Moving to Brisbane - nice areas?

[Choogirl]

Hi everyone
This is my first post on bubhub so I hope this is the right place to put this question:)

We're moving to Brisbane in a few months time and we have 2 young kids. Just wondering what areas you would class as nice and what areas to stay away from?!!

Also what did you all do in terms of accommodation when you first moved to Oz? Did you try and rent a place before you actually arrived there, is this possible? Or did you just arrange short term accommodation somewhere?

Any advice that anyone could give me about moving to Brisbane etc would be great:yelclap:

Thanks!

[JosieJo]

Hi, just saw you didn't have any replies, just wanted to say good luck for your move, and there are loads of family friendly areas - too many to list lol, best ask on the Brisbane thread. Re accom, I think best to find a week or twos accom before arrival, maybe an apartment or something and then go look from there. I wouldn't try to rent before arrival, you might really regret it and its not easy to get out of a lease.

[Knocked_for_six]

Hi :)

I live inner city, in Ascot, I love the area and we have no plans to move anytime soon, :goodvibes: The people are very welcoming and friendly. The area have a lovely street presence and character as many of the homes are over 100 years old (although some streets have a a few of the old 80’s style unit complex’s). There is a good shopping strip- Racecourse road, there is an annual street party there. At the river end of the area (Hamilton) there is a new cruise terminal and portside wharf which has cinemas, café & shopping. Overall there are numerous good café & restaurants in the area, good public transport (train, bus & ferry terminal at Breakfast creek), good public schools (Ascot State School & Eagle Junction SS) good private schools (St Margaret’s Anglican Girls, St Agathas Catholic Primary, St Rita’s and Clayfield Collage) and there are a few good parks although unfortunately not as many as some suburbs. I am about 10-15min drive to city, 10-15min to the airport. Suburbs around Ascot that I would recommend would be Clayfield, Hamilton & Albion.

Good Luck with the move :flowerz:


P.S Bulimba, Hawthorn & Balmoral are also good areas :thumbsup:

[jaq]

Australian cities don't tend to be like the UK - the huge majority of suburbs are quite liveable, with no such thing as the no-go areas you get in London, for example. (I lived in London for seven years until coming back to Oz.)

So it's actually quite hard to recommend "nice" areas without knowing exactly what you are looking for. There are the very upscale, ritzy areas (like Ascot :D) but the properties there often don't actually represent value for money.

There are lots of ordinary suburbs that might fit your bill, or not. If you like green space and lots of bushland you might want to live further out, where you will get much bigger houses and blocks of land for less money than the inner city areas. Or you might be after cafe society-type living, and be happy to have a more expensive but smaller house further in.

The best thing to do might be to look at individual houses on the property websites, and then post asking about specific suburbs in the Brisbane section.

Good luck with your move. So exciting!

[jaq]

I don't want to offend anyone, so sorry in advance, but when we moved to Brisbane we were told to avoid South and West of Brisbane. I'm sure there are some nice places there but I am glad we moved to North of Brisbane. From what I've seen, most places within the 10 km radius of Brisbane CBD on all sides are pretty ok. Nice leafy suburbs I like are Ashgrove, The Gap, Wilston, Grange.


I think you probably received the benefit of one person's skewed wisdom. The western suburbs (Toowong, Indooroopilly, St Lucia etc) are equally nice if not nicer than most in the north ... and I've lived north, east, south and west!

[Knocked_for_six]

Oh I forgot to add many of the Bayside suburbs are quite nice and family friendly. It seems many English people are moving from the UK to the bay, here (http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24897167-5007190,00.html)an article. :thumbsup:

[2girls&1boy]

I think as a PP mentioned you need to first decide what your needs are.

I have lived Bayside, Southside & Northside and they are all great :thumbsup:.

Think about where you/and your DH will be working. If it is in the city then perhaps you want to be close to transport (ie. train or bus). If you are working further out of the city then perhaps outer suburbs would suit better. Also what do you think your price range for a place will be. I agree with Mumofthree, Ascot is so beautiful but very pricey (my inlaws live in an apartment at Hamilton and it is spectacular also).

There are so many nice suburbs - go to realestate.com.au and do a bit of a search.

