21 August 2008

Weston Creek the best place in Canberra to live?

| johnboy
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The Canberra Times offers fine example what drivel can be written if objectivity is completely embraced. Frankly you can report on any old crap as if it’s true.

In this case a BankWest Quality of Life Index is apparently proof that that Weston Creek is the best place to live and Tuggeranong is desirable because it’s so cheap.

Here’s a hint, the best places to live have, more often than not, the higher real estate prices.

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I live at Weston. Its greatest advantage is proximity to other parts of Canberra via the Cotter Road/Tuggeranong Parkway, Hindmarsh Drive, and (via Lyons) to Woden and then to Adelaide Avenue. Outside of peak hours I do the carpark beside the Canberra Club building in 10 minutes and about 12-14 in peak hour depending on the day.

Weston Creek PO is well run. Cooleman Court has the best chicken shop in Canberra. Mr Chops the butcher is getting better and better, too, but I still think the best butchers on the south side of town are the MSA butcher at Mawson. and the butcher at Griffith shops (although both are a bit on the expensive side). Woolies at Mawson is better than Woolies at Cooleman Court (for some reason, the Cooleman Court store never returned its management to former standards after the refurbishment a couple of years ago–favourite items disappeared from the shelves and shelf-stocking seems to be less well done). Freddie Frapples, until it closed for the current refurbishment, provided an excellent greengrocery service at the middle-of-the-range level, but the greengrocery associated with the halal butchery at Mawson is a very good alternative. I miss Sakeena’s coffee and baked cheesecake at the moment too. I hope the advent of an Aldi store at Cooleman Court will put Woolies on its toes. I wish, too, that we had a small hardware shop in the vicinity.

justbands is your house in Duffy 12 minutes from Civic in rush hour? How long does the journey take if you set out at 8.30 am?

im just a humble sparky. i should have mentioned im working as a subbie in a remote aboriginal community on an island a short flight from darwin. i just fly in and out each week, but more often than not ill have a 4 day weekend for 3 weekends a month and then spend one weekend on the island. not sure id be making the same sorta money in darwin but the money is a lot better for tradies up north. i dont really know about other professions, but i think generally pay is good up here.
it can be a hard lifestyle up here i spose if you dont wanna be here (army folk) but i often seem to meet people who came for a week holiday and never left… ive never once met someone who came to canberra for a holiday and never left.

three rs said :

doe it matter where you live as long as you have a roof over yout head

but if you lock yourself out of the house in a thunderstorm in darwin, it isn’t half as bad, the rain is warm.

do that here, and the only warm rain is you being carney’d on.

doe it matter where you live as long as you have a roof over yout head

luke79 said :

haha yeah the build up brings out the best in people lol
as far as humidity goes.. it’s not humid all that much cept around the build up and before it rains in the wet and even then i dont find it too much of a problem. i think coz there is a fairly consistant temp everyday your body has a much easier time dealing with the weather. i enjoyed the 4 seasons of canberra but what used to annoy me was the big temp changes even within a 24 hour period. and dont get me wrong canberra and sthn nsw has very beautifull scenery and nature but it’s not as ‘untouched’ as up here and i think i like that feeling you get when your cruising up a creek or river, barra boofing on one side of the boat and big crocs sunning themselves on the bank, eagles and amazing birds flying around. and all that is a few minutes from your front doorstep and i live pretty close to the city of darwin.
darwin is by no means for everyone, i dont doubt that for a second, it’s sorta isolated, expensive and so on, but im a single fella in my late twenties, im earning about 2 or 3 times what i can earn in canberra (i went from earning about 50k to earning about 120k and i only work when i want to so as you can imagine i only work about 15 days a month), i love fishing and exploring, love a cold beer in the pool after work any day of the year. alhough i miss some parts and some things about canberra i doubt id ever go back there. i think id maybe head to some parts of thr sth coast though.

