Guest kenpom Posted December 12, 2007 Posted December 12, 2007 Hi All Looking at options in Wollomgong now and woul love to hear any good or bad points from anyone with first hand experience. My initial opinion is it looks like a great place to live.
skippy Posted December 13, 2007 Posted December 13, 2007 Ken it's a great place to live, have you seen the pics on Sydney suburbs that I put on there about this area? it's now on page 2. Many Sydneysiders are moving to this area for the great environment we live in, great beaches, national parks with waterfalls etc just over the mountain range, all the shops anyone needs these days, etc, etc, the house prices are well below the prices you pay in the suburbs of Sydney & yet we are ony 90 mins away from the centre of Sydney. People keep telling me there isn't much work around, but I don't know of anyone that is unemployed, except for the ones that milk the system, I've been to Queensland and Perth many times to visit our kids,they have now returned to God's country, but it's horses for courses and this place suites me fine. I was only talking to a couple last week that have lived in the S/W suburbs of Sydney & came down to visit family, they are now thinking of selling up and moving to this area themselves, years ago the Port Kembla steelworks put people off, but they soon change their opinion of the place once they have seen it.
skippy Posted December 13, 2007 Posted December 13, 2007 This is the industrial part [Port Kembla steelworks] that put people off. This is the area we live. 10 mins from Shellharbour beach, 12 mins from Kiama, and 20 mins from Wollongong.
Guest Claire Posted December 14, 2007 Posted December 14, 2007 Hi Ken, we live at the opposite end of the Illawarra to Skippy. We are in Stanwell Park, not my cup of tea, too exclusive. Prior to Stanny we lived in Thirroul (both north of w'gong) and love it. So much so that we are moving back there as soon as our lease is up. The whole Illawarra is amazing. Beautiful landscape, nestled between the escarpment (mountains) and the sea. The north suits me as it has the large villiage atmosphere that I like without being too small (stanny is too small, hence my dislkie) We are well served by shops, jobs are good, never bored on a weekend. If you are planning on commuting for work, the freeway will get you to the outskirts of Sydney withing about 15-20 mins, then it depends on traffic the rest of the way. Generally it will take about 1.30 to the centre of Sydney. I dont commute, but hubby does and he thinks its worth it considering he gets to relax in the Illawarra on the weekend. We planned on being here a year to try it out then move to Sydney if it didnt suit, that was 18 months ago and we are staying put (once we move back to Thirroul that it)
RVN Posted December 16, 2007 Posted December 16, 2007 Whoo HOoooo our holiday to oz is fast approaching, after a 9 month wait...as of the weekend we will be in Sydney!! Part of our trip is to do a recce visit to Wollongong.... can anyone give us some ideas of must do/see places to visit ( or to avoid for that matter!) By the way skippy, those photos do not put us off!!!! :biglaugh:
skippy Posted December 18, 2007 Posted December 18, 2007 RVN, try the fish & chips at Kiama Harbour, Beeuutiful. Don't come down this way until after Xmas as rain & storms are forecast.
RVN Posted December 19, 2007 Posted December 19, 2007 oh man...are you tricking me??? thats not good news rain and storms...we have spent our life savings booking this holiday and its going to storm and rain...I could have stayed here for that.. We went to France last year and the same happened then....Im going to kill my OH..he said it was going to be mid summer when we arrive....pah...not a happy bunny.... :sad: guess it will be soggy fish and chips then.....
skippy Posted December 19, 2007 Posted December 19, 2007 Summer officially started here on December the 1st, we have had more rain so far than we have had at this time of year in 15 years, the best times to visit Oz in my opinion are Spring & Autumn, no flies and you don't fry either. Look at the positives, your life savings will be worth 2 of our life savings the way things are here at the moment. :cry: HAVE A GREAT CHRISTMAS & may the sun shine for you.
