Re: nice suburbs in western australia
 

A good start would be to look on the train lines and work out which subburbs ones are near to the beach - chances are you might work in the city - so you or your partner may be a commutor and my thinking behind this is that you might not have a car straight away....just a thought.

South of the River is where I live, you have some gorgeous spots by the river and the beach, but the cost of houses (With a sea or river view) are at a premium. Cottesloe, Mosman Park, Bicton, North, South and East Fremantle are all lovely. Can't advise you on schools though. So much to choose from.

Have fun deciding.

Claire

Re: nice suburbs in western australia
 

my husband is going to be working on the navy base. and hopefully we have a car straight away, but if not he will be shipping his motorbike over for his transport. I am looking at renting first. and looking at house prices around £200,000. i am looking for good size property with swimming pool. where would you advise. as on wanted down under program they shown secret harbour and it looked very nice. i am not wanting the city more beach area. but not too far out from the city i think. what would you surgest.

Re: nice suburbs in western australia
 

I suggest that you start looking at some real estate sites. If you've learnt anything from this thread, it's that everybody has different views about where to live. We can offer a thousand suggestions to you and we may still be wrong. We fell for that at first and it caused so many problems.

Try www.realestate.com.au or www.domain.com.au and do a WA search for a maximum of $400,000 and see what comes up. This won't tell you what the nice suburbs are, although there are links on the site, but you will get a good idea of what you can get for your money and this will give you a fair idea of the suburb. Although, even nice suburbs have their bad points.

You might think that asking us is 'research', but it's not. I wouldn't base the rest of my life on what anyone says on here. Even me. The only way you're going to sort this one out is to rent when you get here, then have a good look around.

Good luck.

Re: nice suburbs in western australia
 

One other bit of advice is not to set your heart on one particluar suburb without seeing it for your own eyes as my wife did. She fell in love with the pictures of the houses that you see on the net of Secret Harbour, dont get me wrong it is a nice place but theres not much else there other than houses and golf course. Off the top of my head I think theres only one shop (small woolies at the servo) there. We eventually settled in Port Kennedy.

You really do need to be flexible and have an open mind when choosing your particluar suburb

Re: nice suburbs in western australia
 

Freemantle looks quite an interesting place with a bit of street life and old buildings etc. One thing that got me about south of Perth Mandurah was the wind I was there in October, a couple of locals said it was always windy there.

Re: nice suburbs in western australia
 

Secret Harbour is nice but as somebody said, besides houses, the beach, Woolies and some other shops and golf, is nothing really.

I think a good location would be Harrington Water estate in Waikiki (example http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1237019939). The estate is between Safety Bay, Ennis Ave and Read St but not right up to Gnagara (older, not so nice). In the middle of the estate is a beautiful lake. Although you can't walk to the shop there is a very nice smallish shopping centre on Read St, south a larger at Warnbo Sound Ave and one in Baldivis, opposite Settlers Hill. You have easy access to public transport and the freeway, a few minuts to the beach and work is not tto far either. Harrington Waters in comparision with other new estate usually has not many houses for sale. My choice is and remains Settlers Hill in Baldivis (eg http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1237023126).

This (http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin...&tm=1237019939) is in Waikiki too. It's an older house in a very good, quiet street. neighbours on one side are English (older). The house itself may need some renovation (kitchen, bathroom).

Re: nice suburbs in western australia
 

hi

we have lots of friends who are on garden island. they are all settled in rockingham. the anchorage estate, waikiki, safety bay, harrington waters all very nice as is warnbro and port kennedy.

one newly arrived navy family has gone to secret harbour and feels a little out of the loop....

to be honest we all love it all

good look

debbie

Re: nice suburbs in western australia
 

are there a lot of navy families in that area. we are now looking closer to rockingham. maybe port kennedy. what are the schools like in them areas

Re: nice suburbs in western australia
 

Hi there, back in Scotland now but we lived in Ocean Reef, for 2 years, ocean suburb, quiet and good primary school. My daughter went to Beaumaris which has a really good reputation. Connolly, 1 suburb in is nice too.

Re: nice suburbs in western australia
 

Thank you
to everyone for their time :)

Re: nice suburbs in western australia
 

hi there

port kennedy is nice.. junior school seems good, my friends children doing well.

for comp i would thing warnbro high is your closest again only heard nice things.. originally wanted mine to go there but ended up at safety bay high instead!.

ocean reef i would think is a bit of a commute.. port kennedy is good.

good luck

debbie

Re: nice suburbs in western australia
 

houses look nice in baldivis.... how about schools? any recommendations for primary schools pls?

Re: nice suburbs in western australia
 

Most of our friends rented in one suburb (normally beach side) then bought in the next suburb inland so they could be close to the beach and avoid paying the $200k premium to live next to it. We dont know many people that moved more than two suburbs from where they started renting when they first arrived - we are one suburb up the coast from where we started.

Dont know about most people but we had no idea where to start - literally closed out eyes with Google maps open and pointed a finger et voila!! That is where we headed! Schools can be good or bad - really is a personal view. Personally we put the kids name down for a few private schools as they looked reasonable compared to the UK and visited them when we were here to pick the best one.

I am sure wherever you settle you will make the best of it - good luck!