Adelaide

[ThisIsNotMyRealName1]

Anyone in Adelaide? With a possible move to Adelaide next year -what's the good, the bad; is there any ugly? What's the vibe like? (Does Adelaide have a vibe??) We love coffee, food, wine. No children but our cat and dog will be coming with us so we'll be keen to find dog-friendly places/areas.

Trawling the real estate pages at the moment, there's a huge mix of properties for sale but all so close together. We're used to living in rural residential/large section type area, average section size is around one to two acres, 5000-10,000 sqm. The area around Adelaide Hills area looks nice but the thought of bush fires scares the pants off of me.

DH will be working around Mawson Lakes area. His current commute is around 25 minutes each way, all open road travelling with no hold up at lights or sitting in traffic. He's happy for a longer commute to facilitate us living in a good area. I work from home so no commute worries for me.

Any/all comments welcome.

Adelaide is a lovely city. The Adelaide Hills would be a trek to get to work at Mawson Lakes. I used to drive from the Adelaide Hills and pass through Woodside, Birdside and I think it was near Williamstown and turn left to Gawler. Gawler is heading north and only 34 minutes from Mawson Lakes. This road could have also taken me to Nuriootpa which is in the Barossa Valley if I had have gone the other direction when I was near Williamstown. After Gawler I would pass through Clare (more wineries) and head towards Jamestown to visit a relative. It’s a lovely drive.

Adelaide is the best for good food and wine with many wineries in the Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale (south) and the Clare Valley and also the Barossa Valley. There is a great drive if you could cut through to Birdwood and head towards Woodside, Hahndorf, Aldgate and Stirling and at Crafers there is the Cleland Wildlife Park.

If you live North of Adelaide you are closer to the Riverland, Mid North and Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas. So much to see, Victor Harbor, Kangaroo Island, Goolwa are south of Adelaide. Whale watching in winter at Victor Harbor and along the coast.

South Australia and even Adelaide suburban beaches are lovely with white sand and good surf in places..

Also Adelaide Central Market is very popular. There is fresh produce and lots of places to eat at the market. The food hall has the best laksa and near the market are cafes and restaurants.

Adelaide has a great vibe and is known for the Adelaide Fringe and of course the Tour Down Under.

I hope you get the chance to spend some time living in Adelaide OP, I think you would enjoy it.

Adelaide is known to be a sleepy town that really comes alive in March with the fringe, Womadelaide and whatever the current name of the car race is. The commute from the hills to Mawson Lakes is a bit of a trek.

I really liked living in Adelaide.

South Australia is absolutely beautiful. With a bit of travel there's some gorgeous, untouched beaches. From Berry Bay to Pondalowie on the bottom of the Yorke Peninsula, and further afield to the Great Australian Bite.

Thanks Lowbrow and goldopols - very helpful. Seems like Adelaide Hills will be too far out. DH found a couple of large section properties around Salisbury Heights but I'm not sure what the area is like - seems to be all sorts in there. I've been trawling properties around Kensington, Norwood and Magill areas as they seem good areas. Anything with large enough lawn/outdoor area on the actual property is +/- AU$2M.

Salisbury Heights doesn't have the best reputation. I hate to perpetuate stereotypes and rumours, but it is probably best to avoid northern suburbs and anything involving Parks in the name. There are nicer parts of Elizabeth, Salisbury, Salisbury Heights, etc but these areas are low socioeconomic.

This is in my experience. Others may have a more positive experience.

The North eastern suburbs are definitely nicer; Norwood, etc. Windsor Gardens and Holden Hill are better suburbs but are most often cheaper.

Hi OP. Perhaps have a look at the areas of Houghton across to back areas of Tea tree gully, upper & lower hermitage, right round to the back golden grove, greenwith, one tree hill road. Lots of 1 or 2 acre properties but still with bus links. A high bushfire risk (but that kinda comes with most suburban areas in Adel (surprising - but many green spaces) aside from proper metro adelaide unfortunately). I would take a guess commute from these areas would be 20 - 30mins in peak.

Adelaide is great for all those things you listed. It's a great place to work to live not live to work IFYKWIM (slower paced, less frantic, less glitz). We are in wine country and love it.

goldopals that's super helpful info re Salisbury Heights. WhatThe also very helpful info.

Just realised I forgot to say we are coming from New Zealand and are both NZ citizens so the move for us is relatively easy. We live in a very good area and will be looking for something comparable. We'll probably fly over in the early new year to have a look at properties, the beach, check out some cafes/restaurants.

We do plan to rent rent for a while until we figure out where we want to live. I'm not sure how easy it will be to find a decent rental with a dog and cat but I know over here people are always saying it's a nightmare to find anything half decent with a dog.

@goldopals and @WhtTheFronti - what sort of area is Skye? There are a couple of places for sale there that meet a couple of our wants/needs but it's hard to tell from Google what the area is actually like.