But Where to choose to live in Adelaide?

[Guest daffidowndilly]

So we made the decision to move out to Adelaide by next Christmas (2015), giving us time to sell the house etc ... but we are still not decided whereabouts to base ourselves in Adelaide. Having a young family (1 boy aged 8) I prefer a community with a more quiet location, more greenery than concrete. We are not city centre dwellers. Also, within 20k of the coast preferred. My husband works away in Melbourne anyway so we are not tied by that. More important are schools, shops etc for daily living. We chose Adelaide mainly for the climate, but also because its closer to the rest of Australia than Perth!

 

Anyone have any recommendations of towns or areas we could be researching?

[snifter]

We were not fussed to live in a coastal suburb so went inland a few k's to the foothills. An area with good state school choices and access to both city and coast plus out the door and into the hills within a couple of hundred metres of our door.

 

Our son is 6 and loves it round here. Lots of greenery too being in the foothills, far more gum trees and hills, gives it a more a feeling of nature rather than just suburb. See koalas pretty much daily. Son plays cricket nearby, a few mins drive away, footy and more. Local shops are about 5 mins in the car and all the usual facilities are around on hand.

 

Honestly, you may find once here that the small towns like Stirling or Mount Barker appeal. Or perhaps the eastern suburbs which are more leafy and older. I love some of those but they can be pricey.

 

I love where we live but that is more for the actual location of our house than anything. Happy with the suburb of course but it was the house and it's location in and to the hills that did it for us. Had we been the other side of the suburb, further from the hills and in one of the more built up areas of it we'd most likely not have gone for it.

[Guest daffidowndilly]

So are you in Stirling? This info is very helpful and wherever you are sounds appealing. Just the kind of place we could call home. Should I look at the foothills generally then?

 

Julia

[NicF]

The foothills generally will be greener. I love where I live in Rostrevor - we are just a few minutes walk from Morialta conservation park. There is a creek running through the suburb and lots of trees everywhere. The bottom end of the suburb near St Bearnards Road is less green but the further you go up towards the conservation park the greener it gets. Most foothills suburbs are pretty hilly but Rostrevor itself is still quite flat and is 9km from the CBD and 22km from the nearest beach. Other foothill suburbs to consider would be Newton, Athelstone, Wattle Park, Stoneyfell, Highbury, Tea Tree Gully, Banksia Park and Fairview Park.

 

For schools have a look at myschool.com.au and for housing check out realestate.com.au.

 

My street.

[Jessica Berry]

Whereabouts are you based now, are you living in Nottingham? You mention your husband works away in Melbourne, is there a particular reason you want to live in Adelaide rather than in Melbourne where your husband has a job?

[Guest Guest75]

I personally would say it will be really difficult to even narrow down suburbs until you arrive.

 

I know you want to do a lot of research before you arrive ( great!) ,but everything can be so different and quite deceiving from a distance.

 

Make a basic decision if you want to be close to the sea / city/ hills .

 

We lived in Onkaparinga Hills for a good number of years and loved it - sea views ,lots of wildlife ( some unwanted!) and 2.5 acres of space - the hills do get a lot colder in Winter though!

Now we lived in Hallett Cove , right on the coast ,great views and closer to the city.

 

It's not a shallow thing to want to live near the sea - it's about lifestyle here.

 

As I say to our guests "Adelaide has something for everyone - it just takes some finding at times"

 

Good luck.

[Rammygirl]

A reasonable drive to the airport might be a factor, but why not live in Melbourne if that is where the work is?

[Guest daffidowndilly]

Hubby works as an engineer on power stations so travels around and stays away for weeks at a time, but over but his offices are Melbourne based. The reason we are looking at Adelaide is mainly because we hoped the weather might be more "us", and also after reading reports of what a great place it is for raising a family. We could also look at Melbourne of course but research is currently focused on A.

 

Jessica. We (myself and our son) are currently still in Nottingham while Mark is travelling to Australia but the plan is to use next year to sell up and emigrate. We shall visit for a holiday to try and get a feel for the area we want to live in but trying to narrow the search is monumental given the choice!

 

I must say I love this site, everyone is really helpful and informative and I really hope one day I shall be able to advise other people as you guys have me. :0)

[Lazy Cow]

trying to narrow the search is monumental given the choice!

 

I think once you visit you will realise that there really isn't such a huge choice of places to live.

 

Once you've decided how far out you want to go ie whether country SA is the lifestyle you want, or down towards Aldinga/ Willunga etc is acceptable, or up towards Clare / Barossa etc. then it's pretty much beach, city, or hills.

 

Then you can narrow down suburbs. The suburbs are much closer than you might imagine. It's often a case of 'this side of the road us one suburb; across is another'.

 

The choice becomes even more straightforward once you factor in choice of school, whether shops are important to you, public transport, medical centres, etc.

