Me and my girlfriend plan to move from Sweden to Sydney in the fall. Which neighborhood would you recommend to live in? Is there any places where we shouldn't live ("bad neighborhoods")?
My girlfriend will be working at the Children's Cancer Institute, which is located in Randwick. So I think we want to live no longer than one hour by bus from Randwick.
Live in Randwick. No need to travel such distances if you live in Sydney. If you want to live next the beach then Bronte is close to Randwick also...
+1 for Randwick. Its close to the CBD, Beaches, and Botany Bay for flatwater sailing. :)
Well in the Saturday Telegraph a few weeks back MY suburb got voted the best to live in in Sydney!!!
A- It's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too far from the water
B- I have no idea who voted, I certainly didn't
C- It's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too far away from the water
D- It's been the home to one of the biggest suburban meth labs ever uncovered by NSW police
E- It's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too far from the water
F- see a, c and e above.
I think your biggest problem will be finding something semi affordable close to the beach (most Sydney areas are now on par with London or New York). There is very little quality rental real estate at reasonable prices available in Randwick (or anywhere east of the CBD for that matter). I am not saying it doesn't exist... I just haven't seen it yet.
Randwick and Coogee are well connected to the CBD and Inner West via public transport (same can't be said for other areas of the city). Don't expect too much in the way of food variety though. Most of what's available seems to appeal to backpacker types and can't compete with what's on offer in areas like Newtown, Leichhardt or Glebe.
My recommendation would be to get a car ASAP. Sydney is a car city (sadly) and if you want to go windsurfing you'll find it hard to go without.
As far getting to work in Randwick goes... to following suburbs are either not far from Randwick or well connected via public transport and are reasonably safe:
- Eastern Suburbs: Bronte, Clovelly, Waverly, Bondi Junction
- CBD/ City: Surry Hills (lots of bars, restaurants, boutique shops), Darlinghurst
- Inner West: Newtown, Camperdown, Glebe, Leichhardt, Erskineville
Expect to pay about $400 to $500 a week for an average one bed room apartment in the Inner West and up to $600 close to the beach. A good web site for Real Estate listings is www.domain.com.au/ . Inspections are usually on a Wednesday or Saturday. Expect to see 20 or more people at an inspection. The cheaper the property the more people you'll see. Don't be shocked if a people start offering more rent than what is asked.
You'll need to pay 4 weeks rental bond. Most rental agreements are 6 or 12 months. With the current lack of quality properties 12 months is becoming the norm.
You could also go for a furnished apartment which is a little bit more expensive (probably about $200 per week more) but they are often available for short term leases (ie 6 weeks to 3 months). Expect to pay a rental bond equivalent to 6 weeks rent.
When you get a property through a Real Estate agent make you sure you take extra care in filling in the property inspection report. Most agents will mark properties as in "perfect condition" even if there are obvious problems. When it comes to moving out they will then try to deduct any damages from your rental bond. In my experience it's best to make a detailed list of everything that's not in perfect condition and document it with digital photos.
ok, thanks
I did a search on gumtree.com.au, and yes, it quite expensive...
We will get a car, but she can use that to get to work, I'll need that to get to the beach, (and possibly once in a while to my work :) )
My two cents. I live in Matraville, it's not as glamarous as Randwick or Coogee, but it does have several advantages:
a) It's much cheaper to rent than Coogee or Randwick
b) Randwick is only 15 minutes drive away
c) It's a 5 minute drive up the road to La Perouse which is a GREAT place to sail in anything with Westerly in it
d) It's a 5 minute drive to Maroubra Beach which is a really good big surf beach
e) It's only a 15 minute drive to Kyeemagh (flat water Port Botany beach for Nor Easters and Southerlies)
f) Pretty good access to Wanda and Southern Beaches
Like I said, it's not as glamarous as some of the nice Eastern Suburbs, but they are all really close by. It's much nicer than it used to be.
1 hr by bus away from work the way the traffic flows in sydeny that would be like 2 stops away
As Laff said somewhere around Matraville would be good. Its not a bad suburb. Its not too far away from Randwick and is considerable cheaper to rent.
Personally I think the big tip in Sydney is to live somewhere close to where you work as getting around here is a real pain.
I work in Hornsby and live there too. It suits me as unfortunately I have to go to work every day, so I just walk to work. Hornsby isn't close to the water but thats okay as there are many more work days than sailing days and the money I save on transport can be used for other things.
I moved to Sydney six weeks ago with my wife. Her family lives in Randwick so we also wanted to be near there, and close to the beach if possible.
We looked at places from Bondi down to Maroubra, and ended up renting in Coogee. It's fairly busy with backpackers and one of the local pubs is best avoided at closing time - but otherwise it's a nice spot. Not as expensive as some areas, but you do pay a premium for being by the sea - $500-600 a week for a decent 2-bed apartment.
I'd definitely recommend looking in Maroubra. It's a poorer area than the suburbs to the north, doesn't have the cafés etc. - and as a result your money goes much further. We almost got a very modern 2-bed place with a balcony overlooking the beach, but missed out on that (the rental market is pretty competitive I'm afraid and people will offer higher rent than the asking price if there's a lot of interest).
By the way, my windsurfing stuff arrives in a couple of weeks. We're close enough to the beach for me to carry it down so I was hoping to avoid getting a car. Does anyone launch off the eastern beaches at all? Haven't seen anyone even on the rare windy days. Admittedly there's a narrow range of wind directions which will work, given the 'u'-shaped bays round here. But I remain hopeful for now...
sparky don't bother with a car steal a shopping trolley and push it down the footpath it will be faster and big bonus no rotten toll fees i paid over $4000
in toll fees last year just to be stuck in traffic that money could have been better spent on more gear if the tolls go up i might have to retrench one of my kids
