TopCat3

Yes. Inner West areas south of Parramatta Road such as: Ashfield, Ashbury, Croydon, Dulwich Hill, Canterbury, Marrickville. All on train line 15mins or so from city. Check carefully who your neighbours are and the "nice" streets. But it's affordable. Ashfield lovely leafy suburb with grand old houses, modest houses, some older 1960s-70s blocks of units (best avoided- shabby/dirty sometimes) and some newer blocks (be careful here too because of possible building defects - check strata records carefully if you are buying). Summer Hill is lovely but pricey as it's trendy/villagey and very Anglo-Saxon and some of the other areas are not. Suggest don't live west of Strathfield nor south west down Liverpool Rd/Canterbury Rd. Some areas less safe.
Hope that helps.

Scuba Steve

Update for Verystormy.....no update. Still waiting for my bloody 457 cos of this labour agreement dispute!!! On the plus side, I did go snowboarding last week.

NickyC

No - I just put 2 and 2 together. It's probably only the Army that provides housing for their employees in various spots all over the city. And there's not much in Paddington apart from shops, houses and Victoria Barracks .

There's another poster on here called Josie1100 who (I think) is in Army housing in Maroubra. She might be able to give you more specific info on what the houses are like. .

pompeyblonde

Thanks Topcat!! that helps have been looking on the realestate pages and thing I could prob swing it!

verystormy

I am sure you will get the good news soon steve. Where do you live that allows you to go snowboarding?

Scuba Steve

Europe! Had a week in the french Alps.

Jacque

My partner was in the Defence Force for 17yrs so I know something about moving around

His second Sydney posting was to Randwick Barracks and we had the option of finding housing anywhere nearby (private rental but subsidized by DF) - despite our best efforts at the time, and though we wanted to live near the beaches, we couldn't find anything with a decent enough yard for our three children at the time (4,2 and new baby) so we canned the idea and moved further out to the Hills instead.
His commute took an hr each way but he coped and we got to live for cheaper rent in a lovely house with yard and air con, and took the kids to Nippers on Sundays to Collaroy beach instead. (I prefer the northern side to the Eastern suburbs beaches)

Just be aware that rents are rising in Sydney, particularly in the suburbs closer to the CBD and I hope the DF has put their subsidies up accordingly, if you have to look for private rentals. DF housing is scattered all around Sydney, and is mainly townhouses/units on the Eastern side.

Best of luck with your move

Red_V_Roger

The Sutherland Shire is a great place to be and don't forget that we are having our get together tomorrow:

South Sydney/Shire Meet-Up: Gymea Hotel, 2PM Saturday 29th March
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=519727