Cairns
 

Ok so I am getting a little ahead of myself considering we haven't even got a immigration agent yet BUT....

We have both decided that Cairns is the place for us as we enjoyed it so much when we stayed there for 3 months a year and half ago but I was just wondering which suburbs anyone thought were worth looking more into and any rough costs of a two bed to rent/buy.

Any other advice on Cairns also greatly sought after :D

Re: Cairns
 

Keep your eye on here for both rental and purchase property. There is not a lot that misses this site.....
http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...ch?a=bhp&t=res

Official suburb profiles:
http://cairns.qld.gov.au/community/p...b_profiles.htm
http://www.domain.com.au/public/subu...irns#mapanchor


My personal view:

BEACHES:
Palm Cove – Caters for holiday trade with seafront hotels, apartments and restaurants along the Esplanade. Very nice. Housing could be pricey. Away from the beach will be cheaper.
Clifton Beach – No Esplanade as such. New small shopping centre out at the main Roadside. No real holiday industry here. Expensive at the water front.
Kewarra Beach – More affordable areas. Large development taking place. Not much in the way of facilities but not far to travel to them.
Trinity Beach – A mini Palm Cove. Very nice.
Trinity Park – No beach. Water inlet. Big money going in here. Want to park your yacht at the bottom of the garden ?
Yorkeys Knob – Marina and small beach. In flight path.
Holloways Beach - Flight path. Mmmmmm not my cup of tea.
Machans Beach - Flight path. Poor reputation.

NORTH:
Smithfield – Being developed a lot. Big shopping centre just revamped. Smithfield Heights area is very good. Gateway to the Tablelands and Kuranda.
Caravonica – Some very nice new housing.
Kamerunga – Mainly rainforest type living. Pole homes.
Freshwater – Older but seems okay.
Stratford – Tipped to become the next Edge Hill.
Redlynch – Offers a lot. New suburb spread over several km.
Brinsmead – Old and new. Better stuff tends to be up the hill. Good.
Park Ridge – East is virtually millionaire territory. West can be pricey. Good.
Whitfield – Older leafy burb. Some good, some bad.
Edge Hill – Older leafy burb in excellent location and has a good reputation. Where the yuppies live.
Kanimbla – New burb nearing completion. Looks good.
Mooroobool – Prime example of where good meets bad. Some very good and some very bad. City Views within Mooroobool is where a lot of big money people live.


CITY SUBURBS:
Old and undesirable places to be living unless it’s in a gated apartment complex:
Aeroglen – Read airport.
Bungalow – Old housing meets industrial.
Manoora – Probably the worst burb in Cairns.
Manunda – Similar
Parramatta Park – Just made the news due to increasing crime rate.
Portsmith – Not much housing. Industrial leading to the port.
Westcourt – Bordering the main Mulgrave Road.
Woree – Same as Westcourt.

SOUTHSIDE:
Earlville – Older. Better stuff is at the back toward the hills.
Bayview Heights – Where the original money people of Cairns live – or lived ? Better at the back toward the hills. New development there.
White Rock – Lived there 3 months. Never again
Forest Gardens - New burb nearing completion. Some good stuff.
Mount Sheridan – Older leafy burb.
Bentley Park – Nicknamed Nappy Valley. Cheaper housing. Lot of development out the back where it is now adjoining Edmonton.
Edmonton – High velocity expansion. Will be the largest burb I would think in terms of housing stock. Plans to join it with Gordonvale which is a 10 minute drive to the South so that will be a major development with new shopping centre. Plans to build another town centre.
Gordonvale – Semi rural. Farming and cane field country. About to go big over the next few years.Gateway to the Tablelands.

Re: Cairns
 

Hi Natalie,

I have been here almost 3 months, love the place.

Personally I take notice of what Bix says about different places, he has been here a while and both him and Da Boss have given me some good advice about different things here, especially where to get the best fish & chips :thumbsup:

Re: Cairns
 

Thanks Bix and Helen - I shall keep a record of all your info on suburbs on my comp so I can refer to it when we get further down the line.

