jendale

This is the suburb I grew up in - 30 years ago now. I can remember countless weekends and school holidays spent riding my bike around the pleasant green streets. It was great then, and even better now. Back then it was, despite its great location, a very affordable suburb. Prices have certainly skyrocketed here, and the suburb is much more up-market these days. The modest block my parents bought for around $50,000 in the early eighties would easily be worth $800,000 today. We lived a very short walk from Alamein station - back when proximity to a train station was considered a no-no. But there was never a problem because being the last stop on the line meant the train would always pull up and leave very slowly and quietly. We never once heard the train despite living maybe a couple of hundred metres from it. Of course today, being close to a station is almost considered a plus.

At the time there was a fair number of free-standing commission houses in Ashburton (the cheap bare-wire waist-high fences were a giveaway) but most if not all of these have now been sold off. Stay to the west of the train line though! It's a whole different story on the other side where there are still a lot of commission flats and all the lovely things associated with that...

The local High St. shopping strip is nice and convenient if perhaps a bit limited, and the Woolworths on the corner of High St and Warrigal is a very good one.

The unbeatable location and quiet, leafy, almost village-like atmosphere make this a superb place for living and raising a family.

No idea what Megegg below is talking about. The tip is far below Centre Road, in the middle of Clayton South, which you should know if you say you lived there. Oh and the train line is perfectly safe too - I travelled on it daily for years and never once saw anything remotely dangerous. No gangs to be seen

Different cultures? Well yeah, many Asians and Indians live in the area (many Greeks too BTW). That's just fine by me - they're quiet and don't cause trouble. Why would a homogeneous WASP area be better?

We've lived in Clayton for 7 years and it's hard to beat for a combination of shopping, food, trains/buses and affordability. Chaddy is close and the local shopping strip is really great.