Anolo Lohgun

Good question, sorry not sure if you are allowed to work remotely under 489. Not a migration agent

Software development job in Nowra? I'm sorry, but that's pretty much non-existent. Your next best opportunities will be in Wollongong metro area, but it's a long commute from Nowra. The condition for 489 means you have to live in regional areas. Unfortunately, the vast majority of software development jobs only exist in the area where you can't live: the Wollongong - Sydney - Newcastle metro area. Can you find software development jobs in the regional areas? Of course, you can, but it's not going to be easy and you may have to move around. You may get lucky at Byron Bay actually, there are a few IT companies setting up shop up there. But I would try to secure jobs before moving, we don't know how good you are or if your skillset is relevant. This is why the capital cities are the best for people like us (I'm also a software developer). Another option is to do what I do, I work fully remote. So I can live wherever there is a fast internet connection.

There's no beach in CC that fits your budget, unfortunately. For 550k the "best suburbs" would be Berkeley Vale, Killarney Vale, Tumbi Umbi and perhaps if you are lucky Glenning Valley. You can buy houses for that price in Long Jetty and The Entrance. However, The Entrance is not the nicest part of CC and it's terribly busy during the holiday period. Long Jetty is becoming trendy so it may be an option. I wouldn't mind the Vales, Tumbi Umbi, Glenning Valley to live myself. Not Long Jetty & The Entrance. It's not beachfront living, more lakeside living, but beach access is still easy and not far at all. Many restaurants and cafe dot around the lake. Not far to the east, there are Shelly Beach & Toowon Bay. You can't afford anything there, but lots of nice places to visit. If access to Sydney is a high priority, then maybe Wyoming or Narara due to its close proximity to Gosford. If access to Sydney is the top priority, Kariong is within your budget, it's next to the M1 but it's almost like its own little world.

CC resident here, it depends a lot on your budget and your requirement. If you equate the "best" with expensive then it will be Avoca, Terrigal, Wamberal for the beach/coastal lifestyle. Holgate, Matcham for the acreages. Around Brisbane Waters for the waterfront living. You said you found Perth quiet ... you do realise that Central Coast is a large region with just over 330k residents. Perth is a capital city with over 2m residents. If living somewhere in NSW is your top priority and you can compromise on "busyness" of the area then maybe CC is an option. Anyway, if you let us know your budget then maybe people can recommend suburbs, north or south of Sydney.

That's an epic commute, you'll be back home by around 7:30 PM? Perhaps a few days towards 8 PM and you have to start all over again at 5 the following day. A mate lives near Bateau Bay and it's a similar commute to him. I know someone who drives down to Artarmon daily. It can be done but not for everyone I think. I personally wouldn't be able to do it.

Not necessarily. Your child needs to be in Kindy on her 6th birthday, but you could start if he/she turns 5 on the 31st of July of that year. So she could have started Kindy either in Jan 2013 or Jan 2014. If you go with Jan 2014, then she'll start Year 5 in Jan 2019.

Schools: https://www.myschool.edu.au/ Hornsby is nice but no longer 'cheap', hasn't been for a very long time. There are some rough areas of Hornsby that I would avoid, but it's all priced in. NSW Crime Mapping tool is useful to scout an area: http://crimetool.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/bocsar/ Change to "malicious property damage" -> change type to "Hot Spot" and there you go. Sydney is generally safe area but there are hot spots to avoid. Another good tool is the Social Atlas (based on the census): https://atlas.id.com.au/central-coast-nsw (go to the root to get another local authority) Are you familiar with the index of multiple deprivation in the UK? There's something similar, you can map this using the social atlas, look for SEIFA index of disadvantage. It's not exactly the same thing, but enough to get the same feeling of an area. Here it is for Hornsby LA: https://atlas.id.com.au/hornsby

Orange/red spots are not necessarily bad. Just wanted to stress what I've already mentioned before that NAPLAN result is not the be all and end all measure, far from it instead. But it is useful to show the 'nice' part of Sydney at a macro level. @Ahames, where are you currently based in the UK? Moving to Sydney is similar to moving to London. Ask yourself, can you afford to live in Kensington or Chelsea? If you can then you will be able to afford the poshest parts of Sydney. Some parts of SW London is the equivalent of Lower North Shore, Northern Beaches (the more expensive part) and most of SW London is the equivalent of NW Sydney. It's generally middle-class affluent neighbourhoods. We live in CC because our jobs allow us to do so, I would have dreamt of moving up here if we're tied down to Sydney for jobs. Others can do it, but I won't be able to, it's just not worth the epic commute (to me personally). In different job circumstances, we will most likely live somewhere around Hornsby/Westleigh/Thornleigh. The Hills (NW) is a nice and leafy area, but I prefer the Hornsby area. At your budget (550/week) you can get a decent house in Kellyville and surround. My brother-in-law lives around that area for school reasons. It is very far from the beach, but then you'd be living like most of the Sydney-siders do

Check out OFX. I've been using them for 10+ years for both directions (U.K. <-> OZ).

OP, the commute from CC to Alexandria will be epic. I know people who do it and for them, it's working. But YMMV. 1.5 hr travel time from CC to Alexandria is optimistic and it depends where you are in CC. Parking near the major train stations is very competitive and Gosford is full by 7 AM. So you need to take all of this into considerations. CC is a beautiful place to live but the nicest parts of CC (that you've discovered like Terrigal and Avoca) are not cheap and they can be more expensive than many areas of Sydney. Avoca is further out so that will add a few more minutes in the total journey time. There are some parts of Green Point that you'd want to avoid. There are many nice places in CC beyond Avoca & Terrigal that will give you much better value for money. In general, the most expensive housing in CCs are the coastal areas (from Copacabana to Bateau Bay and beyond), the areas surrounding Brisbane Waters and semi-rural areas, i.e. Matcham, Holgate. The peninsula (Woy Woy, Ettalong Beach, Umina) is popular with commuters due to location and cost, but even there housing is not "cheap", just cheaper. There's a reason why it's cheaper though so you need to be careful which part of the peninsula to live. School-wise it's different here than U.K. If you live in the school catchment they have to take you. The problem with the peninsula is the high schools are not that great. Check this website: http://www.heatmaps.com.au/ change the layer to "schools" and it maps most schools based on their NAPLAN result. Please note that NAPLAN result is not the only measure how "good" a school is, far from it in fact. However, you can see the that taken from a macro level it very quickly shows the socio-economic demographics of the area. HTH