Rosanna Vs. Kingsbury

The longer we look for a house, the harder it seems to become.  Even such a simple thing as picking a suburb seems to be getting harder.  Just as we think we have narrowed down our search, other opportunities and possibilities open themselves to us.  The problem is there are good points and bad points to most of the suburbs we have looked at and it is a matter of finding the right balance.  Some we can rule out straight away, Northcote for example is just too expensive. 

Rosanna is a suburb we have recently started to consider, it lies just to the North of Heidelberg and is approximately 12km out from the city centre.  In a recent survey by the age it was ranked 177th most livable suburb in Melbourne (out of 314).  To put that into some sort of perspective Northcote lies at 36th, Heidelberg West was 216th, Bundoora 235th and Reservoir just beating Rosanna at 176th.  Rosanna has a small commercial region of local shops, restaurants and cafes which are centred around a zone 2 train station.  Previously when we have looked at house prices in Rosanna we have found it too expensive, but a recently discovered unit on Lower Plenty Road could be perfect for us, although we wont be able to arrange an inspection until the new year.

We have considered Kingsbury before, although not made any special effort to search for properties there, until now.  In the age survey mentioned earlier Kingsbury features at 124th, much higher than any other suburb we have looked at.  Kingsbury is a very small suburb and could possibly be considered almost part of Reservoir if it wasn't for the Darebin creek forming a physical barrier between the two.  Kingsbury is pretty much a purely residential area with the only commercial sections lying on Plenty road or a small block of shops on Link street. The main public transport route is the 86 tram that runs from the docklands up to Bundoora, making it a very convenient location for Barnadi to get to work from but not nearly so convenient for me.  What Kingsbury lacks in culture it makes up for in green open spaces with Bundoora park to the north and the Darebin creek trail forming a protective green barrier around the eastern edges, giving us plenty of places to take a dog for a walk.

I am finding one of the first things I check when we consider a house is how easy it is for me to get to work.  Normally this might seem a sensible consideration, but I have to remember my current job is only a 6 month temporary contract, of which I am nearly a month into already.  There is no guarantee that a house that is convenient for work now will be as convenient in the future.  Work at the Alfred is however going well, and my orientation was kicked up a gear last week in order to get me up and out on the wards a little quicker. 

The way the clinical pharmacy service runs at the Alfred is completely different from anywhere I have worked before.  Pharmacists are assigned to a clinical team rather than a ward, and so look after all patients within that team regardless of their location within the hospital.  Clinical pharmacist at the Alfred are also just that, clinical, with no dispensary slots, just out on the wards all day.  It is great as it allows me to go on all the consultant ward rounds and counsel all my patients on their medications properly.  I am currently assigned to the Trauma team which is a relatively small surgical area and despite the fast turnover I have only had approximately 20 patients to see a day (apparently it can go up to 40).  The only negative is the early starts, since starting at the Alfred I am seeing less and less of Barnadi, a problem which will be amplified if we move anywhere with poor transport connections, so I suppose this is the true reason why it is such a big deal to me.  My job at the Alfred is almost too good to be true, their clinical service being quite unique even in Australia, I would seriously consider applying for another job there before my 6 months is up,  moving to another hospital just wouldn't be the same.