What do you do? Sounds like the perfect life/job.

haha yeah the build up brings out the best in people lol
as far as humidity goes.. it’s not humid all that much cept around the build up and before it rains in the wet and even then i dont find it too much of a problem. i think coz there is a fairly consistant temp everyday your body has a much easier time dealing with the weather. i enjoyed the 4 seasons of canberra but what used to annoy me was the big temp changes even within a 24 hour period. and dont get me wrong canberra and sthn nsw has very beautifull scenery and nature but it’s not as ‘untouched’ as up here and i think i like that feeling you get when your cruising up a creek or river, barra boofing on one side of the boat and big crocs sunning themselves on the bank, eagles and amazing birds flying around. and all that is a few minutes from your front doorstep and i live pretty close to the city of darwin.
darwin is by no means for everyone, i dont doubt that for a second, it’s sorta isolated, expensive and so on, but im a single fella in my late twenties, im earning about 2 or 3 times what i can earn in canberra (i went from earning about 50k to earning about 120k and i only work when i want to so as you can imagine i only work about 15 days a month), i love fishing and exploring, love a cold beer in the pool after work any day of the year. alhough i miss some parts and some things about canberra i doubt id ever go back there. i think id maybe head to some parts of thr sth coast though.

luke79 said :

lol.. the wet season doesnt even last as long as a canberra winter and is probably the coolest and most comfortable time to be here. the build up can be pretty hard but thats only really a month. i find you get used the humid heat much quicker than the dry heat. i also find that the humid heat isnt anywhere near as uncomfortable as that dry heat you get down south. that dry hot wind zaps the life out of me.
im a sparky so i dont work in an air conditioned office, i also spend most of my time outdoors and very rarely have a porblem with the heat. i do kinda miss those cold fresh mornings in canberra… but not much lol

you do know that darwin used to be the dumping ground for the ADF of all the staff that you just couldn’t do anything with, they were a slab short of a slab type of thing, and the volunteers….

best years of my young life. go Wulagi!

best thing is the evening thunderstorms, then a clear day next day. ant would love it – the photos you can get are absolutely amazing. best storms ever.

as for the build up, the feeling of your brain imploding is about the same. that month is the only time no-one catches up with the neighbor across the road who insists on cleaning his knife collection on the front porch. He is getting signals from somewhere. no-one knows where, though.

i find you get used the humid heat much quicker than the dry heat. i also find that the humid heat isnt anywhere near as uncomfortable as that dry heat you get down south,

Are you nuts??? High humidity and low 30’s is my idea of HELL. I’m glad it suits you, of course, but in my humble opinion Canberra’s climate and natural environment are absolutely magnificent.

Holden Caulfield8:50 am 22 Aug 08

I’ll take your word for it I think.

lol.. the wet season doesnt even last as long as a canberra winter and is probably the coolest and most comfortable time to be here. the build up can be pretty hard but thats only really a month. i find you get used the humid heat much quicker than the dry heat. i also find that the humid heat isnt anywhere near as uncomfortable as that dry heat you get down south. that dry hot wind zaps the life out of me.
im a sparky so i dont work in an air conditioned office, i also spend most of my time outdoors and very rarely have a porblem with the heat. i do kinda miss those cold fresh mornings in canberra… but not much lol

Holden Caulfield10:30 pm 21 Aug 08

Darwin, 33 and storms.

You can have that all to yourself. :p

i dont live in canberra anymore but i always found weston creek to be pretty average, a bitt of a step above tuggers or gunghalin. chapman does have some nice places though. i was raised in Kaleen but moved to Watson. i loved watson and the inner north areas, inner south is pretty nice too. i love the older style houses and nice tree lined streets of the older areas. really cant see much to get excited about in the new suburbs, thats goes for all over australia. the belco and weston creek age places do very little for me aswell, i just cant see any character or charm about them.
would agree that on the whole canberra is a great and easy place to live no matter where you are.
having said that nowhere in canberra compares to where i live now… low 30’s all year round, amazing nature and scenery everywhere, some of the best fishing in the world not far from my front door, vibrant lifestyle or laidback depending on how you feel.. hmm i could go on forever. only downside, does seem to be fairly high crime rate but im not sure if thats just overplayed in the media or a fact.

Growling Ferret5:52 pm 21 Aug 08

But is his name Mr Chops? Nope, you can’t compete with that 😉

and Geosciences Australia seems to think that The centre of the Australian Capital Territory might be thought of as the former site of the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, approximately 35km south-south-west of Canberra.

Growling Ferret said :

It only rains at night in Weston Creek, just to keep the lawns green.

Best place in Canberra, for all the reasons Justbands said – it really is the centre of town. Quiet, a relatively small amount of morons, there is a good skatepark for the kiddies, enough Clubs for the adults.

Shame Stirling College closed, but other than that is has everything you need – plus Mr Chops is the best butcher in Canberra

I dispute that. Try the butcher in kambah village. successive wins in the sausage making championships year on year. and he makes up beef jerky as well. and many new and interesting cuts of meat.

