iamthecreaturefromuranus

Welcome to Wollongong. A city of contrasts.

Pommiebird

Gold Coast Hinterland....Best of Both Worlds.....Stunning scenery and great people...there is a season change (which I did miss living on the coast) and still only half an hour to Surfers Paradise nightlife and the Gold Coast beaches. Fab school of only 40 kids!!

Do I need to say anymore??

moneypenny20

Southern Gold Coast

Wildlife in the garden - koalas, kangaroos, possums, King Parrots, Lorikeets, Galahs, Blue Tongued Lizards etc etc etc
Five minutes to the best beach in the world as I know it
Half an hour to the mountains
An hour to Brisbane
Close to Far North NSW which is just lush
40 minutes to the theme parks
Great food
Lovely people
I could go on but that's enough for now. I don't want anyone moving here

ShawnMcCrea

Thanks for your fast response. hah the Cockatoos were definately loud in the morning when I was in AUS. Never saw black cockatoos or king parrots which are gorgeous.

Where exactly do you live again?

Also curious if you see pythons or any other such reptiles?

Absolutely in love with the unique, colorful, exotic animals of Australia.

kporte

I'm trying to, but it's only been on the market a week!!

koalakim

We live on the Mornington Peninsula of Melbourne and we like it because....

it has rugged coastline and coastline that reminds of SW WA which we loved but not practical to live in at the moment

on the other side we have the back beaches with real waves - the bay is nice for bathing but gets a bit boring to wave watch unless on a really windy day

lovely towns, nice cafes etc

rolling hills and countryside which reminds us of Sussex but with gum trees

lots of wineries

downside it can be a bit sleepy so we need to go to the city for a buzz fix everynow and again, driving up and down the Neapean Highway can get extremely boring or frustrating if you hit all the traffic lights.

We are very beachy people so for us it's about the best we can get in Melbourne without being too far from the city. A bit more money then I'd go a bit further down the Peninsula and then have a small flat in the city for when we need to be there! Sorted!

However, I'd still love to live on the Northern Beaches of Sydney and also my other favourite place is SW WA - Margaret River, Busselton etc.

Too much to choose from!

IndieG

We live in Melbourne, in a suburb called Kew. It is a lovely suburb, quite close to the CBD (about 25 min by tram).

Advantages

• Pretty safe suburb
• Beautiful tree lined streets
• Almost all houses have very beautiful gardens, people really do take pride in their gardens here
• Lots of good (so I hear) private schools (Ruyton, MLC, Trinity Grammar) within a 5 min drive. The govt. primary school (Kew Primary) is pretty good too. No incidents of bullying, very welcoming and friendly as far as we were concerned.
• A nice mix of of all nationalities - you can find Aussies, Chinese, Korean, Malaysian, Indians, Italians, Greek...etc living here.
• Lots of parks within a 7 min walk from my place, so kids get lots of fresh air and exercise everyday (weather permitting).
• Lots of quaint shops on high street, so you don't have to travel very far for shopping.
• Depending on where you live in Kew, it is serviced by 2 trams (48 and 109) to CBD and they're pretty regular and I haven't found them crowded.

Negatives:

• Well with all of the above what can you expect, yep, you've guessed right, it is a bl00dy expensive suburb. A 3 bed 1 bath detached house with a little patch for a garden could be all yours for just $1.5 million
• Kew is considered an affluent suburb, but for the odd nice house, most houses are dilapidated and quite depressing to look at.

PS: Will take some pictures today and post them later this afternoon

DeadVim

All of that and value for money house/land-wise.

$315,000 for 3 and half acres of brilliantness (3 years ago now) ... had a 'roo down by our creek the other morning ... reminds me, must get the chainsaw out to tame some wilderness and gather some firewood ...

Hutch

I live in South Coast NSW.

Advantages:

• Five minutes walk to the beach (dependant upon footwear choice)
• Five minutes walk to the river
• Two hours drive to the centre of Sydney - 90 minutes to Sydney airport - 60 minutes to Wollongong
• Two hours to Canberra - three to the snow - 20 mins to amazing Jervis Bay
• Property's v.cheap - four bed, dlug, pool on 800sq for $400k
• Good schools
• I don't fish but apparently the fishing's great
• Plenty of wildlife - wombats, roos, eagles, oh yea and we have dolphins and whales too - oh and hammerheads and white pointers and stingrays
• Semi-rural area, stunning empty beaches, amazing green paddocks and fields
• Good surfing beaches
• Low crime area (unless you happen to fall foul of the local outboard motor crime cartel)
• Throw a lump hammer in the air anywhere in the district and you'll hit a winery or possibly an outboard motor thief
• Long history by post-colonial aussie standards - my son's school is 150 years old and the local pub is an old coaching inn that's been there for 160 years.
• Since it's a fairly touristy area there's shitloads of good cafes and restaurants
• Four seasons

Disadvantages

• Influx of weekenders on a Friday/outflux on a Sunday makes those days a motherflucker to travel on
• There's a train, but it's mind-bogglingly slow and not that much cheaper than a car
• If you like going clubbing your only chance of a knees up will be to join the depressed looking widows who take up a tiny fraction of the massive dance floor at the bowlo on line dancing night
• Ear-marked as an area that's going to experience explosive growth over the next decade which I find very depressing
• Four seasons

Vash the Stampede

City of Playford, SA.