Thanks so much
x

Re: Cairns
 

Hi Bix
I know you are the expert on areas, you stated that Mount Sheridan was an older leafy suburb, is it a good suburb. Have been looking on realestate.com for places to rent when we get there and looking at Forest Gardens and Mount Sheridan. Do they run into each other? Looks that way on the map. You said avoid White Rock..it looks pretty close to the other two areas but I guess it is a different kettle of fish! Forest Gardens seem to be listed under Mount Sheridan in a few of the real estate ads. Is one better than the other? We looked at Forest Gradens when we were in Cairns and got a nice feel for the place. Seem to get a lot more for your money than Trinity Beach/Palm Cove etc...and it will be cycling distance to work!

Just waiting for a date for the meds now. may go and get them done end of Jan..just need to shift a bit more weight. Will look forward to meeting you at some point.

Liz

Re: Cairns
 

Cheers for all that Bix:thumbsup:

Re: Cairns
 

Forest Gardens is an estate in the suburb of Mt Sheridan. Due to the extent of marketing it is not unknown for the estate to be beter known than the actual suburb. Residents in these estates have also been known to campaign (unsuccessfully) for the estate to become a suburb as it was 'special'.

Forest Gardens would be precieved as being more desirable than Mt Sheridan.

WW

Re: Cairns
 

Hi Liz.

Until a few months ago Forest Gardens was an isolated estate with only one road into it from the main Bruce Highway. Now it also adjoins Foster Road which leads from the Bruce Highway into the rest of Mount Sheridan, which in turn leads into the back of Bentley Park.

As a generalisation FG is all pretty new whereas MS is older but still with some new housing going up albeit not big developments like elsewhere. There are a lot of walking track areas around FG and you see a lot of people walking their dogs. There used to be several investment house rentals on long term lease by the navy.

The shopping centre off Foster Road is pretty good and due to be expanded. Probably the best Coles supermarket in Cairns is there and K-Mart who just closed their Westcourt store are rumoured to be going there if not farther South. Within FG there is a small IGA.

We have visited FG quite often and like the ambience of the place. We had actually agreed a price on a property last year but our UK house sale didn't complete on time. Our friends have just bought down there. MS seems okay but like WW I would say FG is more desirable.

Another generalisation but all property whether to buy or rent will be cheaper on the South side of town.

Cycling from that area into town would be a nightmare. Plenty of bravery and armour needed. It's not something I would want to do on a regular basis. If you want to cycle suggest you look closer to town at Bayview Heights where you can hit the backroads for most of the way to Earlville.

White Rock is across the main highway and quite separated because of that. Having lived there for 3 months I would not recommend it.

Re: Cairns
 

The most dangerous section is Mulgrave road between the City and Westcourt. Those overseas students have absolutely no idea about road rules. They ride against vehicle/cycle traffic flows. Red lights at intersections means they can amble across in any direction/s. The helmet is usually 20 times too small or is something to hang on the handle bars. An umbrella is most useful for keeping the rain off when cycling.:eek::rofl:

Seeing is believing.

WW

Re: Cairns
 

Thanks for all your replies. Are jobs easy to find in and around Cairns? I know my partner will have no probs as he's a chef and I can do bar/waitress work to tide me over like I did on my working holiday but what I really want to continue with is Charity work like I do now.

Any of you know where I can get a full list of all of the charities in Cairns and the best papers to get when I'm finally over there to start my search for this kind of thing? I am currently Regional Manager for a children's charity but I am looking to eventually get more into Corporate Fundraising so if any of you can point me in the right direction I would really appreciate it!

Thanks
x

Re: Cairns
 

Wheres Park ridge?

Re: Cairns
 

Forgot to answer this.
I had a look at the time but can't find any register of the local charities, sorry :(

Re: Cairns
 

It's between Brinsmead and Whitfield.


The lions have been forced out by the wombats.

Re: Cairns
 

In fact tis right ere me dear ;)

Re: Cairns
 

Ah thanks Bix