Well, not us personally anyway, but The Ponds as one of the newest suburb is. Here is an article from SMH that compares Sydney: Old vs. New. There is another mention also in this article.
It's great to see that The Ponds as a new suburb has been getting a lot of mention in the public news and even more so when comparing The Ponds and all the newest suburb around the city with the oldest suburb in the history of Sydney, The Rocks. The article mention that The Ponds has a lot of places and lots of green grass out and about but The Rocks is just kilometers of paved and concrete all the way with not much grass on it's footpath. Maybe trees but even comparing The Rocks to a residential suburb, there is not much competition in that department also.
The Ponds is a new suburb with a new living concept. We were handed a guideline by the developer at the time of purchase and we have to adhere guideline in order to have our house build. It's a great concept and I don't mind it at all. I think it's great to have a uniformed design with the other houses in the area. I guess one of the reason is to keep the value of the area at a certain level, which is not a bad thing really.
It will be a massive change of lifestyle for us as a family having to move from where we were living before in the inner west, all the way to the north west. I can already imagine some of the sentence that I will say when we move in: "It used to take us around 15 - 20 minutes plus 5 minutes walking distance from home to the station. Now it takes us around an hour to get to work!" or something to that effect.
I've already mentioned this very same reasoning in one of my early post. Reading that article made me think and asked myself "Why are we moving to The Ponds?" and at this point I forgot that I've posted the answer before. I'm glad that the very same reason was still my answer if we were asked that question again.
I guess in addition to that reasoning is the appeal of the community that draws people to the suburb and to the lifestyle that we are longing for. It's true that I've already met and know our neighbors even before we move in!
My office is situated within 5 steps to The Rocks literally and some of my photography work has also include The Rock as one of my favorite location. I don't think it's necessary to compare The Rocks and The Ponds or the other new suburb.
The Rocks has it's own historical value also that I quite like it the way it is. It's true that some of the redevelopment maybe has destroy some of the lifestyle value there. Something that exist in 1973 (even before I was born!) may not be there anymore. Having said that some are still there, like the convenience store around the corner near the Australian Hotel. Or the connecting alley along George St at The Rocks. I hope the local council can still maintain and keep it's historic value for time to come.
2 comments:
I don't think it's realistic to compare The Rocks and The Ponds in any residential sense. Very different times, with different planning and construction constraints. However, it's great that you are so excited by your new home-to-be and I hope the village concept works out in the digital native generation! Can't wait to see it finished. Keep on with the updates :)
There is also some history associated with The Ponds. The convict uprising at Vinegar Hill was said to have occurred around Second Ponds Creek. The exact location is unsure ... but around Second Ponds Creek. So there is history in The Ponds too. Not to mention all the Aboriginal history there as well.
You are right, though, we have chosen to move to The Ponds due to the lifestyle we would like to live. Green spaces and friendly neighbours are all part of the plan :)
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