in other areas so we wont be buying here but if they were cheaper then i would deffo stop in this area

Debs xxxx

The SA government was aiming to double SA's population within the next couple of years that was when the SIR visa started up if I recall correctly??? Whether or not it is true as you have pointed is another thing ;)

Sasha :)

Living in Blackwood and would have to give it 10/10 :) It feels like a town in its own right and not just another suburb. Great schools in the area and not far from the city or the beaches. However, as someone said everyone has their own opinion of a place and it is a very personal decision but we absolutely love it here and feel very lucky indeed!

Carolyn

98.6 out of 10

Sadly I can't say where I live.... or you'd all be moving here!!!!

HIGHBURY - NORTH EAST OF THE CITY - MOVED THERE AS HUSBANDS WORK IN BASED AT GOLDEN GROVE.

9/10

Highbury is located North East to the city and next door to Athlestone. We are a few minutes walk to a beautiful stretch of Linear Park and in the foothills. We are a 15 minute drive away from city, 30 mins to the beach, approx 40 mins to the Barrossa wineries, 5 mins drive from Tea Tree Plaza and have local amenities such as a hospital about a 7 minute drive away.

Our daughters travel to school via the O-bahn which get them there in about 20 mins. I have one daughter here who has been accepted at Adelaide Uni to study politics in March - She received a TER score of 96.7 not bad as we have only been here two years and it took her about a year to settle but she is now fine and has a lovely Ozzie boyfriend! My other daughter is 16 and attends Adelaide High School

oops, accidently sent my post before I had finished!

Anyway, my 16 year old daughter loves School and we are very impressed with Highbury.

Barb

Hallett Cove-8/10
A lovely area, nice on the eye to look at, close to beach, a choice of 2 primary schools plus 1 that includes, Reception up until they leave school.
It is not far from any shopping mall, half an hour to the city.
Has a nature reserve, where you walk across a walkway parallel to the beach, beach not brilliant but we are 10 minutes away from Christie's or Noarlunga, which is a lot better, or Brighton.
It loses 2 points because it is quite hilly, we only live 5 minutes walk to the school, but the small uphill walk is a killer.
There are a few parks here, though often there isn't a sole on them.
There is a cycle track, a skateboard park and a fitness circuit walk (not tried them out yet)
There are also 2 places where you can catch the train, which will take you into the city.
House prices aren't out of reach, roughly 270,000+.
Depending on how close you are to the beach, you can probably get something decent, a 3 bed perhaps for 300,000, not by the beach though, but still only 5 mins drive.
Plans have been approved for the small shopping mall to be extended, so maybe the prices will rise, who knows, on the other hand people may not want to live near a large shopping centre.

Julie

I'd second what Barb says - Highbury is great - all the benefits that Jo listed under Modbury North (in terms of shops/swimming pools etc) plus Linear Park (we're just across from Judy in Athelstone!).

The beach is great, but I quickly get bored with sand, and when I take the dog out each morning in Linear Park, she can dive into the river for a drink any time she gets thirsty (always confuses her when she tries the same in the sea and it tastes of salt!) and it's so little known by anyone other than those that live right by it that most of the time you only see a handful of other people there.

The only disadvantage I can think of is that the majority of meet-ups seem to be on the west side of town, but when I get round to it I'll try and organise a family picnic in the park so you can all come over and see what we mean!

Diane

hmmm, I thought this would happen, everyone has given their own location a great score!

Perhaps it would be more useful if people could score suburbs they don't live in or at least give reasons why they didn't choose them.

There's quite a few we didn't like but I don't want to say anything here for fear of offending...

Andrea

(In Beaumont - 10/10 but may go down when we attempt to get on the housing ladder here)

Was only saying to my Blackwood area pommie mates the other day....wish someone would stay'Biggin' up the North' (so thanks Diane and others!! :lol: )..........it feels like there are more pommies in Blackwood then Aussies these days!!

Yes, it IS a great place to live but can be pricey - family houses are about $350-450K.

I think it is best to have a look round when you get here and not come with too many fixed ideas. We had about 4 suburbs in mind from research and info on Ad Brits but when we got here we hated all those areas!! (no not saying which as don;t want to start anything!). We just drove aimlessly for a few days and hit upon Belair which had the feel we were looking for.

These threads are all very well but everyone is looking for something different, have different budgets, may need to be close to the city for work (or not), etc, etc.

Sorry to sound slightly cranky - I think I am melting into the keyboard <_< Even with aircon it is 30C in my house!! ( so NO it is not much cooler in the hills...........)

Claire

Okay then :D

Areas that made me go - ooh, it's quite nice round here.....

Belair
Blackwood
Eden Hills
Coro Valley
Clarendon
Glen Osmand
(some streets) Unley
Brighton
Burnside
Norwood
Highbury
Athelstone
Stirling
Aldgate
Bridgewater
Lobethal


Desiree
:D :D

I really don't think there's any problem saying you don't like a suburb if you explain why - that is informative and other people can make their own decision whether that particular aspect bothers them.

I've said before that I don't think I could live in Sheidow Park as I find it too new and bare and without enough trees (I have since been told that there are some areas more established and with more trees). But many people on here think it's an ideal place to live!

My reasons for liking the Blackwood and surrounding areas are because it DOES have lots of trees (makes me feel at home :P ) and being a longer established area has larger blocks of land available which again suits me. It also has several main roads running through and I would need to evaluate individual properties to decide whether they are far enough away from road noise to satisfy me.

Personally I have no wish to be near the beach so wouldn't tend towards, say, Hallett Cove, though again others love it - and I've enjoyed the views on visits to that area but it's not for me as a place to live.

We're renting in Marion. In many ways it's very pleasant, certainly close to all amenities and transport, but for me it's just too 'suburban' and again, I wouldn't get the trees or size of block that I long for, here.

So, perhaps it's not someone else's marks out of 10 so much as their reasons for feeling the way they do?

Thanks everyone.

This has helped us narrow down our initial search areas.