Talbot

We’ve lived here for several years. We are professionals and the number of owner occupiers has steadily grown. Not surprising, as the location, trees, birds, and big yards that attracted us are also attracting others. Prices are really affordable and we figured why rent when we could buy. We don’t have to live on a tiny block in basically a ghetto (like you’ll find at Ripley, Rosewood, and Lowood new estates) with neighbours in our armpits. We aren’t sweltering in a heat sink of concrete and steel. We’re so close to everything but at the same time it feels kind of rural. There are some gorgeous old houses which would give Graceville a run for its money. The river and bridges, massive parks, sporting fields, Ipswich Showgrounds, University, and nearby bmx track, are great for the kids. The water play (which has a full time lifeguard!) on the river and Queens Park are both five minutes away. Great roads give easy access to the highways east and west. Two minutes from the City, five minutes from the Junior Grammar school, Riverlink, and Yamanto for shopping. A lovely little private primary school is nestled right in the heart of One Mile too. This suburb is far more liveable than anywhere else for these prices. Neighbours are super friendly and although people complain of low socec folks and crime throughout Ipswich, I’ve never had a single issue in the four years we’ve been here. With owner occupiers growing too, the rentals are reducing - by around 12% in a couple of years! If you’re looking for an affordable home in a great location this is it. Just please don’t buy a house and cut the trees down - you will need them for shade and the trees and cool afternoons go and in hand. The planet will thank you. Everywhere else seems to be turning into a concrete jungle. Would hate to see that happen here.

In an era when developers are forcing the closure of small local shops, trying to make gigantic central shopping centres, Skylark Street Shops is thriving against that pressure. This is so important for community. There are take-away shops, a newsagent, Australia Post, FoodStore, a pet washing place, hairdresser, and lots more. It's so great to see it is still around after all these years. 30 years ago I bought (well my mum bought) my first kitten from the Skylark Street shops, and my step-father concreted in one of the back driveways to the place. Still now 30 years later I am up there almost every day getting groceries or to post a letter. Ah the nostalgia. Love this place Inala. It needs an overhaul of the fish and chips shop (yucko) and it needs a pharmacy and a GP.

There is a Chinese take away which the Vietnamese proprietors of the nearby grocery store told me is quite good. I'll have to try it. The fish n chips are truly awful though...I've tried twice and both times was sorely disappointed.

Awarded 'Queensland's Top Practice,' Inala Primary Care family health care centre is located on Wirraway Parade. Wirraway Parade is one of the hubs for the Inala Civic Centre with its busy Bus Centre and shopping precinct. There are very few homes on this street, as it is mostly taken up with the Civic Centre, an excellent Tyre and Mechanical business (great prices, great quality), the Department of Communities suite of agencies, in addition to a Centrelink Branch. On the other side of the mechanic, across Partridge Street is a Video Rental Store, and beyond that is an excellent Family Health Care clinic, Inala Primary Care.

Entering this street in a T Junction is Partridge Street which is the gateway road to Forest Lake. Following this road leads to the Forest Lake Shopping Plaza.

A wide road with access to everything! All set in a leafy, tranquil setting.

The lower section of Swallow Street borders an enormous park with barbeque facilities, a creek and a little bridge. The park has lots of play areas and walkways/cycle paths.

On the outside edge of the top end of the park, is the PCYC which is home to a lot of community spirit and is the base for a lot of sporting activities. They also offer vacation care there. A child care centre is located next to the PCYC on Swallow Street, and next door to that is the Bremer TAFE.

All homes in this street are within walking distance to the Inala Civic Centre (Shopping Plaza) with its large Bus Terminal to take you to the City or wherever you wish to go. There is also a Woolworths, Coles, and a myriad of wonderful shops serving the Vietnamese and SE Asian communities. You can buy anything here, from a bamboo sweeper to a vast range of asian groceries. The Civic Centre is also home to medical centres, chemists, clothing stores, electrical stores, a Post Office, and fast food stores.

This is a quiet street, just a few steps from beautiful parkland, a PCYC, Bremer Tafe and the Skylark Street shopping centre. We have lovely neighbours and lots of houseproud keen gardeners.

The street is wide and most homes are built in rendered concrete. Homes are generally 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom with a (generally spacious) laundry and extra toilet housed in an external extension abutting the main house. Most yards are between 607 sqm and 800 sqm.

The street is very long, joining Skylark Street down near Inala Avenue, the street turns to run parallel with Sanderling Street until it emerges out onto Swallow Street.

People are friendly and neighbours tend to stop to have a chat as they walk by - up to collect their children from school, or on a trip to the local Foodstore supermarket.

The houses are top quality, the roads are wide, the yards are massive, the neighbours are super friendly. This is a real community.

One of the best things about Inala is the peace and quiet here. When I wake up in the morning, I wake up to birds singing and light dappling in through foliage. It's like an oasis. There are 3 parks a couple of streets from me in 3 directions!

One of the other best things about Inala is that it's a bargain!

Just do a quick compare of Inala and Forest Lake. Forest lake is 1 km from Inala and has twice the population in a far smaller area! The houses in FL are $100k more on average, but you get an awful lot less for your money.

In Inala you get huge blocks of land covered with trees and lovely gardens, solid concrete (not brick!) houses constructed with gorgeous huge hardwood beams (trust me, I've renovated one), and beautiful hardwood brushbox floors as standard (just look under the lino or carpet!). The houses are built with exquisite workmanship - not a single squeak in the floorboards - which is extraordinary with 50yr old timber flooring. The houses are usually constructed of poured concrete outer walls and rendered internal walls. The bedrooms are really huge - so when you see 3 bdrm you need to realise these are large. The window frames are silky oak! This is absolutely bog standard for all houses in Inala! (Except if someone's come along to renovate and replaced the casements with aluminum security sliding windows - which has happened in some houses.)

For your extra $120k in forest you get miniature houses with no yard, tiny bedrooms (half the size of ours), pine and brick construction (termite food) on 500sqm of land (if you're lucky!), 6 neighbouring houses, boiling hot bitumen culdesacs where the grass is dead and the lanes so narrow everyone parks their cars on the verge. Sure there are a few lakes around - but if I want to go to a lake, I'm closer to them from here than many people in FL are because Forest Lake is only 1km from my house!

And if it's the demographic stigma that's holding you back from buying in Inala, here's the big secret. FL and Inala have almost the same demographic! Except that people in FL are in more debt because they got bigger mortgages and therefore have less disposable income.

In Inala you have a massive bus station at the main shopping centre with buses going to Indooroopilly, the City, Sunnybank etc (everywhere) and you have Darra, Oxley, and Wacol train stations all within 5-6 kms. There are about 5 schools locally without including all the commutable schools in areas like Robertson, Indooroopilly, Kenmore... And a drive to the city in non-peak takes 18 minutes straight up Ipswich Road!

I can't recommend Inala enough. I'm a 30 something married woman doing post grad study at UQ and my husband is a professional. The only reason I can study full time is because our mortgage here is cheap enough that we can pay it on one wage.

If you're thinking of starting a family and want to stay home with the kids, why would you go anywhere else?