Me and my girlfriend plan to move from Sweden to Sydney in the fall. Which neighborhood would you recommend to live in? Is there any places where we shouldn't live ("bad neighborhoods")?

My girlfriend will be working at the Children's Cancer Institute, which is located in Randwick. So I think we want to live no longer than one hour by bus from Randwick.

+1 for Randwick. Its close to the CBD, Beaches, and Botany Bay for flatwater sailing. :)

I think your biggest problem will be finding something semi affordable close to the beach (most Sydney areas are now on par with London or New York). There is very little quality rental real estate at reasonable prices available in Randwick (or anywhere east of the CBD for that matter). I am not saying it doesn't exist... I just haven't seen it yet.

Randwick and Coogee are well connected to the CBD and Inner West via public transport (same can't be said for other areas of the city). Don't expect too much in the way of food variety though. Most of what's available seems to appeal to backpacker types and can't compete with what's on offer in areas like Newtown, Leichhardt or Glebe.

My recommendation would be to get a car ASAP. Sydney is a car city (sadly) and if you want to go windsurfing you'll find it hard to go without.

As far getting to work in Randwick goes... to following suburbs are either not far from Randwick or well connected via public transport and are reasonably safe:
- Eastern Suburbs: Bronte, Clovelly, Waverly, Bondi Junction
- CBD/ City: Surry Hills (lots of bars, restaurants, boutique shops), Darlinghurst
- Inner West: Newtown, Camperdown, Glebe, Leichhardt, Erskineville

Expect to pay about $400 to $500 a week for an average one bed room apartment in the Inner West and up to $600 close to the beach. A good web site for Real Estate listings is www.domain.com.au/ . Inspections are usually on a Wednesday or Saturday. Expect to see 20 or more people at an inspection. The cheaper the property the more people you'll see. Don't be shocked if a people start offering more rent than what is asked.

You'll need to pay 4 weeks rental bond. Most rental agreements are 6 or 12 months. With the current lack of quality properties 12 months is becoming the norm.

You could also go for a furnished apartment which is a little bit more expensive (probably about $200 per week more) but they are often available for short term leases (ie 6 weeks to 3 months). Expect to pay a rental bond equivalent to 6 weeks rent.

When you get a property through a Real Estate agent make you sure you take extra care in filling in the property inspection report. Most agents will mark properties as in "perfect condition" even if there are obvious problems. When it comes to moving out they will then try to deduct any damages from your rental bond. In my experience it's best to make a detailed list of everything that's not in perfect condition and document it with digital photos.

ok, thanks

I did a search on gumtree.com.au, and yes, it quite expensive...

We will get a car, but she can use that to get to work, I'll need that to get to the beach, (and possibly once in a while to my work :) )

My two cents. I live in Matraville, it's not as glamarous as Randwick or Coogee, but it does have several advantages:

a) It's much cheaper to rent than Coogee or Randwick
b) Randwick is only 15 minutes drive away
c) It's a 5 minute drive up the road to La Perouse which is a GREAT place to sail in anything with Westerly in it
d) It's a 5 minute drive to Maroubra Beach which is a really good big surf beach
e) It's only a 15 minute drive to Kyeemagh (flat water Port Botany beach for Nor Easters and Southerlies)
f) Pretty good access to Wanda and Southern Beaches

Like I said, it's not as glamarous as some of the nice Eastern Suburbs, but they are all really close by. It's much nicer than it used to be.

1 hr by bus away from work the way the traffic flows in sydeny that would be like 2 stops away

actiomax said...

1 hr by bus away from work the way the traffic flows in sydeny that would be like 2 stops away

I'd have to second that...

drove from Gerroa to Sydney this morning... Gerroa to Sutherland (out skirts of Sydney approx 110 km) took 60 minutes. Sutherland to the city (approx 20 km) took me also 60 minutes. It really is a joke when you compare it to other big cities around the world.

I used to commute from the Central coast using the train... on good days it would take me 90 minutes to the CBD... on bad days I didn't even make it to the city (no joke... sadly).

sparky72 said...
By the way, my windsurfing stuff arrives in a couple of weeks. We're close enough to the beach for me to carry it down so I was hoping to avoid getting a car. Does anyone launch off the eastern beaches at all? Haven't seen anyone even on the rare windy days. Admittedly there's a narrow range of wind directions which will work, given the 'u'-shaped bays round here. But I remain hopeful for now...

I used to live in Coogee... as far as Windsurfing is concerned the only spots that I know work are North Bondi in a SEer and Maroubra in a SWer.

The problem in North Bondi is the parking situation ain't so great... plus it's usually pretty onshore and gets rather gust once the swell starts picking up.

Maroubra as I said is mainly good in a SWer but due to housing developing that direction is now pretty gusty.

I have seen a good swell with SE wind in Coogee that would have worked but it gets a bit light for my taste on the inside. Plus when the life guards are there most of the beach is closed for any surf craft (including windsurf boards).

In the North there is also Rose Bay which works in a W to NW but it's flat water bay sailing. Then in the South you have La Perouse which works best in SWer... but again it's flat water sailing.

To be honest as a whole the Eastern Suburbs are probably better for surfing than windsurfing... scape that, they are pretty s..t for windsurfing.

Sydney's Best Wavesailing locations are:
- Wanda (Cronulla) in a NEer or SSWer...
- Long Reef in a S to SE
- Makaha in a SW to S
- Newport Reef in a S

As far as flat water/ bump and jump sailing is concerned Botany Bay is the windiest in any given wind direction. NEer are generally 5 to 10 knts stronger than anywhere else... W to SW is usually only sailable at Botany Bay and a strong Southerly is also a good 5 to 10 knts stronger than elsewhere.

But again... you will need a car to get the best out of the little wind that we do get here in Sydney.

sparky don't bother with a car steal a shopping trolley and push it down the footpath it will be faster and big bonus no rotten toll fees i paid over $4000
in toll fees last year just to be stuck in traffic that money could have been better spent on more gear if the tolls go up i might have to retrench one of my kids