Great update Hutch

Great to hear Hutch. Sounds like you've done really well establishing a business that you enjoy as well, Just goes to prove that you can get by here from scratch if you apply yourself correctly.

I've just come back from Port Macquarie, thinking to myself, why on earth is there such a contrast in peoples attitudes to each other in Aus compared to the UK...... but thats another thread. Some of those coastal towns in NSW are the freindliest places I've been. I bet there are plenty of towns in other states as freindly as well.

Congrats on having everything go so well

Well - I think that, beyond people like myself (poms searching for that cliched aussie beach lifestyle) - the smaller coastal towns attract three specific kinds of people. For starters you have the obvious group of retirees, who've sold the city pad for a fancy beach-side bungalow. Then your demountable peeps - who can't afford (or possibly want) a proper house so live year-round in caravan parks (of which we have five in this little town alone). Then there's your sea-changers, who've done the big move from the city before retirement - usually for the benefit of their kids. On the whole, I think those groups are largely contented, happy people.

Doesn't cost me a cent to watch the sun set over the Shoalhaven River ...

Great post. Totally agree with your comments, well except for the doof doof bit which sounded a bit Eastenders for my taste but hey, each to his own

Nothing wrong with an afternoon with a mayor and a 'native plant'. I did it and lived to tell the tale - I even got back in the country without a passport