Ok. So if someone was to ask where is a great place to live in Sydney with a maximum 40 min commute door to door either via train or car into the CBD that then has good access to great windsurfing and cycling, where would you suggest?
Oh, just so we are clear, the budget for rent is $2500 / month. I suspect that answer now is "there isn't anywhere!"
PS - The Wife and Daughter also horse ride so need to make sure they can still do that. Perth was on the agenda, but they have told me they won't go to Perth :-(
Probably somewhere around Sutherland maybe Jannali with rents around $650 for a 3 bedder. On the train line to the CBD, great cycling in the National Park and a choice of good windsurfing spots - Botany Bay and the waves at Wanda. Don't know about the horse riding though.
Internet hasn't reached Terrey Hills yet. Possibly in the next decade. Same as sewerage.
Horse heaven, mosquito heaven, bogan heaven, burnout heaven, pffttt, don't go there 
Dural might be the go .
Have you rang any real-estate agents & made them laugh. Room for horses in that budget & travel time . Less than 40 min travel . Mate its sydeny.
40 min travel you would have to next door if you drive
The paper once had an article 2hrs to travel 7 km through mosman of a morning . You might have to keep miniature ponys on a balcony.
Seriously maybe riverstone or something like that I'm afraid your the one thats going to be travelling to give them the luxury of space so why don't you agist your horses so they travel to them after all they are not going to be going every day rain hail or shine like you do to go to work so make them the 40 min travel you would be going opposite the traffic then so the commute would be better.
JUst a thought maybe if you saw a list of the pony clubs it would give you an idea about were people are living & keeping horses.
Cronulla or sutherland area is your best bet, train to city from Cronulla station is 50mins, lots of places to sail and usually more wind than other parts of Sydney. Cronulla may be out of your budget but the surrounding suburbs towards sutherland should come in closely. Theres horse ridding not far away at kurnell, pony clubs at menai, lots of places to ride down towards helensburgh too.
Hate to say it but what you are looking for: A place 40 minutes from decent paying work, with the option of windsurfing in the afternoons and riding a horse nearby and on your budget Perth is probably the best option.
The problem in Sydney is that during peak hour it's gridlock. Driving from the CBD to the Southerland Shire during peak hour will take well over an hour. Same goes for driving around Macquarie Park / Ryde as well as Mossman and up the Pacific Highway.Do you have a job yet? Most people choose the place they live around where they work to cut down on the commute.
RE Dural expect to spend at least an hour to get to water.
I live in the St George area, it's only a 15 min train ride to the city, 5 mins to Botany Bay, 15 minutes to Wanda and my daughter horse rides at Kurnell (20 mins) away. As much as the shire is a nice place to visit (I've windsurfed at Wanda for over 20 yrs) living there would do my head in. The only downside with the st George area is there is nowhere decent to go out so we usually head to Newtown or Marrickville for a feed and beer.
Select to expand quoterobbo1111 said..
I live in the St George area, it's only a 15 min train ride to the city, 5 mins to Botany Bay, 15 minutes to Wanda and my daughter horse rides at Kurnell (20 mins) away. As much as the shire is a nice place to visit (I've windsurfed at Wanda for over 20 yrs) living there would do my head in. The only downside with the st George area is there is nowhere decent to go out so we usually head to Newtown or Marrickville for a feed and beer.
Really? I used to live at Carlton and it took longer than 15 minutes to get to the city. The trains were a bit unreliable then, so maybe it has improved. Maybe if you choose Rockdale or Kogarah or one of the major stations you can get those times. I am also a bit skeptical of 15 minutes to Wanda or 20 minutes to Kurnell. Which suburb is that?
I live closer to Sutherland now and I think its still a bit longer than those times to get to Wanda or Kurnell.
Regardless, I think these suburbs are good. You can get a decent commute time to the city and a decent time to Kurnell. I think there may even be horse riding down towards Helensburgh.
Select to expand quotestehsegler said..
Hate to say it but what you are looking for: A place 40 minutes from decent paying work, with the option of windsurfing in the afternoons and riding a horse nearby and on your budget Perth is probably the best option.
