Commute from NSW to ACT

Hi

Can anyone please advise on whether it is realistic to live in NSW and work in Canberra.

Which ideal suburbs will I be looking at?

My research over the months has been to live in Port Macquarie. However a possible job transfer opportunity for my husband has meant that we consider exploring suburbs closer to the ACT.

Any ideas?

Hi

Can anyone please advise on whether it is realistic to live in NSW and work in Canberra.

Which ideal suburbs will I be looking at?

My research over the months has been to live in Port Macquarie. However a possible job transfer opportunity for my husband has meant that we consider exploring suburbs closer to the ACT.

 

Any ideas?

Hqbe you tried looking at googlemaps? Port Macquarie to Canberra is seven hours one way. NSW is a very big place, you can drive for eleven hours in a straight line and not leave the state. Some parts of NSW might be ok for Canberra, but it depends where they wre.

I did look Bungo which is why I posted for suggestions to try to narrow down towns to research.

I know it's not a realistic commute. I am looking at the south coast area.

South Coast - no, probably not. It's not a great Road and is intermittently jammed. NSW yes - Queanbeyan, Bungendore, Captain's Flat even Goulburn at a pinch and I do know someone who comes from Yass and another who trekked from Cooma but they aren't typical. However, whether you would actually want to live in any of those places is anyone's guess.

You do realise that some NSW suburbs are closer to the centre of Canberra than are many of the ACT far flung suburbs

South Coast - no, probably not. It's not a great Road and is intermittently jammed. NSW yes - Queanbeyan, Bungendore, Captain's Flat even Goulburn at a pinch and I do know someone who comes from Yass and another who trekked from Cooma but they aren't typical. However, whether you would actually want to live in any of those places is anyone's guess.

 

You do realise that some NSW suburbs are closer to the centre of Canberra than are many of the ACT far flung suburbs

Thanks Quoll

Will it be considered as undesirable area as compared to Port Macquarie ? (personal opinion welcome). I don't know anything about the area and its not my first choice but I am trying to do a bit of research before I rule out this option.

Thanks

Lots of people live in NSW and commute to Canberra - but by that I mean, they live in Queanbeyan, or out in the countryside round about.

Why are you so keen to live in NSW? If your husband has a job offer in Canberra, why don't you just move to Canberra? It's a lovely city, with an undeserved reputation for being boring.

The only downside to Canberra is that it's a two hour drive to the coast if you want to go to the beach - but that's doable on the weekend. The bonus is that you're only a couple of hours' drive to the mountains, too.

If you want the beach lifestyle, Canberra is not for you. Coming from Linconshire you may not like it. However, you could give it a go since your hubby has a job offer, that is a big plus. We've gave Canberra a go but wasn't our cup of tea. it is not just the weather, but most people do not realise that Canberra is 600 metres above sea level so you will feel the pressure drops, making you lethargic, etc.

Again, you can give it a go. We lasted 2 years. Lincoln probably offers more culture than Canberra. Has everything you need though for your daily life. But its called the bush capital for a reason. FYI.

Port Mac is really nice, but you will struggle to get jobs, unless you get an offer. And yes, it is 7 hours drive on a good day.

Hi

Can anyone please advise on whether it is realistic to live in NSW and work in Canberra.

Which ideal suburbs will I be looking at?

My research over the months has been to live in Port Macquarie. However a possible job transfer opportunity for my husband has meant that we consider exploring suburbs closer to the ACT.

 

Any ideas?

Thanks Quoll

Will it be considered as undesirable area as compared to Port Macquarie ? (personal opinion welcome). I don't know anything about the area and its not my first choice but I am trying to do a bit of research before I rule out this option.

Thanks

Chalk and cheese! Canberra isn't undesirable but it's not "Summer Bay" if that is what you think Australia is. If you want to live by the beach then, no, it won't work for you but it's one of the better place to live if you have to live anywhere in Australia - city without all the city detritus, very bush-y, the coast and the skiing both a couple of hours away, probably more cultural offerings than PM but very different ones from Lincoln.

I don't know why you would want to live in NSW rather than ACT other than the car rego is cheaper.

