Hi guys! first post!

My wife and i have been over in aus on a WHV since sept and have been staying in manly which we love. for the second part of our trip we are moving to perth for 6months in a few weeks and are looking for some advice on which suburb to choose!

we have done quite a bit of research and reading into the area and have come up with scarborough or fremantle as the main front runners but for very different reasons. Scarb obviously has the beach laid back lifestyle (or so we are led to believe) and freo has a bit more going on with bars, cafes etc.

Can anyone give us an objective opinion on the two places - or any other places that you can think of - to help us with our decision!

We want to be close to the beach but dont mind up to 2km away and good(ish) transport, but again wouldnt mind a commute to work if the lifestyle was great

Sorry for the ramble thanks for your help!

Simon

I started a thread titled: Fremantle, Rockingham or Mandurah ??? If you search it you'll find loads of helpfull information. The forum readers have been great giving me lots of information good and bad, It might help you decide where to lay your hat for your 6 months stay.

Fremantle and Scarborough would both be good. Beaches in Scarborough area tend to be better, but with more surf. Some tiny bays and limestone reef north of Trigg Point. Fremantle beaches at Port Beach (closer to the shipping/port area) and Leighton Beach. North of Leighton Cottesloe starts, a more expensive suburb, but very popular. Just east is Mosman Park, which is also very close to the beach and on the river, and quite a bit cheaper than Cottesloe. Fremantle, Cottesloe and Mosman Park are all on the Fremantle train line, plus there are bus services. Scarborough is 3 suburbs north of Cottesloe, has no train station in the suburb, but frequent bus links to the northern suburbs line. Lots of accommodation options in these suburbs.

Hi Simon & welcome,

Presumably you are looking at renting for those 6 months? Or are you considering a speculative buy then sell?

Whats your maximum budget in either case?

Will you be working in the CBD or one of the outer suburbs? Or are you think about trying for FIFO with the mines?

Do you have a car or are you entirely dependant on public tranport?


All of these answers will impact the information we can give you about which are the best suburbs to consider.


Based on the limited information you've given, I would say you have 3 choices

1. Live in fremantle - crawl home from the pub/club and drive 30 mins to S'boro beach
2. Live in Scarborough - crawl home frome the beach and drive 30 mins to the Freo nightlife
3. Live in Cottesloe - the halfway option - better beaches than Freo with reasonable nightlife but not as lively as Freo or Scarborough - crawlable from both beach and pub (personnaly I think the beach at Cottesloe is nicer than Scarborough as well)

from a girly perspective, ie, shopping
1. Freo
2. Cott
3. S'boro

of course where you end up working and what your budget is could change this.

Scarborough's a dump - avoid. Go to Freo.

"Acres of burning white sand to cross, (yeah I know, but this is Perth), a “malevolent” vibe, waves that are uncomfortable for swimmers but poor for surfers, all overlooked (or more particularly overshadowed) by the controversial and hideous Observation City Hotel. Some visitors are under the impression that Scarborough Beach is “the place to go”. It’s not."

http://theworstofperth.com/2007/10/0...rborough-bleh/

I don't think that is entirely accurate about Scarborough and the comments on that link are quite old. A lot of tidying up has been done since then. Scarborough's not my cup of tea, but it is very popular with visitors and Perthites. When it comes to "burning white sand", that could be said of any beach here on a hot day.

Scarborough is a shit hole unless they've flattened The Rendezvous Observation City Hotel & the eyesore clock thing .


Reminds me of Skeggness .

Got money go to Freo .

Ask your self where you will be working & go from there , everyone wants to be near the beach ... yet anywhere is never far from the beach . Truth is it cost money nearer the city / nearer the beach & only you guys know what you have to spend .

I agree, Scarborough and the suburbs around it are overrated and overpriced IMO. No decent bars or restaurants down there either IMO. In the OPs circumstances I would definitely choose Fremantle.

Whinging about Scarborough is common on this forum espeicelly from people who can't and will never afford to live there. That Western Suburbs area is where everyone who is somebody in Perth aspires to live and raise a family. The area has improved and will improve further now has about 7 bars. Scarborough unlike Freo is where the beautiful people are. In terms of Culture, Bars, Cafes though Freo is superior but it's hardly a reason to move down there.

Scarborough was the biggest victim of Perths large Bordem factor about 8 years ago. During Perths teenage Import car craze the place was besotted with import cars, heavy drinking and even a riot back in 2003. This forced major changes to the beach which is now after all this time only now starting to recover. Before this...It was dominating fremantle

I am going to hire a team of skywriters. I will equip them with hypersonic aircraft able to reach anywhere on earth in under fifteen minutes. When I see posts like this or am subjected to such comments in casual conversation, or simply overhear something like this at a party, I will place a phone call, and mere minutes later, the word "BULLSHIT" will be plastered across the sky like grafitti from god himself.

That's great, coming from somebody, who by their own admission, share a flat (Homes West, if I'm not mistaken) in North Perth.....very classy

I never said that and I have a mortgage in Wembley in a 1 bedroom flat. I'm also much younger than you I assume as well.

Truth hurts innit?

People on this forum love to belittle suburbs they can't afford describing them as "overpriced, overrated, not as good, snobby". Both Scarborough and Fremantle are good with lifestyle, water, cafes, close to the city and out of most peoples price range on this forum. If you have the money then live in these areas.

Freo has better culture and much better public transport. Scarborough has better beaches but is closer to the city. Both areas are close to Cottisloe which is important great stuff down there. If you have a car its easy to get to one another. I used to live in Scarborough and Study in Fremantle.