killamarsh

If you live in Canberra can you help with the following?

Which shipping co did you use

How have you chosen a school if you have children?

How did you decide on a Suburb to live in?

Any recomends of where not to live there?

thanks

Sungold

Yup, there is life in Canberra, although not many on this forum. You've already talked to my wife on one of my previous threads and got some of this info.

I presume you have read the Canberra, good bad or indiffernt thread.

Having been here only three+ months I can answer some of your questions -where to live. That depends on where you will work. People tend to be either a north or a south person (with Lake Burley Griffin in the middle) and not spend much time in the other half!

There are no bad suburbs in Canberra. Where you want to live depends on where you want your kids to go to school as the local area gets preference on enrolment (especially true of the new suburbs in the north, around Gungahlin). This is not so importnat if your kids are of secondary school age as there is more interarea enrolment and the choice of private schools is greater.

It will also depend on your preference for older houses or newer construction and if you want a view or be close to amenities etc. The older suburbs have larger blocks and more trees but the building construction can be a bit suspect - dont expect high quality double brick walls and if you want an energy efficient house then it will almost certainly be a new one. Forget double glazing as there isnt any and dont expect any radiators . Newer houses have ducted gas heating and /or cooling.

We wanted these so have gone for the Gungahlin area in the north (since I work on the northside) and the schools are newer and better equipped than the older suburbs. The newest school in Canberra is Amaroo which has really flashy computer whiteboards on the walls that are touch sensitive! But they dont have any language teachers yet and teh secondary school only has the first year enrolled. This area is the fastest growing in the ACT and will have lots of big shops soon. Dont know about traffic yet but roads are very good in Canberra. Have just come back from a weekend in Sydney and that was a nightmare trafficwise - it was great to be back in Canberra. Darling harbour was really good and I will definitely be making return trips there to see the rest of the city.

Hope this has helped
Steve J

zx10r_aus

Hi there,
Steve's post is very correct. I think if you were working around North Canberra places around Belconnen and Gungarlin would be the place to live for less commuting times. And if you worked in Fyshwick or South Canberra you may choose to live In Tuggeranong or Weston Creek. all these areas have new builds and old builds. If you were to buy an older house make sure that it's insulated!! New builds must be insulated by law.(This law has been in place for at least 10 years) There is a definite difference how cold and hot a house is when it has insulation or no insulation.

I think Steve covered schools pretty well. You will find that the class sizes in Canberra schools a small, probably about 20-30 students per class. You will also find that their is a great deal of communication between teachers and parents.

Well I hope this helps you,

Jim