Central Coast Geography information

Hello,

I plan to move to the Central coast area with my family in the next few months (pending house sale,hopeful for quick sale). The original plan was to initially rent with a view to purchasing a property either in Wyong or Gosford area.We understand that this is a good family friendly area. However, it now looks as though there will be more opportunities for me workwise in Newcastle. We do not wish to live in Newcastle and would welcome opinions regarding anywhere in between Central Coast-Newcastle that is a nice area to buy property and settle. If we settled in Wyong,Hamlyn terrace,Wyee area would this be a realistic commute to Newcastle? Potentially Swansea further East?

Any advice/opinions are appreciated.

regards

Matt

Why wouldn't you live in Newcastle? Do you actually know it or do you just not like the sound of it? In fact it is a lovely area, I would have been ecstatic to have the option of living and working there. Keeping your commute short will reallly add to quality of life.

Nothing against Newcastle Bungo, dont know it or the Central Coast really.My wife has family West of Sydney and we dont want to be too far way from them,so have decided that the Central coast and a little further North would be a good place.Also we have heard that property is more expensive in Newcastle and there are often new affordable housing projects around Hamlyn terrace,Wyong,Woyngah etc.

Nothing against Newcastle Bungo, dont know it or the Central Coast really.My wife has family West of Sydney and we dont want to be too far way from them,so have decided that the Central coast and a little further North would be a good place.Also we have heard that property is more expensive in Newcastle and there are often new affordable housing projects around Hamlyn terrace,Wyong,Woyngah etc.

Well ill I have not looked into the costs closely, but if indeed it makes a big difference to be in Wyong or whatever then I see where you are coming from. But I would not give myself an extra 90 -120 minutes commute per day just to reduce the travel time to the wife's family by an hour or so.

We use to live on the central coast, Wyong is certainly not an area I would consider living in or bringing up my family. Hamlyn Terrace has nice new houses but friends of mine that live there get frustrated with the amount of travelling they have to do, like their kids activities after school and weekends. Closer to Gosford, more affordable areas like Lisarow, Narara have good schools. More expensive but closer to the beach areas such as Terrigal, Avoca and Wamberal. Kariong is a good for commuting to Sydney, however use to put us off that it is in a bush fire zone. We ended up moving away from the central coast as my other half got fed up with the commute to Sydney. We now live in Port Macquarie which is a beach side rural town.

When we first moved away from Sydney we also looked into Wollongong which is about the same travelling distance to Sydney as the central coast but south. However your idea to rent first to check out all the areas is good.

Many thanks Pommekate, I will investigate the areas you have suggested for Central Coast. Anyone recommend good areas of Newcastle too?

Lisarow, Narara are expensive as they are on the train route but anywhere on the Central Coast has gone expensive in the last 2 years. It's out of reach for many now unless you sell and bring £UK as it's not a bad exchange rate. You won't get much change out of $500k and don't expect much for that! Newcastle is much better for work, it's quite a big city but don't know about house prices.

Nothing against Newcastle Bungo, dont know it or the Central Coast really.My wife has family West of Sydney and we dont want to be too far way from them,so have decided that the Central coast and a little further North would be a good place.Also we have heard that property is more expensive in Newcastle and there are often new affordable housing projects around Hamlyn terrace,Wyong,Woyngah etc.

I'd be doubtful that property is more expensive in Newcastle than the areas of the Central Coast you'd want to live in! In your shoes I'd be living where the work is, and travelling a bit further to see the wife's family on weekends, rather than condemning yourself to a long commute every single day. Newcastle to Western Sydney would be only a couple of hours.

Newcastle is a really underrated city. I've worked with a couple of men in Sydney who commuted from Newcastle every day, simply because they felt it was the best place to raise a family compared to Sydney or the Central Coast. Great beaches, good cafes and restaurants, choice of schools and all the amenities of a big city.

I'd rather live in Newcastle than the Central Coast. I don't know what it is about it but I just don't like the Central Coast area.

Many thanks for the comments, Newcastle currently appears more of a probability due to work opportunities for both of us. It is difficult to know without living somewhere which areas are best avoided. Where I live in the UK areas can differ from really nice to major social problem areas within a small area from street to street. Could anyone suggest any new housing development areas which would give good access to Newcastle? Any info is appreciated.