jerzy

Tass,

Where abouts around C/town are you located ?

We arrived in Sydney in October 2004, stayed with friends in Glen Alpine for 6 weeks, liked it so much we decided to stay. We're currently renting in Blair Athol but are looking to buy in the next few months.

We like the look of Harrington Park but are unsure about the traffic on Narellan Road, any comments ? ( I need to get to the M5 in the mornings).

jerzy

Chris,

I work in Auburn, just around the corner From the hospital. Auburn is none too pleasant. It’s a bit rough, I wouldn’t want to be wandering around after dark, and the suburb as a whole is run down and scruffy. I’m from the Liverpool (UK) area originally and I’d liken Auburn to Toxteth or maybe Rusholm in Manchester. It has a large immigrant population, Lebanese, Turkish, African and Chinese, English would appear to be a minority language here. It also seems to have a large population of ‘hoons’ who continually drive around the town centre wheel spinning their souped up Honda Civics and deafening the locals with their choice of Hip Hop and R’n’B music (although this isn’t a characteristic unique to Auburn with in Sydney).

On the good side it has a train station, and good transport to the suburb means you don’t have to live here just because you work here. They’re currently putting the finishing touches to a new plaza and blocks of swish looking flats. Auburn botanical gardens are just a few Km’s outside the centre of Auburn and are well worth a visit.
If you like Kebabs and Turkish Pizza you will never go hungry !

If you have any questions post me and I’ll try to answer them.

Tass

Hi Jerzy ! Have Pm'd you .
Tass.

Chris Mitchell

Thanks Jerzy,

Thanks for the info i have only just seen it. will pm you later.

Chris

TopCat3

Hello everyone I am new to this website. I'm pretty new to the Internet (sad old case). Hope I'm typing in the right place. Been reading Chris from Lincolshire's request dated 28 March for info on Auburn and surroundings. Agree with what someone else said about Auburn itself. I live in a pleasant, affordable, leafy suburb about 5km away called Ashfield. Postcode 2131 if you want to look it up on some sort of Website whatever. Why it's good: On main Inner West train line, is main stop even for Express trains to city. (20min trip)Relatively cheap compared with surrounding pleasant suburbs, by which I mean rentals, buying homes (big variety of dwelling types), can pick up very cheap food esp from Asian greengrocers very fresh. Interesting multicultural mix (high Chinese pop., Indians, and everything else in between) quiet residential streets with trees growing out of the roadside. Easy drive to the northside even in peak hr cos against the traffic, not too far from water (no views though). Surrounding suburbs gracious tho' dearer eg Italian Leichhardt & Five Dock, pretty Summer Hill. It's either a 20 min or 40min drive from just about anywhere if you get what I mean. Sorry I don't have a clue about schools, (no kids,only furry ones) but there's plenty around or along the train line. Ashfield council website is www.ashfield.nsw.gov.au email is [email protected] I've lived here 5yrs, it's not perfect, but hey I'm buying - median price unit style 2 level worth abt $360K now. FYI I came to Oz to live in 1986. Hope this helps - if not you then someone else maybe. Sorry editing to say the wrong text has appeared at the top of my posting, told you I was new/sad

wombat42

You can buy a nice 4 bedroom house with a swimming pool in a nice tree lined suburb of Perth or Adelaide for the same price of a house in some drug crime, graffiti, ridden outer western Sydney suburb, miles from the city the beach or anywhere.

TopCat3

Funny you should mention Adelaide, I'm vaguely thinking about it as more affordable & less stressful now I'm older and struggling with insecure employment issues (over 35=over the hill in Sydney sometimes) working 45+ hrs a week to pay off house. In fact it was exploring Adelaide via Ask Jeeves that I happened across the expats website. After nearly 20 years here I'm starting to appreciate some of the finer points of being British and some of the things I left behind (not the weather, which is a big deterrent to return). Useful info thankyou but maybe not so useful for Chris who has a job lined up in Auburn (which is not outer west but not inner-west like Ashfield either) Inner west is high density living & crime is on the increase- drug related.

