Mate you're more than welcome, you may find my friends a little down market for your liking though

Thats where we're house hunting. I wonder if we'll qualify! Maybe we can bring the neighbourhood down?

We have been here six days now in our holiday let and while looking around we have started to get used to different areas and different estates. The good thing is no two houses look the same unless you go for a flat type property, almost all of the houses are has individual as the people living in them, and this is where the 'rubbish' areas grow from, there all good areas that we have been around, just that some houses (people) let them get away from them, that does not mean that the whole area is bad or crap.
Some houses are marketed on the basis that the next door house is twice has big and twice as nice so they up the rent, does not mean it's worth it or it's in a better area, it just comes down to the people in them and the 'rougher' types are in small pockets, if you end up next to a banjo playing family then thats your fault for not doing your leg work correctly, but - if you like banjo playing car repairers then you have no worries
Areas we have looked at so far are joondalup/clarkson/connolly/currambine, all ok with some really nice houses amongst some 'ok' houses, all better than the Uk in our opinion.

Unless you have a specific reason to be in those suburbs & depending on your budget etc, can I suggest you also look at the suburb of Kallaroo?

Its a bit further away from Joondalup centre but nearer the beach and only a teeny tiny bit more expensive but is a lot nicer (according to one of my work collegues its "hillary's but cheaper")

Regards
VK

ETA: I've never been to Kallaroo, so I'm saying this 110% based on what my work collegue says.

On behalf of the banjo playing car repairers on this site...

We're renovating...

The back garden is currently dumped on the front garden and the garage is still packed to the rafters with "stuff" which is why you see 3 vehicles parked on our driveway... Which was craxked by the crane that hoisted the pool over the house...

It will take approx 12 months to sort it all out... But if you can bear with us for that time normal bowling green service WILL be resumed...

Lol ed, my point exactly

And i'll have you know neither of our neighbours moved into a house next to banjo playing car repairers... We plonked ourselves between them

Kallaroo is a nice spot, so is Mullaloo. Keep checking school situation - catchment and characteristics. There was some info about primary schools on a previous thread: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...light=Mullaloo

Kallaroo's nice. I like the mature trees. A lot of 'burbs are just bulldozed before the developer "landscapes" them. Kallaroo is also walking distance to Whitfords shops and St Marks School.

Hi,
Thanks for that. We are now thinking best to move nearer to our friends. That way they can help us settle in and their advise will be immense as they have only been over 2 years themselves. We have two boys aged 12 and 14 ( prob be 13 and 15 by the time we arrive). We are now looking at probably only three areas maybe four Atwell, Success, Hammond Park and possibly Aubin Grove. Our friends are in Hammond Park, but we dont want to be on their doorstep so to make them feel crowded, if you know what I mean.

Lots here in Perth are rather judgemental though in all sorts of things, suburbs included,so Weebie is only stating really what is fact.

Yes he maybe stating what he sees as a fact but he is also very good at judging suburbs that he probably has never been to, putting them down in such a way that it could be insulting to BE members that live there quite happily. And he is also very good at throwing in comments like 'my friends would disown me if I lived there'.

The comments he makes are not even constructive, they are snobbish - plain and simple, they don't help anyone at all. And as far as being judgemental goes, Weebie is one of the worst - every time suburbs come up in these threads, there he is like a bad dose of crabs, saying the usual stuff that instead of sounding helpful, sounds quite the opposite.

My sister-in-law's been in Atwell for about 4 years now. She likes it fine and doesn't say that it's a hellish place to live in...the schools are supposed to be okay...we originally looked at the Harvest Lakes development (their new primary school has a lot of positive word of mouth) but all of the blocks were gone by then and we found another area that suited us better. Still Atwell has a lot going for it...

Aubin Grove looks to be brand new...one thing about the new areas is waiting for the infrastructure to catch up...shops, services etc.

We were in Atwell on Saturday as we have firends living there. It's an okay place I guess, but it is just another Aussie, cookie-cutter, Legoland surburb. Our friends like living there and it has a good primary school but it's not for me. There is a big shopping mall/development nearby.

That is true btw. Also I do see a lot of Perth...infact I'll be i nmandurah on Saturday.

Nothng wrong with living in so called "poorer" areas but if you do don't come onto the board complaing that your public school that your kids go to is sh*t or that your kids are being bullied etc.