Jacqui

Leaving Mandurah or leaving Oz?

melaniee

Oz!!!

yvsie

Now Mel...you're getting cheeky!!!

My BP is fine thankyou!........and no you didnt hit a nerve I was merely pointing out that obviously everyones opinions vary as to what is or isnt a good area to live!

Good for you that you lived in an area with little or no crime..then hopefully it will still be the same when you return!

Jacqui is right when talking about people leaving their doors open and I too have been guilty of that

Our garden here is about the same as we had in the Uk and I personally am not that bothered about more space..its only to look after!
..enough with the kids and animals thanx!
having said that...the thought of land and having horses is cool..but we havent lived here for long enough to understand the why's and wherefore's regarding living on acreage (ie looking after the land...anyone got any tips??)so hubby wont consider it....and i really dont want to live that close to sooo many spiders !!!!!!
:scared: :scared:

pockygoes

Appalling comments - this is not the place to spout personal info about posters on here - whether it is true or not - NOT THE PLACE!!!!

Back to Mandurah - we loved it when we validated earlier in the year - we are hoping to settle in Secret Harbour area - but would be happier with somewhere with a decent size garden - any suggestions for where to look. We have contacted the school at Secret Harbour & their catchment area is only Secret Harbour. Does anyone know where we might look & what the local school will be for that area - what is the school like?

The appeal of somewhere away from the hustle & bustle of Perth was what drew us towards the area - but Mandurah was just that bit too far down.

Fab place though.

Cheers

pockygoes

adavis

Can someone define Concrete Jungle for me.

I grew up up on a London council Estate, believe me it was nothing like Secret Harbour.

More recently I lived in a quaint Kent village, but I still have a bigger back yard here, and there's less trafic outside my front door, and I don't have an alarm or a dog.

Andy.

adavis

My five year old is in Pre-Primary at Secret Harbour, excellent school with a good reputation.

There are no fences or locked gates round the school, when we asked his teacher about it, she said there has never been the need for it.

Is there any school in the UK which is not treated like Fort Knox.

Andy.

Jacqui

Anyone heading for Mandurah might want to avoid the primary schools around the Greenfields areas. I believe Riverside Primary now resembles Fort Knox because of all the vandalism/burglaries. I've noticed that Glencoe Primary in Halls Head is also now surrounded by a high fence but haven't heard about any problems there. Perhaps this is the way all schools will be going? The schools here are very open, there are no inside corridors as you would find in a British school, all the walkways between classrooms are outside and the children's schoolbags are left outside the class. Last year in December at the end of year assembly, the teachers at our school returned to class to find their handbags missing, now I see many of them carrying their handbags whenever they move around the school.

As to Secret Harbour, it didn't appeal to us, but I'm sure there are many very happy families there. We had a drive round, if you like new housing estates with a sense of community it would be great. There is a school, shops, playgrounds and of course the surf club. There are always your average 600 sqm size blocks available somewhere there, but you'll be lucky to find anything over 800 sqm anywhere these days. You'd need to look in an older, established suburb. However there are some extra large blocks (about 1500 - 2000 sqm) available in one part of Secret Harbour. The next suburb down towards Mandurah, Golden Bay, is also advertising large 2000 sqm blocks.

pockygoes

Thanks for that Jacqui - will start to look at Golden bay - what is the local school like there? What about anything bigger? Where is it worth looking for that? What is Baldivis like? The local school to that? Anything further north than Secret Harbour? WE love the area & would dearly like to be around and about this area - but hubby would like something with 1/2 to 1 acre.

Cheers

pockygoes

melaniee

What about serpentine area-inland from secret harbour. we have heard you can get nice acreage properties there. Can't help on the schools in that area though. Sorry.

pockygoes

Will get onto it & start searching - thanks for the tip. Does anyone know the schools around there?

thanks again

pockygoes

karawara88

Couple of links on here might be of use for school information.

http://www.movingdownunder.co.uk/files/education.php

Jacqui

Golden Bay is quite an old, established type suburb, in between Singleton and Secret Harbour. Give it a few years and these three suburbs will probably be linked up if the development is anything to go by. There is more going on in Singleton at the moment and the prices reflect this, but you would get a cheaper house/block in Golden Bay right now. There are primary schools at Singleton and Secret Harbour. For high schools you need to travel to Rockingham or Mandurah.

There are developments at Baldivis such as Settlers Hills and Sherwood Estate where you might find larger blocks but I couldn't tell you about the size of blocks, we never really researched the Baldivis area. Baldivis is often mentioned in the local housing pages as the next place to "take off", aimed at those people who don't want to buy in coastal areas (although you would still only be a short drive from the coast).

For 1/2 to 1 acre properties in the Mandurah area (I've no idea about Rockingham) you'd be looking at Pleasant Grove, Country Roads Estate, or Dawesville. Dawesville is 10km south of Mandurah so somewhat cheaper, Pleasant Grove is the upmarket place to go (it's near Halls Head) and Country Roads, although nearer to Mandurah City itself, is reasonably priced, but you have to be careful as some parts border on the rougher Greenfields council-house areas.

Vegemite Kids

Dont know so much about Port Kennedy ,but def agree re Secret Harbour. We had a look at some land there and to be honest wouldnt touch it with a bargepole. V.small plots and living on top of the neighbours. Great golf course though

Jacqui

We've just made an offer on a house with 5 acres of land. It's close to the Serpentine River about halfway between Mandurah and Baldivis.

So any Poms interested in a nice house for sale in the Halls Head part of Mandurah ? It's a 4 bed, 2 bath + study with swimming pool on a large block of 826 sq metres, listed with Elders real estate. We have to sell within 60 days, otherwise we lose the offer on the 5 acre place. Buying and selling here is different to the UK. There are no long chains, stories of being gazumped, etc. You make an offer on a house and it's legally binding. The sellers can't accept any other offers within the 60 day timeframe. Once the 60 days is up, you are given 48 hours to find the money, then the deal is off and the house is offered on the market again.

pockygoes

Thanks for that - I think that Mandurah is a bit too far down for us though - Hubbie would be commuting into Perth (hopefully) & did not want to travel that far.

We will continue looking/

Jackqui - the house with the land sounds good. I think we may have seen it on the real estate sights as we were drooling over one with 5 acres - you lucky buggers!!! We will continue dreaming.

We have seen ones on Country road - what is it like there?

What about Stake Hill and Stake hill road? Again have seen some properties there & they have a bit of land with them.

Good luck selling yours by the way!!

Cheers
pockygoes