asher

well OH has done initial recce and worked out that the St Ives area is affordable and near enough to commute to work and looks nice

now I need to know if he is typical bloke and has picked out a pit or whether I should believe him that on the strength of a few drive bys that this is a nice area for us to live!!

we don't have any schoolage children but I need a good hospital near by to work in as a nurse

Thanks a lot or any replies good or bad


Kim

Rosscarbery

We went for a reccie in November (myself, OH and three kids) and have also identified St. Ives as a good place to live. For us it's more about schools though (we visited both the High school and the primary and were impressed with both). It's not the cheapest area to live, but we are looking for detached, 4 bed +study and it has to have a pool so that's not really going to cheap anywhere nice. It is lovely and green and very definitely a "nice area"; the shopping centre is good and there seems to be a reasonable number of local restaurants. From there it's not a long drive to the Northern Beaches along the Mona Vale road. It is not on the train line though, so it's bus or car to train, or bus to the centre or drive. If your OH was working somewhere like Chatswood rather than the CBD it would obviously make more sense - my OH will be in the CBD. My only slight reservation about the area is whether it will be a bit sedate and suburban for my taste - don't get me wrong, as a 43 year old mother of three I'm not exactly looking for the rave scene, but coming from Brighton I think someplace like Avalon might be more my spiritual home - no use transport wise though unfortunately. I will be interested to see what others have to say. Personally if I didn't have kids I would be looking at the Eastern Suburbs.

asher

Ok tell me why the eastern suburbs I am totally dependant on OH to find somewhere nice at present, I am into motorbikes and may have an 18 year old son in tow!! would need to have access to CBD for him and probably north shore hosp for me I would prefer to use public transport





Kim

ali south

St Ives pretty nice area. Good links to CBD. We live in Mona Vale ,Northern part of the Northern beaches. St Ives is about 20 minutes inland from us.

Benefits of St Ives over Northern beaches are-

Cheaper housing ,not a lot, but a 850k (aus $) in St Ives would cost 900k in Warriewood , Mona Vale .
Much better public transport to CBD. It can take me 1.5 hours to drive to the airport in the morning (i work there a couple of times a week) there is good train links to the CBD none in the northern beaches only buses.
Both pretty wealthy areas, good schools .Wife works at a local school in Mona Vale she may be able to advise if you need information on this.

But.
We live 10 minutes walk to the beach. Take the dog for a walk there every night and love it. There is a term used here ,people call this area the insular peninsular, and it is very true.Wife has probably only been south of the spit bridge (a bridge sort of separating the northern beaches from the rest of Sydney) a dozen times in 18 months. Both pretty nice areas.
Mona Vale hospital is a big hospital in this area (the beds in the wards look over the beach!!) Do'nt know about hospitals in St Ives /Hornsby.

If there is any other information you are after please ask.

Alex

Rosscarbery

Why the Eastern suburbs? Partly nostalgia for me I guess as this is where I lived many years ago when I met OH in Sydney. But it is just SO convenient if you want to be near the the city - Centennial Park is nice, it's easy to get to great beaches, places like Surry Hills have gorgeous little townhouses, there are lots of fantastic restaurants and there's just a bit of a buzz. My other choice would be Balmain - lovely villagey feel, cute houses and you can get the ferry to Central Quay which beats buses any day.

walaj

We have been in St ives for a year now.

Nearest public hospital is Hornsby (probably easiest by bus as not near train station). New ED & maternity ward opened last Nov, just after I gave birth in the old dept & OH had his appendix out there too!! The other nearish one is Royal North Shore, right next door to private North Shore (walk from St Leonards train station). Another private one is the SANs but will probably be a pain by public transport. Another small one at the top end of Nth Turramurra. Would need to check www.131500 for buses & times.

