Gemini_05

Myself and my husband (who is Australian) are planning on moving to Sydney end of next year.

The idea is to move near his family who live near Liverpool in the western suburbs. I have been over to visit a few times and don’t get a feel for the area. There are a lot of huge modern developments where you don’t see anybody and everyone seems to need a car to get anywhere. Wherever I have lived in the UK I have always been used to having everything on my doorstep with good transport links. I am now starting to get cold feet about going as I am not sure this is the lifestyle for me.

Is there anybody who can offer advice on good areas to live in the western suburbs (are they all the same?) and what the lifestyle is like? The idea of us moving out there is so we can buy a house (can’t afford to buy where we live in the UK) and a better place to bring up our child. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

utopia

Hi Gemini,

We are exactly in the same predicament as yourself...

My parents live in Preston's/Liverpool. We visited them last year with the kids 1 and 3 year old and I must admit everything did seem far away.

I do not drive and have always used public transport in London. So I felt abit uneasy when it came to the distance from the shops etc… to my folks.

I have done alot of research with regards to the surrounding areas. My Husband in all likelihood will be commuting to and from the CBD.

I have been focusing on areas around 20 min from my parents but closer to the city.

The house prices seem relatively the same. Around 500/600k.

Have a look at the following. Then work out travel distance to the CBD.

You can go onto www.whereis.com.au and type in suburbs and get a feel of the distance between your Husbands parents home to other locations you might consider living in.

http://www.justlisted.com.au/

Here are afew Tube Maps... so you can access distance to the city by train:

http://www.cityrail.info/timetable/t...dir=up&page=04

http://www.cityrail.info/timetable/t...&day=wd&dir=up

I must admit I seem to really like the Sutherland Shire region.

Great Schools and Train line straight to CBD and it works out to 30 min to my Parents which isn’t bad.

Let me know how it maps out...

thebears

Read the article in the AGE - the western surburb house prices are dropping up to 42% and they are predicting another 10% drop in the coming months.

Have you considered other parts of OZ? You can get a nice 4 bed house in Melbourne for $300K

Kiwi

christinabell

Hiya Gemini,

I was born and raised in Liverpool. Spent 30 years of my life there, but I wouldnt live there now, not with kids. Liverpool and most of the outer western suburbs of Sydney are very multicultural citys, which in one respect can be great, but can also have its downfalls. I suppose it depends on how tolerant u are of other peoples cultures and ways of life.

I presently live in Campbelltown, which is about half an hour further west of Liverpool. The majority of people that live here are young to middle aged families so the council have planned the city to cater for this eg: lots of parks, sporting complexes, schools, bike tracks and skate parks. I wont lie, we have crime here too, what city doesnt, but having lived here for nearly ten years now I have never been effected by it. Our transport system is good. I can get to Sydney by train in about an hour or by car it can take about 45 mins ( this is along an expressway and isnt bumper to bumper until u reach the city and get off the expressway) I can also go south to Wollongong ( where there are some beautiful beaches ) in about half an hour by car. I never have the need to go to Sydney as everything I could possibly want or need I can get in my own suburb ( except for an opera house and a harbour bridge lol ) My parents still live in Liverpool so I am close enough to them without living TOO close if u know what I mean.

As far as being far away from everything, well I guess us Aussies just take it for granted. Our country is so big so we are used to having to travel long distances. Many people in the western suburbs commute daily to the big smoke ( Sydney ) as do a lot of people from the Central coast. There is work available in the western suburbs, but I guess it depends on what sort of work u are after as to whether u have to go to the city or not.

Anyway, hope this has helped. If u have any more questions on the west give me a yell.

Good Luck
Chris.

lissysarah

Recently stayed in Parrammatta for 5 days. Travelled into Sydney by car and train and to be honest none of the Western areas appealed to me. Looked run down and tired and considering the house prices I felt we would be better off in Melbourne or Brisbane which I preferred.

However, there mat well be nice areas that we didn't see!

spottydog

We started staying with friends in Sutherland Shire then moved to Balmain for a bit before moving back to the Shire. 4 bed houses here seem to go between $550k to $650k. I work by Martin Place and it takes between 35 and 45 minutes from Jannali to get to work (depending on whether I'm on a fast or slow train) and we're a 15 minutes drive from the beach. Public transport is a lot cheaper here than London with a weeks train pass to the CBD costing just $34 (and there's plenty of parking by the station for when we don't want to walk there). If you go for Sutherland or Jannali there are trains at least every 15 minutes, other stations are generally half hourly service except rush hours.

