Nsw Mid North Coast Recommendations - To Live

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That will be quite a train trip home from the next swap :eek:
 
And Newcastle/Gosford isnt?

i actually meant south south though. My grandparents used to live around Ulluadulla - was a fantastic spot.

Central coast is they don't even have an NRL side :eek: Newcastle is a world of its own.Bega and the eurobodalla coast are great spots. (hope I spelt that right)
 
Bega and the eurobodalla are absolutely gorgeous for 6 months of the year, and bloody freezing for the other 6 months of the year :D
 
I'll be getting to Taree mid October so spring weather hopefully, then that gives me six months to stock up on heaters and warm clothing such as we don''t use much in SEQ :lol:
 
I was born and raised around Wauchope. Lived in Port Macquarie, Taree and Bonny Hills. Worked in Kempsey briefly (thankfully). My family are all from Forster.
I spent a year in Taree as a younger man and had a good time but as to schools and environment for kids, can't say.

Taree is a bit feral but I know a few people raised there and they turned out ok. I have another friend whom teaches at a catholic primary and she likes the place. She lives in Old Bar and commutes
Be warned it can get quite hot in Taree even by QLD standards. It's inland enough to miss the sea breeze.

If you are keen on Taree check out Old Bar, It has been growing in recent years. Bit cooler due to the sea breeze (and good for kitesurfing)

Forster/Tuncurry is a beautiful place but has never taken off like Port Macquarie (which maybe is a good thing) Goes mad in the summer.

Port Macquarie is great, I would move there tomorrow.
Wauchope has changed over the years. Was there recently and must say the place feels good. Busy main st (in a good way) Tidy, vibrant. Has a nice village feel about it these days. Gets hot in summer (misses the sea breeze as well)

I live in Sunny Melbourne these days, great place but the dreary cold spring gets to me when you know on the Mid North Coast it's shorts and sunshine.

Good luck with the move
 
I'll be getting to Taree mid October so spring weather hopefully, then that gives me six months to stock up on heaters and warm clothing such as we don''t use much in SEQ :lol:

We'll have to book a weekend pissup, er, brewday in and send you off in style ( & will get at least one functioning beer engine this time).

Edit: get somewhere near Murrays, I'll come and visit ;)
 
ill find out which suburbs in taree are the dodgy ones from the olds and let your know.
 
Thanks Barls, I have already learned that Purfleet is to be avoided :lol: :lol:
 
the problem is the other similar groups in town in different areas.
ill let you know. ill chat to the old man tomorrow.
 
sorry bribe - only just saw the thread. As barls said, I too grew up in Taree. Whilst it was a great place to grow up in 25+ years ago, it has changed a lot since. It is now a low socio-economic demographic - a real poverty town IMHO. I say that as there are no major industries (fishing, timber, dairy factories etc have all shut shop). There is high unemployment and a lot of strife with drink & drugs (a mate who is a maths teacher in one of the high schools tells horror stories of the lack of interest or respect from most of the kids). My olds were broken into twice whilst they were sitting in their lounge room. Their place is now like fort knox - not how I'd like to see em living! Unemployment is one of the highest in the country - Centrelink supports a high % of residents - there are many areas of town that I used to freely walk through with no concern at night that i won't go to now. VB vs toohees; Longbeach vs winfield; ford vs holden; jim beam vs jack daniels are the cultural divide for a lot of residents. Sure there are many that aren't like that but they are usually older parents whose kids have left home - like Barls's & mine who are too old to or are not interested in moving house at their age. Just about anyone with a brain & some get up and go get out of there as soon as they can.

Yeah there is an aldi, coles, bigw, woolies etc, but the pubs all sell megaswill, there is no decent bottlo & even Kmart left town! The council cannot afford to repair roads, let alone replace ageing bridges etc.

As far as health services, taree has a pretty good base hospital & a private one too, but be aware that menu people travel to Port Macquarie or Newcastle for treatment as services and specialists in taree are few and far between. Oh & there is no regular transport between Taree & port if you can't or don't want to drive. Just raising that as health services are a big concern for the older population in Taree & surrounds.

There are some great places around the taree area -I love Tinonee & Harrington. Wingham is a much nicer place than taree. But as others have said, places around Port Macquarie like Wauchope, Laurieton, Bonny Hills are fantastic. Unlike Taree, there is something happening in Port. There are 3 universities, 2 hospitals & medical services up the wazoo and a thriving industrial area. There is an annual month long food festival in October too. There is a great cultural centre that has shows that play at the Opera house as well as community and sporting events happening almost every weekend. There is a huge cycling community here too if that's your thing. went to a 6 course beer degustation dinner the other night - that'd never happen in taree.

