andy170773

Hi

My family and I are flying out to Brisbane on 25th of this month since we have sold our house and have our visa's. I have a possible job offer in Newcastle as an Electrician in the mining industry.

Our plans were to settle in the Brisbane/Sunshine coast area but with this possible job offer I am thinking maybe go for this as it is a start on the job front (this company is Australia wide, have been told I would be most suited to work in Newcastle but there may be opportunities in Queensland too).

Any views on this or info on the newcastle area would be most appreciated.

Kind regards

Andy.

budababes

Hi Andy,
we are hopefully going to join our son and his wife in the Newcastle area - just waiting for grant of contributory parent visa!! We visited them last Nov/Dec at their home in Charlestown! They are very happy there and it is a lovely area to live with everything a young family needs - close to good shopping areas - just 2 hours north of Sydney by road, lovely beaches, the Hunter Valley and it is just such a comfortable place to live. The whole area is being developed and has a nice "feel" about it. Our son and his wife (then girlfriend) emigrated to Oz in 2002 and have settled well - firstly in Sydney and since early 2005 in Charlestown. Good luck with your move wherever you choose to live. Regards Linda

Grayling

Scene of Australia's worst earthquake :scared: ...a dozen people killed in the 1980's.

there has been a lot of discussion about Newcastle....try doing a search.

Generally a big industrial town. The world's biggest coal exporting port. Expensive housing (proximity to Sydney) good music scene. Capital of the Hunter valley (big wine producing area).

Nice areas to live around Lake McQuairie but not as cheap as other areas.

Generally a good place to relocate to.

G

Macquarie

As mentioned there have been other threads on Newcastle/Lake Macquarie/Hunter Valley/Port Stephens so a search would probably help you. Each of these areas have there own merits.

We too live in Charlestown (small world budababes!) and love it here. I grew up in this area as a child and teenager which is why we chose it to come back to live after 22 years in the UK. Its old reputation is of an industrial dirty town but as most of the heavier industry has closed down it is now a really pleasant place to live. The harbour still has plenty of activity which makes it interesting to sit on the foreshore and have a beer on a sunny afternoon. The beaches are beautiful, the lake (Macquarie) has loads of sailing, fishing, skiing and picnic areas happening. I could go on for ages - but I won't!!

There is a little website called www.stickybeek.com.au which has links to some properties, postcard pictures of the area and links to the local councils - its not brilliant but worth a little look.

For us it has everything we need, not too big, not too small, close to Sydney (2 hrs) for day trips (and airport pick ups!), variety of things to see/do, generally pretty friendly local people (not all of them obviously) and most of them are proud of their town.

In a nutshell - we love it. Feel free to contact me for further info.

Julie

Mrs Jackaroo

At the moment we live in Richmond NSW (an hour from Sydney) and visited Port Stephens a couple of weeks ago, just for the weekend. As soon as we got back I was straight on realestate.com.au to check property prices because I absolutely loved it there. I completely fell in love with the beautiful beaches and scenery. Due to my husbands job we have to stay here for another 18 months but after that time there is a very good possibility of us relocating there. I found the property prices to be much less than where we're currently living (which I find amazing due to its beauty).

I came away from there thinking 'that is what I imagined Australia to be like'

Loved it!