We visited some friends on the weekend at their new place in Sydney's south west - around Ingleburn to be exact. Or right next door to Macquarie Fields, scene of some riots not long ago.
The trip down was pretty quick - about 45 minutes, but they told me that on weekdays, the traffic heading into town on the motorway starts banking up at 5.30am and is gridlock not long after. No thanks - that's not for me.
They're on a biggish block in a gated community - 880 square metres, which is a bit under the old quarter acre, but they have a park next door which makes it seem much larger. It's at least double the size of the block that we are living on at the moment, so one can't complain. Our whole house and block could fit into their backyard.
Their house is big and new, but it's definitely not for me. I didn't like the brick finish, nor the interior finishes, or the design. It just wasn't me. It's an off-the-plan design by one of the major builders, and the whole suburb looks very much the same - new, shiny and predisposed to date very quickly.
What got me is that none of the houses in the entire development had any eaves. No one bothers with keeping out the sunlight anymore - they just install massive air conditioners. Instead of installing the biggest model of home air conditioner, they had gone and bought the smallest commercial unit. It was the size of a small Hyundai. It's a sensible choice, but I hate to think what the power bills will be like next year.
The suburb comes complete with two tennis courts, a 25 metre swimming pool and a golf course (got no idea how many holes). You get golf course membership with the block, but still have to pay green fees. To date, they haven't used any of the sports facilities as they've been too busy laying grass and building retaining walls and the driveway and a huge fish pond.
Call me a location snob if you like, but I hope to never move out that far. Yes, the place is free of hoons and graffiti and noise, and there is plenty of room in the backyard and all that, but it just failed to grab me. We could move out there, have an affordable mortgage and a big block and house, but I still prefer to have a horrible mortgage and a smaller house and block and live within coo-ee of the city.
Why is this? It sounds like mad behaviour to me.
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