The problem in Sydney is that during peak hour it's gridlock. Driving from the CBD to the Southerland Shire during peak hour will take well over an hour. Same goes for driving around Macquarie Park / Ryde as well as Mossman and up the Pacific Highway.Do you have a job yet? Most people choose the place they live around where they work to cut down on the commute.
RE Dural expect to spend at least an hour to get to water.
I can't speak for the OP, but I think when he asked these questions originally, he might have found that Perth is a bit harder for work in some areas and its harder to find as many varieties of jobs, particularly in IT.
I looked at finding IT work in Perth, and even if you ignore the lower salaries, work is harder to get and less varied. A lot of companies are headquartered in the eastern states, and the ones that are in WA sometimes have their IT outsourced to the eastern states or even off-shore.
I think the mining boom has increased general costs in Perth but not everyone has an income that can afford that.
Select to expand quoteFormulaNova said..
stehsegler said..
Hate to say it but what you are looking for: A place 40 minutes from decent paying work, with the option of windsurfing in the afternoons and riding a horse nearby and on your budget Perth is probably the best option.
The problem in Sydney is that during peak hour it's gridlock. Driving from the CBD to the Southerland Shire during peak hour will take well over an hour. Same goes for driving around Macquarie Park / Ryde as well as Mossman and up the Pacific Highway.Do you have a job yet? Most people choose the place they live around where they work to cut down on the commute.
RE Dural expect to spend at least an hour to get to water.
I can't speak for the OP, but I think when he asked these questions originally, he might have found that Perth is a bit harder for work in some areas and its harder to find as many varieties of jobs, particularly in IT.
I looked at finding IT work in Perth, and even if you ignore the lower salaries, work is harder to get and less varied. A lot of companies are headquartered in the eastern states, and the ones that are in WA sometimes have their IT outsourced to the eastern states or even off-shore.
I think the mining boom has increased general costs in Perth but not everyone has an income that can afford that.
You are spot on there. Java dev jobs in Perth quoting 80k, Sydney CBD finance which is what I work in are paying 120k - 140k
Perth is as expensive as a result of the mining boom.
Given the size of Aus, I do find it staggering that they don't have a high speed rail service up and down the coastline. They could have built satellite town/cities outside of the major cities Perth / Sydney .. which enabled you to get into the CBD in under 1 hour
On the continent in Europe they have trains that travel ~ 150mph
Seems a no brainer to me
I agree with Robbo. But remember the further south you live the more chance you will have of having better neighbours and the closer you will be to wavesailing, biking and horses. ........ Just a few minutes more on the train to work.
Select to expand quoteflanagaj said..
Given the size of Aus, I do find it staggering that they don't have a high speed rail service up and down the coastline. They could have built satellite town/cities outside of the major cities Perth / Sydney .. which enabled you to get into the CBD in under 1 hourSelect to expand quote
Seems a no brainer to me
herein lies the problem... Australia has some of the most incompetent politicians on the planet. Generally they can't think more than 12 months into future. So unless someone finds a way to build all this infrastructure in 12 months it won't happen...
Actually the problem is that people from northern hemisphere cant see that lower population numbers on this side of the world equals less tax for government to invest and is also the reason there is less infrastructure such as transport in Australia. You may think politicians here are incompetent - are they any better in UK/Europe?
happy Australia Day, it's a good life here 
Select to expand quoteBrien said..
I agree with Robbo. But remember the further south you live the more chance you will have of having better neighbours and the closer you will be to wavesailing, biking and horses. ........ Just a few minutes more on the train to work.
What door to door commute times would I be looking at to get that?
I don't have a problem with spending longer on the train as I have a lengthy commute here in the UK > 1.5hrs each way, but I get to work 2 days a week from home so that helps rebalance things.
Definitely look South.
