EmsWeb

Hi, I don't really go to any groups as I've been lucky enough to meet some other 'mum' friends so we tend to just meet up at the park and let the kids have a play so that we can catch up. I've heard that there is a good playgroup on a Friday at the Terrigal Uniting Church - I think it meets on a Friday morning from 9am but might be worth Googling it to see if it is still running. There are also some singing/reading groups run at Erina Fair library which I think are on a Tuesday but again I'm not sure about this but I expect their website will detail what groups they have running. There is a nice swimming complex called Mingara that we take our little girl to, it's got a great pool for little ones and is very clean and warm. If you are looking for day care I take my little girl to Erina Kindergarten in Erina which she loves - they cater for ages from 6 weeks to pre-schoolers. There are lots of classes run for kids - you have little kickers (football/soccer), dance/ballet, swimming lessons, gymnastics - there are numerous classes available all around the Coast so wherever you end up you'll never be far from a class if you wanted to enrol your daughters in anything. When you make it here let me know and we could maybe meet up. Thanks Em

Hi there, I currently live on the Central Coast with my husband and 3 year old daughter. We are in Green Point which is about 10 minutes from Gosford and 15 minutes from Terrigal beach. Green Point is centrally located as we are in easy reach of beaches, the main shopping centre (Erina Fair), the train station to Gosford - you can catch a train to Sydney from here which takes about an hour and fifteen minutes. With regards to commuting to Bella Vista I really don't know how long this would take - if you are thinking of taking the train you can search online at 131500.com and it'll give you train times and journey times so you can work out if living on the Central Coast will be feasible for you. My husband and I don't commute as we are lucky enough to have found work here on the Central Coast but I have heard that the Freeway to Sydney and surrounding areas does get very busy on weekdays so I'm not sure how long it would actually take you to drive to Bella Vista. There is a newer estate in Green Point with some modern housing which we like as some of the housing over here can be very old and not what we are used to from the UK. We have also lived in Erina and Wamberal and both suburbs were nice. Wamberal is lovely and is close to the beach but it comes with a hefty price tag because of this. Other nice areas are Terrigal, Avoca Beach, Copacabana and North Avoca. Areas I've been told to avoid are Wyong, Springfield and Ourimbah but having never lived in any of these suburbs I really don't know if what I have heard is correct. There are a mix of houses in Woy Woy, some very nice and some not so nice. My husband works with a lady who lives at Woy Woy Bay and she loves it there. You are close to the beach and the Surf Club if you wanted to join. There is a lot to do on the Central Coast, especially for children - you have the beach and numerous picnic spots. We are always out and about doing something. This is just a brief summary of the area so if there is anything else that anyone wants to know that I'm glad to help where I can. Thanks, Em.

Thanks Lucylou, we did visit Coffs in January as expected we fell in love with the area. We are still looking for work but did expect the search to take a while as we know what the situation for employment is like in Coff's - we aren't giving up though. Thanks for your offer of advice etc - I may well be firing you some questions if we ever get employment sorted ) Thanks again, Ems

Yeah we realise the employment levels aren't what they are here on the Central Coast but there is work in and around Coffs Harbour even if opportunities are limited. If we decide we'd like to move there I guess we'd have to just start looking for jobs and applying for anything and see how it goes. We do realise that the employment issue could be a sticking point for us but you've got to look on the positive side I guess!

Hi We emigrated last year when our daughter was 18 months old. I was dreading the flight as I thought she was going to play up the whole time but she was really good so it's often not going to be as bad as you think! We packed lots of new toys, books and colouring pencils etc for her so that she had new things to keep her interested. When she was fed up with playing with toys she would wonder up and down the aisles, which I know can be annoying for other passengers but when you have an 18 month old on a plane you kind of have to let them be otherwise they will pull a tantrum. We booked a night flight so that our daughter would hopefully sleep part of the way - we did have a bassinet but she didn't like being in it as it was a bit small so she slept on my lap which was hard work but she was asleep and quiet and that was all that counted. Our daughter was still in nappies when we flew, not sure if your son is but I made up lots of little nappy sacks ready for when she needed changing. I filled a nappy sack with a nappy and had the travel size wet wipes on hand so that when I needed to go to the loo to change her all I took was the little bag with the nappy and the small packet of wet wipes. I found this much easier than lugging a changing bag and a child into the mini size toilet cubicle! Not sure where you are stopping over but we stopped in Singapore - they have a hotel there that you cna book for 6 hour slots (if your changeover is long enough that is). We purposely booked a longer changeover so that we could book in to the hotel to sleep freshen up and take time to relax. Even if your son sleeps for the first part of the journey be prepared to be very tired. We booked in to the hotel and had a little nap - luckily our little girl did too - had a shower - changed our clothes. We took an extra change of clothes in our hand luggage so that we could do this as your luggage is not unloaded for the stop-over. There is a swimming pool at Singapore airport that you can use for a small fee so we went to that too which our daughter loved. Doing this just gave us a little break form being crammed on the plane. It does lengthen your travelling time but we found it worthwhile because we just needed to get out of the plane for a bit. Not sure if you have booked flights yet but I can't recommend Singapore airlines enough. We flew with them and they were fantastic and they couldn't do enough for us. Meal times are difficult on board as you have to take turns to eat whilst one of you holds the baby - Singapore airlines would keep one meal back so that we could take turns to eat. They also were always on hand to provide snacks and drinks for our daughter - now that I've flown with them I don't think I'd fly with anyone else when travelling with a child. Can't think of anything else at the moment but just be prepared to be very tired and try to keep your calm with your son as they will keep him calm. Wish you the best of luck for your reccie.

Hi! Thanks for your reply. To be honest we don't have an exact place that we are thinking of living in which is why a visit in January will be a good idea so we can work this out. All we know is that everyone raves about Coffs as being beautiful and peaceful which is exactly what we are after. Good to know that Coffs has a shopping centre with Coles etc - couldn't live without Coles ) Thansk again for your reply.

Hi! I am new to this forum but having read the numerous useful discussions I couldn't resist posting a question to see if anyone could offer any insights to our dilemna. We (myself, my husband and my little girl - aged 2) are currently living on the Central Coast, NSW. We are both working and are currently renting a house. Over the last couple of months we have both started to feel unsettled - we do love it here on the Central Coast but when we come to buy a house (next year) we know we can't afford the dream of living a walking distance away from the beach - it's just too expensive here. Hence, we've started to think about moving. We've started looking at other areas in NSW that might offer us what we need/want. Despite trawling through the net researching different areas that we could try we keep coming back to Coffs Harbour. The beaches and quiet lifestlye really appeal to us. The whole area looks fabulous. We've started to reseach areas to potentially live and have seen the Corindi beach estate which looks amazing. Has or does anyone live in this estate? Is it as peaceful as it looks? Are there any other new estates that anyone currently lives in and loves? We are aware that the Coffs Harbour isn't as built up as we might be used to - here on the Central Coast we have shopping malls etc on our doorstop - but what kind of infrastructure/shopping facilities are there in Coffs? If you lived in Cordini beach for example how far is your nearest Supermarket/shopping centre? We are visiting Coffs next January to have a look for ourselves but if anyone can offer an insights in to their experience of living in Coffs or the surroundiung areas that would be great. Thanks in advance, Ems