AJ123

I bought a house here just short of a year ago and live in one of the many quite cul de sacs off of Connolly drive. What attracted me was location and type of property, there are a number of more established houses (20-30 years) in this area that offer decent plot sizes, with pools and a good number if bedrooms - where as all the new housing was crammed in like sardines with small rooms.

Location wise we are 2km from the train station to the city and 2.5km to the beach. We lived sour of river when we first got here and parking for the train (bull creek) was a nightmare with one small car park that filled up by 7am. Clarkson has an express train to the city which is about 35 mins - although I added about 10 extrastops in my commute only increased by 5 minutes due to lack of traffic to get to the station, also a bonus you can always get a seat being at the top end of the line. The commuter trains run around every 15mins at peak time and are pretty good later in the evening if you stop in the city for drinks.

Locally fo entertainment there's not heaps but pretty standard for an Oz suburb, The Whale n Ale is okay for pub food, quiz night etc and they have a big party night once a month. We tend to go down to the Mindarie Marina which is 5 mins in a cab and is a good spot nice scenery, chilled out with plenty of friendly 30+ expats . We were having troubles getting a cab one night and one of the bar staff gave us a lift home so very nice community pub - there is also a fun group of guys who run golf days there, charter boats etc. the other pub at the marina is the Indian Ocean pacific which is a micro brewery with some nice ales. The cornerstone pub in jindalee is also supposed to be a good one but we haven't tried that yet.

Food wise best place for a restaurant sit down is Portofinos at mindarie beach they have a cafe in the day time great for brekky with the paper and lunches it has beautiful sea views and floor to ceiling windows good service, friendly, average city prices. The restaurant opens at 4 and in the summer they open the beer garden and often have acoustic musicians/singers so nice and all very chilled out.

Masala curry house is awesome take away and sit down I recommend the lamb korma! They are also gold plate winners. Plenty of fish n chips best or most English is Jindalee. Then there is your standard Burger King (hungry jacks), Maccas, KFC, Pizza Hut, dominoes etc. and a couple of little cafs' by the beaches.

Community wise everyone is pretty friendly, and we met most of our neighbours now and been invited round for BBQ's. Scool wise the best is the big catholic school between mindarie and clarkson and has a good rep. Plenty of little child care centres dotted around as well.

Beaches are plenty, mindarie is patrolled, then there are heaps stretching up the coast, we tend to drive 15 mins up the road to Yanchep Lagoon which is hemmed in by reef so you can have a float around in the calm water, snorkel etc. fishing is good all round this area and there are plenty of people with boats as well.

Shopping is okay but set to get better as there is $300m extension being added to ocean keys shopping centre, there is already two big supermarkets in the mall, plus big W which is good for cheap prices in heaps of stuff including all your kids gear, then some boutique surf shops and jewellery shops,
Higher end designer isn't really catered for up here but Joondalup Gate is building a big Myers at present so won't be long. Joondalup is about 15 mins drive south and the mall there is better for cloths shopping.

Clarkson is fairly well developed and has a couple if churches, primary and secondary school, vets, doctors, chiropractors, car dealerships, garages, fishing shops, library, gyms, big hardware shops bunnings, beacon lighting, pool shop, steak house, several petrol stations, car wash, bottle shops, pizza, laundrette/dry cleaners, nandos, TAFE College, furniture shops, carpet shops, etc so most stuff you can find on your door step.

There's a couple of parks the big one is sat next to the primary school and on the weekends is a cricket oval one day for the local team, then rugby and football for the kids the next.

All in all a great place, plenty of bang for your buck property wise if you look at the more established areas, and close enough to transport you can still do the city job an have a big house near the beach.