Info on Leichardt?

statina

Hey guys

Thinking of moving to Leichardt in Sydney. Anyone know much about it-has it got good restaurants, pubs, community feel etc? Cheers

hussey

statina wrote: »

Hey guys

Thinking of moving to Leichardt in Sydney. Anyone know much about it-has it got good restaurants, pubs, community feel etc? Cheers

It's a pretty nice area, it has a huge Italian community - so lots of good restaurants and cafes. A few pubs, but don't know too much about it, but doesn't seem to be the happening area anyway.
Close to broadway S/C too but has it's own Woolies, cinema, Aldi etc.
I would say head out there on a saturday and get a vibe for the place.

mandrake04

It has loads of great restrurants as its the Italian area of Sydney, not sure about the community feel but it's a stone throw from Balmain and Rozelle which is pretty good. The only gripe I would have with Leichardt is crap parking and no trainline (buses only)

Still it's only about a $15 cab ride to the city.

statina

Thanks for the info. We're trying to decide between Leichardt, Five Docks and Ashfield. Checked out Five Docks and Ashfield at the weekend, wil check Leichardt next. Leichardt not having a train service is abit of a bummer but hopefully they have a good bus service.

mandrake04

I know Five Dock and Ashfield really well, I lived around that area for near 4 years. There are plenty of settled Irish people around that area.
The cost of rent in Leichardt would be either more expensive or smaller for the same price because it's closer to the city.

dietdiva

mandrake04 wrote: »

I know Five Dock and Ashfield really well, I lived around that area for near 4 years. There are plenty of settled Irish people around that area.
The cost of rent in Leichardt would be either more expensive or smaller for the same price because it's closer to the city.

Sorry to threadbut, i'm thinking of moving to the ashfield area(arriving in oz in july! )Could you tell me a bit about the area. Shud i get a hostel in that area for the first week or that while we sort out accomadation. Also how far is it from the airport. my boyfriend would be working in matraville, what would the commute be like.
apologies for all the questions

statina

I dont know too much about Ashfield but it seems grand. Apparantly theres a few good pubs in it and its about 25 minutes from the city by train. Five Docks or Haberfield is close to it as well. Ashfield seems to be one of the cheaper suburbs for rent while still been not too far away from the city.

Not sure about hostels in Ashfield itself. Theres a backpackers in Balmain (Balmain Backpackers I think) or Newtown (Billabong Gardens) which are not that far from Ashfield and are also two of the cheapest hostels in Sydney for a private double room. Id book in for two weeks minimum because it can take time to find a place and sort everything out. Plus its a good way of meeting people. Feel free to pm me if you have any more questions

mandrake04

dietdiva wrote: »

great thanks for the tip. pub scene doesn't interest us much so that not a problem. i would be subbing in western sydney mostly, wud there be a train line from matraville over to west.

Part of me is thinking we shud live in the west as my boyfriend will be driving not me. i was told ashfield and croyden were nice areas, wud you know of any areas in the west also. Decisions, decisions!!
Thanks

dietdiva wrote: »

Sorry to threadbut, i'm thinking of moving to the ashfield area(arriving in oz in july! )Could you tell me a bit about the area. Shud i get a hostel in that area for the first week or that while we sort out accomadation. Also how far is it from the airport. my boyfriend would be working in matraville, what would the commute be like.
apologies for all the questions

Ashfield (inc the Train station) itself runs along the Liverpool road (Hume Hwy) and is mostly Chinese & Asian, most of the few shops and restaurants are Asian. Residential area around Ashfield village itself is mostly large Apartment blocks and are more or less Asian. The most interesting thing about Ashfield I think is that the famous guitarist Angus Young (AC/DC) grew up in Ashfiled and the famous school uniform he wore on stage is Ashfield Boys High School uniform. You are not going to find any hostels around that area, closest thing to something like one of the Pubs that masquerades as a hotel (a pub that is classed as hotel can have up to 30 pokie machines) and usually has 3 or 4 rooms that has double rooms or 4 or 6 bunks. These cost roughly about the same as a hostel but are not what you would call a hostel or Hotel in Ireland.

