Moving to Launceston early next year

Dear all,

we just learned that our visa application got through and we'll move to the Launceston area around March 2013. I couldn't find so many posts talking about Launceston and surroundings. Seems like most people stick to the Hobart area. Anyhow, we would like to get some suggestions on where to look for housing. We have a little 2-year old, so good child care is important.

We're moving from Norway and I am a bit worried about having to drive on the wrong side of the road, but I guess I'm the only one in this forum worrying about that.

Any other tips or experiences (please stick to positive ones this time :-)) are more than welcome!

Thank you for your answers!

Katrin

Dear all,

 

we just learned that our visa application got through and we'll move to the Launceston area around March 2013. I couldn't find so many posts talking about Launceston and surroundings. Seems like most people stick to the Hobart area. Anyhow, we would like to get some suggestions on where to look for housing. We have a little 2-year old, so good child care is important.

 

We're moving from Norway and I am a bit worried about having to drive on the wrong side of the road, but I guess I'm the only one in this forum worrying about that.

 

Any other tips or experiences (please stick to positive ones this time :-)) are more than welcome!

 

Thank you for your answers!

 

Katrin

Launceston (pronounced Lon-ses-th and nicknamed Lonnie) is my home town. I was born there and my parents still live there. My parents live just down the Tamar River which is a lovely place to live. If you are looking for a place to live with the potential of good schooling as well, I would suggest the West Tamar from Riverside down through Legana, Gravelly Beach and Swan Point. I am not sure about child care but that will also depend on where you are working. What are your plans re work etc?

Launceston is only a small city but the city centre has most of the main department stores and there are the normal supermarkets in small malls in the outer suburbs.

The roads are generally wide and easy to traverse but many of the CBD roads are one way. (they confuse me as well because they have changed since I lived there)

One of the good things about Lonnie is that it is only a 50min flight to Melbourne and a 2hr drive to Hobart.

Lonnie has some wonderful scenery within the city limits with the Cataract Gorge on the South Esk River which used to have a hydro power station. There are also some great beaches a short distance away at the head of the Tamar River, such as Greens Beach (West Tamar) and Low Head (East Tamar). Further afield there are plenty of hikes through mountains and temperate rain forests such as Cradle Mt and the Walls of Jerusalem. Ben Lomond (mountain) which is about an hour away, is open in the winter as ski fields.

Thank you for your answer. We are looking forward to moving to Tasmania! If ever anybody else has some good tips please post!

Some photos of the Tamar River from my parents back garden and of the cataract gorge in flood.

My wife and I moved to Launceston last December from Melbourne, I am originally from Ireland (move to Australia almost 4 years ago) my wife is from Tasmania. We both love it here, in regards to housing in Launceston, it really depends what your preference is, we currently life in Prospect and it’s a nice quiet area close to the city and main arterial roots to Hobart, the airport and the north west coast. Other areas that we quite like are:

- West, south and east Launceston are all nice central areas, a little more built up though.

- Riverside and Trevallyn are beautiful areas but I some parts are low lying and the Tamar river is prone to flooding from time to time so be careful!

- Kings Meadows, Newstead, Norwood

- Summerhill, prospect, prospect vale.

Most of these areas are only 10/15 minutes from the centre of the city, so quite central really.

Also we decided to avoid the area of Invermay to avoid flooding, Mowbray is kind of a student area so maybe not such a great place for kids, but we do have friends living there and they have never had any issues.

Also we were advised to avoid Ravenswood and Rocherlea, lots of social/public housing initiatives, high crime rates etc.

If you prefer the more rural locations but still with some infrastructure, then Blackstone heights seems to be pretty popular, we have some friends living there and it’s a nice area but seems expensive.

Or perhaps Hadspen, which is 25 minutes from the centre of the city, though it is a small place, again we have friends who live there and love it also but it isn’t somewhere we would consider living at the moment, purely due to the distance from the city.

Legana is nice also, again a similar distance from the city, but both are on fairly main routes so not to much of a commute.

The biggest surprise for me was the difficulty getting a rental property, we had to get lots of references, credit checks and police checks! So be prepared for some red tape if you haven't started the process yet!

In regards to child care, my wife works as a relief child care worker in lots of local child care centres, both private and public, the quality is pretty high, and there are lots to choose from. However my wife advises calling ahead as some centres have a waiting list due to limited places.

In general we love living here as Launceston is so central to lots of things, beautiful beaches are only short drive away, the central highlands, the great lakes, cradle mountain, the north west coast, the east coast, Ben Lomond mountain and national park. Hobart is only 2.5hours drive and melbourne take 50 minutes by plane! (I fly regularly to Melbourne for work purposes)

Happy to answer any other questions you may have about the area, congratulation on the visa and good luck with the move!