stellios

Hi.We are a family of 6 ( 2 adults 4 children) flying in and out of Brisbane and hiring a campervan for a 5 1/2 week reccie hoping to explore as far north as Cairns and as far south as Byron. We are spending our first week in Tamborine mountain (rental) as this is the place from our research that we feel we could possibly settle - it seems to tick every box for us. Would be interested to hear anyones advice on areas similar to Tamborine ie not suburbs- areas with fantastic views where you could have an acreage property yet not too remote. I am a childrens nurse so need to be near a hospital with a childrens ward (but would also consider community work) and my OH works in arts management/music. Would love to be near enough to the sea to swim daily if you wanted to as I love sea swimming. Any ideas greatly appreciated! Would love anyones ideas for just great holiday spots too.

bcworld

I would certainly cross the border and check out the hinterland near Byron & surrounding towns.

It's spectacular around there - just something really special about it.

There are a lot of arts / music events throughout the year in the area so this might suit your husbands line of work? Not so sure about the hospital situation.

oz miller man

I would recommend the north NSW area over north QLD.
The climate is more forgiving and you will almost certainly get the mountain views and rural living at a fraction of the cost of Mt Tamborine.
Lismore, an hour inland from Byron has a large hospital as does Ballina, Murwillumbah and Tweed heads.
coastal living is expensive everywhere in Australia and coastal living with an acrage is hard to find.
but you can be 30 mins from the sea and have mountain views in plenty of small villages on the far north coast of NSW and still be close to a hospital for work.
some Nice village communities i would recommend: Mullumbinby, Uki, Channon, Dunoon, Bangalow, Tumbulgum and Billambil (if you want to be on the edge of the Goldy).
Coastal towns: take the coast road down to Byron stoping at cabarita, hastings point and Pottsville. Here you can get cheap coastal living with views of Mt Warning

for a reccie:
I would cruise down the coast to Byron (good camp sites right on the water in Hastings & Pottsville for a night). then check out Byron bay for a day or two, head off inland to Minyon water falls with great camping in the national park calling into the villages of Bangalow, Channon and Dunoon on the way, then go to see the town and hospital at lismore. going north out of Lismore head through the hinterland to the village of Uki and Mt Warning (good camping). From here you are in easy reach of the other towns and hospitals i suggested.
all up a week will have you doing a nice reccie with some chilling out in between.......personally i would spend 2 weeks on this area and forget about going anywhere north of Harvey bay

we explored this area alone for 2 months before moving up from Sydney.
we also followed the coast from Port douglas (nth cairns) right down to the great ocean rd in victoria in various stages over the last 7 years and would honestly say this is the best area providing you have the careers that would allow you to live here.........as a nurse you most definitely do and i cant think of a better place for someone who works in the arts/music industry.

oz miller man

just to add..

you cant swim in the sea in north Queensland due to the pesky jellyfish

plus

theres no waves

and

its stinking hot


but it is breath takingly beautiful (cairns, Port Douglas) and worth a visit

just a word of warning.....the drive up there is one long boring journey through a bland landscape

i wouldnt waste too much of your reccie time getting up there

bcworld

Yup, I have a friend who lives in Mullumbimby and he seems to have a lot of luck in finding event management positions at the various festivals which take place in the area throughout the year.

mohogony

You can't swim all year round in nth Queenland becasue its in the tropics so theres jellyfish, but you can swim all year round in northern NSW, so maybe try bryon bay area.

Broad Shoulders

I've a few friends who have lived in Byron and they have all said it is not a great place to bring up a family as the crime is quite high due to the transient population. During the day it is one of the most beautiful places on earth, by night it is a sh1thole

bezzanbob

Did a rekkie last year and stayed in Agnes Water / 1770 for a few days. It's about 8hrs north of Brisbane if that helps and right on the coast. Sealed road so no wrooies about getting there anymore.

A bit off the beaten track - 45 mins form highway perhaps - but absolutely worth it with a huge pristine beach and some great facilities. There is a campsite right on the inlet in 1770 which looked good with decent facilities. The local park is literally a 2 min walk down the boardwalk.

One of the few places you can see the sun setting over water on the east coast whilst we were treated to a Sea Eagle and Dolphins in the inlet.

Bezza

oz miller man

yep, your right Byron is great for a holiday but not a good place to live, the house prices alone should be enough to put most people off. i think its one of those spots that was great 10-20 years ago and most people from that time have sold up and moved on.
still, its one of the places that does have that holiday feel and great to take visitors to, the views from the lighthouse, art galleries, good bars and restaurants, live music venues, gorgeous beaches and the dolphins always make it a hit.

there are so many better places within 20 mins of Byron to live for families, but its nice to have Byron on your door step rather than a big city for a night out or to watch a band.

we live about 20 mins from Byron and get the Byron echo newspaper and yes theres an fair amount of petty crime reported but nothing compared to the violent after pub crime you hear about on the goldcoast (Tweed and Coolangata)
mostly the paper is full of green this, environment that, save this, plant that...and stop the rally.