Moving to Canberra from London...

[Huckers2009]

Hello,

We are hoping to move to Canberra from London in 2013 (long way off but we probably won't get our visas until the end of the year!).

I'd like to know which areas are good to live in for children - we have a daughter who will be 3 in December this year (so 3 and a bit when we move). We'd like to be somewhere with good daycare and then schools. For housing ideally I'd like a garden so I guess in a further out suburb. My husband is a personal trainer so it would be good if it was a suburb with a gym and I'd want all the usual amenities (coffee shop, pub...!) plus nice playgrounds. I guess I'll work fairly centrally as i'm a project manager but not sure yet...

Any tips would be really appreciated as I'm not really sure and from what I read you're either a north of the city of south of the city person...! We have family in Sydney so I guess if we can escape in the direction it might be easier but not imperative.

I wanted to start getting ideas over the summer so once we know if we are likely to get the visas I can start looking at property to rent etc

Thanks,

Fiona

[Sunnybambino]

I'm not from Canberra but my brother lives there with his girlfriend and almost 2yo DD - they live in Ainslie which is close to the city but still very leafy. They love it.

Good luck with the move!

[Ana Gram]

I live down south but honestly, Canberra is quite small so nothing is all that far away. Lots of lovely suburbs here, and all the things you were looking for you will find. Public transport is a bit sucky (but I just moved up from Melbourne so was spolit for choice there).

[Uniquey]

I preferred the southside of Canberra to the north, but as Ana Gram said, Canberra is so small from one end to another. So areas around Tuggeranong like Conder, Gordon, Calwell, Isabella Plains were all relatively nice suburbs, lot's of families, heaps of great parks/recreational places with flying Foxes, slides, swings, and bike paths which were awesome.

If you live in or near the suburbs above, your nearest 'town' is Tuggeranong and it has a big shopping Centre (big for Canberra standards) with all the usual chain stores and grocery places etc. It also has a nice little cafe strip along the main shopping precint, a lake and again, great pathways, a swimming centre and lot's of great private and public schools.

All the best with your visas, and if you need any other help, just pm me.

[CottonCandy]

I live down south but honestly, Canberra is quite small so nothing is all that far away. Lots of lovely suburbs here, and all the things you were looking for you will find. Public transport is a bit sucky (but I just moved up from Melbourne so was spolit for choice there).

Well said!

Around Belconnen sounds like it would also suit, similar to what others have said about tuggeranong but it's the north version.

Canberra has a group of gyms called Club Lime and there is a large one in both Tuggeranong and Belconnen.

In a perfect world, i would live in Griffith, but we could never afford that so I would look at Narrabundah. It has a few dodgy people there still, but it is getting better. Close to schools, a great early childhood centre, cafes and restaurants in Kingston, Manuka and Griffith, and only 10 minutes from the city centre.

[peoniesarepretty]

Hi! I grew up in Canberra ... live in Sydney now, but hope to move back there when I can convince DH.

Firstly, Canberra is VERY different to London. In good and bad ways, but just be prepared. Personally I would recommend southside suburbs, but not too far - Woden area. Suburbs like Hughes (I might be biased), Curtin and Garran are wonderful. Each suburb has its own little local shops with a supermarket, newsagent, chemist, takeaway, etc. (you won't find many pubs in Canberra - certainly not like the ones in the UK anyway!) And the town centres, like Woden, Belconnen, Tuggeranong and of course the city centre have much more amenities and shopping malls etc. I think you can't go wrong with the suburbs I mentioned, between the city and Woden. They'll be bigger blocks and older houses, more leafy & established, than if you go for the further out, newer areas.

Good luck!

[really old]

All of Canberra is a great place to raise kids: plenty of wide open spaces, large housing blocks and double lock up garages. It's a place that you need a car to get around. It's difficult to have a commute that is longer than 30 minutes, but if you try hard it's possible.

Our schools are all scoring higher than the national average on the Final year scoring system (whatever that is), and there is plenty of choice: fancy pants private schools, Montessori, Steiner, plenty of well regarded government schools. Preschool for four year olds is free for 15 hours per week.

Cafe society? Shopping?
Nup.
Well, a bit. A few large malls, but you'd be struggling to find anything very flash. Of course, there's always Manuka/Kingston, but mostly apartment living there, unless you plan to spend up big on rent.

For my money, the far south and far north suburbs have longer commutes and fewer services and facilities, and there are new suburbs like Forde, Bonner and Crace which have very small sized building plots. It means that, well, sometimes you can HEAR THE NEIGHBOURS.

Just my opinion you understand.
A colleague of my husband arrived from the UK 6 months ago, and has bought a house in Jerrabomberra, which is in NSW, but adjacent to Canberra, a 20 minute commute to the centre of town. It's lovely there (guess where I live).

The beach is a 2 hour drive to our east, the snowfields are a 2 hour drive the other way.
Good luck.

[Lock and Lu]

I have always lived northside so I'm biased. I live in a belconnen suburb which has big blocks, lots of parks and good schools nearby.

If I had a choice and money wasn't too much of a concern, I would live in the inner-north - ainslie, Hackett, Watson, Dickson, lyneham, o'connor. Even kaleen which is a bit further but still pretty central.

All of those have decent blocks with gardens and playgrounds and reserve nearby. There's a public school and often a private/religious school in each-for primary anyway. They all have local shops, often with a funky cafe or bar frequented by locals.

As PP have said, nothing is far away in Canberra but I've learnt that it's useful to live kind of near where you work. I work south of the lake and it takes me 40 mins to get home in traffic - not fun after a long day when you just want to get home to your kids!

[BrAins]

I love canberra and lived there for awhile. South side gets my vote, in the tuggeranong area. We lived in conder. Great schools.
Canberra is a wonderful place and everything is close

[davally]

Another Canberran who thinks its a great place to raise a family. There is not a UK pub culture here at all, but most suburbs will have a cafe and the four major town centers all have restaurant and cafe strips. When I first moved to Canberra as a teenager (after living in France) I lived in Tuggeranong and it was great then but IMO Tuggeranong is not as nice as it used to be and is quite far out from the city. Shopping in Tuggeranong is also pretty bad and it's a long way out from the city.

I have a DS who is a similar age to your LO (he'll be 3 in November). I live in Belconnen now and there are a lot of young families here, we're only 15-20 minutes from the city. The local shopping mall has just gone through a massive extension. Belconnen is booming and I really like it.

With a young family I'd suggest either Belconnen or Woden (including Weston Creek) areas. Belconnen probably has a younger population than Woden but its more affordable than Woden.

Woden is a similar distance from the city to Belconnen and is very nice and more middle class. It has good shopping too.

Public transport in Canberra is pretty terrible but the road links are good so getting from one end of town to the other is pretty easy (as long as you drive).