John Smith

We have lived here for a couple of months now after escaping the inner city. To say we are a lot more relaxed and laid back out here is an understatement. It's amazing to be able to go grocery shopping and not have to fight for a car park or push our way through crowds. The parks at either end of the esplanade are amazing spots for a BBQ. The express train is 45 minutes to the city. There is a great craft beer bar near the main shops with this amazing British fish and chips place next to it, makes a good stop off after getting off the train after work on a Friday. Also just down the road from here is the main strip on Wellington Point.

Full disclosure, we (young couple with no kids yet) just bought a house out here, so feel free to take my praise with a grain of salt. But there are many things to love about the area. Houses are on good sized blocks, this was a big factor for us. We were initially looking a bit closer in (Wakerley and Tingalpa) but all the newer developments seemed to be shoeboxes on 400sqm blocks which I just don't think makes for nice neighbourhoods. We drove out a bit further to Birkdale to check it out and realised pretty quickly that it was a better area - and much better for commuting to the city (bc of the train line) despite the extra distance out.

The council also seems to support this idea of more green space, having fought for the right to buy 62ha of federal land off Birkdale Road, which was on the brink of being sold off to property developers, on which they will be building the Birkdale Community Precinct.

Being bayside, it's also significantly cooler than the inner city and western suburbs during summer, as we get a sea breeze forming most days. Just something more to consider as temperatures continue to creep up over the next 10 years.