Reading between the lines here - are you thinking of going on a temporary visa? (457) as you said your DH might get a transfer. If you are and if you have kids then you need to do much more research. Both NSW and ACT charge for temporary visa kids to go to school. In NSW it's $5k pa per kid. In ACT it's around the $10k pa mark - but there are some occupations that the ACT waives the school fees for and you would be wise to check before you go much further whether your husband's occupation is one of them! (Call the ACT Dept of Education International Students branch to find out)

If you want to live in Port Mac you need to work there. It's much nicer than Canberra, has a great climate and a mild winter, Canberra is in the middle of nowhere and has a long cold winter - it's 2 hours to the coast but close to ski resorts if you're into snow sports.

I really appreciate all your responses.

We have been granted 190 NSW State sponsorship and we want to keep to the living in the state. When we first thought of Emigrating Oz was too big to make a choice, having never been there either we relied on info from others but it was still dificult to make a choice. We made the decision to honour the Conditions of the 190 visa and we intend to do so unless it's extremely difficult to get a job.

In the Uk my OH was in a job which required for us to move home every 2.5 years sometimes even less. Mykids were a lot younger then but my eldest child is more sensitive and she takes a while to settle in. She will be going to year 6 and I want for her to have the same group of friends for the next couple of years. Moving home does not bother me much but to move from an area....given how big OZ is will make it difficult to keep in touch with friends made while settling in.

I am a Social Worker and my search for jobs in the PM area looks positive. I am looking at working possibly working in an area which is not too close to where I live about an hour away even.

My OH now works now works as a refrigeration engineer and the company he works for specialise in data centre cooling. PM is the base for their head office and that of other competitors. Which is why we chose that area however the the job it self has aspects of being mobile job and he will be computing to sites regardless of where we live. The Job in ACT only came up yesterday which is why I panicked and started to research what that will mean to our plans.

Thanks again for all your responses it's been beneficial to us.

I really appreciate all your responses.

We have been granted 190 NSW State sponsorship and we want to keep to the living in the state..

Good on you for honouring that obligation.

The ACT is a very small area and it's actually surrounded by NSW! It's very conceivable to work in the city centre of Canberra and live in NSW. In fact many people do live in Queanbeyan (the nearest town in NSW) and work in Canberra, the commute takes about 20 minutes. A lot of people also live in the country surrounding Queanbeyan, country cottages in NSW are very reasonable compared to Canberra house prices.

Canberra is one of those cities that people either love or hate, like Perth! It's all depends on your personal preferences and habits. I like it: it's clean and well-ordered, and because most of the jobs are government or university, there's a preponderance of well-educated people living there (and correspondingly fewer chavs/bogans!), and some good cultural offerings. It's two hours' drive to Bateman's Bay if you want the sea, and close to the beautiful Snowy Mountains for skiing and summer mountain walks. It's very bike friendly, especially for children, as it's legal to ride your bike on the footpath (and no, that doesn't mean you get run down by hoons if you're walking). It gets hot in summer and cold in winter, but personally I prefer the dry heat of Canberra to the sticky humidity of Sydney.

Queanbeyan itself is a country town with some social problems, but then that may mean more job opportunities for you. It does have nice areas too, and some people prefer its more down-to-earth atmosphere to Canberra itself.

Queanbeyan, Bungendore, Sutton, Womboyan, all in NSW and regular commuting places into ACT. You shouldn't have any trouble getting a social worker job either in NSW or ACT in that area especially if you are happy to do CP. Good to hear that you have PR though, that makes things a whole lot easier!

Your daughter is only going to get one year in PS then she will be moving on to HS, not necessarily with her friends, kids do tend to move about a bit at that point. From a Canberra/Queanbeyan point of view, ACT schools, especially at HS, do have a (much?!) better reputation than their NSW counterparts and a lot of kids also trek over the border to HS in ACT from NSW! You could do a whole lot worse than ACT and surrounding areas IMHO

Can anyone please advise on whether it is realistic to live in NSW and work in Canberra

You could potentially do it. Depending on where you lived.

Politicians do it quite regularly. But most of their commutes would be the working week in Canberra, and weekends elsewhere in the country.

There is talk of a high speed train between Sydney and Canberra. But that would be years away I reckon.

I know people who work in Sydney but live in Coffs Harbour. Fly down and back up.

Goulburn is a nice NSW country town and only an hour to Canberra by car.

We looked at buying a house in Goulburn and were advised that many people make the commute daily.