Hello we are two Brits living in New Zealand with Permanent Residency here. While we love the Kiwi life style there are negatives which make us reconsider a move to OZ i.e. we work in health and our wages are 70% less than in OZ, which makes New Zealand a very expensive, verging on unaffordable for us to enjoy the life even though we are top of our payscale/career.

We're looking at Hunter/New England Maitland surrounds or Mid North Taree coastal surrounds - Port Macquaire. However after researching threads I'm concerned, I get the picture of towns that are out of 'Once Were Warriors', unsafe and violent. Is this a balanced picture or can you avoid those places? We're not looking bright light's big city, but a safe rural town.

Thoughts appreciated

I know nothing of life in those places in NSW, however, as another one of the many NZ refugees here in Australia, I just wanted to welcome you to the forum.

I hope you are aware that your NZ PR counts for nothing when emigrating to Australia, you would have to apply for Australia from scratch. If you wait to get NZ citizenship you will get automatic temporary entry to Australia under current legislation.

BB

I've visited PMQ on a few occasions and always liked it, seems very quiet and didn't get any impression of high crime, although that was staying in a hotel and only for a day or two at a time.

I've never heard of any of those mid-north coast towns being called unsafe or violent. Port Macquarie is the last place I would call unsafe - it's quite wealthy, lots of retirees and people on holiday. Very nice beaches, plenty of cafes, restaurants and the like.

Taree is just a typical town serving the rural area nearby. Quite a decent size but not sophisticated or particularly attractive. I've been there a couple of times. It's not somewhere I'd move to but the people were friendly.

Maitland is very close to Newcastle and the Hunter Valley so it's well placed. Plenty of shops. There is a large jail there - maybe there's been some trouble associated with that? I don't know.

If you're thinking of the New England area too, then Armidale is a really nice country town. It markets itself as an 'education centre' as it has a few private boarding schools and the Uni. Plenty of rich graziers in the area send their kids to school there. Only issue with Armidale is the winter temperatures - as it's up on a high plateau it gets very cold.

+1.....just come back from a trip up there. PMQ looked very nice, certainly no 'Once were warriors' types there!!

Same here...spent last Thursday night there and my wife loved it. Lots of natural bird life and dolphins swimming in the estuary...quite touristy in fact!

Other towns on the coast can be, when you consider their proximity to Sydney a bit remote...it is not ....all a bag of laughs.

Look for posts by Arkon. The smaller places drove him mad.

Thanks every one that's put my mind at rest. The previous post I read must have a bad experience or rural and quiet not their thing, but that's what I like. I know everywhere has good and bad area's, even in small town NZ, but I know where to avoid here. Many thanks.

I live in Armidale (well on 5 acres out of town). I grew up here and it is a reasonably cosmopolitan place compared to many country towns thanks to the university. I lived in Sydney for 18 years and returned here in 2006. It is 1000m above sea level so get mild summers (though the UV is quite high) and cold winters. We had a -5.5 this morning. Plenty of Autumn colour around as well.
Here is a new website for the region. A couple of the photos are mine
http://www.experiencethehighs.com.au/

Here is a visitors guide for the region. One of my photos on the front of Ebor Falls. Hope this helps.
http://www.experiencethehighs.com.au...heHighs_VG.pdf
Paul

We lived 30km north of Coffs Harbour on the mid north coast - 2 hours north of Port Macquarie and never had any problems. Nothing like "Once were Warriors".

In fact the lovely coastal village we lived in - Corindi Beach - is the safest and friendliest place I have lived in. The mid north coast has a stunning coastline and attracts visitors from all over NSW, Victoria and Queensland. Only reason we are in WA is for work.

Coffs and Port Macquarie, like many parts of regional Australia, have high unemployment. Coffs relies on tourism and the banana industry. Other main employers are the health industry,the university and the Centrelink call centre. But small businesses are really struggling and the housing market has taken a battering.