we've landed ;-) now need to decide were to live?

[Guest bianca]

Were FINALLY here... landed this morning and staying with a friend in Woodcroft. Can anyone recommend areas to look to rent? Were 30 & 27 have 2 children 5 & 3. Obviously want somewhere family orientated with lots to do. Hoping to meet lots of new friends. Open to opinions. X

[Guest vikkiann]

Welcome to Adelaide!

Do you have jobs lined up?

That usually determines where you live, we live down in Aldinga and are happy to commute half hour to get to work but some people think we are out in the sticks and travelling half hour is awful!

[Guest bianca]

Hi vikki ;-) no we don't have jobs yet.. 1st thing to do monday morning. I wanted somewhere with lots to do to make it easier to meet people. Ive all of a sudden had a massive panic now im here x

[snifter]

Do you have in your head a preference for coastal or inland? Small town or suburb? Nearer the city hustle and bustle or more the burbs?

 

Also with your kids being the ages they are you may need to consider schooling options.

 

Lots to do is usually down to you as a family. You can find things to do based pretty much in any suburb or small town but upon first seeing those areas some may seem much less busy or active than you may be expecting. We lived in Glenelg for 7 months and it constantly felt busy but we do more things since we moved further out of the city and off the flat. We did lots when in Glenelg too but it is just nicer up here to live for us as a family. I miss the tram into the city and being a minute from Jetty road so able to walk to shops rather than drive, but apart from that, love where we live now far more.

 

I freely admit to not being fussed in the least to live in any of the coastal/beach suburbs. They do nothing for me. The beaches themselves are gorgeous and love to visit them as and when. Not fussed to

live too far south either. I like to visit those places occasionally but never liked them enough to want to consider living there. Fwiw I loved Maclaren Vale but it's just too far out for us to want to settle there. Lots do and are very happy. Sure we would have been too. I missed hills and trees a bit down there too. Lots of wineries The expressway being open has improved travel times to the city and metropolitan area though.

 

As said I prefer hills and trees and am content being a short drive to get to any number of beaches when we wish. I find myself missing gum trees dotted around everywhere, rolling hills scenery and other things when I visit the coastal suburbs. I love the wildlife up here and seeing koalas in the trees on a regular basis. We often see one in the gum tree behind our house.

 

We travel to Marion for a shopping mall. Have cinema options, swimming pools etc all within a short drive. 10 minutes or so.

 

It really is a personal choice and what suits one won't another. Nothing wrong with that. When we began looking in earnest to buy where we actually ended up was an area we had ruled out to begin with. But coming back to it a few times to view houses, seeing other suburbs, we got to appreciating that there are good and not so good in all areas/suburbs and rethought our wants and wish lists. Also after 7 months in Glenelg our priorities changed and what we had started off wanting or thinking we wanted, it became clear to us that wasn't going to happen down there around Glenelg.

 

Renting is usually a year lease so keep that in mind. And that also you may want to move elsewhere after (or before) this depending on if you find somewhere you prefer, work reasons and more.

 

Woodcroft and it's surrounding suburbs, tbh you could probably find something that ticks your boxes within 15 minutes or so of there. Happy Valley, Aberfoyle Park, Sheidow Park and over to the coast and Hallet Cove and onwards and out. If you want to be more metropolitan and closer to the city then head down the hill and look round. You could go north more and check out there, or east, which feels different again. I loved some of the eastern suburbs but we couldn't find a house we loved there.

[RachaelOs]

Guess your first decision will need to be beach or hills, what do you do for work? Will you be working in the city? There's loads of things for kids to do and I find the majority of people here really friendly so that should be the easy bit xxx

[Toni]

I like what snifter said. It's very descriptive of areas. I love the coastal area and would love a home on the beachfront but more and more I am attracted to the hills areas too. There is so much choice and I bet your head is spinning too. I work in the city though so for me I live about a 5 minute drive from the city (in non peak times) - so mostly I am travelling in peak hour and it can take up to 20 minutes (we know the short cuts) or more if there are roadworks or some event happening near by which there usually is. If I were taking public transport it can take up to 45 minutes if you factor in walking to and from bus stops. I hear people at work complaining about the travel time so I think if you are the sort of person that doesn't like to travel for long then you should factor it in. If you plan on renting though you can move after a year and see different areas and what you can tolerate.