The beaches around taree are some of the best around (ok excluding the massive erosion problems at Old bar) however as far as services, pride in the town etc etc goes, Port has it all over Taree - & I say that from living here for 8 months. years ago I seriously considered moving back to taree to raise a family, but glad I decided not to.

Don't wanna put the dampers on you, but reckon there are better places than taree especially around Port which is about 2.5 hrs drive to Newcastle.

If you've already decided on taree, i'd recommend you look for somewhere out of town, but then you need transport.

feel free to ask any questions as I'm back there regularly to check up on the old man.

croz
PS Oh i forgot to say - it's not halidays point, it's blackhead. halidays point is what some developer called it to push up real estate prices & it stuck. Talking of beaches, if you live in taree your local beach is old bar, crowdy if you're from chatham & blackhead if you hail from wingham. pretty parochial bunch around there.
 
Bribie,
You are moving to a fantastic region. It has everything anyone could want. But like Crozdag says be careful where you go. I don't want to bad mouth any area, they all have something going for them and it depends what you want. Some of the areas you mentioned I would personally no go to, but that is me.

I have lived in Sydney, Brisbane, NSW southern highlands and now the Hunter, and I love the Hunter / Newcastle area, it is great, but it is not for everyone either. Bye the way I also love the NSW southern Highlands, just fantastic there, geez I do miss that place.

PM me if you want some detailed advice.
Fear_n_loath
 
Sorry to see you go Bribie......... Before you go, I think Winkle should throw a big goodbye pissup for you. :D
 
Thanks guys. Already have some good information to avoid Taree except for Cundletown, West Taree or out to Wingham. We went through in Feb when I had a drive down the Buckett Way.
T. strikes me as a bit like Caboolture / Morayfield here, about same population and boganification index. However as everywhere there are nice and ugly pockets.

That Purfleet suburb looks great, they tell me there's some cheap rentals there and neighbours who visit regularly to check that things are ok when you aren't home.

B) B)

Stepdaughter is renting at Old Bar so we'll be heading down in about 3 weeks for a shoofty around the area. Tending back to beach idea now rather than town idea.
Good late model Mazda so no problems with transport, and Port just an hour up the track to annoy Warra and down to Islington once a month to have a jar with MHB :)

How's this for a shot at Wingham , well even the Google Car needs petrol :p

google_car.jpg
 
Wake up you too. The gong and surrounds is for wannabe sydney siders. :ph34r: When BHP packs up the pits & steelworks down there it will be a ghost town! :p

Too=two


Who mentioned Wollongong ?? (great place that it is) . I'm over 3 hours drive away from Wollongong. On the real south coast of NSW.
 
Port just an hour up the track to annoy Warra and down to Islington once a month to have a jar with MHB :)

Mate, that won't be an annoyance, and we might even share our cars to annoy MHB from time to time. Mrs warra will be pleased to have a day by herself, particularly as I haven't been able to indulge in my regular twice weekly golf for close to a year.
 
Bega and the eurobodalla are absolutely gorgeous for 6 months of the year, and bloody freezing for the other 6 months of the year :D


Not necessarily so! Ignoring this week, which is a tad cool, the temperatures down here in winter is actually very mild. It gets cool at night, but day times are sunny. Most outside days are t shirt days. Of course once the sun starts setting, time for a fleecy. The summers are also cooler and far less humid than the northern climes.

The best thing about the north coast is the ocean temperatures - only the brave and stupid swim in the ocean here in winter.

Eurobodalla - land of many waters. The real Shire!


Actually Bribie, buy a pice of land where we can establish a commune.
 
I have lived in Sydney, Brisbane, NSW southern highlands and now the Hunter, and I love the Hunter / Newcastle area, it is great, but it is not for everyone either. Bye the way I also love the NSW southern Highlands, just fantastic there, geez I do miss that place.

Fear_n_loath

Hey Fear_n_loath
Thats why I never left, even though I work in Sydney. The best part about the people here, is you can go to any pub and the patrons are from 18 to 80 and we all get along. There's nowhere I feel out of place.

Too cold for Bribie just yet though.

Where in the Highlands were you?
 

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