Where on EARTH (in Sydney) should we live??
 

OK so I'm sure people are going to think I'm absolutely nuts, but I'm a little bored at work at the mo (and I'm a BORN planner), and have stupidly spent the last 2 hours looking at places to rent on Domain.com. Now I'm feeling really confused and discouraged! :unsure:

We're looking for a leafy, green suburb that's not too far from the beach and not ridiculously far to commute to the main business areas in Sydney. In an ideal situation we'd also be close to parks or places we can go out walking/running/cycling. At the moment we're living in a concrete jungle and we don't want to feel like this again! Our budget is up to $550pw, we'd want at least 2 bedrooms, and we definitely don't want to be in a high rise flat!

Originally the plan was to move towards Wollongong (Thirroul/Austinmer way), but I'm really worried that we land up with an unrealistic commute. We'll only start looking for jobs when we get there, but as we're in finance and marketing I suspect we would land up in the main business areas somewhere.

Does anyone have suggestions on suburbs that might have what we're looking for? :thumbup:

Re: Where on EARTH (in Sydney) should we live??
 

If you want the beach lifestyle and a decent commute try Cronulla. Or Coogee and Bondi for a bit more nightlife. I am back in the UK now but always thought places like Rose Bay and Double Bay were nice you are pretty clsoe to the Eastern Beaches there plus its pretty idylic the kind of place i thought if you took people from back home they'd want to move to Sydney immediately - dunno if you'd get a 2 bed flat in Rose Bay for $550 but you might. In my view the inner west was a dump but hey what do i know.

Re: Where on EARTH (in Sydney) should we live??
 

Oh wow these areas look amazing! Thanks! Have checked on Real Estate and we can get 2 bed places in our price to - there's even one right on the waterfront. Feeling much better already.... :thumbsup:

Re: Where on EARTH (in Sydney) should we live??
 

We lived in Woollahra which is gorgeous and quite close to the beach, but pretty expensive. When we lived there 2 years ago we rented a nice but quite small 2 bedroom apartment for $400 per week. It wasn't in a highrise but was in a nice block of flats.

My sister and brother-in-law live in Randwick which is close to the beach and a bit cheaper - more suburban though.

Rose Bay is really nice, very close to the city and more "inner-city". Not particularly close to the beach but only a 15 minute drive I guess. But you could have a 30 min walk into the city from Rose Bay.

Bondi is obviously right on the beach, but is not leafy really and can be a pain to get into the city because it is not on the train line.

Re: Where on EARTH (in Sydney) should we live??
 

alot of people like Manly because of the ability to take a nice cruise into work by boat, I LOVED IT !!! my girlfriend at the time thought manly was a one horse town and wanted to be more amongst it, so we moved to balmain which is nice but traffic a nightmare

Re: Where on EARTH (in Sydney) should we live??
 

The thing about Rose Bay is if people from the UK visit you can say "let's head into town" and when they say "bus or taxi?" you can say "no we'll get a ferry in the syn past the Opera House."

Re: Where on EARTH (in Sydney) should we live??
 

I arrived in Sydney about 18 months ago and have lived in 3 places- Woolloomooloo, on Oxford Street in the city centre and am now in Manly. I loved Woolloomooloo and Oxf St for being close to all the action in the city, but my favoruite has to be Manly. Its so pretty, stunning beaches, great areas of park/ lagoon to go for walks, close to Warringah Mall for a big shopping sess, there are some fab bars for a night out, cheap restaurants and best of all a 30 minute beautiful ferry ride to the centre of the city. At the end of the wqorking week I feel like I am on holiday for 2 days as we spend our weekend at the beach and then enjoy a couple of beers at a watrefront bar before heading back for a BBQ. Bliss. :-)

And a useful bit of info- if you miss the last ferry back to Manly from city night buses run through the night- we usually get the 2.20am one and are home in bed by 3am- all for $4.60 !!!!

Re: Where on EARTH (in Sydney) should we live??
 

Only trouble with Manly is travel to work if you don't happen to be working in the central business district...

Re: Where on EARTH (in Sydney) should we live??
 

i think the northen beaches are the place to be
from manly up to palm beach, only problem is getting into the city for work but there is supriseingly plenty of jobs on the northen beaches and rentals are cheaper than the inner city.
recommend checking out newport, avalon and monavale area.
the beaches are so much better than the eastern suburbs

Re: Where on EARTH (in Sydney) should we live??
 

I work in Woolloomooloo/Potts Point and its not too bad at all, get the ferry from Manly into Circ Quays then either walk or get a bus. Door to door its 1 hour, and a very pleasant hour at that!!
I like Balmain but the traffic is awful, Bondi really is not my cup of tea, Coogee and Maroubra are rough and tired.
Everyone will have an opinion, often based on where they lived, I mean, come on, who is gonna say they made a crap choice in location!!
Cronulla is ok, thats all, Wollongong can be a long commute if you don't live/work 5 mins from either end of the line. Northern beaches is all good but the Spit bottleneck and Military Rd can get clogged.
My initial plan was to live nowhere near Manly due to a misconception, but now, as anothe rposter said, its like having a holiday every weekend. Great for families, can get a bit lairy after midnight in some of the pubs but where doesn't. But a lot of the apartments are either low rise and old with no lifts (think furniture and shopping) or high rise but modern.

Re: Where on EARTH (in Sydney) should we live??
 

I will qualify my post by saying while Bondi, Coogee were great i wouldnt want to live there longer term so Northern Beaches are probably better as I think a common misconception for a lot of people soming over from the UK is that Oz is somehow crime free Bondi and Coogee are very rough as is Manly on a Friday and Saturday night.