Holden Caulfield said :

Is this the same Weston Creek that is the “geographical centre of Canberra”, hahahhaahaaaaa!

I thought Garran/Hughes was the geographical centre. Who claims otherwise? I WANT NAMES!

Weston Creek 4 Life!
Reprezent!

hehe, I love the the resident authority in the CT article. Mr Dalton has obviously counted up the number of strollers in other parts of the city to make such and informed decision.

Growling Ferret1:56 pm 21 Aug 08

It only rains at night in Weston Creek, just to keep the lawns green.

Best place in Canberra, for all the reasons Justbands said – it really is the centre of town. Quiet, a relatively small amount of morons, there is a good skatepark for the kiddies, enough Clubs for the adults.

Shame Stirling College closed, but other than that is has everything you need – plus Mr Chops is the best butcher in Canberra

Growling Ferret1:56 pm 21 Aug 08

It only rains at night in Weston Creek, just to keep the lawns green.

Best place in Canberra, for all the reasons Justbands said – it really is the centre of town. Quiet, a relatively small amount of morons, there is a good skatepark for the kiddies, enough Clubs for the adults.

Shame Stirling College closed, but other than that is has everything you need – plus Mr Chops is the best butcher in Canberra

SheepGroper said :

Morgan said :

Well, I bet you can;t get urinated on in your local pub in Weston!

I’m sure you could, if you asked nicely.

you are thinking of mitchell or fyshwick, surely?

& there is a Raiders club in Weston! 🙂

Morgan said :

Well, I bet you can;t get urinated on in your local pub in Weston!

I’m sure you could, if you asked nicely.

I’ve only lived in Weston Creek (Waramanga, Stirling) since moving to Canberra but I have nothing against it. Would happily look for another around here if my place suddenly fell into a black hole.

They do have a good car wash there.

That’s true. Our street was quite leafy before the fires.

justbands said :

> justbands, was the block you looked at in duffy recently cleared (in the last couple of years)? or was this a while ago?

We got it after the bushfire & have been living there now for over 3 years.

the views that you have now were considerably lesser prior to the fires. at least there aren’t many large trees in the way any more.

shame of it is, my father still has the same view, and no gardens whatsoever in rivett.

> I heard that people from Weston Creek either molest small creatures or are axe murderers.

I like to molest small creatures with an axe.

Well, I bet you can;t get urinated on in your local pub in Weston!

> justbands, was the block you looked at in duffy recently cleared (in the last couple of years)? or was this a while ago?

We got it after the bushfire & have been living there now for over 3 years.

How do Weston Creek residents feel about the Stromlo Settlement public housing. Is it a good solution or another slum in the making. I have some friends who bought private blocks there and are a little bit worried about it all now that the houses are built. I hope it will all turn out for the best for everyone.

I am new to Canberra and the way that public housing is deal with. I am used to it being distributed in suburbs, and not in clusters.

justbands, was the block you looked at in duffy recently cleared (in the last couple of years)? or was this a while ago?

> last i had heard, the geographical centre was on the kambah pool road.

10 years ago perhaps. I think it’s more likely north of Curtin, somewhere near the dam wall. It’s been getting dragged north by the expansion in Gunghalin.

bollocks!

I was a north-side lad, and after many years, got sick of it and moved to the southside. it isn’t better, just a bit more laid back.

last i had heard, the geographical centre was on the kambah pool road.

good for me, I live near the centre of canberra.

> Your point about views from the Creek is a good one. Canberra has a few places that give decent views that you would not have realised without seeing them for yourself.

Yep…& even after living most of my life in Weston Creek, I didn’t realise the extent of the views from Duffy until the day we went to look at the block of land we now live on.

Holden Caulfield11:24 am 21 Aug 08

Yeah, Gungahlin has a few issues in regards to amenities and such, but then, Weston Creek would have been the same when it was first established. And after moving from Nicholls I swore I’d never call Gungahlin “out there”, but, sadly that didn’t last long, haha. Mrs Caulfield’s folks have lived in Gungahlin since the mid 90s, they’re currently in Harrison, so it’s good to see that, finally, Gungahlin is getting better serviced by shops and so on. It was pretty rubbish in that regard when we lived there.

Your point about views from the Creek is a good one. Canberra has a few places that give decent views that you would not have realised without seeing them for yourself.

& yeah, you northsiders are strange. 🙂

I don’t disagree with you re: being typical of Canberra. Canberra is a great town to live in generally.

