It looks like I am being offered a job in Lake Mac. I am really pleased as it's a job that I wanted.
I have never even considered NSW before due to school fees on a 457 and now I think it may have been short sighted!
Lake Mac appears to have everything we're looking for in terms of climate, affordable living near the sea, lake, bush and city.
Only a couple of hours from Sydney too - I have a old school friend there.

Any info on this area would be greatly appreciated. I have done a search and the threads are mostly positive.
I need to start researching affordable but decent family suburbs. Also, does anyone have any experience of the Catholic school system in Newcastle / Lake Mac.

There is a chance we may end up moving there too depending on future job offer... from a quick internet search I did a while ago I compiled the following list on where to go and where to avoid. Bear in mind these are based on the majority views I saw of other internet uses opinions
These are mostly Newcastle suburbs, but may help a bit.
I think the general view is stick to the north east side of the lake and you wont go too far wrong...

I bought a rowing machine of someone who lives in Thornton near Newcastle. He lives in an estate called the Woodlands Estate. It looks awesome and might be close to where you're looking. Not sure if there are rentals there but if there are, you should look at them.

That's brilliant, thank you. Warners bay is an area that get mentioned a lot as being somewhere nice to live. I believe that in summer they have locals bands playing outdoors and people bring along food and drink etc.

When do you think you may be heading that way?
We are hoping for March / April provided the house sells.

Thanks Nige

I will definitely have a look at it

newcastle has big nice beaches. it has small
town feel too. you can travel to syd on train easily.

Glad to help.
Not sure when/if we will be going up. I live on the Central Coast at the moment and commute to SW Sydney so not ideal. When current project finishes I am hoping to be offered a permo job by the same company and work out of their Broadmeadow office. If that happens then will likley move closer to there to avoid commuting. After 2 years of 5 hrs a day, I am over it!

Hopefully will move there mid next year..
Steve

Warners Bay, Valentines Bay, anywhere on the Lakeside all great places to live. I wouldn't mind moving up there myself in the next few years.

Do you think it's better than the central coast then? CC was another place I was looking at for jobs but this is the one that came up first.

They have a fairly similar feel from what I can tell. We are happy enough where we are (just north of Gosford) but there are some unpleasant areas around which make us miss where we were before in Lane Cove...

Its the same in the Newcastle suburbs too, so we would not expect it to be too different. Coast is great for beaches though - we have masses of them within a 30 min drive. From calm sandy ones to rough rocky ones.

If I got a job on the Coast then would not move, its just the commute I have had enough of. The downside is that there are few suitable jobs around here and the $ would be 2/3 - 3/4 what I could get in Sydney.

It's actually on my list of retirement possibilities,... furthest North one. Just big enough for me to consider seriously, plus it has an A league team.

Get a lot of good suprisingly good reports about Newcastle down here which belies it's old industrial reputation. Great location for the whole of the Eastern Seaboard. You can drive to Melbourne in a day from there... I've done it.







.

What do you do for a job? We regularly struggle to get new suitable employees here, in fact there are 3 jobs going right now and despite interviewing applicants for weeks the positions still havn't been filled. Problem is most applicants seem to want big money to sit and twitter/facebook all day on their iphones. Workshy fops ! ( Central Coast by the way )

Currently looking for Two Senior Sales Reps and a Marketing Manager.

Here's a tip for job hunters. Companies like ours look at your Facebook Profile, and if you appear to share your life on there you don't stand a chance ! I guess that's a new topic.

Any idea of the Median House price in Newcastle ? Whats central Newcastle like at night time, would it feel dead at 9.45 pm on a Tuesday night ? Does it have any 'buzzy' suburbs ?

Currently working for a rail company tendering, putting together construction contracts, contract admin and financial reporting.

which is not what I trained as (building surevyor in the UK), but not like maketing either unfortunately !

although a commute to somewhere on the coast would be awesome!
save me 25 hrs a week on the train!!

This is what I'm hearing Ozzie. My friend in Sydney says the same thing.
It made Lonely planet's top 10 destinations last year!

I have never been there, so trying to get as many views as possible. So far I am hearing good things as long as you stay away from the old industrial areas.