[snifter]

One more thing, grrr edit on phone won't work, the travel times for a work commute. They are not a factor for us really.

 

Where I approach it from is that from where we are we can go north or south and have options either direction should we want an afternoon or a day out or need to go somewhere. East also, and the coast. We are, for us, placed nicely for all directions. I boggled the other month driving to St Kilda for the play park. Took a fair while to get there and that was from Glenelg. We have family all over the city. Friends dotted around also of course but we are all happy to travel a ways. And hubby races a lot so we wanted a reasonable distance bike ride (and car on occasion) for those.

 

Being in Maclaren Vale or Aldinga would not work for us on a practical level. Nor would being north of the CBD really as getting across or around it for things would soon wear thin for us. Even driving to Magill a while back took a good half hour or more with traffic in the day. Coming back in the evening was a bit better but still took a while. So things like that really factored in for us. But we only knew that after 6 months or so living here and our priorities adjusting gradually.

[NicF]

There are lots of lovely areas around Adelaide the hard bit is going to be narrowing them down. For us this was fairly easy as, like Snifter, I'm not bothered about being near the beach and I wanted to be reasonably close to my mother in law and not too far from my sister in law and brother in law. And not too far from the city. And in the zone for particular senior schools and walking distance to a good primary school. Where we could buy a reasonable sized house for not much more than $500k. This really narrowed down our options and left us in Rostrevor. Which was good as I really liked the area when we drove round it.

 

I would start by having a bit of a drive round some different areas. Check out the hills and some beach areas and some of the areas closer to the city and see what kind of place feels best and decide where to focus your search. Also think about where you are likely to get work and how much if a commute you would be prepared to do. Then consider budget, both for renting and longer term if you are wanting to buy a house and rule out anywhere too expensive. We could have rented in lots of areas but would not have been able to afford to buy anything we would want to live in in some areas. Once you narrow down your search focus go and spend some time in the possible areas you are considering and see how they feel. Check out the local shops and find out more about the local schools. What ever area you decide on there will be plenty for you to do with the kids.

[snifter]

Guess your first decision will need to be beach or hills, what do you do for work? Will you be working in the city? There's loads of things for kids to do and I find the majority of people here really friendly so that should be the easy bit xxx

 

There are many suburbs that don't fall in to beach or hills though. I refer to a large chunk of those, the suburbs closer to the city 'down on the flat' My hubby, from here, gets what I mean when I say it and even uses it now. I think living up the hill(s) now I see it more that way. If I was still down there I'd be saying 'up the hill' or 'down south'. Lots of options on the flat too. I liked Glengowrie, Plympton, some parts of Warradale were nice but far too many sub divides for my liking there now for silly prices. Glandore, have friends there and it seems nice. Again, big buying bucks for not much house is often the way the closer to the CBD you get. But rentals can be done it seems. Different feel again in those sorts of suburbs with the main trunk roads running through them and the more busy feel you get feeding off from that. And then as soon as you turn down the residential streets it's quieter and far less busy.

 

Also some of the northerly suburbs are not really in either group. I haven't really gotten my head round those as we don't go that way much and when we do I am usually driving and can't pay attention to the land and layout as it passes.

[wubbledoos]

Hi snifter, what suburb are you in, I've read your previous posts about how nice it is but can't see where you mention it.

 

We are starting to venture out and about and look at new areas to possibly buy so will add this to the list

[snifter]

Hi snifter, what suburb are you in, I've read your previous posts about how nice it is but can't see where you mention it.

 

We are starting to venture out and about and look at new areas to possibly buy so will add this to the list

 

I don't like to divulge overly on the more exact location

[minimel2710]

Were FINALLY here... landed this morning and staying with a friend in Woodcroft. Can anyone recommend areas to look to rent? Were 30 & 27 have 2 children 5 & 3. Obviously want somewhere family orientated with lots to do. Hoping to meet lots of new friends. Open to opinions. X

 

Us too bianca got here this morning. Staying in Glenelg for the first 4 weeks then moving into a longer rental but who knows where!! First port of call tomo is to buy a car then for hubby to find a job! Our kids are bigger - ages 12 and 13 so were looking for areas with a good secondary school. I've got a few places in mind but until you actually visit there I guess you won't know if it's for you...

Good luck! Enjoy the ride