Hahahahaha!!! I stay in Shelley, which is the suburb adjoining Rossmoyne and on the river side... I was a Rossmoyne class of 1994 (any of you folks around here from RSHS too???)...
Anyway, Willetton and Riverton are both nice suburbs if you can get within the RSHS zone... A real-estate agent once told me there's a difference of around $50k between houses in and not in that zone (I think someone said $20k earlier in this thread?)... The major shopping center, as pointed out before, is Southlands and Riverton Forum... Both are great suburbian style shopping center and from here, the bigger ones like Carousel and Garden City Shopping Centers are not that far away - with the former about 5 mins heading towards the airport on Leach Highway and the latter about 10mins heading towards Fremantle on Leach Highway...
Food is fantastic... There are a whole bunch of Chinese restaurant at the end of Collins Road in a complex and where the new Roe Highway will be... Its one of the best eateries South of the River and I dine there once in a while... Food ranges from expensive to cheap and the cheap ones are usually packed out over the weekend... There's also a Sizzler at Riverton Forum where I usually dine after going through 40 hour famines... And loads of fast food takeaways, ie Hungry Jack's, Macs, KFC, Chicken Treat, Toppos Pizza, Subway, Dominos, Pizza Hut etc etc...
Southlands has an ACE cinema, which is great for watching new releases without the long queus, if you are not fussed about watching things in big screens and surround sounds... Otherwise Garden City or Carousel will do... Willetton and Riverton are about 20mins away from both the Domestic and International airport, making quick getaways really easy... The aquatic center opposite Riverton Forum is great and I swim there several times a week... It also has gym facilities and a library adjoining that place...
Aside of avoiding living on roads such as Vahland Ave, High Rd, Apsley Rd and Parry Ave, which are the major arteries around both areas, another road you should DEFINITELY avoid is Panamuna Drive in Willetton... This is a very short road about 500m long but its a link between the busier Pinetree Gulley Rd and Vahland Ave and I use it all the time to cross between these 2 roads and everytime I am on it, whether day or night, I always pass by at least 3 to 5 cars on the opposite side and can see at least 3 cars in front and maybe 2 at the back... They have recently put in some funky semi-roundabout things in the middle of the road to help slow down the cars but hasn't done anything to the traffic...
Direct buses that goes straight to CBD are numbers 878 and 877 pending on where you live (I may have gotten the numbers wrong though. Should double check)... These are express buses and takes the Kwinana Freeway off Leach Highway exit straight to CBD... A train station will be built on Leach Highway by 2006 but I won't be here as I am moving off to Melbourne... There's also a park-n-ride on South Street about 5mins away where you can leave your car and take the direct 185 bus to CBD...
Main campus of Curtin University is about 10mins from Riverton and maybe about 15mins from Willetton by car... Around that area, you should try to avoid Bentley cos I heard the crime rates are very high and the rental population there is also very high, catering for a lot of international students who go to Curtin...
I can't quite comment on the real-estate in Willetton/Riverton, but there are quite a few rental properties around there where people can rent, put their kids in school and then move away after a couple of years and their kids will still be ok to go to Rossmoyne High... Houses in Willetton/Riverton are generally rather old, which means they have big rooms and rather impractical kitchen, ie small and dark where you can't really see what you are cooking (what I have observed so far)... I guess the median starting would be around $275k to $300k and that should be within the Rossmoyne Zone...
Another suburb that you should try is Bullcreek, which is also in the Rossmoyne Zone and adjoining Willetton... Houses there are very varied because of a new estate that opened in Bullcreek in 1994-95 so houses there are relatively new... Elsewhere in Bullcreek the houses are old... I would say that Bullcreek is a lot closer to Rossmoyne High than Riverton...
Also there's the Canning Vale markets which is great for shopping for fresh vegies and they have a massive undercover Swap-Meet every Sunday and its always packed out... Fun stuff!!! This is at the end of Vahland avenue... There's also a rubbish dump site in Canning Vale, so there's quite a fair bit of crows in and around Willetton and Riverton thats closer to Canning Vale... The Canning Vale industrial area is also there...
Where I live, Shelley, apparently recorded the best growht of about 40% last year (someone correct me if I am wrong)... My house faces the river and properties here are nice but expensive, about $550k upwards with houses along the river fetching easily at least $1million... We are currently undergoing a bit of redevelopment now, where people are buying houses on big blocks of lands (you will be surprised to find that a lot of the houses here have their own private tennis courts) and subdividing it...