RVN Posted December 20, 2007 Posted December 20, 2007 ah thanks skippy..guess you guys really need the rain over there eh? finished work to day..whooo hooo (after a really depressing day I might add!) so oz here we come. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE.........AND HERES TO A EVEN BETTER NEW YEAR. :jiggy:
Guest Englander Posted December 21, 2007 Posted December 21, 2007 Whoo HOooooour holiday to oz is fast approaching, after a 9 month wait...as of the weekend we will be in Sydney!! Part of our trip is to do a recce visit to Wollongong.... can anyone give us some ideas of must do/see places to visit ( or to avoid for that matter!) By the way skippy, those photos do not put us off!!!! :biglaugh: kiamma shell harbour,berrima,
johnd Posted December 23, 2007 Posted December 23, 2007 my wife and me moved here in june 2007, because i have family here. i had been here for 12 months in '91, so i had good memories of the place. we have relatives in perth and we went there for a month prior to coming to the illawarra. so as i see it as a new migrant perth and other parts of oz seem to have better employment prospects, but perth is very hot in the summer, here in the illawarra the pace is slower, so as a brit from northern uk it is sometimes too slow, but in wollongong city you can get nightlife, just remember that the city can be as bad as any uk town on a saturday night for problems/drunken violence. thats the bad news!, on a positive note we were at first dissapointed with the 'apparent' lack of opportunites here,(it seemed the same as north uk), but don't believe everything you read/hear, my wife and me found work witihin 3 weeks of looking, she has a permanent job as a retail mananger in wollongong and i got a job as an operator in a pipe mill. i am a boilermaker/welder by trade and i took on my job in the pipe-mill 'cos my tools were not here yet and i fancied something different, (although industry is industry). i could get a job boilermaking tommorrow as there is a lot of work in that field, (in fact i was offered a job whilst i was out drinking on friday night!), but at the moment i've got a contract till july 2008 and i might get kept on after that, so workwise we have found it no problem...it depends on what you want to do for a living...in oz if your prepared to do anything you will get work!!!. we live in the same suburb that skippy photographed,(2nd photo)...i think you can see our house!, its a place called albion park and it is close to everything, and far enough away from the steelworks and lesser desirable areas ,(about 20 kms), but as i come from northern uk i was used to affluent areas being only a drive from rough ends. albion park is quiet and the homes are mostly modern, i feel very lucky to live here, we have a better home,(4 beds), than we could have had in uk ,(for the same money), and all this after being here for only five months , but we did it all ourselves and now we are reaping the rewards, (in fact its probably too posh here for me, i hope i don't get found out!!). all in all in my opinion it doesn't matter where you move to in oz, each person will miss different things, with me its family and friends. will we stay?, well at least till we get our citizenship then we'll see. at least if we went back we can do it and say we gave it our best shot...cars/jobs/beautiful home & in a lovely area, we just missed our families. johnd
skippy Posted December 25, 2007 Posted December 25, 2007 Welcome to the Park Johnd, missing family, friends & familiar places is a killer, I suffered that stuff for many years, thankfully I settled after many agonising years, although my family told us that we were better off here, which we already realised, but that white rose on my heart told me different. Owning & living in a bungalow is far better than the terraced house we rented in Sheffield, plus the air is a lot cleaner too, I don't even want to go back for a visit these days.
skippy Posted December 30, 2007 Posted December 30, 2007 [quote name=RVN;168896 guess you guys really need the rain over there eh? Well RVN' date=' the weather men got it wrong once again, [PHEW] looking forward to your comments on your recent visit.
Guest kenpom Posted December 31, 2007 Posted December 31, 2007 Thanks for all the helpful advice guys. What are house prices like around the Gong and how much for a decent rental? Any area to avoid? Cheers Ken
johnd Posted December 31, 2007 Posted December 31, 2007 hello ken, we paid about $430,000 for our house in albion park and its 4 beds, plus big garage. you can get cheaper in albion park, around 370-380,000, for a 3 bed, and like i said albion park is a nice and quiet area. you pay more for areas like shellharbour and shellcove and the southern illawarra is the best, in my opinion. as for areas to avoid, i don't want to say that a particular area is bad because its funny here as areas like port kembla are very rough in parts but near the beach there is million dollar homes!, )(people like living next to the sea ),but in general,(and this comes from my couisns, who were born and bred here, so no complaints please), stay clear of suburbs with large housing commision or ex-housing commision homes,(i.e council houses). i have relatives who live in these areas so don't think i'm being a snob but its the same as uk regarding old council areas, and there are plenty of them in the illawarra. albion park does not have any, that i know of, and the southern suburbs have fewer of them and more private homes. good rentals are hard to come by, (as in a lot of oz, so i'm led to believe), so buying is the best option, and you get $7000 off the government as a first time buyer, plus no stamp duty, and as house prices are predicted to go up 10% within the year its a good investment, whilst you decide to stay or not. hope this helps. johnd.
skippy Posted December 31, 2007 Posted December 31, 2007 There are about 12 townhouses johnd, next to the car park at the swimming pool, and another small estate of about 40 homes at our end of Church St that are owned by the government housing, no problems at our end though. We live on the little estate [2 streets] opposite the Anglican church on the main drag to Maquarie Pass, quite peaceful with the farm paddocks at the end of the street. The housing estates were originally built for the migrants & everyone was in the same boat, unfortunately thesedays, the empty homes are given to the dropkicks of society rather than deserving young families, As you say, it's a hard call where to live when you look at the difference in Port K, there is government housing at Bellambi, east Corrimal, Berkley, Unanderra, Koonawarra, Warilla & Barrack Heights, many have now been bought & are classed as private, due to the government not building in this area anymore, many families get rental assistance & rent investment properties wherever they are available. I forgot to mention Warrawong, probably I should have, I don't think anyone could go wrong in the Albion Park, Flinders or Shellharbour areas, but then I'm bias.
