Gems

Thanks everyone,
You have been really helpful.

We dont want a replica of rural England. We know it will be completly different in Aus.

We want rural for the space (got 4 kids!) and quiet. We like our own company and found we hate being on housing estates/complex!

Thank you for your input and Vic sounds like a place we could consider.

We are still in the very very early stages of planning (no application etc started) and no plans for exact destination are made yet. I wanted to get feedback as more posts are about being in the city or suburbs on here.

However you lot have been great and gave me plenty of information to think about.

Like I say, we always knew parts of WA are desert wasteland and this is not what we want. Also we know it will NOT be like rural England and that is ok. If we wanted rural England we would not have left it! Now living in the EU.

Gems

scottyboy

We're looking at going rural.
We have our eye on a small place called Bellingen.
It's about 30k inland of Coffs.
We're pretty open minded about where we'll end up
though. SA, Vic and Taz also tick plenty of boxes.

Bianca UK-OZ

pretty much sums up the way we feel too... was thinking South Western corner Bunbury to Albany, maybe a bit inland, but all confused now...many ideas...will have to go and visit. Is it really very dry about 30min from Adelaide and around Port Pirie, etc? Thats the only thing putting me off...I love gardening - so need water
Was also thinking rural Vic, but it is very saturated for my job there, so maybe stick to regional WA?

Would love to chat more about areas from Albany to Bunbury... thanks!

welshpom

Port Pirie is a good 3 hours from Adelaide. I've driven through the area and wasn't impressed. From Adelaide, go east to the hills or south to the Fleurieu for better options than Port Pirie.

If you go rural, you'll be on rainwater tanks and self sufficient for house and garden. It's not too difficult to have a beautiful native garden that needs next to no watering by you. Plant the right local natives and you'll be rewarded by visits from local wildlife.

ABC gardening programme

ew502

Hi Gems

Have you thought about mid north coast, nsw. We live just outside Taree (don't believe Arkon, its not as bad as he makes out!, although his posts are worth reading for the laugh factor), but are moving to small place called Hannam Vale. We are waiting for settlement on our new property of 102 acres.

Port Macquarie is about 30 min away, its a lovely town. The beaches in the area are beautiful, have a look at Crowdy Head, Crowdy Bay National Park. Lots of State Forests etc.

Hope that gives a couple more ideas, but goodluck to where ever you go.
Best Wishes

lollyno1

some people in your trade have found it very hard in rural areas. Adbrits have a great girl Lolly - look it up and read her story just so you have all in the info possible!

hi

Im here as well

Where I live is very remote. Over an hour to the nearest shop, You can buy milk from Mobil and Ampol but nothing else, apart from petrol.

Basically this place is a fueilling stop, theres a mechanic and policeman but as for tradesmen, nope. One or two electricians in the Peterbrough (hour away) oh and plumber, hes been to the house a few times.

Funnily enough I was chatting to the teacher in Peterbrough about this very subject, she said thats why the house in the town look so run down because there are no tradespeople but even if there where the people are too poor to pay for them as there is no industry and most of the people are out of work.

Jacqui

People in Perth would probably consider anywhere outside of Perth to be rurual!! When you say living rural, I think you mean being within an hour of a city still, rather than outback rurual in the middle of nowhere? There are so many places you could look at in WA. Heading east out of Perth to the hills would be rural, yet only an hour away. You could go inland a couple of hours to somewhere like Northam. But once you start looking too far inland, or anywhere more than two hours from nearest city, you really do have limited facilities at hand and shopping, petrol etc will be much more expensive.

The "tree change" seems to be the popular thing at the moment according to real estate comments over the last couple of years. People are fed up of being crammed into smaller and smaller blocks and want to get away from it all, have a bit of peace and quiet, see some wildlife, get back to nature a bit. If you want to go as far south as Bunbury or Albany, that's great, it's a lovely part of the world but I can't comment on the areas as a place to live as we've only holidayed there.

Here in the Peel region, they are pushing Murray shire as the place to go for those seeking a "tree change". With the new freeway being extended down to Bunbury, it will pass by rural towns such as Pinjarra, Waroona, Harvey, Yarloop, etc making these towns much more accessible and they are set for rapid growth - rural towns with a mixture of small block properties and acreage, being less than two hours from Perth and less than an hour to Bunbury. Mandurah is a small city compared to Perth, but it's still an hour's drive and there are rural areas on the edge of the city and into the Murray shire which are worth looking at. You will get peaceful acreage in Barragup, Furnissdale, Parklands and Stake Hill, yet will only have to drive 15-20 minutes into Mandurah for shopping.

pootle26

hi guys
i actually live in northam - 1hr 15mins from perth
if you need any info let me know