LouiseR

Quick Question! Does anyone know about the suburb Capalaba? I understand its all personal opinion but just wondered if anyone had any first hand experience of the place. My OH sprung it on me the other day that he no longer whats to move to Perth, he would like to move to Brisbane.

I've been doing some research on jobs/houses and stumbled across Capalaba, I like the look of it, Not too far from the beach or CBD. House prices dont seem to be sky high.

Just wondered if anyone lived there/has been there could give me some info on what its really like.

Many Thanks

Ozzy dog

Hi Louise,

Like any suburb it has good and bad, we stayed there when we first came to Brisbane with a family friend. At that time we thought it was great. (We now live the next few suburbs along from there).

It is an older suburb, does have some lovely roads and some acreage plots. An OK shopping centre with supermarkets etc., which felt very different to us when we first arrived. All I can say is as part of the Redlands / Bayside area its really perceived as a good area. Yes Capalaba is a bit more affordable than the newer suburbs. Certainly worth considering - Good Luck

T

wardy2

We stayed round there for our reccie, but I cant remember it being near the beach though, sorry if i'm wrong.

comet555

I live in Capalaba, we moved here last year. So ask whatever you want!

You'll generally get mixed reviews on Capalba. There are older areas and newer areas, but I think most of them are just fine to live in. We live in a newer area so we have a nice house in a good quiet neighbourhood. We're only about 5 minutes from the main shops which is great, it's also a slightly shorter commute to get into the city (compared to Cleveland). My husband takes a bus in the morning and it takes him about 35 minutes, so not too bad. Capalaba is not on the train line so a bus is the way to go. Or a 12 minute car ride to Birkdale station.

We bought in Capalaba mostly because of housing prices. We liked the Bayside area but just didn't want to spend a lot of money on a house. Last year we bought our house for $460,000 and it's a 4 bed, 2 bath with pool house. So we got a lot more for our money in Capalaba. Alexandra Hills was also an option for us.

It's about a 15 minutes drive to Wellington Point which does have a small beach there (nothing like Surfers) and about 15 minutes to Cleveland. So it's not too long of a drive to do something on the weekend.

wardy2

Personally I liked capalaba kids liked the football set up there and at redlands in cleveland, very importnat in our house

Wellington point was my favourite place but a bit more expensive.

asprilla

Only been a couple of times... but it seems to be a nice area. Some parks nearby and shops too. About 20-25min drive from the CBD outside peak hour.

Nowhere near a beach though. Nearest one is main beach, near Southport, just under an hour by car from capalaba. But I wouldn't let that put you off in any way.

LouiseR

Many Thanks for all the replies! when we come over I think Capalaba is definately a place for our list, obviously all depends on where OH gets a job but its always nice to have a starting point.

Thanks for the input Comet555 $460,000 is pretty much the same as our budget and if we had a pool we wouldnt be overly bothered about a beach.

I don't know why I thought it was near a beach? I think because on the map its not too far from the coast.... instictively thought Sea... Beach!

datamile

The whole redlands area is about 20 mins end to end. Generally people get a local rental, and then get to know the area better.

comet555

There are a few parks on the water that have a small beach area where the kids can wade into the water and play. No real waves though as they are sheltered, and it's not the nice white sandy beaches that you'd get north and south of Brisbane.

For the real beaches that you'd expect in Oz you'd have to go north or south of Brisbane. Which is just fine for me because during the week we're too busy doing our day to day activities anyway. If we feel like going to the beach we have no problem taking an hour drive if need be. We also have passes to Dreamworld and Whitewater World for the kids, which is about 35-40 minutes drive south of Capalaba. So pretty easy to get to the themeparks if you're into that sort of thing.

comet555

Here's a few pictures from the Wellington Point park I took about a week ago. It's a great park for the kids.

comet555

A few pictures of our house:
http://haleyculver.spaces.live.com/p...0034F4BA2!922/

These are the pictures I took before we moved in, so none of the furniture is ours. But hopefully it'll give you a good idea of what to expect for $460,000. I don't think the prices have changed too much in the past year. It might be worth about $480k now judging by a few for sale in the neighbourhood, but hard to tell if they're actually selling for that.

LouiseR

Your house looks lovely! Thats exactly what we're looking for. We should be coming out either November or January. Capalaba and its surrounding areas are now a definite must for us to visit. Thank you very much for your help.

We'll be coming out with our baby, James, who's only 12 weeks old - how did your kids cope with the heat when they were babies?

Might have to ask for you more info nearer the time on Mother/Baby groups etc as I definately want to get out and about as I won't be working, well to start with anyway!

comet555

The heat didn't seem to bother the kids, mostly we just make sure they've got sunscreen on if we're out for a while and that they drink lots of water.

Our youngest was 8.5 months when we arrived and the oldest was 3.5 years old. They've never had any problems with the heat. We have ducted air in the house and they love the pool, so that helps. The air conditioning is a must!

There are lots of playgroups around. You can find some here:
http://www.playgroupaustralia.com.au/qld/

There is also a Bayside UK moms group that meets up once a month I think. So if you ended up somewhere in Bayside you could check that one out. I'm not working either but don't really do the organized playgroup thing much. My daughter goes to kindy now twice a week a bunch of the moms from her class all get together every Monday at the park, so we usually do that. In January she will start prep at Capalaba State so I imagine she'll have more friends and more moms for me to chat with then!

Feel free to look me up when you come over. You're welcome to stop by with the kids (I swear I'm normal!).

LouiseR

I don't do any mother/baby groups in england I just thought it would be a good way to meet people in Australia as James is so little, He wont be playing at parks and play groups for a while!

I will look you up when we come over, thanks for the offer!

Oh and we're normal too!

Rudi

Hi Louise

We live just down the road from Capalaba in Ormiston.

These are just general comments and not meant to offend. As people have said there are good and bad parts in all suburbs, so this is just a general overview of what seems to be the general local opinion.

Capalaba and Alexandra Hills are generally less desireable suburbs within the bayside area and the price of housing perhaps reflects this. Another suburb you may want to consider, which has a better reputation, but similar priced housing to Capalaba and Alex Hills is Thornlands. There are 2 areas within Thornlands - the older area (not really that old -15 to 20 years) where prices are pretty good at the moment and then the newer area, closer to the water which is a bit more expensive.

Shopping in Thornlands is crap though! There are no decent department stores in the Redlands area at all!! You have to head out to Carindale for that!

Hope that helps and good luck with the move

Rudi
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