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Toongabbie is a suburb in Western Sydney. It has a lot of one story houses that sit on big lots of land. The houses here are low key but well maintained. Most of them have big backyards, garage and a front porch. The train station is along the Wentworthville, Girraween, Pendle Hill stretch so it actually has a rather frustrating timetable with only about two trains an hour servicing the station. There are shops around the station like your usual bakery and supermarket, but nothing exciting and the restaurants are all the usual grease serving take away shops. There is a Toongabbie leisure centre in the middle of Toongabbie with gym, tennis courts and squash courts so enthusiasts in the area have excellent sports facilities.

Gosford is the first town that you hit when turn into all the famous central coast beaches that Sydney siders love to visit on weekends and during the summer months. Given that, not many people stop over Gosford on their way to Terrigal or The Entrance.

Gosford has a nice mall in Erina Fair, but it has been in the news as one of the lowest spending malls in all of Australia. Locals hang out there rather than actually shop and spend money there. The club there looks like it definitely services the local entertainment with slots and entertainment. The marina also serves the local boat owners and it provides a nice view on the drive through to the beaches.

Beecroft lies just north of Carlingford and Epping and is a high middle income area. It is about a forty minutes' drive to Sydney City and it has it is serviced by Beecroft Train station. The journey from Beecroft to Central Station takes about thirty to forty minutes.

Beecroft is home to a lot of professional migrants who have settled in Australia. It reflects its middle income inhabitants with nice houses and quiet streets. The houses are not the new type that you find in North Western Sydney, so there is a certain amount of charm about the houses here. Most of the houses here have character and do not look like mansions you can order out of a catalogue, nor are they there to show off. The houses actually look like individual homes which lends the suburb to high house prices.

Hornsby Heights is a suburb in Northern Sydney and is about a forty minutes' drive to the CBD via the Pacific Highway. For those planning to drive along the Pacific Highway during peak hours, please give yourself plenty of time to commute as the traffic here is notorious.

Hornsby Heights is a part of Sydney where you can see the bush creeping up, hence it is a cross between country and city living. The houses there often look like ones you can find up the Central Coast because there is so much bush land around. With bushland comes a lot more leaves that are blown around. It is not a suburb where you find tons of new houses and beautiful lawns. It is more semi bush living but still within Sydney and away from any noisy roads.

Cherrybrook lies between Castle Hill and Pennant Hills and is about a forty minutes' drive to Sydney City. This suburb has a very calm and relaxing feel to it and is easily accessible via Pennant Hills Road. However, this place is only serviced by buses and there is no train station here.

The majority of people who live here are the elderly and young families, you can expect peaceful living and rarely would you see any fast cars zooming round the streets of Cherrybrook. There are shops that are close by and everybody takes good care of their front lawn to keep up with the gardening standards of the neighbourhood. The closest mall for residents here will be Castle Hill Towers.

Normanhurst on the northern side of Sydney is made very popular due to the presence of a selective high school in the area - Normanhurst Boys High School. The famous Catholic school for girls - Loreto Normanhurst, is also located in this suburb. Normanhurst is about a a thirty minutes' drive to the city during off-peak hours. The suburb itself is quite nice with a very middle income demographic. Since it is located on Pennant Hills Rd, it is very accessible to Hornsby and is very close to the M1 freeway that takes you to the Central Coast. If you love going to the Central Coast every weekend, Normanhurst would have to be one of the best places in Sydney to live in. Just make sure you live well away from the high school and Pennant Hills Rd so you do not have to hear the traffic all day long!

Glenhaven is pure suburbia, just north of Castle Hill. It is about an hours' drive to the CBD or a thirty minutes' drive to Parramatta. The quickest way to get around here is by car and only a handful of buses service this area.

All the houses are obviously very new with beautiful staircases and paint jobs. Many of the families who live here are middle income and property prices here just slightly cheaper than those in Castle Hill. There is not much to do here in Glenhaven and the closest mall will be Castle Towers in Castle Hill. This suburb is rather inconvenient and if you work in the city, you have to give yourself plenty of time to commute during peak hours as the roads here get very congested.