Ok... I have completely veered off topic but hope this helps...
slowdude
Anyway, Willetton and Riverton are both nice suburbs if you can get within the RSHS zone... A real-estate agent once told me there's a difference of around $50k between houses in and not in that zone (I think someone said $20k earlier in this thread?)... The major shopping center, as pointed out before, is Southlands and Riverton Forum... Both are great suburbian style shopping center and from here, the bigger ones like Carousel and Garden City Shopping Centers are not that far away - with the former about 5 mins heading towards the airport on Leach Highway and the latter about 10mins heading towards Fremantle on Leach Highway...
Food is fantastic... There are a whole bunch of Chinese restaurant at the end of Collins Road in a complex and where the new Roe Highway will be... Its one of the best eateries South of the River and I dine there once in a while... Food ranges from expensive to cheap and the cheap ones are usually packed out over the weekend... There's also a Sizzler at Riverton Forum where I usually dine after going through 40 hour famines... And loads of fast food takeaways, ie Hungry Jack's, Macs, KFC, Chicken Treat, Toppos Pizza, Subway, Dominos, Pizza Hut etc etc...
Southlands has an ACE cinema, which is great for watching new releases without the long queus, if you are not fussed about watching things in big screens and surround sounds... Otherwise Garden City or Carousel will do... Willetton and Riverton are about 20mins away from both the Domestic and International airport, making quick getaways really easy... The aquatic center opposite Riverton Forum is great and I swim there several times a week... It also has gym facilities and a library adjoining that place...
Aside of avoiding living on roads such as Vahland Ave, High Rd, Apsley Rd and Parry Ave, which are the major arteries around both areas, another road you should DEFINITELY avoid is Panamuna Drive in Willetton... This is a very short road about 500m long but its a link between the busier Pinetree Gulley Rd and Vahland Ave and I use it all the time to cross between these 2 roads and everytime I am on it, whether day or night, I always pass by at least 3 to 5 cars on the opposite side and can see at least 3 cars in front and maybe 2 at the back... They have recently put in some funky semi-roundabout things in the middle of the road to help slow down the cars but hasn't done anything to the traffic...
Direct buses that goes straight to CBD are numbers 878 and 877 pending on where you live (I may have gotten the numbers wrong though. Should double check)... These are express buses and takes the Kwinana Freeway off Leach Highway exit straight to CBD... A train station will be built on Leach Highway by 2006 but I won't be here as I am moving off to Melbourne... There's also a park-n-ride on South Street about 5mins away where you can leave your car and take the direct 185 bus to CBD...
Main campus of Curtin University is about 10mins from Riverton and maybe about 15mins from Willetton by car... Around that area, you should try to avoid Bentley cos I heard the crime rates are very high and the rental population there is also very high, catering for a lot of international students who go to Curtin...
I can't quite comment on the real-estate in Willetton/Riverton, but there are quite a few rental properties around there where people can rent, put their kids in school and then move away after a couple of years and their kids will still be ok to go to Rossmoyne High... Houses in Willetton/Riverton are generally rather old, which means they have big rooms and rather impractical kitchen, ie small and dark where you can't really see what you are cooking (what I have observed so far)... I guess the median starting would be around $275k to $300k and that should be within the Rossmoyne Zone...
Another suburb that you should try is Bullcreek, which is also in the Rossmoyne Zone and adjoining Willetton... Houses there are very varied because of a new estate that opened in Bullcreek in 1994-95 so houses there are relatively new... Elsewhere in Bullcreek the houses are old... I would say that Bullcreek is a lot closer to Rossmoyne High than Riverton...
Also there's the Canning Vale markets which is great for shopping for fresh vegies and they have a massive undercover Swap-Meet every Sunday and its always packed out... Fun stuff!!! This is at the end of Vahland avenue... There's also a rubbish dump site in Canning Vale, so there's quite a fair bit of crows in and around Willetton and Riverton thats closer to Canning Vale... The Canning Vale industrial area is also there...
Where I live, Shelley, apparently recorded the best growht of about 40% last year (someone correct me if I am wrong)... My house faces the river and properties here are nice but expensive, about $550k upwards with houses along the river fetching easily at least $1million... We are currently undergoing a bit of redevelopment now, where people are buying houses on big blocks of lands (you will be surprised to find that a lot of the houses here have their own private tennis courts) and subdividing it...
Ok... I have completely veered off topic but hope this helps...
slowdude
