Hornsby - my new home !

I think I finally found a great place to stay in Sydney this time round. After leaving Australia for work and personal reasons the wind blew us back and here we are. 6 weeks in Sydney and we are living in the beautiful Suburb of Hornsby.


How do I describe Hornsby, Lots of woodland, wide streets, steep hills and a massive shopping mall.


Hornsby looks like a great suburb for Families.


Seems good so far! There is a selective girls school - which you have to apply for and write an exam to get into. Parts of Hornsby are in the St Ives school catchment area which has a great set of schools. One of my kids went to the junior school in St Ives and I cant praise them enough.


Something great I just found out - school kids get to travel free on the bus and train - woot no expenses for school transport! Thanks Oz!


It's midnight and as I write this there is a possum on our decking trying to screw up the courage to walk past us and grab an apple we put out for him. We get three possums coming by at different times of the night. Well one is older called Myrtle and the other two are a pair and are intruding on Myrtles territory.


Seriously it sounds like a herd of hippos climbing around the roof and the side of the house. Thank goodness the landlord told us or we would have called the police.


So we get two cats, three possums, 6 kookaburras, 6 parrots,  some black birds and about 5 turkeys and a shit load of spiders visiting Not a bad haul so far. some of the parrots are so tame that they  hop on to your hand. Pretty damn awesome.


The one negative about living in the forest is that you need to pay a gardener about $140 per month to come and remove all the sticks leaves. It a bit pricey if you are on a budget like I am.


I got the house by bargaining the rental down a bit so that's great as it would have been too much for us.


In fact its split level and we have about 6 rooms and some office rooms - so its a real good deal.


The only bad thing is minimal parking and a very steep long drive way,


Its so far off the road that we cant get cable TV, and its so wooded that we can't get satellite tv. We have a work around with good ADSL 2+ internet and Foxtel TV over the internet.  Costs about 89 for the internet and 85 for Foxtel minus sports.


The commute from Hornsby to the Sydney CBD is 40 minutes to Wynyard and on a different route its 30 minutes to Central Station. The train also goes to Macquarie University. So great Transport, not as far as the Western suburbs and I feel its a manageable commute.


The Train is so easy and not full - I literally glide to work. I took a bus from Narabeen Lakes for a few weeks when we arrived and that was so much worse than using the train.


The spiders are the biggest con here. Traumatized..!


There is a TAFE in Hornsby, private hospital and a large police station and court.


Anyway it early days and its summer so its all warm etc. Lets see how it cold it is in Winter. The house is wooden and seems to be easily warmed up.


Highly recommend Hornsby - not too snooty with all types of people here. Also, a very quick trip north to some large rivers, lakes and lagoons. Lots of fishing and water activities close by.


We are looking forward to some exploring as and when we can.


Anyway lets hope this time (moving into Sydney) round it is a little easier than last time. We managed to set up house and home a lot faster this time as we had been here before.


To all those people reading this blog and making the journey to Sydney or somewhere in Australia, I hope you find it useful. Please feel free to drop us a comment or question and I will do my best to help.


Happy new year and blessings for this year ahead!



How I got my visa, Life, Lumps and spirit, Hate your new country? Your not alone! A good Furniture Rental company in Sydney,Why do immigrants leave Australia?, Sydney - Scotland island - hidden gem, Malls in Sydney, Living in St Ives, Arriving in Sydney, Driving through Sydney - first day, How expensive is Sydney