Chester Hill is one of those suburbs that seem to have an image problem. However, if you get to know the place better and its locals, you will find that it is quite a charming suburb with very friendly people. It has it’s own shopping strip where you do get to know the shop keepers and they will eventually know you by your first name. There is always plenty of parking here for you when you need to do your weekly groceries shopping.

You will not get bored of the old fashioned tasting hamburger with the beetroot on it and bbq sauce from the hot food take away store. Food here is cheap too as you can get a hamburger for under four dollars. The local high school seems to also give the area a bad name with the obvious rough ups with the teenage boys, but which high school does not have the occasional meeting on the field after school?

Zetland is one of those suburbs that you really do not want to see getting overly developed as it has this nice and old heritage feel to it. There are plenty of heritage terrace houses here. I have a friend who has lived in one these houses. It has very high ceilings with the bathroom on the outside of the house and bedrooms on the second floor. There is also a ceiling window that protrudes from the roof. Property prices here has sky rocketed over recent years and because of it's proximity to the city, many people like living here. It is serviced well by buses and obviously very close to the airport and the city. It is also a good proximity to both University of Sydney and University of New South Wales if you happen to still be studying.

Eastwood is a very happening suburb. It is not as big as the likes of larger suburbs such as Parramatta but has a shopping centre that gives you plenty of choice and lots of bargains. There is an obvious concentration of Korean and Chinese restaurants. These restaurants offer different varieties from different parts of China. You have Northern Chinese, Hong Kong cuisines, Macau, Szehuan and etc. The parking can get rather congested on the weekends with all the shoppers coming to this area to stock up on their weekly groceries.The claypot rice restaurant is one of the best claypot rice restaurants in Sydney, so give that one a definite try.

Halls Gap is about a three hours' drive from Melbourne City and is a great place to visit if you are a nature lover. Halls Gap is the place to stay over when visiting The Grampians. The Grampians National Park boasts of many activities and adventures. It is a great place for rock climbing, bush walking, bike riding, visiting waterfalls, lakes and many more.

In the town centre of Halls Gap, you can find cafes, restaurants, a pub, shops and many different types of accommodation. The Grampians YHA is a budget friendly youth hostel that is rated five stars. Just like it's Apollo Bay counterpart, this YHA is ecologically friendly, has great kitchen facilities and is very clean. There are a few chickens in the backyard where you can pick your own eggs for breakfast. Finally, Halls Gap is a very family friendly area where kids are able to ride on their bikes around the park and there are plenty of benches for the family picnic.

Rouse Hill is a nice, new and clean suburb. It is a very new residential and commercial development area and every building around here looks spick and span almost to the point of sterile. Rouse Hill has all the amenities that a family will need - from cafes, restaurants, shopping mall, library, banks and etc, you name it and they have it. There is a good mix of both apartment living and houses around this area. However, the houses are typical of the "MacMansion types" and sometimes whole streets can look very similar.

The only drawback with Rouse Hill is the lack of transport and its distance from the city. On a good day, it can take up to fifty minutes just to get into Sydney city. It is also a good thirty minutes drive to Parramatta. There are no trains around this area, only buses. The only real way to get around Rouse Hill is by car. I have to say that the roads here are wide and easy to navigate but I will not recommend living here if you have to work in the city.

Hurlstone Park is located right next to Dulwich Hill and the two suburbs look very similar. Hurlstone Park is about a thirty minutes' drive to the city and is located in the inner west of Sydney. It is mainly a residential area with many houses around the area (some of these houses are heritage listed).

There is a train station that services this suburb - Hurlstone Park Station and it is approximately a thirty minutes train ride from Hurlstone Park to Wynyard Station during peak hours. There are a couple of shops, service stations and restaurants in Hurlstone Park. Additionally, there is the Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL Club that is a great venue for entertainment and cheap beers.

Dulwich Hill is located about a thirty minutes' drive from the city in the inner west of Sydney. The closest train station is Dulwich Hill Station but train services to this area can be unreliable at times. The journey from Dulwich Hill to Wynyard in Sydney takes about thirty minutes during peak hours. Additionally, there are plenty of buses that run through Dulwich Hill to Sydney CBD and other suburbs around Sydney. Dulwich Hill is mainly a residential area with plenty of houses of all types. From Victorian homes to Federation homes, Dulwich Hill has it all. There are a handful of cafes, restaurants and a cake shop (Fernandes Patisserie) in this area.