I suspect the area you have been probably recommended is the parts of Ashfield (around Ashfield Public pool), Croydon Area that is North of the railway line and borders on Five Dock along the Paramatta road (Gt Western Hwy). I used to live in the part of Croydon that borders Burwood, close to the Blair Park and Burwood Girls school and it was only a 3 minute walk to Croydon Station, but for an extra 5 minutes walk to Burwood station was a better option as its a main interchange station that every train stops at. (Croydon is limited stop) This is a nice area and most of the house are on 1/4 acre blocks, we had a pool at our house and the boys up the street had a huge garden. Five dock is also a similar nice area but its a fair hike to the trains, has the benefits of being very close to the harbour though.

This area was very popular with Irish people, most of them were residents or sponsored but there was a few backpackers stayed around with friends and realtives. I guess this is a result of the construction of Olympic park where many Irish people in construction based themselves around this area as its halfway between the Park and the city, that was a massive payday for some of those involved and I think many bought houses around that area and settled down. You go to the likes of the Pine inn or Illinois Hotel and some of the Construction bosses drink there evenings and at the weekend. Most us have moved away from that area these days but there are still some of the old gang around the Concorde & Strathfield areas.

Burwood is the biggest centre around there and has a massive Westfield shopping centre, more range of restaurants, Cinemas etc, its only 10 minute walk from Croydon and about 30 mins from the city by train. A cab fare from the city at night to Croydon is about $25-30, there is also the weekender Night Rider Bus service N50 N60 N61 N70 N71 N80 that basically runs from Town Hall to to western suburbs all night in place of trains

There is no commuter train line at Matraville only freight, the nearest station is Airport (Green Square line which is a very limited and expensive) back to Central and then the train out west lines. Other option is Bus back to city or Newtown and train out west.

The Drive from Croydon to Matraville would not be too bad, I would go the back roads through Summer Hill-> Petersham -> Sydneham -> Tempe and then skirt around the Airport and onto Foreshore road. The area around Matraville is pretty industrial. I could do the Airport in less than an hour from Croydon (maybe 50 minutes) in rush hour, but I know the back streets really well and where to avoid the main flow of traffic to the city.

statina

thanks for this, i hadnt included burwood or croydon in our searchlist but will take a look

dietdiva

mandrake 04. Thank you so much for all of this information, it will be so useful. i'll aim for near burwood station so when looking for house/apartment. Think have the hostle sorted for 1st ten days thanks to another poster.
My boyfriend will certainly use the backstreets- he'll avoid the toll i presume then. How long would you think it would take goin through back streets iat busiest time say.

thanks again.

mandrake04

dietdiva wrote: »

mandrake 04. Thank you so much for all of this information, it will be so useful. i'll aim for near burwood station so when looking for house/apartment. Think have the hostle sorted for 1st ten days thanks to another poster.
My boyfriend will certainly use the backstreets- he'll avoid the toll i presume then. How long would you think it would take goin through back streets iat busiest time say.

thanks again.

There wouldn't be any Tolls as you wouldn't be attempting to go into the city or tunnels, back streets are easy enough to negotiate if you know where you are going and where to avoid. But its depends on exact timing as if you miss a certain traffic window you will hit traffic, school zones are the killer as 40km/h between 8-9:30 am and then the schools buses and soccer mums dropping off kids ....otherwise most traffic is going towards the city and business parks and you can skirt around. I could do Croydon to Matraville in an hour in decent traffic 7-8, which is not bad considering that with no traffic it would probably take about 35-40 minutes anyway as that's a fair jaunt through a lot of suburbs.

One thing is you cannot underestimate the traffic or commute in Sydney, this is not like rural Ireland.... the area of Metropolitan Sydney is nearly (approx 90%) the size of 6 counties of the north but the population of about 4.6 Million. That's a lot of cars and buses in an area of 6 counties.

Should have also mentioned that I had a friend do a bit of teacher subbing in primary schools when she lived in Croydon and she got loads of work mostly in Auburn, Parramatta, Strathfield and Ashbury if I remember correctly.