sneillm69

Do any ex-pats out their have any info on living in Mount Barker? Any info on schools leisure and just the general quality of the area for family and safe living would be great. As is always the case, it is hard to get an acurate picture of an area from websites. I am a nurse and know that there are limited hospital opportunities out in the sticks but do not mind driving. My wife is a clerical/admin officer and she would be looking for that type of employment.

Any help greatly received.

Thanks.

SNEILLM69

looky

The one in WA? If so its a small inland (I think) town about 45mins to an hour from the main regional centre, the city of Albany. Beaches are not too far away but not in Mt Barker itself. It has school up to year 12 I think (not too sure but definitely primary school). There is a town centre but nothing extravagant. I think there is a main supermarket (IGA) or might have been two (IGA and one of the other big name, woolworths or coles).

There is a race course (quite basic and crude) if you are into that. There are wine festivals and wineries all around so you are set if you are a wine lover. I think they just finished building a new hospital (small one) but it might have been in Denmark (the other town on the other side of Albany, Denmark is known as an Artsy hippy town, its once a month market is quite interesting). Albany regional hospital is the main hospital for the region but obviously complex cases will be transferred to Perth. I have seen a few vacancy for ward nurses advertised for the region.

Basically its a small town with small town amenities. If you need anything you can't get you would travel to Albany for it. The region is a good place to live with cool temperature year round and beautiful surroundings.

Have a read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_B...tern_Australia

Iwannabethere

Or the one in SA? Population about 7000. Small hospital and several doctors surgeries. We have Coles, Woolworths and Foodland as well as Kmart, Harvey Norman, Dick Smith and a plethora of smaller shops. I rarely go into Adelaide as I can get most of what I need here.

Lovely sense of a country town, easy to settle in. Littlehampton, Nairne and Hahndorf all very close. Freeway has exit on the edge of town. Takes 35-40min to drive in. There is also a regular commuter bus service which is really cost-effective.

Cooler than Adelaide but only by 2 or 3 degrees. We love it here!

purple rain

If its the SA one it is lovely

livinginreality

If its Mount Barker in SA its hardly what you'd call out in the sticks!It is a nice place though,I used to live near there myself so know the area really well.My kids went to Mt Barker primary school for a while and that seemed really good.Also remember the library being really good too?

Iwannabethere

Oh true! Library is fab! So is Mountain Pool, the outdoor swim centre.

Two state primary schools in town, one each in Nairne, Littlehampton & Hahndorf. One state secondary in Mt Barker and three private. Library lays on free activities during school hols. State Swim and Mountain Pool offer SwimVac during hols (venue depends on season). There are sports clubs at the Oval and theatre/dance classes in town as well as music lessons. Skate park, play parks, golf course, tennis courts.

Hills Boy

Give us a clue. Which one? SA or WA?

sneillm69

It's SA. thanks

mohogony

l never lived there but l have been there a few times and its a nice place, l think theres a bus that goes straight to Adelaide takes 40 minute l think , so its possible to work in Adealdie , its not really in the sticks more like an outer suburb in a country setting. Theres lots of parks and its a good place for families.

Hills Boy

OK, so I don't live in Mt Barker, but I've lived in the Adelaide Hills for over a year, so here's my view of the place that we regularly visit.

I guess you've Wiki'd the place and that's given you a good overview. My gut feel is that the population is greater than the 11,000 mentioned and it's set to grow and grow and grow.

We seriously considered Mt Barker when we moved here and looked at several properties, but we decided it was too big for us and moved to one of the many smaller (c. 1000 - 2000 population) villages in the Hills.

I'd say quality of life up in the Hills in general is pretty good, including Mt Barker, but as ever it really depends what you are after. I'd consider the place safe and a great place to bring up kids.

I wouldn't really call Mt Barker out in the sticks (not in Australian terms at least), it's less than an hour by express bus (T840) to Adelaide. At 40ish kms by the South Eastern Freeway (or dual-carriageway, in UK terms) that gets you within 5kms of the CBD before you hit the inner 'burbs it's an easy commute by car or bus. If you look at online maps of the place don't be fooled by the rail lines to and the train station in Mt Barker; there's no passenger service from Mt Barker to Adelaide.

You mention that you're a nurse. There's one hospital in Mt Barker (my son was born there) and all public hospitals in South Australia are part of SA Health (or the Department of Health, which is part of the Government of South Australia). As you would imagine most of the larger hospitals are in the metropolitan area, including the Royal Adelaide Hospital, which is right in the CBD, and the Flinders Medical Centre, which is to the southern end of the city. For information on nursing in SA, check out the SA branch of the Australian Nursing Federation.

Good luck.