Advice sought on moving to the Adelaide Hills - which area's?

[tetgreg888]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

adelaide is close to my heart, t'is the place where i 1st kissed girls, and encountered thier angry boyfriends. note to readers, it's hard to box when you have a girl on your shoulders, and trying to fight her boyfriend . ahhhh them were the days . now that i'm settled i'm sure it would be a great place to live with a family ( even if you have to drink WEST END)

I have 1 word for you my friend COOPERS!!!!

[XRchic]

There is currently a massive new subdivision going on in Mt Barker at the moment. Land is selling fast but there are loads of blocks and more stages to come. They are finally starting to do up the roads around here too. For that money, you could get two blocks and build a really nice house on it!

Heaps of shops etc here, but it still missing a few things, like some decent department stores. And there isnt much decent by way of restaurants or takeaway - best fish and chips is at Stirling.

Schools are ok if you like the Lutherans. My son is at St Michaels in Hahndorf which is very good, but he is off to Pulteney Grammar next year with his sister. Forget the public schools here, we tried them. Terrible.

Its nice and green, lots of trees and lots of nice drives around. Very close to Barossa too, which is great because I love it there. Id love to live there.

Stirling and Aldgate are gorgeous, I love them and that whole area, and its a lot closer to town too. $900K should get you a really nice place around there though, I would have thought.

Mt Barker is one of the fastest growing areas in the state and its also got the highest value increases around as well. We bought our house for around $350K back in 2005 and now it has been valued at over $500K. New houses and land on moderate sized blocks are going for around $550+ now. Around the corner from us a very similar house on a slightly smaller block than us (we have 850m2) went for $600K.

Hope that helps!

PS There are quite a few Fords around here too.

[flavze]

Originally Posted by XRchic

Heaps of shops etc here, but it still missing a few things, like some decent department stores. And there isnt much decent by way of restaurants or takeaway - best fish and chips is at Stirling.

Bit surprised by that statement, i take it ya don't rate Giovannia's, cafe Alto, Auchdorrech House in Mt Barker or Chappy's in Little Hampton or the the other joint just down the street from it a bit?
I've eat at all of them regularly and they are as good as any similar places in the city. Plus it's only a few minutes drive into Handorf for a multitude of Restaurants an pubs inlcuding one fo my favorite places to eat the Handorf inn.
It's also only takes 10 mins or so to get to Bridgewater, Aldgate an Stirling for another large selection of Restaurants including the Bridgwater inn which has won awards for it's dining.

Decent food is one thing that i would say is in abundance in and around Mt Barker though i can't comment on fish an chips but Gio's does excellent pizza for take away.

[flavze]

For 900k ya should be able to get 5 acres or so around hills is ya look hard enough, buy a copy of the Courier(the local adelaide hills paper) in the hills as it has a pretty decent real estate section for the hills in it.
Nairne is 5 mins from Mt Barker and is a quite lil town and is generally a bit cheaper than Mt Barker or ya have Oakbank/Balhannah, Woodside an Lobethal all along the Onka Valley road which runs straight through the Freeway at Verdun Adelaide side of Mt Barker which are all small country towns.

Mt Barker has pretty much become the central hub of the hills in the last few years with pretty much everything ya need available there so one hardly ever needs to go to the city.
Plus it's only a 30-40 min drive down to Victor Harbour, Pt Elliot, Middleton, Goolwa areas an the beaches down there on anything in the city.

Oh an with the Strathalbyn mine opening up i can't see house prices going down anytime soon.
There's also Meadows, Echunga, Strathalbyn, Macclesfield, bloody heaps of small towns scattered through the hills and all of them have at least two pubs so if ya get kicked out or banned from one there's a;ways a place to grab a beer.

[Mondie]

l am just back from Adelaide and catching up with this thread. Thanks for all the informative posts, a lot of what you guys are saying confirms my thoughts after 3 days of non stop touring around, and catching up with a few friends that are long time Adelaidians.

Mt Barker is defintely a nice spot but after spending some time there, l think l would like to be a little closer to the city. Thanks for the info on the primary schools XRChic, l guess that sort of confirms it for me as l would much rather have the kids in a reputable unaffiliated public primary school. Birdwood is not a bad area but l feel too far out, the drive into the CBD is very hilly and the roads not the best. Wattle Park is a nice spot, as is Hahndorf, .

However the area that instantly appealed and said welcome, was Stirling. Just a lovely area, very scenic, well established and close to the city. Stirling / Aldgate / Crafers all have a lot to offer and each has a public school offering some choice in schooling. Bushfires are a risk and must be taken into consideration when buying so as to not be in a dead end road, to ensure sufficent water is available as is the equipment needed to protect your property.

Anyhow, thats just some random thoughts at this point. We are considering loading up the Territory and taking off for a weekend with the kids the weekend after next to inspect some rentals and visit a couple of schools.

Cheers Mondie