RE: time to Civic. I work on Northbourne Ave in Braddon…closer to Dickson than to Civic really. It regularly takes me around 16-18 minutes in peak traffic to get to/from work & home in the car, or around 35 minutes on my pushbike. It’s exactly 16km each way. Civic to home is about 14kms.

My comment on Gunghalin was just a joke. Although I lived in Gunghalin (Palmerston) for 5 years & whilst it was ok to get to/from the city, it really was handy to nothing otherwise in my opinion. I wouldn’t want to live out there again. Same would apply to Tuggeranong (particularly out south), it’s just too far away for me (by Canberra standards).

You are correct though..Canberra is a great place to live & most parts of it are fine.

Holden Caulfield10:42 am 21 Aug 08

@justbands, thanks for that. I figured family reasons would have figured highly for you. Mind, I still maintain much of those reasons are typical to Canberra rather than anything unique about the Creek. And judging by your definition of close, then large parts of Belconnen are equally as close to the locations you mentioned.

I still don’t believe the 12 mins to Civic thing, but I guess it depends on the time of day you travel. I used to live in Nicholls and I got from work (Fyshwick) to home once in 18 minutes. But it was 11 o’clock at night, haha. I don’t deny you’ve done Duffy to Civic in 12 minutes at all, but perhaps because so many real estate agents try and claim pretty much any suburb that is not in inner Canberra is “just minutes from Civic” my cynical mind tends to think of these travel times in a more real world morning commute scenario. Or are you going to try and tell me you can get from Duffy to Civic in 12 minutes on a normal morning drive between 8-9am?

And your comment that nothing is close to Gungahlin is fairly typical of the “geographic centre” line that Creekers are willing to live by. Sure, Gungahlin is on the outer fringe as much as Tuggeranong or North Belconnen are, but it’s a damn sight closer to Civic than both. My old place in Nicholls was 14km from Civic and my old place in Phillip was 12km from Civic. Anything on the Civic side of the Gungahlin Town Centre would be 12km or less from Civic. I can’t imagine Duffy is any closer. I haven’t lived in Nicholls for 4 years and at that time there were no traffic lights on the Barton Highway until Northbourne, so getting in to town was pretty easy outside of peak times.

I just find it funny that people try and say their suburb/area is best, when as I’ve suggested, much of the reasons that make a suburb a great place to live are typical to the majority of Canberra.

But, I’m a north side lad, and as we all know, you’re either one or the other in this town. :p

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy10:22 am 21 Aug 08

I reckon parts of weston creek area are undervalued at the moment, too.

Of course Weston Creek is the best. It’s a given.

And once the renovations at Cooleman Court are finished, the local mall will (hopefully) be so much better.

> But I’d be interested to know why Weston Creek works for you. I’m not being a smart asre asking that question either…

There’s a lot of reasons it works for me/my family…for a start, it’s central to what we need (& from my place in Duffy it really is about 12 mins to the city). It’s one part of Canberra (along with Woden) where nowhere else is far away. ie. Woden is close, Civic is close, Tuggeranong is close & Belconnen is close (nothing is close to Gunghalin).

It’s got good schools, decent shops (& is close enough to others if you need), nice places to eat & has good outdoor spaces to enjoy (runs, rides, Stromlo bike park, very close to the Cotter, skatepark for our son, horseriding). Our neighbours are nice, our street is quiet & we have a lovely house with great views over Canberra.

Basically, we just enjoy living there. I’ve been in three Weston Creek suburbs (Fisher, Chapman & Duffy) & they’ve all been great.

Holden Caulfield9:41 am 21 Aug 08

Haha, I don’t deny that, it just always makes me laugh when Creekers trot out that line.

I’ve never lived in Weston Creek, but I did live in Phillip for a few years so I know that a lot of the “12 minutes to Civic” lines are a crock. Whether or not it is a great location is always going to depend on your own personal needs and the way you interact with the city. But I’d be interested to know why Weston Creek works for you. I’m not being a smart asre asking that question either…

I’d suggest the fact that Weston Creek is a good place to live probably has as much to do with Canberra itself being a good place to live rather than any specific traits of the Creek.

I would have thought North/North-West Belco would be cheaper than Tuggeranong?

I can confirm that Weston Creek is a fantastic place to live….& regardless of Holden Caulfields little dig above, it is in a great location too.

Holden Caulfield9:29 am 21 Aug 08

Is this the same Weston Creek that is the “geographical centre of Canberra”, hahahhaahaaaaa!

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