We are hopefully coming out to Aus late next year and I am starting to look at locations to live. Given I work in finance IT I suspect the work will be Sydney CBD. The criteria we are looking for is as follows

1. 45 - 60min commute time, either car or train to CBD
2. preferably, good wave sailing spots near to home
3. Local horse stables for Wife and Daughter
4. Good schools
5. Reasonable rent

Now I know number 5 is probably out of the question if you want the other 4, but any ideas would be welcomed.

I was thinking of Wollongong?

It would also be great if there was a decent windsurfing fraternity in the area with members who don't have the heads up their arses. I like down to earth folk who have nothing to prove

Unless there are horses nearby I doubt I will get buy in from them to go for the move :-(

The only place I can think of right now is around Terry Hills. There are horsey places around there, its not that far from the northern beaches and is around an hour commute to the Sydney CBD. Not sure of how much the rent is around there. There are decent schools in the area. I doubt rent is reasonable there though.

There is some kind of rule with Sydney real estate.

A property can be affordable, large or convenient but cannot be all three.

Mobydisc said...
There is some kind of rule with Sydney real estate.
A property can be affordable, large or convenient but cannot be all three.

90% of the time it's only one out of 3...

adolf said...


Have you ever seen that Aussie movie called The Castle?

There is a memorable quote that Darryl Kerrigan says repeatedly, that reminds me what you are hoping to achieve.

Are you thinking of Bonnie Doon? Would tick many of those boxes, closer to the Melbourne CBD though

Give up the idea of living in Sydney as its a sh1thole, and go live in one of the million other great areas in the land of Oz.

If you must, a mate of mine has 60 acres at Gosford his daughter and wife have horses, which is only 45min commute to said S/Hole so that area may well suit.

flanagaj said...

We are hopefully coming out to Aus late next year and I am starting to look at locations to live. Given I work in finance IT I suspect the work will be Sydney CBD. The criteria we are looking for is as follows

1. 45 - 60min commute time, either car or train to CBD
2. preferably, good wave sailing spots near to home
3. Local horse stables for Wife and Daughter
4. Good schools
5. Reasonable rent

Now I know number 5 is probably out of the question if you want the other 4, but any ideas would be welcomed.

I was thinking of Wollongong?

It would also be great if there was a decent windsurfing fraternity in the area with members who don't have the heads up their arses. I like down to earth folk who have nothing to prove

HA HA HA HA HAAAA HAAA, HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, HAAAAAAA, HAAAA, HAAAA, hAAAA.

Wait crap my rips hurting again.... ouch.

HAAA HAAAA haa ha... damn rip.

1.- 45-60min commute is within the CBD. It took me 2hrs to travel 28kms on Saturday evening.
2.- Fair chance, if this is your only req.
3.- $200 an hour.
4.- Wait are you a Lord or an Earl, or a CEO of a large bank? Huge savings?
5.- Closest place with reasonable rent is East Timor... or Christmas Island.

Wollongong is 2.5hrs to Sydney on a good day assuming the train hasn't derailed in Waterfall. All rednecks, no good schools... Neurosurgery wing in the hospital was good, but not the Yank Neurosurgeon .

Job in IT, Finance... good luck.

11 years ago everything you want would be easily attainable.

Horse riding, cheap rent, good schools, short commute, IT job... your dreaming.

My wife's a pom and she recommends you go to Penrith... forget about the beach though, but it does have a wake park.

My brother works in Finance/IT and rents in Darlinghurst to be close to the office. Try $625 per week for a 1/2 share in a small but nicely renovated terrace house. He can walk to work in the CBD (45 minutes) but phuck me that is a lot of money spent on rent. I think he has surrendered his car bay at work for extra salary to cover the cost of living close to work and not owning a car. People complain Perth inner city rent is expensive but still behind inner Sydney.

From reading your wish list, I say you will have to weigh up the opportunity cost and most likely increase your commute time.

flanagaj said...
Given some of the negative posts, I think I might just give up now. Anyone have a noose I can borrow!

I was looking at rents last night, and was gob smacked that a 3 bed / 2 bathroom place in Wollongong start at around 500/week.

Yeah, Sydney is not the most well planned city. They could have infrastructure to get in and out of the city quickly and room to spread out, but that would take considered thought and planning. So far, the only planning there seems to be is to increase the number of people crammed into the same area.

