HI,

Me and my wife and 2 young kids aged 5 and 3 are in the final process ofmigrating to western australia, we are looking to settle in and around the mandurah area. I have been trying to research regions down this way that would be best suited for us, my wife doesnt drive, so would need to walk kids to school and shops and stuff would need to be close by. We have been looking at halls head, meadow springs, dudley park, madora bay, greenfields ect...Could someone please give me any information on where best would suit us and about schools and shops and stuff.

thanks

neil

Hi Neil,

I have moved this to the main Oz forum for you.

Your wife will need to learn to drive or she will be very isolated. Not driving in Aus is very restrictive.

Initially - before she gets her licence :-) she can use public transport so have a look at the Transperth web site http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au

Click on Bus Timetables and choose routes Southern 131 thru 137. They have maps which you can use to suss out locations.

Also look at whereis.com for some great assistance with shops and school locations.

Why Mandurah? Is that where you have work?

Definely not Greenfields, dodgy area. Without a car Midora Bay is also out.
My pick would be Meadow Springs or Halls Head.

We have been in mandurah - dawesville, which is 20km south of mandurah city centre. Also my wife doesn't drive and I am not here 5 weeks in every 8 to help here get about and she manages.

Mandurah is very good for cycling and I would encourage your wife to consider this.

Of the suburbs you mention, Halls Head would be my recommendation. It has schools that would be walking distance and a shopping centre. It's also only a short bus ride to either the centre of the city - even walkable or a short bus ride to the big shopping centre.

Halls Head has a couple of excellent beaches.

Avoid Greenfields. It can be rough. Meadow Springs is fine. Though not walkable to a beach. Madora Bay is fine, but a bit isolated and would be a lot harder without being able to drive. Falcon and Erskine can also be nice. The former has one of the best family beaches in WA.

Check out the burbs mentioned above, in conjunction with the Transperth Bus Network maps online...

If you cross refence with transpert bus timetables you will see that it is eminently doable to live where you want to relying on buses....

Seascapes estate - next to the beach - in Halls Head would be my choice. It has a primary school within walking distance.

Actually. I would avoid Seascapes for two reasons. One, the beach is not actually swimmable - full of rocks. And two it is known as sea snakes because of the very large proportion of dugites in the area - 6 dogs bitten last summer.

Hi there, thanks very much, we have picked mandurah as the type of visa i have restricts me to where i can live for the first 2 years, we have to live in regional areas first and of all the postcodes allowed i thought that mandurah regions looked the nicest...is it not?

Hi there, thanks for replying, yes we are looking at halls head more than the others, i also emailed halls head primary to see about how or even if we could apply to get our kids in there, but still waiting on a reply....Its so hard being in scotland and looking at houses to let and areas in those regions without actually being there or knowing someone who can help out...so thanks again for your help...we really liked a couple of houses in meadow springs too, but not walking distance to a each aint good.....is halls head quite family orientated, i heard there is also a lot of scottish down that way, is this correct? also, i am a wall and floor tiler, do you know how the work is down that way for my trade...thanks again...neil

thank you, still new to this and not sure how to post properly

thanks...
neil

Mandurah is basically considered a part of the metro area these days by locals so surprised it is considered regional. If you follow the advice of where not to live, you will find it a pleasant part of the world. My folks used to live in Greenfields and their street and the few around were a perfectly good area but, in other parts, it was (is?) definitely rough.

When did you email Halls Head Primary as they have only just gone back to school? Chase them up if you don't hear this week.

Halls Head is a very family area.

Why not give the school a call. Can't harm.

Meadow Springs is nice and has a decent shopping centre with the best butcher in mandurah. But, yes, it is a drive to a beach.

Halls Head is probably the easiest place to be if you can't drive. I think the public transport in WA is very good. Buses are regular and run on time though weekends can be a bit poor - from my area there is only one an hour on a Saturday and one every two hours on a Sunday. But, you get used to planning around that. A lot of Halls Head would be walking distance into the city centre.

Can't help with the jobs front as I wouldn't have a clue about your trade.

There are a fair few Scotts in the mandurah area. Halls Head is one of the suburbs with a significant proportion of Brits.

thank you very much for all your info, I think we are going to look more seriously at halls head now, so thank you very much

Neil

The beach at meadow springs is about 500-700mt from the shopping centre i walk there every day when i am there.