Hunters Hill is a pretty, pocket-sized suburb in the Lower North Shore nestled between the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers and is home to some of the city’s most desirable waterfront properties.
Gorgeous honey-coloured sandstone buildings are dotted around the suburb and through the adjacent Woolwich peninsula, giving the area its distinct character. The suburb is one of Sydney’s oldest and many of the homes were built by French stonemasons who practiced their trade here in the 19th century.
The overwhelming vibe here is “quiet” and “leafy” but over the last decade a swathe of trendy restaurants and cafes have sprung up around the Ryde Road and Gladesville Road intersection (the “Hunters Hill Village”), creating some welcome buzz and a great place to meet up with friends for a coffee.
Hunters Hill itself has only a small assortment of shops and boutiques but there’s a wealth of retail in surrounding suburbs.
For food shopping, there’s a mini-market in the Hunters Hill Village and a cluster of delis and grocery shops in nearby Boronia Park. Residents regularly venture a little further afield to Gladesville, Top Ryde, North Ryde and Chatswood to shop at the major supermarket and department stores. The Victoria Road shopping precinct in Drummoyne and the Birkenhead Point outlet are also only a short drive away.
The Hunters Hill Hotel (known by locals as The Three H’s) and the Woolwich Pier Hotel both have great pub food, drinks and entertainment.
So your budget doesn’t stretch to a waterfront mansion? Not a problem – Hunters Hill has many smaller cottages and houses as well as lots of spacious, multi-storey family homes. There’s a mix of traditional and modern architectural styles and block sizes are generous, frequently including driveways and on-site parking.
Hunters Hill is a uniformly low density suburb but it does have a limited number of small unit blocks in some pockets. A handful of newer boutique-style apartments have sprung up in recent years, offering further options for renters.
Current average rents in Hunters Hill are $1,500 pw for a three-bedroom house and $650 pw for a two-bedroom unit.
Hunters Hill has frequent bus services into the city via Ryde and Victoria Roads. Dedicated bus lanes to the CBD have improved transit times on what can be an extremely busy route. Bus links to the north and west of the city are also available.
A more relaxing and scenic way to get to the CBD is by ferry from the Alexandra Street Wharf on the Woolwich peninsula. It’s one of the prettiest ferry rides in Sydney, and has you boating past Greenwich, Balmain and Cockatoo Island on your way.
Hunters Hill is also conveniently positioned to access the North Shore and the Inner West, and has bus links to Homebush and Parramatta. Driving around the suburb is easy, with parking rarely being a problem.