Transport - not on the railway line, nearest is Gordon (for us) which can drive & park at or bus to. St ives is spread out - living in St Ives chase can add a bit of travelling time. If you try to get over to Ryde you have to change buses at Gordon (adds a lot to the time) as there is no direct bus along Mona Vale Rd/Ryde Rd.

There is a large Sth African (v green which reminds of SA) & jewish population. Shopping centre - Woolies there not the nicest - Hornsby is better for shopping. Many clothes shops, but I would say they cater for the more mature woman

Nightlife - with a toddler & young baby we rarely go out. I would not say it is the most happening place. There is a lovely pizza place where they are starting to recognise us.

We are looking to buy, and although St Ives is in the short list it is not our preferred location.

I can type more out, or if you are in the area we can meet up for a chat & coffee: PM me

Rosscarbery

Can I be nosey walaj and ask what are your preferred areas? We were dead set on St. Ives following our reccie, but I have decided to home ed our youngest two now so the whole catchment area thing isn't as crucial. Where has nice houses, good shopping, great restaurants (we have one kid old enough to babysit!!!) and is generally a good place to live?

Martha

Jacque

Hi Martha

St Ives is a fairly sedate area, though with three children, I guess you're not as keen on the nightclub lifestyle as you probably used to be As Walaj has already said, it's not exactly your Manly or Paddington- it is more a family north shore suburb.

It really comes down to budget, your specific lifestyle needs and transport requirements, as you no doubt already know. I had a client who almost bought a lovely house in St Ives only about 1km from Gordon station- leafy, green, quiet street on a big block with 4bds 2bth and plenty of room for a pool. It eventually sold for high $700K's which I considered a good buy for this particular property- it also had beautiful views of the neighbouring Garigal National Park.

It's so difficult to advise on areas of Sydney unless you know how much you have to spend, and how important certain lifestyle factors are to you individually. I'm sure I'm not telling you anything new here, but there are so many suburbs that are appealing- it's just the price of housing that determines where you can live, not where you may want to!

I live in the Hills, which is about 30km from the Sydney CBD. As I work all over the northside of town and my husband works locally, we have no need to live close to the city. However, if we both were travelling into the CBD every day, my pick would be one of these suburbs on the North Shore or Northern Districts line (I especially like Wahroonga and Turramurra) for ease of transport.

The retirement plan is a nice low maintenance place overlooking one of the beautiful northern beaches like Bilgola or Newport- but that's some time away yet! In the meantime, we're looking to upgrade to acreage and enjoy the space whilst the children are still young and we have the energy and relative youth to accompany them

Good luck with your decision wherever you decide to live and keep us posted on your progress. Have fun!!

007

I couldn't think of a more lifeless, sedate, clinical, over-rated (only by those who live there though) area in Australia if I tried.

The traffic in and out is a nightmare.

The people are all clones of each other.

You driver Euro

Dress in Myer or David Jones.

Walk with your nose in the air.

And do not ever mingle with anyone who is not PLU (People Like Us).

pathetic

yanH

I take it from this post that you lived in this area for an extended period of time as you seem to have such a detailed knowledge of both the area and its populace?

007

Yes, I grew up there.

The area has got noticeably worse in the last 10 years.

Before the clones moved in it was a great place to live.

Jacque

So which suburb of Melbourne do you live in, 007?

007

One doesn't need to live in Melbourne to dislike Sydney.

Actually that's a typical Sydney attitude you have there. Funny that

yanH

Agree with you on the traffic. We live in the Wahroonga and have to drive through St Ives quite often for the kids activities. Its a nightmare if they start in the early evening I've not found the part of Wahroonga where we live to be cliquey but then I suppose its very much down to the individual people you come across.

Jacque

My mistake 007- I assumed from your other post about Melb being superior to Sydney that you were definitely a resident

As for attitude (and what exactly is "typical"????) - you've obviously been scarred from some traumatic Sydney experiences and you have my sympathy - However, I'm not the one with any chips on my shoulder here. I happen to love Melbourne as well!!