Hi folk, i would be very interested to hear from people who moved to Adelaide, whats it like to live there - good and bad - good areas (suburbs) to live in that are child friendly. We were originally thinking of Melbourne but had a sneaky look at Adelaide and just from the internet thought - WOW - but is this the real picture? Any thoughts/advice would be most welcome as we are still struggling with where to go to in ozzy

Thanks in advance for any help

Excellent, thanks Delboy1

Hi MandyB.

Adelaide, well we've been here two years in October and love it. What some of the critics say about it, is probably true, a bit quite etc, but we like that. It is beautiful and if you like the beach, there is plenty here with very safe beaches. Wine, well, there is plenty of that as well.

Good/bad areas, well you'd probably have to give an indication of where you were going to live or work.

We live in Sellicks Beach, which we think is pretty nice but well south of the City. Mrs C does actually work in the City but does shifts so it's not too bad.

What people say about drivers in Australia is true! They moan in Qld, but honestly, it is worse in Adelaide and you do have to watch the Roos.

Cooler

Thanks Mr C - we've only just started to consider Adelaide so know absolutely nothing about anything there. Hubby is bricklayer/stonemason so would move around for work, i am Legal Secretary so would most definitely need to work in the city centre. I currently spend approx 45 mins getting to work give or take traffic and i don't mind that - any longer might be a bit much, so suburbs within a reasonable distance of the city would suit, not particularly bothered whether we are near the beach or not. I have a 13 yr old and 2yr old so a mixed bag for the kids would be ideal - as would good high school and good pre-school.

As for being quiet - we don't mind that one bit - as long as there is plenty to do as a family - days out etc.

Drivers can't be much worse than here in NZ - seriously! What do you mean about the Roos? Do they jump out in the road???

My 13yr old (a boy) is dead set against moving - as are most teenagers i imagine - so we're working on finding 'fun' things for him to look forward to other than the beach (he insists its probably just full of sharks!).

If you can put up with the weather (and being a Kiwi I expect you can!) then Adelaide can be a great place to live. Personally I prefer the south side to the north (I lived there for 11 years in Edwardstown and then Blackwood) but a lot of the northside suburbs are good too. The train service isn't bad for commuting into the CBD but parking can be limited at a lot of the stations so you need to research the local transport options wherever you decide to look.

As with most cities, don't even think about driving to work unless

1. You can work outside normal 9-5 hours, and
2. Your employer can provide parking for you

The main commuter roads (Main North, South, Cross, Greenhill, Marion, Port, North East, etc.) are to be avoided at peak hours.

Hi Mandy

Another Adelaide lover here. I have been here 5 years next month.

I live North of Adelaide, and work 1km from the airport. Drive isn't too bad, but we start at 8:30 and finish at 4:30 to avoid that peak traffic and I get to go around the city and not through it. I did work in the city center for a while, and didn't find it too bad. Although again I avoided the 5-6pm traffic.

Takes me about 40 minutes to do the 20k drive - I do have to go through road works at the minute though, so that slows me down a little.

My 13 year old didn't want to come either - he's now 18 and wouldn't live anywhere else if you paid him. He has made some really good friends here, so that's always a bonus.

Good luck with your decision, and if you need any specific info just ask away.

Roos, yes. Friends driving back after our youngest boys birthday party hit one. The damage cost $6,000 dollars for all the repairs. It depends where you live, we live 50kms south of the city centre. Dusk is the time they can spring out, quite a few people have roo bars.

Loads to do, our boys player soccer (yes, SA is big on AFL), swim and are members of a local surf life saving club. Honestly, no need to worry about the sharks. I sometimes see dolphins when I'm walking the dog and one swam between us when we were all in the water - when it was a bit warmer than now!


Cooler

If you live in the suburbs you won't have to worry about kangaroos - in 28 years of driving in Australia, a lot of it in the outback, I've seen plenty but only ever hit one, and none of them in areas where there was any sort of residential development however small.

Beg to differ, we are in residential area, albeit backed by the Mount Lofty Ranges and we get Roos, loads of them down by the Reservoir too on Happy Valley Drive, etc etc & they do cross the road to get from reserve to reserve. Dusk and Dawn are the times to be more vigilent. We also get Koalas in our trees in the streets, had one a few weeks ago in the tree outside the school :-)

Anywhere where there are trees and open grassy areas you will find kangaroos.

They are all over some of the more open less densely populated suburbs of the major cities, particularly about the metropolitan outskirts.

You won't find any in the inner suburbs though.

Wow, can't believe that about the Roos - never thought you would see them unless you were way out

Aldinga has a 'scrub' which has some very big roos in. I've seen one hopping down the road in Moana - the beach is that good there

Cooler

We went to Adelaide for Easter holidays this year and as we drove back to our accommodation had roos jump out in front of us in Barossa area. Also as you'd expect there were lots of Kangaroos and walabies jumping out on the road on Kangaroo Island!

Sorry - it never occurred to me to think of Aldinga and Moana as being part of Adelaide! Even including Reynella is a bit of a stretch.

Aldinga and Moana are way out.