Soulfirethebook

Having lived at Upper Sturt for 7 years, to be honest I'm not heartbroken to leave it. Let me describe my perspective from the categories listed above.

The blocks are usually quite large, so you can go your whole life without really meeting your neighbours. This is poor for neighbourly spirit but good for privacy.

As for shopping, what shopping? Upper Sturt has a small general store and nothing else. To make it worse it's a good 5 minute drive to the passable shopping in Stirling, or 10 minutes to the far more impressive Blackwood. Only a masochist would consider walking to the shops.

Speaking of walking, along the strip between Crafers and Upper Sturt, you're taking your life into your hands. The council seems to have done a very good job of completely neglecting Upper Sturt, with adequate walking paths. It would be a great place to walk the dogs if you weren't forced to walk along a twisty road with notorious speed issues. Speed cameras make a good living when they set up along Upper Sturt Road.

As for pests you're living in bushland. The lower level of my two story house frequently had rodent invaders, which was frustrating. On the positive, the backyard often had koala and possum invaders, nice for pictures and showing the kids. Snakes I'm not sure about but they were always in the back of my mind with dogs and small children.

You would think that such a leafy suburb is a great place for kids but it's exactly the opposite. You have to get into the car to do ANYTHING in Upper Sturt. There are no parks, no play equipment, nothing to do. Sometimes you wish you could just walk somewhere to entertain the kids or grab a treat, but it's always a matter of getting in the car. Very inconvenient.

As for eating out, the Adelaide Hills have always been a big disappointment in that regard. For such a beautiful location such as Stirling, it has always seemed to attract very average restaurants that aren't worth the visit. Can a decent restauranteur please read this and open a decent eatery in this beautiful location? Hahndorf is a much better bet with some great eateries, for both family and fine dining. This is however a 15 minute drive and is always a painful place to find a decent park.

Public transport is an interesting beast. The services to Upper Sturt itself are terrible, with just a handful of buses, normally during peak hour. However, just up the road is the transport hub at Crafers which sees a huge number of services. So realistically you won't be walking to the bus, however a short drive takes you to a very busy transport hub.

As for the other major negatives, mobile phone reception is simply horrible. Due to all the hills, valleys and trees, depending on your service you literally have to pick the part of the house to stand in to receive a call. It's normal if driving in the area to have calls drop out in certain areas. The other thing is crime. You would expect it to be a safe area from this perspective, however the neighbourhood watch paper says otherwise. In addition I personally had my car window smashed and car rummaged through one evening during school holidays. Being on the main road probably doesn't help and sometimes the relative quiet of a suburb can be a drawback.

As a final note, you really don't want to live here if another major bushfire comes through. Upper Sturt really only has one major road, allowing evacuation through Crafers or Blackwood. In the event of a bushfire, with so much bush vegetation and such a restricted evacuation path, it's a disaster waiting to happen in that regard.

So in summary, if you like a bush setting, relative quiet and the chance of a koala in your backyard, this place is for you. If you like convenience, mod cons and being entertained by something other than your computer and television, forget it.