Absurdly cheap (we paid $225,000 for our house). 5 minutes from the countryside. Has all the services, shops and facilities I need (including an excellent maternity hospital just down the road from us). Surprisingly pretty in my part of the suburb, thanks to tree-lined roads, underground power and some well kept gardens. Only 20 minutes from my mother's house (close enough to be convenient, but far enough to stop her popping in unexpectedly every day!) Quiet neighbourhood with friendly neighbours on either side. Easy drive into Adelaide via Main North Road; great shopping at Gepps Cross.

Visit the parks, cinema or aquatic centre, take a wander up into the hills (Para Wira Rec Park is short, scenic drive away and has a beautiful lake), watch a live performance at the Shedley Theatre, chill out in the library, go on a mad shopping spree, drive down to Mawson Lakes and laugh at the hideous McMansions built on tiny courtyard blocks that are three times smaller than your own, or just sit back, relax and watch the bogans drift by.

A few scruffy houses and some even scruffier suburbs on the other side of MNR. No Muslims, so I can't blame them for anything. Every day is "Bring a Bogan Day" at the local supermarket. Signs on the doors of local pubs and hotels which say "Dress Code Strictly Enforced. No thongs, no flanny, no mullet? No service!"

OzWannabee

We live in Gympie, QLD

Advantages (Yes there are a few!!)

• Nobody wants to live here as the area has a gun slinging, two-headed mutant reputation which means
• Cheap housing (brand new 4bed 2bath double garage on new estate 800sq around $350k) and semi-rural acerage blocks are still affordable.
• Small town where most places still shut on a Sunday including Woolworths, Coles and Big W (might be a disadvantage for some!)
• Two small hospitals (state and private). The twice I've visited A&E with the kids we went straight through, didn't even sit down!
• Very, very friendly especially the mutants!
• Beautiful countryside, very green most of the time with rolling hills and the Mary River running through it
• Loads of wildlife, kangaroo's and wallaby's on our land and on the school oval
• You make friends with loads of Aussie's 'cos there are hardly any Poms here
• An hour to the ferry for Fraser Island which is great for 4wd on the beach and has beautiful lakes
• An hour to Rainbow Beach which is usually very quiet unless its Summer and you can 4wd all the way down to Noosa
• An hour to Noosa and most places on the Sunshine Coast
• 2 hour drive to Brisbane or you can catch the train
• Good choice of schools, state and private
• They love their sport here so there are loads of sports clubs for kids and adults
• Has its own horse racecourse - great day out!
• Steam train that runs every weekend, local Eisteddfordd, Gympie Country Show
• and the Gympie Music Muster which runs for a week every year!

Disadvantages

• It has a highway running through it but not for much longer as a new one has started to be built around the town finishes 2012
• The river floods a couple of times a year and cuts off half the town but we don't live that side!
• Not a big choice of shops but we have all the basics and all the fast food restaurants - unfortunately!
• Entertainment consists of a handful of decent restaurants/pubs, ten pin bowling and a cinema
• Always having to answer the question "What on earth made you move to Gympie?"

coolshadows

I have a friend who is a policeman in Elizabeth - he took great offense when I mistakenly said he lived there.

Pommiebird

Ozwannabe.......last time I went to Gympie -reminded me of home (Cornwall) smelled just the same......(farting cows!!)

Gympie gets bad press its always been a friendly place or so I have found!! Would put up with said smell in a heartbeat to know about the Steam Train that you said runs at the weekend.

I have a 3 year old son who is train mad and would love a ride. Any info would appreciated.


Ta

DeadVim

I saw a steam train rattle through Roma Street this week actually ... they also do regular rides from there ...
http://www.citytrain.com.au/events/S...ain_sunday.asp

The rail workshops out at Ipswich is also worth a look ... we took our 3 yo daughter to the Day Out With Thomas a couple of years ago, it was a hit

(edit) Even more, excellent ... http://www.theworkshops.qm.qld.gov.a...eam_trains.asp

OzWannabee

I haven't noticed a smell of farting cows and I'm surrounded by them - unless I've just got used to it!! I suppose there has to be a downside to living in the country!

Here's the link for the train

http://www.thevalleyrattler.com/

They also do themed train rides, wizards, pirates, wild west etc. Let me know if you need anymore info!

Jo