Sorry but the chance to win a bottle of champers is too good to miss out on . I live in Bilgola Plateau, Sydney, NSW. We moved here 6 months ago and were lucky enough to do a recce before we came over so we knew exactly what to expect from the area. We had a checklist of things we wanted from our aussie life, eg. it had to be close to a beach, access to the coutryside, a good school, a ‘village’ feel within a big city, shops and cafes close by. Bilgola is on a penninsula north of the city and because it’s on a plateau you have to be pretty damn unlucky not to get a house with a view of either the pittwater or the pacific! We have views of the Pacific and Avalon beach from our house and so far I’ve seen whales every morning this week while having my shower in the morning, you can’t beat a view like that!
We are less than a 5 minute drive down the hill to Bilgola beach or Avalon beach. Bilgola beach has a 40 metre ocean swimming pool and in summer I went every morning before the school run for a swim. It also has a lovely kiosk where lots of people meet at the weekend for a coffee and a catch up. Avalon beach has a nice little climbing frame for the kids and a fab skate park right by the beach, which my 4 year old is now a regular at! No broken bones yet, thank god! If you have little children then you can go to the beaches on the pittwater side, which dont have the big waves. There is a beautiful beach at Clareville (again 5 mins drive the other side of the plateau) and a couple of little gems of beaches that not many know about, paradise beach and Taylors point, lovely to fish off the pier.
Avalon has a wonderful shopping centre which is has a very village feel and is full of cafes, organic food shops, and lots of boutiques. It also has an arty cinema, library, council office, children’s park and sports hall facilities, and all are within walking distance from Bilgola Plateau. Everyone seems very healthy and there are a lot of kids my children’s ages (6 & 4) so they have made lots of friends. It also seems to be a draw for people from the UK as I can’t walk down Avalon street without hearing an English accent!
Another reason why we chose this area was for the school. My daughter went to a village school in the UK and I couldn’t get my head around the size of the Australian schools (some with 800+ pupils for a primary school!). Bilgola school is a relatively small school and has only 400 pupils and approximately 20 chickens! The class size is 16 pupils with 1 teacher and 1 teaching assistant. There is a tennis court, sports oval and serveral play equipment areas as well as a big vegetable patch that the children tend to and the parents get to buy the veggies they grow.
About 2 doors up from the school is Van Hamburg swim school, which is run by Diana and Roger Van Hamburg, 2 former olmpic swimming stars. They run swimming classes every morning before school and after school. Then a stone’s throw from the school is Bilgola deli where all the mums meet after drop off for (what I would argue is the best coffee on the northern beaches) a coffee and a natter.
Then you’re about 10 minutes drive from Palm beach, the most northern beach in Sydney and it’s where they film home and away. You can do the Barrenjoey lighthouse walk and stand to look at the views of the central coast, truely stunning. You’ve also got Kur-ring-gai national park very close by and we go cycling and kayaking up to cottage point. If you take the west head road then at the end you get spectacular views. There’s also a fantastic little bush walk, past aboriginal carvings, to a place called the basin where you can swim in the netted lagoon and watch the wallabies bouncing past, it’s truely heaven. If you don’t want to do the hike down there then you can always catch a ferry from Palm Beach to the Basin instead.
I could go on and on and on about what’s great about where we live but I fear I’d use up all your space! The only downsides I can see to the area would be the commute into the city and the price of houses. My husband works from home most of the time and therefore doesn’t have to join the daily slog into the city. There aren’t many houses under $800,000! Oh and the ticks, they are pretty common in this area, I’ve already had one so far! But for someone who is an insect and spider hater I still wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world!

I too love champagne, so here goes!

My husband and I travelled around Aus in 2003 / 2004. We were Canadian backpackers on a working holiday visa and bought a 4wd to tour around the country. When we ran out of money, we’d simply find a good spot and work for a bit. This resulted in a couple of short lived stints in QLD, but we also spent 2 wonderful months in Margaret River, WA. Some of our fondest memories of our travels took place in WA and at the end of our travels, we felt sorry for the backpackers we’d met that only travelled up and down the East Coast. We spent some time in Perth (or more accurately, Scarborough), so when we decided to come back, there wasn’t really a question of where we’d like to live.

Now 7 years later, we’re back with our 2 year old daughter in a little suburb close to Scarborough called Wembley Downs (WA, 6019). At this point, my daughter is too young for school, but she is enrolled in Child Care once a week, and there really are some fantastic Child Care Centres around here, ranging from $75 to $95 per day. Wembley Downs is a really family oriented suburb and is situated right next to the Indian Ocean, which makes for fantastic sunsets just a stones throw away.

We love this suburb as it is close enough to Perth for a quick commute, but still far enough away and it’s quiet! There are plenty of parks around and some fabulous amenities close by. Fremantle on the weekends is a great spot to hit with it’s markets and fantastic cafes and restaurants. Hillary’s boat harbor has a great indoor boardwalk and the Aquarium of Western Australia is there as well (which is about a 15 minute drive away). There are some wonderful shopping amenities around here as well – the Westfield Innaloo is very close and the Karrinyup Mall has a lot of stores as well – being Canadian, I’m very excited about the opening of the Lululemon in the Karrinyup Mall. And Perth itself is beautiful – Kings Park is an absolute must for fantastic views of the city and Swan River. About 45 minutes north, Yanchep National Park is a wonderful spot to enjoy the wildlife and get a bit of tranquility from the bustle of the city. Really, nothing beats the beauty of WA!