maybemoving

hi folks, hopefully someone can help. i have the possibility of jobs in mindarie and rockingham, which suburb would be better for a young single female?
thanks for any advice you can give!

Weebie

Firstly Mindarie is as North as you can get while Rockingham is a south as you can get at least an hour drive minimum between the two areas.

Depends what you want. If you want entertainment and fun then you need to be central or in and around the central suburbs or maybe even South Perth There really is no choice. Both areas are 30 minuate commute from the centre.

maybemoving

thanks weebie, as im a doctor i cant work any more centrally than this. i would like to live close by to my job but with an easy journey into central perth. looking for somewhere reasonably lively, nice restaurants and shops etc but also access to watersports / surfing etc.

BristolBeary

Mindarie by a country mile for a single person compared to Rockingham. Although I don't think Mindarie would be a great choice either. I would have thought Subiaco would be the best. I understand that you don't want to live miles away from your job though.

Since water sports is an interest then maybe Scarborough, Trigg. But they're not close to train stations. They are about 20 minute drive to Mindarie.

I guess it depends on what kind of shops you want close by and how much your be going out? There is no nightlife to speak of outside the city other than Friday and Saturday so your be pretty bored in mindarie during the week.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

Weebie

Perth is so isolated if you want any form of a decent single life then you have no choice but the city. Perth is very family orientated. Exc ept for cheap newly developed housing full of dodgy bogans and loads of counsel housing there is nothing else out in those areas or 15 mins in between.

maybemoving

thanks folks. im not really interested in nightlife as i will be working fulltime and plan to travel every weekend. what i would really like a an area that is safe, has a few nice restaurants within walking distance and is close to a good beach. pretty sure i will have a car although access to public transport would be helpful as i may not get one immediately. as for shops, i suppose i only need supermarket / pharmacy but being a female the more shops available the better!
any suggestions of somewhere suitable halfway in between work and the city?

Weebie

Are you on call so you have to live close to the hospitals or its just a issue of time? Most people travel between between 30 misn to an hour to go to work. The areas you've mentioned are awful suburbs.

mulben

Rockingham has good restaurants, night clubs ,new beachside apartments , the coffee strip and easy access via rail or road to CBD or Freo or any amount of
watersports

squeezzii

I cant comment on Mindarie but I think that some comments on here about Rockingham are very harsh! Rockingham as an area covers a lot of places, Port Kennedy, Safety Bay, Waikki and more. One mans meat is another mans poison and it would be interesting to know where you live now and what that area is like so we maybe might be able to get a gist of what you are used to.
In the rockingham area you will find some of the best beaches in Perth. Shoalwater -whilst not very good for swimming is excellent for watersports and it has a very active watersports community of kite surfing and windsurfing that are there every weekend. Point Peron has a number of boating clubs and is great for jet skiing. If you like to kayak its great out to Penguin Islandand not forgetting the fabulous scuba opportunities here too.
Rockingham has a newly refurbished shopping centre/food court and has been expanding considerably lately with a new restaurant/entertainment area
Rockingham is considered an older suburb, but there is a huge anount of new homes being built around here Harrington Waters being just one part of this extention of the area.
Rockingham has 2 train stations, rockingham then Warnbro and it is just 1 further train stop down to mandurah which is handy as that has some lovely places to enjoy a walk along the front and some lunch.
Yeah, like all places in Oz and the UK there are some crappy bits I wouldnt want to live in either but you pick and choose like you would anywhere and we live in a lovely area here. Hope this helps

JulieFulie

You obviously have no idea what you are talking about. You shoudn't really be giving advice to anyone about suburbs unless you have lived there or very close. I don't know about Rockingham but Mindarie is a well sought after established suburb with its own marina which is full of pubs/restaurants. I wonder if you are walking round with your eyes closed too because there are many lovely suburbs both north and south of Perth, new AND old and well established. Do you actually live in Perth? If you do, maybe you should get out a bit more and keep both eyes wide open......

La Vida loca

mindarie, living and working there is awesome.
Perth is 40mins on train, 30mins in a car, not peak time.

80bux in a cab home, no worries.... Mindarie is the best place in Perth for $ value, and its not as far as you can go at all, yanchep and two rocks is even further..

vicki78

Which hospital will you be working at? Then maybe you could look at the suburbs nearby to live.

I don't know anything about Rockingham, but Mindarie has a few restaurants and pubs and is a nice area and also has some beautiful beaches nearby. The nearest train station to the city would be at Clarkson, which is a fair distance from Mindarie, you'd still need to either to catch the bus or drive to the station.

The best place for a single woman to live would be obviously the CBD, Fremantle or Subiaco, you might find it a little quiet elsewhere.

maybemoving

thanks folks. i didnt realise this would be such a contentious issue. mindarie has been my first choice all along but i think after this conversation i will expand my job search to other areas. my only must is that it is a coastal location so freemantle may be a good option. im not working at a hospital, im a gp so as an overseas dr I am unable to apply for jobs in the more central areas.

HelenTD

Looking at the Umet Areas of Need in WA (http://www.overseasdoctors.health.wa...N_Database.pdf), you have quite a lot of options about where you work and the type of patients you want to have.

A lot of Perth can be reached with a 20-30 minute drive, so you can work in one of the outer areas and live somewhere closer in, should you decide that living in Mindarie, for example, is not for a single woman. You also might not want to bump into your patients when you're doing your grocery shopping or having a few drinks.

There is also a huge difference in demographics in these Unmet Areas of Need, eg being a GP in Ocean Reef or Joondalup might be considered very civilised, compared to being a GP in Cullacabardee or Armadale. I notice that Scarborough (a beach suburb) needs after-hours services (not so good for your social life) and Mirrabooka needs general GP services. Both these suburbs are in the City of Stirling, about 20-30 minutes apart, but with very different demographics. Have a look at some demographics for the City of Stirling: http://profile.id.com.au/Default.aspx?id=270. Websites for other councils might have similar profiles.

Even if you don't live on the coast, there are many suburbs within easy reach, including the older suburbs closer to the CBD. These tend to be laid out in more traditional grid system of streets and shops. These tend to have more character than suburbs where the focus is a large shopping centre.

Perhaps let us know more about your work interests/preferences to narrow the choice of suburbs down a bit.

Weebie

Perth born and bred I know a little bit. Unless the medical centre requires close distance I think that living closer to the city is a better option my opinion thats all.