erkogirl

We moved to Sydney just over 4 years ago and have been renting in Erskineville ever since. Love the area but it's expensive and the landlord puts the rent up every 6 months. Time to buy! We work in Chatswood so we're looking in a radius of 1 hours commute from Chatswood by train. Woy Woy station is 1 hour so we'd love to hear from anyone who commutes from there. Where are you and what's your area like? Is it (bluntly speaking) bogan & hoon raddled? What makes it great? What are the biggest drawbacks? Is the housing market on the up, down or stagnating where you are? We hear both good and bad about Umina and Woy Woy and yet, the with exception of the middle of the peninsula, it doesn't look too terible to me. We're looking for peace & quiet, reasonable, responsible neghbours and a dearth of student parties.

Rainydaze

Hi erkogirl

OH and I have been toying with this same idea on and off for past year. Luckily there's plenty of coasties on here who've offered advice in the past. Search the forums under Central Coast, Woy Woy, Umina etc and you'll pull up loads of threads e.g. here's one for Umina:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/searc...searchid=65579


Hopefully someone in the know will come on here soon to give you some feedback. Good luck

Sherlock Holmes

Hi there. Just a quick welcome to B.E. You seem to have found you way around but any problems, give me a shout.

You can contact me here.

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Enjoy B.E. - and your move.

Alistair.

erkogirl

Thanks for the replies - though I cannot follow that link about Umina, Rainydaze. Anyone else have anything to add about the Woy Woy penninsula?

joho

Well this is one of those one mans trash is anothers treasure. I live in Umina considered to be bogan villia. I love it here and when we move again will keep to this area. You are riight about the commute although 1.10 is more of an average for the North shore Line. I used to commute to Artarmon. House prices are stable for now. No idea what will happen and not going to think about it much. We bought about 4.5 years ago and its probably worth about $40-50k more now but we spent a lot on it. Again it really depends on what you are after. Most expats veer towards Terrigal and Avoca and although i like to visit them I find them to be a bit out of the way and touristy for my liking. My hubby drives to Homebush. I cant really comment on primary education as only one of mine was in primary when we moved and started at year 5. Brisbane waters Umina is a typical state over populated under funded etc school but the woy woy campus whilst the same kids seems to be much better, maybe its because the kids are yr 10 onward and the bad kids just dont go to school. All my kids went to this one and seemed to do no worse here than in UK. Its all about the area, there are good and bad.

Jo

harrip

I used to live in Chatswood and four years ago decided to move to the central coast.

Woy Woy has the reputation of being a bit of a bogan ville, but I don't know the place well enough to say if that is or is not true.

I live in Terrigal and love it. I always fancied living somewhere like Curl Curl on the northern beaches, but the prices are out of my league. In terrigal, I feel the lifestyle is probably comparable but at half the price for housing at least. Of course, no train station at Terrigal so your looking at another 20 mintues or so on your comute from Gosford.

Personally, I would not like a daily commute, but for a couple of trips to Sydeny a week the 1.5 hour commute is acceptable. Funny thing is, Sydneysiders think your living the other side the world when you say you live on the central coast. In reality, it would take you 1.5 hours to travel from one side of sydney to the other anyway.

Good luck what ever you decide.

Steve2009

I'd rather take a 25% pay cut than commute 1.5 hours each way every day. Like wise a 12.5% pay cut to commute an hour each day. 30 mins is max commute for me.

Rainydaze

Ooops, sorry Don't know how I've lost that thread...But typing 'Umina', 'Woy Woy' etc into the search forum will bring up stacks of threads discussing the pros and cons of living on the Central Coast. Good luck!