Good luck :thumbsup:

[MsMummy]

There are so many lovely areas in Brisbane. I'm in Toowong so have a bit of a prejudice towards the inner west.

The advice all really depends on your price range and needs (eg. do you need to be near the city for work).

My current unattainable (for me) favourites are Paddington (budget can't quite extend right now..) and Mount Nebo (too far from work but only 20 minutes to The Gap).

ETA: about the north vs south, people are funny in Brisbane. we're all suspicious of people "on the other side of the river". when i lived on the southside, I was all "ew, northside, you'd spend half your life in traffic", then when I was in the north it was "never going back to the southside", now I'm in the west, I just dislike everybody else!:laughing:

[mum_I'm_hungry]

I've lived inner-North and inner-West and would only ever live inner-West now. I have some friends in Morningside and Bulimba and it is lovely, but that drive into the city... yuck. I hate that skinny, scary road, whatever it's called.

[Knocked_for_six]

ETA: about the north vs south, people are funny in Brisbane. we're all suspicious of people "on the other side of the river". when i lived on the southside, I was all "ew, northside, you'd spend half your life in traffic", then when I was in the north it was "never going back to the southside", now I'm in the west, I just dislike everybody else!:laughing:

:laughing: I agree, I was born in Melbourne and husband in England, so we are not native Queenslanders and have both lived in either side of the river so no preference or eww southside germs from me, but some people have quite strong opinions about ‘the other side’ of the river :confused:

[MsMummy]

I've lived inner-North and inner-West and would only ever live inner-West now. I have some friends in Morningside and Bulimba and it is lovely, but that drive into the city... yuck. I hate that skinny, scary road, whatever it's called.

:laughing: Bulimba is lovely but difficult for commuting, particularly public transport. It's like a peninsular.

I know what you mean about the road (the one that goes through East Brisbane etc towards the Story Bridge?). I'm always paranoid a truck is going to scrape me, and am always infringing on somebody's lane.

[Luna Lovegood]

I live on the inner northside, and love it. The Windsor, Wilston, and Grange (were I am) is also a lovely area. It's close to the city, the Royal Brisbane Hospital, Shopping centres, Schools, and large "sports parks" (Downy Park).

[ascotmum]

Hi

I'm originally from the UK, we lived in Sydney for 2 years before relocating to Brisbane in Nov 2008.

We had planned to do a short term rent for 4 weeks whilst we found a place as we new nothing of suburbs etc but were lucky enough to secure our 4 bed house with pool and garden in Ascot and didn't need the short term rent. We had looked at Hawthorne / Bulimba / Balmoral but by chance saw Ascot on a website site www.realestate.com.au another good site is www.domain.com.au

Can only agree with other posts, Brisbane is lovely. We like Ascot as it is a lovely leafy suburb with local shops and CBD in easy reach. Its close to the airport and to local shopping malls.

Wishing you the best of luck with your move. Feel free to email me if there's anything else you want to know.


J :thumbsup:

[Choogirl]

Thanks very much for all the info there, will definitely look into those areas. We're just making general enquiries into a few areas at the moment because we're not sure which suburb DH will be working in yet:)

DH was looking at Redcliffe too because its near a beach, does anyone have any positive or negative feedback on this area?

Thanks again for all the advice:wave:

[bambi79]

You wouldnt really call it a beach at Redcliffe. Its more of a "still water". People do swim there but not many, well I havent seen many.

I live in Kallangur which is about 15-20min drive from Redcliffe. It however does have a really awesome man-made lagoon "free" to all the public. we swim there alot!

Some really nice parks around there too. Alot actually!

[MsMummy]

Thanks very much for all the info there, will definitely look into those areas. We're just making general enquiries into a few areas at the moment because we're not sure which suburb DH will be working in yet:)

DH was looking at Redcliffe too because its near a beach, does anyone have any positive or negative feedback on this area?

Thanks again for all the advice:wave:

If the buget allows, I would look at Shorncliffe over Redcliffe. It's a lovely suburb - has a pier and a lovely park.

Redcliffe is a long way from the city.

Commuting in Brisbane is rubbish (although probably not has bad as other cities) so I'd definitely recommend living close to wherever you or your husband will work.