I would love to live somewhere distant from the city where it is cheaper and has larger blocks of land, but the commute times are terrible.

I don't know what it is like now, but I commuted from Wollongong for a short time, and you had to allow longer time incase the train was cancelled. Hopefully it is better now. Of course, once the commute times are reduced, the rents and prices increase...

Australia has turned into an incredibly expensive place to live. An individual needs well over $100 a day to maintain a household. With the medium income probably less than that there are many Australians living in compartive poverty.

Meanwhile the bigwhigs running the electricity companies and so forth vote themselves million dollar payrises because they run the company so profitably, ie at the householders' expense. Same with local councils. They are incredibly profitable as they jack up the fees to even chop down a tree or build a retaining wall. By almost any standard this is verging on rent seeking, extortion and corruption.

flanagaj said...
Given some of the negative posts, I think I might just give up now. Anyone have a noose I can borrow!

I was looking at rents last night, and was gob smacked that a 3 bed / 2 bathroom place in Wollongong start at around 500/week.

**** me that's cheap!

(Wait till he sees the price of a private school)

---

Unfortunately you can't have your cake and eat it too. IT/Finance will see you a full-time job in Sydney ~$140K for a permanent role, and $250K contracting. At most.

Your shopping list looks like this:

- Close to beach
- Room for horses
- Good school
- Close to work

For all that in Sydney you're looking at the top of the market. What you are describing is ~$2,000/week. (room for horses, lol)

- Reasonable rent.

That does not exist in Sydney, let alone the top of the market.

I see a lot of people on the interwebs dreaming of escaping to Australia, and then realising how expensive it all is. It's sad for everyone, especially those of us that live here. The dream is long over. The only people that even claim to have it all are those that have gone the "sea change" route and moved somewhere remote, and I'm not totally convinced.

Someone mentioned Terry Hills. It's probably going to tick some of the boxes but definitely not all of them. I lived there as a kid. Lots of wildlife.
Probably a $700/week rent and a 90 minute commute to work (Google maps doesn't include *that* traffic) go for it.

http://www.realestate.com.au/rent/with-3-bedrooms-in-terrey+hills%2c+nsw+2084/gallery-1?numBaths=2&maxBeds=any&source=refinements

Alternately try the northern end of the Gold Coast. Plenty of acreages for a horsey. Good but not excellent schools. Much, much cheaper. 60 minute commute to Brisbane with no traffic lights. Not much wave sailing though unless you kite. Better weather too

I love how Perth is criticised for being boring blah blah by all you easterners

But I can think of a number of suburbs that would have all that and be a 20min commute to CBD (non peak hour), plus have option of world class wavesailing 1hr away, or river and ocean sailing within 20min of home.

I love the boring underdeveloped backwater.

flanagaj said...

We are hopefully coming out to Aus late next year and I am starting to look at locations to live. Given I work in finance IT I suspect the work will be Sydney CBD. The criteria we are looking for is as follows

1. 45 - 60min commute time, either car or train to CBD
2. preferably, good wave sailing spots near to home
3. Local horse stables for Wife and Daughter
4. Good schools
5. Reasonable rent

Now I know number 5 is probably out of the question if you want the other 4, but any ideas would be welcomed.

I was thinking of Wollongong?

It would also be great if there was a decent windsurfing fraternity in the area with members who don't have the heads up their arses. I like down to earth folk who have nothing to prove

How about Brisbane? Lots of good public and private schools, good Rent, good sailing spots (Wynnum. Lake Cootharaba, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast all within 30min-2hr drive from CBD).

You can live within 15mins of Brisbane CBD and still have horses. People have them in there back yard at Nudgee. I live on the Northside of Brisbane and the average commute to the CBD is about 45mins. Lots of new fancy suburbs going up now, so housing isn't an issue.

Work in Finance IT shouldn't be a problem.

Good Luck and have fun with the move.

They have stables in and around centennial park. Which is about 12min from cbd (eastern suburbs)

Well if one must house the ponies one must pay the price.

dan berry said...
Well if one must house the ponies one must pay the price.

Classic :)

Ian has a point about camels though, may need them soon with climate change an all