Ok. So if someone was to ask where is a great place to live in Sydney with a maximum 40 min commute door to door either via train or car into the CBD that then has good access to great windsurfing and cycling, where would you suggest?

Oh, just so we are clear, the budget for rent is $2500 / month. I suspect that answer now is "there isn't anywhere!"

PS - The Wife and Daughter also horse ride so need to make sure they can still do that. Perth was on the agenda, but they have told me they won't go to Perth :-(

Horse riding you'd be looking somewhere around Terry Hills.

There's stables and riding at Centenary Park.

Cronulla or sutherland area is your best bet, train to city from Cronulla station is 50mins, lots of places to sail and usually more wind than other parts of Sydney. Cronulla may be out of your budget but the surrounding suburbs towards sutherland should come in closely. Theres horse ridding not far away at kurnell, pony clubs at menai, lots of places to ride down towards helensburgh too.

I live in the St George area, it's only a 15 min train ride to the city, 5 mins to Botany Bay, 15 minutes to Wanda and my daughter horse rides at Kurnell (20 mins) away. As much as the shire is a nice place to visit (I've windsurfed at Wanda for over 20 yrs) living there would do my head in. The only downside with the st George area is there is nowhere decent to go out so we usually head to Newtown or Marrickville for a feed and beer.

stehsegler said..
Hate to say it but what you are looking for: A place 40 minutes from decent paying work, with the option of windsurfing in the afternoons and riding a horse nearby and on your budget Perth is probably the best option.

The problem in Sydney is that during peak hour it's gridlock. Driving from the CBD to the Southerland Shire during peak hour will take well over an hour. Same goes for driving around Macquarie Park / Ryde as well as Mossman and up the Pacific Highway.Do you have a job yet? Most people choose the place they live around where they work to cut down on the commute.

RE Dural expect to spend at least an hour to get to water.

I can't speak for the OP, but I think when he asked these questions originally, he might have found that Perth is a bit harder for work in some areas and its harder to find as many varieties of jobs, particularly in IT.

I looked at finding IT work in Perth, and even if you ignore the lower salaries, work is harder to get and less varied. A lot of companies are headquartered in the eastern states, and the ones that are in WA sometimes have their IT outsourced to the eastern states or even off-shore.

I think the mining boom has increased general costs in Perth but not everyone has an income that can afford that.

I agree with Robbo. But remember the further south you live the more chance you will have of having better neighbours and the closer you will be to wavesailing, biking and horses. ........ Just a few minutes more on the train to work.

Actually the problem is that people from northern hemisphere cant see that lower population numbers on this side of the world equals less tax for government to invest and is also the reason there is less infrastructure such as transport in Australia. You may think politicians here are incompetent - are they any better in UK/Europe?

happy Australia Day, it's a good life here

Definitely look South.

St George area (north of Georges river, look along the train line for Oatley, Mortdale, Penshurst, Hurstville, Kogarah, Rockdale) is about 20-25 minutes train ride to CBD, and 10-20 minute drive to Botany Bay (great flat sailing), 20-25 minute drive to Wanda for wave sailing. There is good cycling (a couple of hundred guys in various size groups every weekend) starting from the Oatley area, riding over the Como bridge south to Sutherland and Waterfall, and mountain biking in the Royal National Park. Good horse riding at Otford to the south (40 min drive), or else a slightly longer drive south west to Camden.

But to hit your budget, you'll probably need to travel south of the Georges river to the Sutherland Shire. (Como, Jannali, Sutherland Loftus, or for some more money, head closer to Cronulla beach at Cronulla, Woolooware, Caringbah, Miranda, Gymea, Kirrawee.) From here train to CBD is longer (30 - 45 minutes), drive to Botany Bay sailing is also longer (20-30 minutes to Kyeemagh), but you are closer to wave sailing at Cronulla (Wanda beach) and closer to cycling in Royal National Park and horse riding at Otford.

Don't plan on driving into the CBD, it's no fun at all. Best to live within walking distance of a train line. The trains are pretty good (no matter how much people like to whinge about them).

Personally, I would be looking south of Hurstville. The further south you move, the more "chilled out" the lifestyle is. (Relaxed people, larger blocks of land with more trees, beach culture.) People who live in the Sutherland Shire regularly refer to it as "God's Country" and many never leave it.

If you are looking for a rural lifestyle around Sydney you have three basic choices as far as I know. I'm not a Sydney local but have lived here for seven years. You can live out west around Camden. You can live in the north west around Dural or you can head up to perhaps the Hawkesbury Valley or up the Central coast hinterland. Of course this depends on what you call rural as most country people wouldn't call it rural at all. Basically when it comes down to it if you want the rural life its not to be found in Sydney as life in Sydney is the anti-thesis of rural life.

Its all to do with population density, or lack of it.

Anyway as someone who has windsurfed and worked in both Perth and Sydney recently I would say you need to pick your spot very carefully in Sydney as the level of traffic can make some journeys during peak hours (eg after work) impossible.

Saying that you have longer in the evenings as they have managed to figure out daylight savings, bit of an advantage there.

You really need to be there to get a feel for it rather than listening to random advice on locations from this forum, I know thats probably not what you want to hear - I get the impression you like to plan things!

Al

flanagaj said..

albentley said..
I get the impression you like to plan things!

Al

Haha. The fact I have left it until 3 months before my visa expires before pulling my finger out, would suggest otherwise :-)

How does that work? You are only coming out for 3 months, or you have to arrive within the next 3 months, and then you can stay for a while?

Sutherland is quite nice. I actually spent all of yesterday at Kurnell, yet again. Not sure if still God's country as I felt the strong presence of Allah everywhere. As in everybody. Meh. They are very careful about protection from the sun.

Sutherland's grave is there. Fun fact: he was the first European to die in Australia, on Cook's voyage.

Train ride from Cronulla is about 50 minutes, so probably 1:15 door-to-door. You wouldn't drive. Nope.

You can start here:
www.realestate.com.au/rent/in-sutherland/map-1

It is windier in Sutherland.

Mobydisc said..

evlPanda said..


Sutherland's grave is there. Fun fact: he was the first European to die in Australia, on Cook's voyage.

A few hundred Dutch men, women and children died in Australia before Captain Cook was born.

Pretty sure that was in New Holland.