Having only been here for a few months I have to say I love the Shire and can understand why residents call it "God's own". You get beautiful countryside, beaches, space and yet are less than an hour from the centre of Sydney with trains running until after midnight to its easy to get home after a night out.

Wol

I suppose I'm biassed, but the Western suburbs of Sydney appear to be the worst kind of overblown suburban growth anywhere, in the main. Thousands upon thousands of acres developed in the most unimaginative, stereotypical matchbox way. With the sort of land that is potentially available I think it's a disgrace that no thought has apparently gone into making attractive developments there.

JAJ

They're definitely not all the same. Many of the better suburbs are north of Parramatta - eg Baulkham Hills and Castle Hill are popular choices.

Out of interest, is your Australian husband also a British citizen? And if not, has he thought about applying for naturalisation before you leave the UK?

silversurfer

Are people from out West nicknamed "Westies" and looked down upon?
I heard (when I went to Sydney last year) that out West of Sydney was classed as "chav city", as out west was very much looked down upon as being "common".
Is this actually true?

Not wishing to annoy anyone (who is from the West side), but i heard this from someone when i was in Oz who said that getting good jobs etc, could be against your favour if they find out your "westie" based.

christinabell

[QUOTE=silversurfer]Are people from out West nicknamed "Westies" and looked down upon?

Hiya silver surfer,

Yep we are known as Westies and yes we are more your working class folk. The south western suburbs of sydney is mainly made up of your typical working class young families, as for a lot of us, we cant afford to live any closer to Sydney. However, the "baggage" that goes with being a westie is slowly but surely disappearing. When the west was developed it was mainly government housing, therefore attracting low income earners. But those baby boomers have since moved on and whilst there is still a lot of old government homes, a lot of them are now owned privately. There are also some very exclusive suburbs that have popped up around these areas. Whilst I might live in the city of Campbelltown, ( a true "westie" town" ) in the suburb I live in u cant buy a house for under $500,000, yet other suburbs of Campbelltown are still government housing. Most outer western suburbs have their good parts and their bad, like most cities I guess. I suppose it all depends on what u want and what u can afford in life. I for one would chose to live here whether I was rich or not, as I like the rural aspect, the openess and the "youngness" of the community. As far as being a westie limiting your job opportunities, I really dont think this ever was the case. Obviously if you turn up in a flanelette shirt and ugg boots for a job interview, ur not going to get the job, but where u live isnt going to stop u. As I said in my previous post, there are a lot of people who work in the CBD and commute daily.

There are all sort of labels people impose on each other eg ur rough because ur a westie... ur a bludger because ur a surfie from the northern suburbs.. ur up urself because ur a snob from the eastern suburbs.. or ur thick because your a country bumpkin. So no matter where u live ur going to get labelled. Not only that, Sydney is expanding so rapidly that whilst I might be a westie now, in another few years the suburbs that are springing up even further west will take over our title lol

Cheers,
Chris

Ps. No offence taken at ur comments Silver Surfer... oh and no offence to u by saying surfers are bludgers either lol

silversurfer

[QUOTE=christinabell]
An excellent answer Chris. You would certainly have got the job with that answer if I was interviewing you for a job.

Thanks for the great insight into the suburbs in the West. Possibly the aussie labelling that needs to change rather than which suburb you live in.

some "karma" sent for you, for taking the time to post such a great answer.

Gemini_05

thanks for all your replies, some really useful info.

We have a trip planned later on in the year so think it might be a good idea to check out some of the other suburbs. Maybe I will get a better feel for the place.

My husband doesn't want to return to the UK to live so I don't think he will bother getting naturalisation. I suppose that is one of the things that worries me, if I dont like it there is no going back. One the plus side I do have a sister living in Melborne.

Thanks again.

JAJ

Brave decision. Lots of others have taken a similar view and then regretted it later on (too late).

thebears

Gemini

My advice to your husband is to still get it. It could come in handy in years to come - not necessarily for returning to the UK but access to Europe and makes it easier for the kids later on.

Kiwi (with english naturalisation)

MD09

My advice on the western suburbs would be, wind your windows up and lock the doors.

If you need to get out of the car, go armed.

Of course, the same applies to most parts of England, so it shouldn’t be anything new to you.