beanbear

Hi,

Have just registered and this is my first post We are currently living in Adelaide and have been here for about seven months. After some initial hurdles we are now feeling relatively settled and both have work (mine is only temporary though.)

We do want to make sure that we live in our dream place before we commit to buying and not having fallen in love with Adelaide, we recently visited the Sunshine coast to have a look at an alternative place. We really loved it - we spent three nights at Caloundra and four at Coolum. Both very nice and adored Noosa, Maleny, Montville, Eumundi etc..

For us, wanting a property with a bit of land, inexpensive and with good schools and work prospects we looked inland at Cooroy and Pomona - both seemed to fit the bill.

Anyone got any thoughts/advice as to how we might find it, what schools are like etc? Any opinions/experience gratefully received.

NickyC

Beware of inexpensive places - there's always a good reason for it.

Depends on what you do for a living, of course, but I'd have thought that work prospects are the biggest issue. The Sunshine Coast in general is not known for being an area crying out for people with highly-paid jobs - and little country places like Cooroy and Pomona even less so.

beanbear

Yes I agree that price can indicate other issues - having said that I was talking to a lady whose husband does the same work as mine (he is a draftsman) and she said he was inundated as a freelancer. There is a lot of building work going on up there, which we saw for ourselves.

Prices may also be lower as it is away from the main tourist areas and is more rural. We wondered if this would suit us, but it is only 25mins to Noosa?

NickyC

I guess if you have the sort of occupation that you can do as a freelance/contractor from home then you're laughing. Sounds like it might suit you, if you want to live rural.

I'm in Sydney so have no first hand experience of living in either of those places, though I have been to both. I believe they're typical 'sea-change' areas - popular with people escaping the city.

beanbear

Was really hoping to hear from a few more who know the area and can offer me some advice. Perhaps also anyone who started off in one place and then moved to a different area - either successfully or unsuccessfully.

We really need to be sure we're doing the right thing if we do move and now having read someone's recent post about Cairns, I'm thinking maybe we should check that area out as well!

sklinky

Hi there, we are in Alex at the moment and moving to Bli Bli in about 4 weeks when our house is built!!!
Please feel free to get in touch on [email protected] and check out my site which will hopefully answer some questions!!!!
Speak to you soon!!!

asprilla

beanbear, unfortunately it seems that there aren't many on BE who know that area well. This is probably because most immigrants need to live close to cities like melbourne, brisbane and sydney in order to secure work.

be patient though....you never know.

deadcat

Hi. I grew up on the Sunshine Coast. Personally, I wouldn't move there at this point. They have had a huge influx of immigrants, and infrastructure hasn't kept up. The roads are congested, property is over priced, wages are low.

You may be better off moving to Brisbane, and spending your weekends on the sunshine coast.

SurferBoy

g'day.........COME ON DOWN

with regards a decent house with land..it will cost you! even in the hinterland must say though...we belive we have found paradise on earth..we have a 5 year old and LOVES the school...and if you can freelance your laughing..

We have been to places all over and nothing compares to here in our opinion ( each to their own and all that jazz )..

But the beaches, scenery, lifestyle,family friendliness etc etc is all of the highest quality!!

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?? !!!!!!


ps..im not one to sit on the fence!

jad n rich

Loads of poms live on the SC, check out posts and photos by glittababe who lives up near where you are looking at. Check out sunshine coast meet threads to get names of other posters who may have recently arrived. I think the arrival of english people has dropped off a bit recently , probably because they cant sell their houses. However there must be thousands of pom families here, s here,very popular place for UK migrants, at one stage our kids were getting 2/3 new kids in their class each term always poms.

From the hinterland for work if your not self employed you need to travel to maroochydore or nambour or noosa or gympie areas to find more jobs, plenty of bigger areas around pomonas and cooroy which are small country towns. Acerage up that way could start from 400,000 with a house hardly expensive really.

glittababe

hey I used to work at Cooroy and Pomona and theres nothing wrong with me (haha not much)!!!! My kids have been at Eumundi state school for a couple of years now and love it - Cooroy and Pomona are definately more hicksville than Eumundi (said with experience) and Pomona is actually quite far out - its at least a good 25 min drive from Noosa, but it does have an IGA (what more could you need)!

Not quite sure where this congestion comes from, its a vicious rumour! Noosa gets congestive in the summer with the tourists, but thats only along the raod into Hastings St, the only other congestion we've come across is in Brisbane! Trust me, we moved from there to get away from it! 'wages are low' - depends on the job, I've always maintained wages of over $30 an hour as do other people I know. getting a job? Now thats a different matter altogether - it can be VERY hard, much harder than if you were in the city - the further into BFN you go (butt **** nowhere) the worst it gets!

Try looking at other areas, belli park and eerwah vale are beautiful and close to Eumundi and Noosa

glittababe

oooo great minds XXX

jad n rich

speak of the devil

Urno

We moved to the SC from Brisbane, and haven't yet regretted it.

Wages are definitely a problem. I reckon i earn about 25-30% less up here than i would in Brisbane, but the cost of living is certainly not 25-30% less. That said, my industry (IT) is likely to be different to draftsman (i've no idea what that is ).

There is a lot of immigration and development around here, and in the short time i've been here i can see the affect it's had on infrastructure. That said, it's not panic stations just yet, and for those used to the levels of people in the UK, it's still relatively laid back!

Just one other thing. When we moved here, 5 mins from the beach, we thought we were well in. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, we'd pulled out all the stops for a "beachside" house (i'm talking beachside of the Nicklin Way along the southern SC). You can still get affordable property ($500k upwards), which probably needs some TLC, but it's not exactly going to be a bad move.....i'd give anything for a 5 minute stroll to the beach now.

RobAndEwa

What area of IT are you in Urno? I wasn't aware of any real IT industry on the SC so had been discounting it from my searches.

Rob