Mr. C3 and I are moving to Australia in 4 months (if all goes well with our house sale here in the U.S.). He grew up on the Central Coast, and that’s where we’ll be going initially, but we’re trying to decide on a place to settle permanently.
These are our criteria:
· Somewhere in New South Wales (because of proximity to family & friends)
· In or within 20k of a decent sized town (at least 20,000 people)
· Cool restaurants and pubs in the town
· Cool to cold winters
· Within an hour’s drive to the coast
· Not Sydney (because of the cost)
· Not cookie-cutter suburbia (this is the hard one)
· He’s a physio and I do admin/billing stuff, so a place with the potential for a couple jobs would be good
My husband hasn’t been back, except for a couple short visits (one with me along), for ten years, and he knows things have probably changed quite a bit. When I went with him, I liked Newcastle, although we visited friends there and didn’t see too much of the town itself. He’s thinking maybe the coast south of Sydney, but doesn’t really know too much about that area.
We’re going to spend the first 6 months to a year exploring a bit, but if you all have some suggestions we could use as starting points, we’d appreciate it! Plus, we’ve been spending a lot of time dreaming about our new little house in our cool little neighborhood, so it would be nice to add an actual little town to our fantasies.
So, where, in your opinion, is the best place to live in NSW?
How about out near Katomba, Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains and Penrith-way.
· Somewhere in New South Wales (because of proximity to family & friends) [Check]
· In or within 20k of a decent sized town (at least 20,000 people) [Check]
· Cool restaurants and pubs in the town [I think]
· Cool to cold winters [Definate check!]
· Within an hour’s drive to the coast [Check]
· Not Sydney (because of the cost) [Check]
· Not cookie-cutter suburbia (this is the hard one) [Check]
· He’s a physio and I do admin/billing stuff, so a place with the potential for a couple jobs would be good [Check]
I grew up on the Central Coast too. It’s changed so much now, I have no intention of going back. It’s become an overdeveloped outer part of Sydney, with prices to match.
The South Coast might fit the bill, but then again, I don’t know it very well either. You might like to consider Canberra. It’s big, house prices are reasonable compared to Sydney, it’s got cold winters (close to the snowfields), fantastic infrastructure (coz the politicians live there), and with the new freeway, you aren’t too far from Sydney.
The old steel city of Wollongong has gone through a dramatic transformation in the past decade. More people are employed in the education sector than in heavy industry now.
Otherwise you could pick from a couple of the Southern Highlands cities e.g. Goulburn, Bowral, Moss Vale
Newcastle is a shithole. It’s the world’s biggest shithole.
Newcastle is an industrial city. Like the best indutrial cities, Newcastle is boring, lifeless and nothing happens here. The best part of Newcastle is the road to Sydney. And even that is too long.
My Big Long List of Everything wrong with Newcastle:
The city has always voted Labor. There has not been a single election that Labor has lost the seat of Newcastle. So, when it comes to getting money for anything, the Labor party doesn’t bother because they know they’ve got the seat sewn up anyway, and the Liberal party doesn’t bother because they know they have no hope of winning it. So Newcastle gets nothing.
Newcastle is a city of almost 500 000 people (if you include Lake Macquarie, which is what generally happens). It has the services of a city a tenth the population. There are no decent sporting venues, major cultural events pass us by, the public transport system is terrible - the rail network is not very extensive and the bus system is a mess.
Newcastle has no big buildings. This mightn’t mean much to you, but if I live in a city, I like it to look like a city. Newcastle looks like a small town with big chunks of suburbia stuck to it.
Newcastle has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.
Newcastle is suburbia heaven. There is so much suburbia, there is a whole city called Lake Macquarie that is just suburbia. Sydney might have the urban sprawl, but at least it has something at the middle. Newcastle is a big cupboard to keep families in. The inner city is ok, but it tends to be either expensive or crime-ridden.
Despite consistently voting left-wing, the Newcastle population is very conservative. It shies away from change and is distressingly intolerant to minorities.
Compared to other cities, Newcastle has very little racial diversity.
Newcastle’s winters are very mild. It has four seasons: Summer, Really Hot Summer, Summer (actually Autumn) and Cold Summer.
Keep in mind however that I’m a teenager who has grown up in Newcastle, and would dearly love to leave it behind. I will be fair and mention that it is only two hours drive away from Sydney, has quite nice beaches, not too bad restaurants on Darby and Beaumont Sts and some ok pubs.
I’d recommend the Central Coast (if you can bear the cost) or maybe the south coast. But Newcastle - nope.
Granted it’s suburban sprawl (I would hardly call it cookie-cutter) and the downtown, Hunter Street, once thriving, now is a ghost-town because of those big ass malls they built in the 'burbs, but it depends on what you’re looking for.
-There are some BEAUTIFUL tree-filled suburbs in Newcastle - Merewether, Adamstown Heights, Kotara South, etc.
-World-class beaches – Nelson Bay is spectacular! The beach is RIGHT THERE!
A quick drive to Sydney.
Wonderful vineyards in the Hunter Valley.
They closed down the BHP, so it’s no longer a steel mill town and I will guarantee you the urban sprawl from Sydney will continue to move up north up to Newcastle – I’d say invest in real estate there.
Not to mention some wonderful architecture and history.
Thanks for weighing in on the Newcastle thing. Our friends live in a “tree-filled suburb” that I really liked, but that was the only exposure I got (except for a bit of a drive around). I liked what I saw, but didn’t see much. The unemployment issue is one to consider, and the weather, too (because I think that’s the only thing that would make me really homesick). On the other hand, the investment issue is a big one, too.
I’m going to check out some of the other suggestions on the internet this weekend. Keep 'em coming!!
It’s in a spectacular setting and all, but you wouldn’t catch me living there. It has a huge heroin problem, lots of petty crime, and unemployment is high (unless you want a slow, expensive commute to Sydney every day).
The people who aren’t junkies are ferals, speed freaks, professional welfare recipients, and crazy old cat ladies.
Nope. My stepbrother is the council ranger at Lithgow (just up the highway), and tells me horror stories of the goings on in these towns (Lithgow is slightly worse). The drug problem is out of control all the way from Katoomba to Orange (except Bathurst for some reason).
As I said in my last post, it’s in a really beautiful place, and I like going to Katoomba for coffee and chocolates at the Paragon, followed by the obligatory trip down the road to Echo Point, but in recent years the Blue Mountains’ demographic has changed - lotsa scumbags moving in, quite frankly.
If you want cool-to-cold winters, you will probably have to head inland, with the climate on the coast being more temperate. Of course, the further south you go, the cooler it will be too. Anything north of Umina is bloody tropical as far as I’m concerned.
I know you’re not familiar with the south coast region, but do check it out. It’s beautiful, and not quite as commercialised as the northern areas.
Of course, if you were smart, you’d head to Melbourne. We can offer everything you want, except proximity to family…but that might not be such a bad thing either. (Have you tried living near them before…sometimes the Mighty Murray is a godsend you know).
Anyway…we’re a much better class of Doper down 'ere. ( )
Hey ! How can you even consider anywhere but the Central Coast !
Depending on how much commuting bothers you and what price range you’re looking at, one non-cookie-cutter suburb is Patonga (half old fishing village, half affluent commuters) or there’s some nice small acreages outside Somersby (half an hour’s drive inland from the Central Coast).
Either way, maybe there will finally be a CoastDope
Oh, and I’d personally recommend the south coast. No particular areas, because it’s all pretty darn nice
