Katharine Street, Bellevue, WA 6056

I rented a house on Katharine St with my sister after moving out of our parents tranquil 6 acre block in Stoneville. Although Helena Valley itself is a lovely collection of winding roads on the gentle slopes of the Darling Scarp, Katharine St was noisy and grubby.
Across the road is Katharine Park, a large field occupied by a small herd of cattle, as far as the eye can see. And whilst this may look nice I for one don't like to hear cows loudly lowing late at night. There is also the issue of aeroplanes flying very low over the suburb and this would mess with the TV reception and put a pause in most conversations. The street itself is also busy, it surprised me to often hear trucks chugging down a residential street, or we'd the the tune of someone's maximum volume radio as they came screaming around a corner. These complaints might have been to do with the bedrooms being positioned near the front of the house with poor sound proofing but neither my sister or I were able to get a proper nights sleep for several weeks.
Noise aside Helena Valley is conveniently located near Midland and all of the shopping opportunities there, as well as the Midland train station. Although connecting buses are not particularly regular.
The only other issue worth mentioning is that we tried to get an internet connection via 5 different providers, each ripping us off in their own way, but the end of the story was that we were too far from the Midland Exchange and the phone lines in the area were too old to support a broadband connection. I'm not sure if this has been remedied in the last 3 years but if you're looking at buying or renting it's definitely something to ask about.

I love Helena Valley. Having lived in some of the best suburbs in Perth (Rossmoyne, Cottesloe, Churchlands, Claremont and Coolbinia) I have to say that this is my favourite place in Perth to live. You get all the benefits of semi-rural living whilst only being 25 minute drive from Perth City centre. Helena Valley is peaceful and quiet, lush and green with the Helena River streams running all over the place. A perfect place for bringing up children in the fresh air with plenty of space.