Watsons Bay is about a fifteen minutes' drive from Sydney City and it is located in the eastern suburb of Sydney. This suburb is a very popular tourist destination as most operators will stop here for The Gap and allow tourists the time to take photos of the popular cliff.

Watsons Bay is also famous for Doyle's seafood restaurant and it's multimillion dollars homes. Apart from these, there is a pub, ice-cream shop, convenience store and gelato store along the main road. There is also a park that faces the harbour and it is very popular with the locals on the weekends.

Although there are many houses here and the location is really close to the city, it is a very expensive suburb with property prices ranging in the millions and not everyone can afford to live here.

Port Campbell is a small town along the Great Ocean Road and is a favourite pit stop for many tour operators and independent tourist. This is mainly because it is the closest town to the famous Twelve Apostle and the surrounding attractions.

There are a handful of restaurants, cafes, shops, bakery and a convenience store in this small town. Be prepared to pay top tourist dollars when eating in this town. I once bought a fly net for ten dollars! That said, it is a pretty town with plenty of grass and nice benches to sit at while you enjoy your lunch. It is next to the water and everything here is very neat and orderly. There is also a caravan park for those who are interested in camping.

Mount Beauty is located in the alpine region of Victoria and is about an eight hours' drive from Sydney or a four hours' drive from Melbourne. This town has some great views of the mountains that surround the area. It is a small country town that is highly dependent on its winter trade. The roads here are wide and clean and the houses are here are well maintained.

The town is fairly small as compared to the likes of Cooma and Jindabyne in New South Wales. There is a cafe, a bakery that has the best smelling and tasting bread, a supermarket, a handful of real estate agents and plenty of ski hire shops. Mount Beauty is a great place to stay if you are heading towards Falls Creek and it is less than an hour's drive up to the ski fields.

I have visited Warrnambool a few times while on my way to the Great Ocean Road. This city is about a three hours' drive from Melbourne. Warrnambool has everything that a big city offers. You have your usual pubs, supermarkets, fish markets, fruit and vegetables markets, Rays Outdoors, K-mart, fast food chains, bakeries, butchers and delis. It is a good idea to stock up at Warrnambool as prices at the other towns along the Great Ocean Road can be costlier.

The streets and roads in Warrnambool are clean and wide. Houses here just resemble those of typical suburbia. There are plenty of restaurants and cafes to dine at in Warrnambool. However, the highlight of this city has to be the Cheese World that offers free cheese tasting for everyone. Warrnambool is a good place to stop for a couple of hours just for stocking up but I will not recommend hanging around here too long if you are visiting the Great Ocean Road as there is really not much sight-seeing you can do around here.

Albury is also frequently referred to as Albury-Wodonga because it is just s stone's throw away from Wodonga in Victoria. This city is about a seven hours' drive from Sydney and there are many industries, mainly agriculture, around this area. Charles Sturt University is based in Albury and this city is big enough to have its own airport.

There are plenty of cafes, restaurants, convenience stores, shops, bakeries, banks and etc along the main streets of Albury. Whatever you can find in Sydney, Albury has it too. The streets are clean and wide and there is plenty of parking to go around for everyone in the city. Albury is a great pit stop if you are on your way to nearby towns such as Rutherglen and Yackandandah in Victoria.

Redfern is an inner-city suburb that is about a ten minutes' drive into the CBD or a five to ten minutes' train ride to Wynyard Station. Although Redfern is really close to the city, it has an image problem because of "The Block". However, things have changed and Redfern has gone through some serious gentrification over the years. Many young working professionals like living here because of its proximity to the city and it is a suburb that is well connected by public transport. The houses here are mainly terrace houses and there are plenty of heritage buildings that are now used for commercial purposes. Urbanisation has also resulted in residential apartments being built around the area.

Along the main streets of Redfern, you can find many shops, cafes, takeaway shops and pubs. Redfern is also a stone's throw from the Australian Technology Park. Despite its reputation, Redfern is a very convenient location.