Moving to Sydney

[Prowl]

I may be biased but the lower North Shore is the nicest place to live close to the city.

[UltraMarginal]

what Crankcase76 said is pretty right. to add from personal experiance:

living in the eastern suburbs makes it pretty easy to get to some of the beaches by PT (Buses)

Around the East and the inner west, the only way to really save much on rent is to rent a house with a bunch of people, and it'll be an old place too (50 to 80 odd years). 2 bedroom apartments below about $400 or $500 a week are starting to get rather old and poorly kept.

My Wife and I lived in a nice fairly large 2 bedroom apartment near chatswood for just over $500 a week. Chatswood is about 20 to 30 minutes out of the city by train.

South of the city there is a lot of new apartment block development, I'm not sure what the prices are like but there has been a masive boom in the area.

Newtown is expensive and kind of bohemian (a bit). also the best coffee shop in sydney.

there are express bus lanes along many of the major roads into the city. Parramatta road, Anzac Parade, and over the bridge from lane cove road. These really cut down travel time into the city.


Traditionally spring and autumn in sydney are beautiful and temperate, winter can get very cold at night, especially in older brick buildings from early last century. and summer can be hot for the same reasons.
lately though it's been cold and wet for the last 4 months. .

Major shopping centres that I am at least a bit familiar with are: Eastgardens, Chatswood (westfield and the chase), Macquarie, Bondi Junction, Parramatta, Miranda and the CBD. there are plenty of others but they are the larger ones that come to mind.

if you're researching public transport times from place to place the cityrail website is very good.
www.131500.com.au

Randwick, Kingsford, Bondi Junction, Chatswood, are all about a 30 minute commute into the city. main stations in the city are Town Hall, Wynyard and Central.

The older suburbs tend to be a bit more tightly packed, especially the inner west, north of the bridge is a little more leafy, as is the western and southern suburbs. Most areas of sydney have parks and sports fields not too far apart.

Where Not to live really depends on what you like in an environment. ie: maroubra is the best swimming beach, Coogee is the sunbathing beach , and Bondi is the shopping beach. Bronte Beach isn't much of a beach but there is good snorkelling/Diving I think. descriptions like that cover all of Sydney.

Parramatta is considered the geographical centre of the city but it's a solid hour from the CBD>
Hope that helps a bit.

[kup]

There comes a time in every Tasmanian's life where they realise - I have to get the hell off this Island!

I've spent the past 3 years at Uni. I completed a Bachelor of Contemporary Arts, majoring in Theatre, and as worthless as the piece of paper is anywhere in Australia, it's doubly as useless in Tasmania, which has nothing but amateur Theatre companies and no film or television industry to speak of.

So in order to continue to chase the dream of stardom, a move has to be made.

But I need some advice from the lovely people of NSW who I will soon be calling 'neighbour'.

I'm hoping to be located, if not in Sydney itself, then in one of the suburbs that closely ring the city. But which one? There are seemingly hundreds of them.

I need your advice as to which suburb would a good place to be in regards to ease of transport and the like.

Any advice on anything in regards to the place would be more than helpful. So go nuts. Tell me all about the place I'll soon call home.

I moved to Belmore (Bankstown area) because it was very central and affordable area. It is close to the city, Parramatta (2nd CBD) and a straight forward train ride to work (20 minutes). Before that, it was a reasonable drive to work. Reasonable rent costs by Sydney standards and central location. Never had an incident there when it comes to crime.

Parramatta is also good. Easy access to the city and most likely, work. However as of late, it has been rather crowded and due to demand, rent prices have gone up high. There is also a bit of crime there from what I hear but nothing has ever happened to me there.

If you are to enter the performing industry, you are most likely going to end up working in the city or near. Again, the Bankstown area or Parramatta would be suitable locations as you have easy access to the city. However Belmore is a fairly short drive away from Newtown which has the Enmore theater.

Just note that anything close or in the city will be costing you about $600+ per week for a tiny studio apartment - Sydney rent prices are ridiculous due to demand. You are better off living in the suburban area near a train station with a direct line to the city.

As Gok so colorfully illustrated, Sydney roads and public transport system still works under the assumption that people use the Horse and cart to get around. Although the Sydney suburban area is actually fairly small when it comes to area, it can take you an hour to drive just 15 km during peak hour. Trains can be tolerable (at best) when you have a direct line access to your work place so keep that in mind too.

