Having recently moved in to Kareela from the Eastern Suburbs I must say that is a pleasure to live here. Its a very quiet suburb situated on Oyster Bay. The majority of homes are double brick houses on good sized blocks, mostly built in the 70's and early 80's, so as you would imagine there is currently a lot of renovations going on. Location wise, its about 5 minutes from Sylvania, so CBD/Surry Hills is around 30 minutes off peak by car. There is a very regular bus service to Jannali station, so door Kareela to CBD is about 55 mins to 1 hour. Obviously, the breadth of dining options available in the inner west / CBD / eastern suburbs is not present, though there are a number of good local restuarants and very good cafes.....so you just need to hunt them out. If you want to head to the beach, its about 15 minutes by car to the Cronulla beaches. Overall i would say Kareela is an excellent suburbs for families and retirees, with peace and quiet, good amenities and not too far from the City. The area is extremely safe and friendly, with none of the social problems that are easily seen in many other areas of Sydney.