Chris Mitchell

Hi Topcat3

thanks for the info, and welcome to the site.

I am grateful for any info good or bad as it'll help when we arrive and look for somewhere to live. We have kids and currently live in a market town has a few problems but minor compared with some of other towns and cities- so want to live in similar place- not a little england as such but a 'safe place' if there is such aplace.

Once again thank you for info

Chris

wendymaisie

Hi Jerzy,

We moved to Harrington Park six weeks ago and love it here. We lived at St Helens Park for just under a year after our big move from England. As far as traffic on the M5 goes it is normally a clear run until the toll booths (according to my Hubby as Im a stay at home Mum, mind you he does leave around 5.30am!).

Regards,

Wendy

poshrice

HEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPP hubby piglet and me (poshrice) are emigrating to sydney as soon as our bl**dy house sells but we are undecided which area to live in i want to be near to the coast but we are only l;ooking to spend $400 a week rent and we would need at least 3 bedrooms and hubby needs to be able to commute easily to gladesville where his office is and to the city as he is a mobile service engineer piglet is 18mths old so would need preschool and toddler groups in the area am i asking too much there are so many suburbs to look at and as i have never been to aus let alone sydney i don't know where to start, it's nice to find some sydney-siders as most people i have spoken to on here are off to brisbane ??????????? so any input on suburbs to look inot would be greatly appreciated
Kind regards
Poshrice xx

ShozInOz

You can get a unit for that money in eastern suburbs, and northern beaches (lower or upper), but the further from the city, the better the apartment will be. Mostly the units in the eastern suburbs for 400 p/w will have no balcony and will be in a larger block of 20 or so units. As for areas, all of the eastern suburbs are great - good bus transport. Manly (lower north shore) is nice but you need to get a ferry to the city nice in the short to medium term I imagine. You really need to consider transport.

Go to www.domain.com.au, then go to Advanced Search - Rent, then New South Wales, and select eastern suburbs, north shore lower and upper. It may be useful though to get a map of sydney from Amazon. Some of the suburbs that come up will be nearer the beach than others. Personally we live in Coogee and can recommend it. Family friendly beach. But then all the beachy suburbs north of Coogee are great and very safe.

TopCat3

Hello Poshrice, Hubby and Piglet. I would agree Northern Beaches if you want to be near the beach. Suggest you check around Cromer, Collaroy/Collaroy Plateau for affordable 3BR in the range you quoted. Not a bad commute to Gladesville if you cut across the top and down Pittwater Road Gladesville-I don't mean Pittwater Road Manly (get a suburb roadmap of Sydney & you'll see what I mean). Cromer is round the back of Dee Why which is a lovely beach but I'm biased as I used to live there! Much further north up the beaches and you'll find rentals and local shopping more expensive and the commute even worse. Maybe Warriewood/Mona Vale but once you hit Newport and Avalon prices rise as steeply as the hills! I also lived in the E. Subs but it's fast, expensive and personally feel it's not so family orientated. Others might differ, but it's only my opinion. Good luck.

Gibbo

Why don't you try Gladesville to start with? Then your husband will not have to commute and will be more inclined to drive around at weekends to have a look at various places where you might like to settle. If you don't drive there is easy access to the City via Victoria Road and the Rivercat.

jjonboy

I recently spent some time working in Auburn. THere is a high Turkish population (a statement of fact, not a negative statement), and lots of blocks of units, more so than houses.

If you look at www.realestate.com.au that should give you an idea of what the housing looks like and the costs

bondipom

Northern Beaches to Gladesville during rush hour is a nightmare journey. Forget it by public transport. Driving would probably take about an hour at least during peak hour.

Auburn is as convenient as Mars for Gladesville. Gladesville itself is good for apartments.