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-   -   Best places to live in Brisbane (https://britishexpats.com/forum/australia-54/best-places-live-brisbane-819924/)

katdan28 Jan 2nd 2014 9:21 am

Best places to live in Brisbane
 
Hi, We are moving to Brisbane from regional QLD and we're trying to decide the best area to live. My husbands job will be based in the toowong area or fortitude (TBC) so we're thinking perhaps the north side may be best to live? we dont want to be too far into the cbd as I would like to be able to take bub and dog for walks around parklands etc! We'd also prefer newer estates than perhaps an old property.

Any recommendations on nice suburbs for families or even popular expat commmunities? Thanks:)

Alfresco Jan 2nd 2014 10:44 am

Re: Best places to live in Brisbane
 

Originally Posted by katdan28 (Post 11059488)
Hi, We are moving to Brisbane from regional QLD and we're trying to decide the best area to live. My husbands job will be based in the toowong area or fortitude (TBC) so we're thinking perhaps the north side may be best to live? we dont want to be too far into the cbd as I would like to be able to take bub and dog for walks around parklands etc! We'd also prefer newer estates than perhaps an old property.

Any recommendations on nice suburbs for families or even popular expat commmunities? Thanks:)

Where I live then. Western suburbs like Jindalee, Kenmore, Sinnamon park, Mt. Ommaney etc...

Toowong is close with good links especially when the new tunnel opens in a year.

North is good too, but could be a commuting issue to Toowong during rush hour.

PunkDebutante Jan 3rd 2014 10:30 am

Re: Best places to live in Brisbane
 
We lived in Toowong for 18 months and then moved a bit further out as Toowong was a bit too busy and houses too close together for us. We moved further west to Pullenvale and love it out here but also love each of the suburbs Alfresco recommended. I wouldn't want to live North and commute into Toowong.

fish.01 Jan 3rd 2014 1:04 pm

Re: Best places to live in Brisbane
 
For far away cheaper new build areas you could also check out Springfield which now has a train direct to toowong and fortitude valley or north at Narangba which also has train access to both. Essentially look at the Springfield or Ipswich/Caboolture train lines and follow them out to the point new build suburbs start. Driving is a different question so this only relates to train access.

http://mobile.jp.translink.com.au/tr...ringfield-line

http://mobile.jp.translink.com.au/tr...-rosewood-line

Alfresco Jan 4th 2014 3:12 am

Re: Best places to live in Brisbane
 

Originally Posted by PunkDebutante (Post 11061028)
We lived in Toowong for 18 months and then moved a bit further out as Toowong was a bit too busy and houses too close together for us. We moved further west to Pullenvale and love it out here but also love each of the suburbs Alfresco recommended. I wouldn't want to live North and commute into Toowong.

Yep, a bit further out is my preference. Pullenvale is nice too.

fish.01 Jan 4th 2014 8:15 am

Re: Best places to live in Brisbane
 

Originally Posted by Alfresco (Post 11062075)
Yep, a bit further out is my preference. Pullenvale is nice too.

Probably no surprise that it would be Toowong or closer for me....was there today and it is so well connected and urban and has built character and history and is also quiet, green, hilly and gorgeous in parts with the downside that it is costly to get a generous family home. No good for the OP of course as after new builds.


Apologies to the OP if off topic but I took a random shot of this Toowong beauty I passed this afternoon:

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3800/1...a045db36_b.jpg
Untitled by fish.2, on Flickr

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2888/1...74187bba_b.jpg
Untitled by fish.2, on Flickr

Has some lovely pockets...

PunkDebutante Jan 4th 2014 11:46 pm

Re: Best places to live in Brisbane
 
Toowong is definitely lovely but you need serious amounts of money to get anything with a decent garden. We had a very healthy budget and we still would have had a postage stamp garden or a seriously sloping one. Our neighbours paid $2.1m for their place in Toowong and the house is 1/3 of the size of what I would have expected for that money.

