Tramps_mate

Sooo so many questions to ask. But primarily I was wondering if anyone could recommend any decent suburbs of Brisbane?

Looking at 3-4 beds with plenty of room for kids, good schools etc. But I have no idea of what areas are ok! Iv been using brisrentals.com but its hard to guess.

Also, there could be a slim possibility of me being posted to Mackay further north. Any one got any experience of living there? Looks like it might be a bit in the middle of nowhere!

Any way, great forum! I have spent a week reading hundreds of theads! Cheers!!

Icecube

I think first of all decide how far you want to commute to work and then set that as a boundary. Re schools they have waiting lists and strict zones so this may also be a factor to consider. Re good and bad well "how big is a ball of string".... it is all in the eye of the beholder.

Tramps_mate

Thanks for the reply. Are there any to steer clear of then!

I will be working without family for 6-9 months then they will join me, so I guess if I get a 1 bed I can take time sussing out the suburbs!!

I can't wait to get over from the UK!

Icecube

Maybe go for a shared house to begin with. It all depends on where you will work and how far you want to travel. eg CBD has one set of options, Ipswich another and Redland Bay another.....

Tramps_mate

I need to be towards Brisbane airport as I will be FIFO for work.. Although that's not that important I guess.

House share is a good idea! Probably keep costs down a fair bit.

KJCherokee

if you are going to be FIFO you need to be able to get to the airport by public transport, as car parking is not cheap even at the off-airport parks. There is the airtrain which runs from the airport through the city and down to the Gold Coast, so any of the suburbs that runs through (Eagle Junction, Woolowin, Albion, Bowen Hills on the north side, not sure of the south side route). Alternatively there are plenty of suburbs within $30 in a taxi (Nundah, Nudgee, Northgate, Wavell Heights, Toombul, Albion, Clayfield, Banyo, Virginia to name some of them)

All of these are relatively older suburbs reasonably close to the city and consequently they tend to be more expensive than the newer outer suburbs.

Mackay is probably even more expensive! The mining boom has put a premium on accommodation in Mackay and other towns in the area. Nice town though.

Tramps_mate

Thank KHCherokee..

Most of the houses that have come up are in northern Brisbane. Some seriously nice looking houses. Is the north area generally good then?

KJCherokee

I live there, so it must be!!

Seriously though, the inner north (5-10 km from the CBD up Sandgate or Gympie Road) are some of the older more established suburbs. Mind you, 'older' is a relative term - Wavell Heights, for instance, is about 50-60 years old i.e. post WWII. Up to the mid-80's Brisbane was a small city with the CBD and government offices on the north side of the river and industry on the south. By the mid 80s a lot of the South Bank was derelict and was cleared for Expo88, and is now the cultural centre of the city (sounds familiar - anyone else remember the Festival of Britain in 1951?).

So the north side tends to be more specifically residential whilst the south is more houses interspersed with industry. And before anyone jumps down my throat, there are exceptions to this generalisation on both sides of the river.

wargod

Worth a click.....

http://www.seqrents.com.au/

Tramps_mate

Thanks for both replies!!

Alot of the stuff iv found is 20-25 km out and theres also alot 40km out to the north. Is that considered seriously far out? But they seem to be more new builds..

KJCherokee

By going that far out you will have cheaper property/rental offset by longer travel times - the roads get very crowded during peak hours and the further out you are the less frequent the trains are, not to mention the distance to a station. Being FIFO you may not have to travel in peak hour, but if you do I'd look closer in.

Tramps_mate

Yeah I was thinking that with me only having to travel to the airport then being an hour or so away isnt the end of the world.

fish.01

Interesting...without jumping down your throat I've always heard the South Brisbane area with the docks was the industrial/warehouse end of town but have never heard that extrapolated out to the whole south side before.

Having lived on both sides it doesn't really resonate with my experience either. The south has the ipswich rd industrial corridor heading out west, the north has the eagle farm, northgate, geebung, zillmere industrial corridor. Apart from that direct south until the border with Logan and south east are very similar to direct north.

fish.01

If you can afford it I think this area is great for what you want:

Wooloowin Streetview Link

It is very close to the airport with the East West arterial road direct to the airport a few streets away, has very good schools nearby, has a great string of parks with access to one of Brisbane's longest recreational bike paths, has some lovely character homes and is on the train to the CBD.

Tramps_mate

Thanks for that! I will have a look around!!