Atom_Ute

We built in the new Warner Lakes development in 2008. We were lured in by a shining development, nice parks and a promise that infrastructure would follow.

Unfortunately the infrastructure for the development has not caught up - slowly turning the place into a commuter nightmare.

Old Northern road is a goat track and with the number of houses that have gone up in Warner Lakes traffic is gradually getting worse. On a good day it would take at least 50 minutes to get to the CBD - god help you if there was an accident on South Pine road. Public transport is essentially non-existant - Thompsons have recently added a bus service, but it is totally inadequate. Other options are to drive to the nearest train stations - Bray Park or Strathpine, but good luck getting a park. With all the industrial development along Kremzow Rd, truck traffic is expected to get worse too.

Warner shopping centre is conveniently located, but the Woolworths has to be one of the worst in QLD. Never enough checkouts open and shelves always seem to be understocked. Not much else available in the way of shopping - need to make the trek over to Westfield Strathpine.

Housing - You've got a mix of old and new, with the new development making a big impact on the area. We found initally owner occupiers were moving in, but gradually we saw more and more of these turn over to rental properties. As such the quality of resident has slowly declined, to the point where it seems that for many a trip to the shops is 'shoes optional'. And while the estates look nice now, wait until the developer has sold all their blocks and moved on - those parks etc will be the councils problem.

Overall, I think Warner is trying to be a suburb that it can never be. Unless the infrastructure is put in to support the fast growing population, it will just turn into a ghetto nightmare for its residents.

12 months ago we purchased a block of land in Keperra to undertake a knock-down rebuild. We had been looking in Mitchelton/Gaythorne and found that you would be easily paying an extra $50k-$100k for the same style/size block.

We made the move from Warner so that we could be closer to the city - our new block has put us within the all important 10km radius of the CBD. Below are just a few of my observations of the suburb.

Traffic/Transport
Keperra has two train stations that service it - Keperra and Grovely, both relatively central to the suburb. The line has been recently duplicated and the government has announced that the Ferny Grove line will be getting 15 min services - so there are plenty of trains! Typical trip from Central to Grovely is about 23-25 minutes - not too shabby.

Yes Samford road is busy during peak hour - however no worse than any other road in Brisbane. If you car pool, you can quite easily get into the CBD in 20-30 minutes if you take the T2 lane via Waterworks road. During school holidays we have even had runs of 15 minutes! So those that complain about traffic - I suggest that you try commuting from Warner and see how long that takes you.

The airport link tunnel has made the process of getting to the Gateway motorway/airport a breeze!

Only real bug bear I have with Keperra is Dawson Parade. Sometime the rail crossing can get backed-up and can take a while to clear.

Shopping/Dining
So many shopping options in and around Keperra its fantastic. You've got the Great Western complex to the West, that has a Woolworths, Aldi, Supercheap to name a few. To the North in Arana Hills you've got a Coles and a Kmart and to the East, you've got Brookside which is one of the few centres on the Northside that has a Myer! All easily accessible and plenty of parking. Dining wise, Keperra has some nice boutique cafes and coffee shops that are popping up, your regular pub style meals and slowly you are seeing small restaurants emerging (like Thai @ Grovely). If you are a fast food lover, all the major chains are there.

Housing/Properties
Keperra properties are very typical of post WW2 home - small weatherboard homes on blocks ranging from 600m2 to 800m2. Most house are in reasonable condition and can be easily updated/renovated quite cheaply. I love established areas like Keperra, as unlike new developments such as Northlakes - you actually have some space between you and your neighbour!. Advantage of Keperra over suburbs like Mitchelton/Gaythorne is that you can possibly pick up a bargain and undertake a knock-down rebuild like we did. As stated by a previous review, the Campbell government is going through the area and selling many of the housing commission properties which have given the suburb a bit of a bad name.

Schools/Childcare
I don't have children, so cannot really comment - however it seems there are plenty of options, with Grovely State School, Mitchelton High and St William Catholic.

Parks/Recreation
Plenty of green open spaces in Keperra to enjoy - even a leash free area for the 4 legged member of the family. You've got the Keperra Golf club which is quite a reasonable course

Keperra is definitely an up an coming suburb - its not quite there yet, but will be a hot commodity in 5-7 years time. Pick up a bargain now before the rest of Brisbane realises that this leafy gem to the North West exists