lake illawarra area info needed

[robo]

Hello we are (providing the house sale goes through!) going to sydney area in jan 07 at last! Having been looking on the web for the last year my eyes have glazed over and exhausted trying to find out what living in gong area is really like. So if you have lived there please give us some info on people and nice v rough suburbs/streets especialy Dapto,Albion park APRail, Helensburgh. Have missus and two young-uns most important parts of my life. moving to Aus so boys dont end up as tubs of lard as the would in England as the Goverment sold off school playing fields and banned conkers!Ha Ha. Thanks Robo :?:

[austibeach]

Hi Robo,
well I happen to know the Wollongong area fairly well, as both my daughter and sister live there. I'm not sure where you are going to work, but given the choice of areas you have mentioned, I would prefer Helensburgh, although it is about a 20 min. drive north of the city, nearer to Sydney. The Illawarra is a very underated part of Australia. It has great beaches and Wollongong is an easy town to get around.
Albion Park and Dapto are much nearer to the city and the lake, but can be a bit rough in places, but that is only relative, as it's not like a rough area would be back here in the U.K. With virtually anywhere in the Illawarra area you only need be a few streets away and it can seem as nice as anywhere in Australia. There are great areas to live all over the region, but of course property prices will vary according to what are locally considered to be the better areas.
My wife and I are planning to retire there in a few years and even if we didn't have family there we would seriously consider it as an ideal location.

Well good luck and if you need any more info. just ask
Eric.

[dirtybird]

Hi Robbo

Congratulations! Where did you choose?
We moved out to the Illawarra in January too. We decided to settle in Albion Park. Hubbys cousin lives here and we had visited so felt like it might be familiar HAHA!! its changed such a lot. I like Albion Park cos its like a country town. Albion Park Rail seems ok, houses are older style and cheaper than Albion Park. Dapto didn't do it for me parts I've seen not very picturesque. If I had the money I would choose Kiama, Gerringong or Jamberoo very expensive to buy! but living in Albion Park you can visit all of them in less than half an hour.
Illawarra has the highest unemployment in NSW!!
How you doing? are you here yet?
Jane

[dreams of oz]

Hi Ya
Hubby and two little uns (7 and 4) have just had our visa 136 approved - we are hoping to come out for a look around June time and house is going on market now . Lived in Kanahooka about 15years ago when i was a wee small girl ish ! and that was where we was going to start looking - any ideas or comments will also look Perth side too

Carli x