If that's the house I think it is (Warrawee House on Miskin) it's worth over $5m.

fish.01 Jan 5th 2014 12:09 am

Re: Best places to live in Brisbane
 
duplicate...

fish.01 Jan 5th 2014 12:22 am

Re: Best places to live in Brisbane
 

Originally Posted by PunkDebutante (Post 11063245)
Toowong is definitely lovely but you need serious amounts of money to get anything with a decent garden. We had a very healthy budget and we still would have had a postage stamp garden or a seriously sloping one. Our neighbours paid $2.1m for their place in Toowong and the house is 1/3 of the size of what I would have expected for that money.

If that's the house I think it is (Warrawee House on Miskin) it's worth over $5m.

Yes, everyone has different ideas on what is enough garden (I personally prefer a small garden and live near parks as big gardens have stolen enough of my life), but at least $800 would be needed to get a 4 bed family house with a garden in Toowong I would think (Edit: example). Agree, you could spend many millions depending how fancy or large you wished to go.

Understand you were using it's price to explain how expensive the area can be though for me showing that Miskin St house was more about showing the beauty you can enjoy in your day to day life in Toowong rather than as a house to buy. It is so nice to walk around these types of suburbs and enjoy all the beauty of the old gardens, character homes, schools, churches etc and think about all the lives of the people who have passed through them. I lose most of that feeling when moving to the newer suburbs but I might just be weird. :)

Many of the newer suburbs are lovely in their own way as well, especially the slightly older, newer suburbs you guys have mentioned...well worth the OP checking them out.

PunkDebutante Jan 5th 2014 12:53 am

Re: Best places to live in Brisbane
 
I do love Toowong and if I could have afforded what I wanted, then I would have stayed. That house you showed is one of my favourites and I would move onto Miskin St in a heartbeat to have that house. But you are right that everyone wants different things in their home.

pome bstrd Jan 5th 2014 1:05 am

Re: Best places to live in Brisbane
 

Originally Posted by Alfresco (Post 11059531)
Where I live then. Western suburbs like Jindalee, Kenmore, Sinnamon park, Mt. Ommaney etc...

Toowong is close with good links especially when the new tunnel opens in a year.

North is good too, but could be a commuting issue to Toowong during rush hour.

:goodpost:

if i had the money id probably go pulenvale brookfield....... just lovely

KJCherokee Jan 5th 2014 8:38 pm

Re: Best places to live in Brisbane
 
I used to work in Toowong (office has now moved to Milton) and commuted in from Wavell Heights. It's an easy car commute at the times I prefer (get there by 7-7:30am, leave at 4pm) but can get fairly slow at more traditional peak hours. Rail commute isn't bad.

Road commute from the west can be horrendous: traffic reports are often referring to long tailbacks from the Toowong roundabout.

sprug Jan 6th 2014 4:20 am

Re: Best places to live in Brisbane
 
My husband worked in Toowong when we first arrived from the UK. We lived in chapel hill on the indooroopilly side and he found it a dream commuting to work from there. Even if you were working at the valley you could get a train from indooroopilly to avoid the parking issues when you get to work from Chapel Hill. In fact we only had one car for a while as I could easily drop my husband on a morning.

In Chapel Hill I managed to get a swimming pool in the rental accommodation for a reasonable amount of money and the school there is one of the best state primaries around if you have kids. One of my two children is still there.

As the others say coming in from the North with the traffic could be a challenge. Although I still do remember thinking when I arrived that the traffic here is not like it was back in the UK even at peak times.

Hope this helps

katdan28 Feb 13th 2014 5:40 am

Re: Best places to live in Brisbane
 
Thank you everyone for your replies. We had a couple of days down there looking at areas and getting a rental sorted until we're familiar with the city. It was a bit of a nightmare but we're all sorted! We chose a house at the gap, second in line was one at sinnamon park but we seen some lovely areas! Hopefully it won't be too difficult to get to work at toowong!

TimbersBack Feb 13th 2014 7:11 am

Re: Best places to live in Brisbane
 
Ferny hills, Samford. Nice easy drive into Toowong. more affordable, and probs closer to what you are used to.


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