St George area (north of Georges river, look along the train line for Oatley, Mortdale, Penshurst, Hurstville, Kogarah, Rockdale) is about 20-25 minutes train ride to CBD, and 10-20 minute drive to Botany Bay (great flat sailing), 20-25 minute drive to Wanda for wave sailing. There is good cycling (a couple of hundred guys in various size groups every weekend) starting from the Oatley area, riding over the Como bridge south to Sutherland and Waterfall, and mountain biking in the Royal National Park. Good horse riding at Otford to the south (40 min drive), or else a slightly longer drive south west to Camden.
But to hit your budget, you'll probably need to travel south of the Georges river to the Sutherland Shire. (Como, Jannali, Sutherland Loftus, or for some more money, head closer to Cronulla beach at Cronulla, Woolooware, Caringbah, Miranda, Gymea, Kirrawee.) From here train to CBD is longer (30 - 45 minutes), drive to Botany Bay sailing is also longer (20-30 minutes to Kyeemagh), but you are closer to wave sailing at Cronulla (Wanda beach) and closer to cycling in Royal National Park and horse riding at Otford.
Don't plan on driving into the CBD, it's no fun at all. Best to live within walking distance of a train line. The trains are pretty good (no matter how much people like to whinge about them).
Personally, I would be looking south of Hurstville. The further south you move, the more "chilled out" the lifestyle is. (Relaxed people, larger blocks of land with more trees, beach culture.) People who live in the Sutherland Shire regularly refer to it as "God's Country" and many never leave it.
Select to expand quoteHarrow said..
Personally, I would be looking south of Hurstville. The further south you move, the more "chilled out" the lifestyle is. (Relaxed people, larger blocks of land with more trees, beach culture.) People who live in the Sutherland Shire regularly refer to it as "God's Country" and many never leave it.
The chilled out lifestyle is what I am after. I don't want to live in the City, as the rural life is what we are after.
If you are looking for a rural lifestyle around Sydney you have three basic choices as far as I know. I'm not a Sydney local but have lived here for seven years. You can live out west around Camden. You can live in the north west around Dural or you can head up to perhaps the Hawkesbury Valley or up the Central coast hinterland. Of course this depends on what you call rural as most country people wouldn't call it rural at all. Basically when it comes down to it if you want the rural life its not to be found in Sydney as life in Sydney is the anti-thesis of rural life.
Its all to do with population density, or lack of it.
Anyway as someone who has windsurfed and worked in both Perth and Sydney recently I would say you need to pick your spot very carefully in Sydney as the level of traffic can make some journeys during peak hours (eg after work) impossible.
Saying that you have longer in the evenings as they have managed to figure out daylight savings, bit of an advantage there.
You really need to be there to get a feel for it rather than listening to random advice on locations from this forum, I know thats probably not what you want to hear - I get the impression you like to plan things!
Al
Select to expand quotealbentley said..
I get the impression you like to plan things!
Al
Haha. The fact I have left it until 3 months before my visa expires before pulling my finger out, would suggest otherwise :-)
Select to expand quoteflanagaj said..albentley said..
I get the impression you like to plan things!
Al
Haha. The fact I have left it until 3 months before my visa expires before pulling my finger out, would suggest otherwise :-)
How does that work? You are only coming out for 3 months, or you have to arrive within the next 3 months, and then you can stay for a while?
Sutherland is quite nice. I actually spent all of yesterday at Kurnell, yet again. Not sure if still God's country as I felt the strong presence of Allah everywhere. As in everybody. Meh. They are very careful about protection from the sun.
Sutherland's grave is there. Fun fact: he was the first European to die in Australia, on Cook's voyage.
Train ride from Cronulla is about 50 minutes, so probably 1:15 door-to-door. You wouldn't drive. Nope.
You can start here:
www.realestate.com.au/rent/in-sutherland/map-1
It is windier in Sutherland.
Select to expand quoteevlPanda said..
Sutherland's grave is there. Fun fact: he was the first European to die in Australia, on Cook's voyage.
A few hundred Dutch men, women and children died in Australia before Captain Cook was born.
Select to expand quoteMobydisc said..evlPanda said..
Sutherland's grave is there. Fun fact: he was the first European to die in Australia, on Cook's voyage.
A few hundred Dutch men, women and children died in Australia before Captain Cook was born.
Pretty sure that was in New Holland.
