KerEng

Hi,

I am going to be relocating to Sydney next month (after being in Adelaide for the last couple of years) and although I'll be working in Revesby in the south west, I'd prefer to live somewhere a little closer to the city. I'm a 35 year old single female so local facilities such as coffee shops, restaurants, malls, etc. are more important to me than schools.

I'm currently considering renting an apartment and the two areas I've seen that might meet my requirements are Wolli Creek and Hurstville. Does anyone know anything about them, in terms of how safe they are, what facilities are around, etc?

Thanks,

Kerry

Mr Grumpy

Perfectly safe, I live in Hurstville. However, you will probably feel completely out of place unless you are Cantonese. Extremely high Hong Kong population here.

As a result of this demographic it is very dirty as Chinese culture(unlike Japanese) is quite grotty in many ways.

There are restaurants, but you will see lots of dead rabbits hanging in the window

Red_V_Roger

I would suggest somewhere like Gymea. I know its further out from the city, but it has its own little village feel with coffee shops, cafe's, pub etc and its next door to Westfields Miranda for that girlie shopping. I did Gymea to Revesby by car for 18 months and its about 25 minutes, depending on time of day.

KerEng

Thanks for the replies so far. Gymea is too far out of the city for me unfortunately.

Any info on Wolli Creek?

I'm also considering the areas along the train line between Revesby and the CBD, such as Padstow, Beverly Hills, etc. if you have any info on those.

Red_V_Roger

Please don't take this the wrong way, but just to go back over what Mr Grumpy said, all the suburbs that you are listing have their own very definite different ethnic groups. Like he said, Chinese in one area, Middle East in another, etc, etc. If you're not 'Western' Christian, you may struggle with some of these, or if you are a particular religion/native language speaker, you may prefer to be an area where shops etc have your own specific needs.

I think you need to think about the people and their culture around you as much as the facilities.

KerEng

No offence taken, all comments are appreciated

Just to clarify for myself though, does that mean that Padstow, Beverly Hills, Riverwood etc. are also minority Western? I have had the Beverly Hills area recommended to me by someone else (an expat) so I'm now a bit confused

Red_V_Roger

That would be my opinion for Padstow and Beverly Hills, don't know about Riverwood.

ColonialCousin

KerEng,

Wolli Creek might be an option, considering its proximity (and connectivity) to city. As well as the airport (if your work involves interstate travel). Bear in mind however that it is a fairly new suburb and as such lacks established cafe culture that you mightbe after. Arncliffe / Rockdale are nearby, with established malls and supermarkets, as is hurstville. Quite a few young professionals live there though, so might be a better cultural fit than other suburbs discussed above which predominantly have a Asian / Ethnic population.

While you are at it, Newtown might also be worth a look. That suburb seems to have everyone living there!

paddyo

We had a look at Padstow when we first came over. To be honest I found nothing wrong with it and would happily live there, seemed a good mix of quite a few cultures there. My wife however wanted a beach!!!!

KerEng

Thanks for this. Even if there's no established cafe culture there, it's not a major problem if there are malls, etc. nearby (I'm not a 'girly shopper' but I do like to wander round from time to time). The 'young professional' aspect is probably more what I'm after, even though I'm now a 'not so young professional'

I will put Wolli Creek back into my list and will definitely take a look when I manage to get a quick recci trip over there in the next couple of weeks.