cookiecat

Hi Rachel and Justin, We have lived in Shellharbour very happily for the past 7 years, originally coming from Great Yarmouth in the UK, so like you from a coastal town too. From what you say about your interests/jobs/children, i'm pretty sure you'd find the area most accommodating. I have a 4 year old boy and a 16 month old girl. My boy will be starting kindy and my daughter starting preschool next year also. I know from recent research there are several preschools/day care facilities that have vacancies and there are quite a few to choose from in the area. The Illawarra link to the above thread was actually started by a friend of mine,we became good friends via poms in Oz and are still in touch today! We personally love the area as we are outdoorsy, beachy type people too. There are plenty of parks and playgroups in the area for the children and there is a fab service called Park and Play, which is run by Shellharbour council, they rock up in their minibus to a park, a different park each day, but the same each week if you know what i mean, for a term and they have toys and books and set up painting or some kind of craft for the kids to do. The ladies (all trained) are very friendly, its outside in the lovely weather and its all free. There are lots of other lovely places to explore from Shellharbour like North Gong area; Thirroul, Bulli, Austinmer etc and to the South, Kiama, Gerringong, Berry, Nowra (more inland) and the most pristine beaches at Jervis bay. We also have the beautiful Southern Highlands with waterfalls and bushwalks a scenic 40 ish minute drive away. You'd never be short of an adventure or two at the weekends! We personally and thankfully have never experienced any kind of crime while living here, although like you say it is everywhere anyway. Train to Sydney is 90mins to 2 hours, its actually quicker to drive, 90 mins to the airport not because of the distance but the amount of train stops along the way is pretty frustrating!! Here is the link to City Rail South Coast Line to/from Sydney. http://www.sydneytrains.info/timetables/timetables_by_line.htm?line=sc&dir=2#landingPoint The area doesn't really get the extremes of weather the rest of the county does, winter temps are usually no lower than 10 deg C and summer usually high 20's to high 30's with the odd 40 deg + day. Having not long built our own house weve been out of the rental market for a while and i'm sure you'd be aware of realestate.com, to check out the current prices, but pre-Shell Cove marina go ahead, the prices were pretty average. The local shopping centre has just had a major renovation and updating, with some of the bigger Sydney stores now in this area and as mentioned the area is undergoing a multi-million Marina project in the Shell Cove/Shellharbour South beach area. Its and up and coming area. With regard to your fitness business, I know of one other business doing outdoor group fitness sesssions, as I only phoned them to enquire last week, so I'd be up for joining you for a run!! Hope this helps and good luck. Feel free to PM me if you would like any more info.