marienoel

My family and I are considering a job offer in Wollongong. We hardly know Australia at all and even less about Wollongong. I'd like to look at schools and the rental options initially but need help on where to start.
We have 2 kiddies (9 and 5) and have never lived in a small town/city before. So can anyone suggest areas we might consider - most importantly with good schools, cafes and restaurants and access to Sydney by train?

KJCherokee

Shellharbour for beach, cafes, etc, Albion Park for trains. Anywhere round there on the southern edge of Lake Illawarra is pretty good.

marienoel

Ta - slighlty nervous about living in such a small place but..... beaches, laid-back, (hoping for) friendly place very welcome!

Blossom

Where abouts in Wollongong are you looking to work? You can get to most suburbs easily it depends on the lifestyle you want when you get here. I prefer any of the northern suburbs - Corrimal, Woonona, Bulli, Thirroul, Austinmer. Although Figtree, Mt Keira and Mt Kembla are also nice places to live including Cordeaux Heights, Farmborough Heights.

Not too keen on the southern suburbs of Port Kembla, Cringila, Warilla etc but that is my opinion only and others may very well like it south of the city. Shellharbour further south is full of big houses (at comparable rates to Wollongong etc but very McMansion without the substance.

All the beaches from Wollongong City Beach and North Beach up the coast to Stanwell Park are pretty darn good.

Schools : For my sixpenneth you cannot beat the catholic schools - St Therese at West Wollongong (Figtree area) or any in the northern suburbs - they then lead on to the catholic high schools - St Mary's Girls, Edmond Rice Boys and Holy Spirit co-ed. Costs for catholic schools are higher than state schools but are considered much better. (I put my daughter into the catholic education system and she put her children through the same system and they have thrived and enjoyed their school years). My grandaughter was considered special needs in UK, and after being here 12 months she was definitely considered to be an achiever and is now in her first year of University and doing well! That says it all to me.

Wollongong is not so small that if feels insular - it is a very multicultural city, and is currently going through another stage of development. It is on the coast yet not far from the rural areas to get away from the hustle and bustle, and only 1 1/2 hours by train to Sydney should you want your big city fix.

Good luck and if I can help further please PM me.

marienoel

Cheers Blossom
My husband has a job at the Uni and I won't be working. Its good to know that Wollongong is deceptively multicultural (given its size). For now we are looking in the northern suburbs especially as the beaches look gorgeous!

paddyo

I can echo most of what Blossom said. I work in Sydney and live in Bulli. Between Wollongong and Shellharbour I would avoid, its becoming a depressed area with few job prospects and with that comes poor social conditions and rising petty crime, particularly Port Kembla/Cringila.
Shellharbour itself is a lovely beach side village, the town though is growing and has a huge shopping mall area but as Blossom says, huge houses with no style or substance and just rows and rows of 'all house, no garden'. I much prefer the older village Shellharbour.
North of Wollongong are great beach towns, apart from Bellambi, all the way up to Stanwell Park. Of those I would say that Fairy Meadow, Towradgi, Woonona, Bulli and Thirroul are the pick for families with the more northern ones further up being more expensive. By the way, do not use the glamourous beach shots as a benchmark, ALL the coast towns have great beaches, even the crappy ones!!
Wollongong itself is OK, nothing special. It has a good entertainment centre and sports stadium and a decent shopping mall and the city beach is nice. If you had to live there you could find a half decent apartment or townhouse, but most expats do fall for the beach side lifestyle and for good reason.
For rent costs, I would use $500 per week as a rough guide but really depends on supply and demand at the time and actual location, check out Domain.com.au for examples of what is available. The closer to the beach the more expensive.
All suburbs north of Wollongong are on the Sydney train route, not so much south of Wollongong, beach side anyway. Main stations are Wollongong, North Wollongong (for Uni), Thirroul and Helensburgh.
Schools is really difficult and is so personal to you that I hesitate to make any proclamations. I understand Blossom's comments,I am a catholic but will not send my son to the schools around here simply because I despise the 'we are a scholastic charity so give us as much money and your free time as you can' attitude. The public schools are in every suburb and all by and large good with a few minor exceptions but the high schools are ok, nothing special unless you get a selective or fee paying school. So far our son has thrived in school here but then again we are very proactive parents with regard to homework and investing in interest in his projects and lessons, not pushy, just supportive

Blossom

If hubby is working at Wollongong Uni the best suburbs close to campus would be Mount Keira / Figtree areas and probably a 10 - 15 minute drive to the beaches from their. Wollongong Uni is very good and has an excellent innovation campus at Fairy Meadow. My grandaughter is currently at the Moss Vale campus but transferring to Wollongong next semester and is loving it!

Good luck with the decision