 

SA is huge, but most of our population is in a relatively small area

 

Personally, I find Melbourne and surrounding suburbs too overwhelming and busy-busy for me, but our family love it there. The weather is apparently more like UK weather, although the temps are (I think) higher. Definitely worth considering though!

 

:smile:LC

[NicF]

I personally would say it will be really difficult to even narrow down suburbs until you arrive.

 

I know you want to do a lot of research before you arrive ( great!) ,but everything can be so different and quite deceiving from a distance.

 

Make a basic decision if you want to be close to the sea / city/ hills .

 

We lived in Onkaparinga Hills for a good number of years and loved it - sea views ,lots of wildlife ( some unwanted!) and 2.5 acres of space - the hills do get a lot colder in Winter though!

Now we lived in Hallett Cove , right on the coast ,great views and closer to the city.

 

It's not a shallow thing to want to live near the sea - it's about lifestyle here.

 

As I say to our guests "Adelaide has something for everyone - it just takes some finding at times"

 

Good luck.

 

I kind of agree and disagree with the statement in bold. If you have never been before then it is impossible to know which suburbs will feel right. However it is possible to rule out suburbs due to things like cost of housing, local schools or lack of, distance from potential places of work etc. We ruled out a number of suburbs due to the purchase cost of housing and we ruled out others because I wanted to be able to walk to (primary) school and the local schools were not walking distance (well, not for my then 7 year old anyway). We ruled out a number of others because we didn't like the public high school they were zoned for and we didn't think we would be able to afford to go private. This was a bit more pressing for us as our eldest was 11 when we moved over.

[snifter]

I kind of agree and disagree with the statement in bold. If you have never been before then it is impossible to know which suburbs will feel right. However it is possible to rule out suburbs due to things like cost of housing, local schools or lack of, distance from potential places of work etc. We ruled out a number of suburbs due to the purchase cost of housing and we ruled out others because I wanted to be able to walk to (primary) school and the local schools were not walking distance (well, not for my then 7 year old anyway). We ruled out a number of others because we didn't like the public high school they were zoned for and we didn't think we would be able to afford to go private. This was a bit more pressing for us as our eldest was 11 when we moved over.

 

That's pretty much how we went about it also having a child to consider schooling wise. We were lucky in that a) we knew Adelaide and where we wanted to be in the long term and b) work commute wasn't an issue as hubby works from home so not tied to areas or time frames.

 

I knew before we arrived where we would be living for a while and I had already earmarked a couple of schools I wanted to visit and consider and ruled out the one just around the corner (Glenelg primary). Also we knew from the off the areas we wanted to consider to buy in when we were ready. We actually narrowed it down a lot further within a short time of arriving and then focused more on smaller area based on the primary and high schools and their zones etc.We had included being in an area down on the flat (Warradale/Glengowrie and a few others) but also up more in the hills. As it was, we soon only really focused on a hills area based on schooling and property choice available. Like you, being able to walk to school is a big plus point and we can do that from our home here with ease.

[Guest Guest75]

I kind of agree and disagree with the statement in bold. If you have never been before then it is impossible to know which suburbs will feel right. However it is possible to rule out suburbs due to things like cost of housing, local schools or lack of, distance from potential places of work etc. We ruled out a number of suburbs due to the purchase cost of housing and we ruled out others because I wanted to be able to walk to (primary) school and the local schools were not walking distance (well, not for my then 7 year old anyway). We ruled out a number of others because we didn't like the public high school they were zoned for and we didn't think we would be able to afford to go private. This was a bit more pressing for us as our eldest was 11 when we moved over.

 

It's kind of hard to get the feeling across - To put into context I think of if someone asked me the same question about my hometown of Leeds, which I knew well at the time I lived there. I would not have a clue where to begin to suggest !!!:biggrin:

 

 

I really want people to think ,be open minded and not fixate on one area because it is mentioned on here a lot - I mean............... I even suggest go north for a look!!!!:wink: (note emoticons before WW5 breaks out).

 

 

Seeing the OP's full story now suggests the airport will be a factor.

[Lazy Cow]

It's kind of hard to get the feeling across

 

I really want people to think ,be open minded and not fixate on one area because it is mentioned on here a lot - I mean............... I even suggest go north for a look!!!!

 

I think I know what you mean, Tyke (which, tbh scares me a bit ). For a start, I expected everything to be much further apart.

 

If you have rellies / friends over here, you might be better placed to get a feel for what it's like, but otherwise I wonder how many people find SA to be as they expected from their research?

 

I do think being open-minded is important. IMHO, and not wanting to offend anyone, it does seem that people read posts from settled / recently settled migrants, and it works as a recommendation to those yet to arrive. For example, Henley, or Hallett Cove, or Seaford...

 

LC