[crankcase76]

i_amtrunks is right - Sydney's public transport and road networks are complete rubbish compared to other capital cities. The problem is that our roads were built over old animal trails instead of just building grid roads over it like they did in Melbourne and Adelaide^designed by a lobotomised retarded monkey in a straitjacket with a crayon shoved up its nostril, tied to a spinning record player which in turn was strapped to the back of a drunk running cheetah with diminished vision in its left eye.

Once you've learnt to loathe Sydney's transport and roads, then you have become a true Sydneyite!

love the passion there Goki, especially the part where the roads are built over old animal trails. so true as a dude who works on roads in Sydney. i agree the roads are just CRAP.

[Trent]

Check out Sydney's rail networks and try to live in (or near) a suburb that has a train station and is on the same line as where you're going/intending to work so you don't need to change lines. If you're not sure where you'll be working, you might want to stay near one of the "hubs" such as Central or Strathfield - the latter being cheaper, but still rather expensive compared to other suburbs. But you might be able to live in a nearby suburb like Burwood or something. Anyway...
CityRail

Once you've learnt to loathe Sydney's transport and roads, then you have become a true Sydneyite!

^^That.

Here is the network map. http://www.cityrail.info/stations/pd...etwork_map.pdf

The southern line that heads down to waterfall would be my pick. Waterfall is about an hour from central on an all stops train. I reckon if you were working in the city somewhere like Sutherland would be a good bet.

HTH

[GoktimusPrime]

Yeah, Parramatta is pretty good value - I've lived there twice. It's more bogan (chav) than the CBD though. Newtown has mad Thai food!

[Prowl]

My Wife and I lived in a nice fairly large 2 bedroom apartment near chatswood for just over $500 a week. Chatswood is about 20 to 30 minutes out of the city by train.

Chatswood is nice. Lived there for two years & in Lane Cove for five. Lived in Forestville for 20 years so yeah the North shore/beaches is where it is at

there are express bus lanes along many of the major roads into the city. Parramatta road, Anzac Parade, and over the bridge from lane cove road. These really cut down travel time into the city.

I drove across that bloody bridge nearly every day for years. What a nightmare anywhere from 30-90 minutes travel time from the Cove to Mascot. My worst trip was 3 hours on a Friday night

[i_amtrunks]

It should be noted to take everything we all say with a grain of salt, each Sydneysider has soft spots for certain areas, and (generally) unreasonable / very reasonable hate for others!

Living nearish to a train station is a very good point if you need to live further out from the city.

With the half an hour restriction, that rules out everything further west than Parramatta (Parra is probably 40 minutes but is a good cut-off point), All the Hills district is out (nice area, but expensive and probably the worst to get into the city from). Anything north of Chatswood is out and South of Mascot through to Canterbury.

Suburbs in that Goldilocks zone to avoid: I'll leave my personal bias out as best I can!
- Lakemba, Campsie (And areas in the Yagoona-Punchbowl area which is further out) as that is the current drive by shooting capital of the city. Not a true reflection on the suburbs but best to avoid.
- Mascot and the general Botany Bay area due to the airport.
- Glebe, Annandale and Camperdown. Great places to visit, good food but crazy priced for what you get.
And depending on your feelings towards Uni students you my want to avoid the Randwick area!

I'd suggest doing some real estate searches for the inner city and surrounds and see what areas strike you and then maybe ask us for the lowdown on them.

[UltraMarginal]

I drove across that bloody bridge nearly every day for years. What a nightmare anywhere from 30-90 minutes travel time from the Cove to Mascot. My worst trip was 3 hours on a Friday night

I only said it was good if you were on an express bus in the bus lane
or on the train, as long as the train doesn't break...

[Verno]

Ok, so to compile a list of possible suburbs in, as Trunks put it, the Goldilocks Zone, that you guys have recommended:

Parramatta
Ryde
Bankstown
Chatswood
Epping
Manly
Bondi
Newtown
The Lower North Shore
Belmore
Sutherland
Canterbury
Randwick
Kingsford

They're all in about the 30-40 minute commute range, right?

Thanks for your help on this too lads, it's greatly appreciated.