RVN Posted January 7, 2008 Posted January 7, 2008 G'DAY FOLKS... SKIPPY WHAT CAN I SAY?? I AM IN LOVE......WITH THE ILLAWARRA!!!! :wubclub: just got back to glooming moody Uk after a 2 week trip to oz. WOW WOW WEE!! wollongong what a place. Its everything we hoped it would be and more. We passed through all the villages along the grand pacific highway down to Kiama and Jarvis Bay and then back up through the kangaroo valley and through the national parks and were blown away by them all. We will definately be looking in this region for our future. In particular we liked Bulli, thrirroul, woonona and the gong city. Thank you skippy for your tips and advice...Looks like I owe you a beer.. :cool: xxxxx
skippy Posted January 8, 2008 Posted January 8, 2008 G'DAY FOLKS...SKIPPY WHAT CAN I SAY?? I AM IN LOVE......WITH THE ILLAWARRA!!!! :wubclub: Glad you enjoyed our little part of Australia RVN, I believe we live in the best area in Oz, but then I'm bias, it is not usually as busy as it was, many people came down this way this year because of the nasty weather further north, trust the dept for roads to start construction of the freeway on the biggest holiday of the year. Forgot to tell you about Jervis Bay, whitest sand in Oz & fantastic views from the club bistro, nothing wrong with the suburbs you mentioned, hope everything works out for you.:yes:
Guest melanie marriott Posted January 29, 2008 Posted January 29, 2008 Hi We went to the Illawarra region last oct 07, we fell in love with the Windang, lake illawarra area (got mates in the bowling club) we too have heard that there is not much work in this area, however, there appears to be plenty of industry just like M/bro and Redcar by the sea ! we would like to settle in the above area my husband is a electrical/ mechanical engineer and i am a Occupational Health nurse, any idea of the chances of finding work in our line of jobs ? If not thinkning about buying or setting up a buisness How far is Wollongong to travel too? Please keep in touch any advice would be most welcome we are northerns Muston, Filey North Yorks Mel and Ben
skippy Posted February 3, 2008 Posted February 3, 2008 Hi We went to the Illawarra region last oct 07, we fell in love with the Windang, lake illawarra area How far is Wollongong to travel too? 13,000 miles from Filey, :biglaugh: 20 mins from Windang, the Illawarra area is really God's country, there's got to be some job for the old man somewhere around these parts, try the Illawarra Mercury newspaper or the Centrelink website [illawarra].
Guest Sunsh1ne Posted February 3, 2008 Posted February 3, 2008 "and you get $7000 off the government as a first time buyer, plus no stamp duty" Hi - been reading all your posts with interest - can you clarify the above ? First time buyers don't have to pay stamp duty and get a discount off the government - is this for NSW only ? Thanks in advance. Sunsh1ne
johnd Posted February 4, 2008 Posted February 4, 2008 no i think all the states give you $7000 of the price of your first home in oz , and you don't pay stamp duty either. johnd
ollsbolls Posted January 30, 2010 Posted January 30, 2010 Hi Claire Dont know if your stil viewing all this. Just writing as myself and OH (PR's) are loking to move to the Gong in December. Only visited once before (although we have lived in Sydney for a yerar and a half previously). We have two kids (2 and 5) and are looking for a good family area (schools, activities etc). I am a social worker my OH a landscape architect. We are considering the Northern Illawara, Thirroul etc. Just wanted to get an update from you as to your experience of this area. An Ozzy friebd from Bundeena described Wollongong as 'a bit rural' in rather sinister tones although another friend from the Gong cant rate it highly enough. If you could recommend any areas nearer Wollongong or around that would be great. Have decieded that amove from London is also a move away from the big city(hence not Sydney-there is a cost element to this as well). Ant thoughts, suggestions gladly appreciated. All the best Olly
johnd Posted January 31, 2010 Posted January 31, 2010 we are off back to the uk in feb. the illawarra,for me ,is a nice place but to much like areas in the uk. in fact if i had my time over i WOULD NOT have come here, there are definatley better places in oz than the illawarra. i dont want to get into a debate about it but live here for 6 months and you'll see. strains of deliverance?. i know people will disagree but if you are moving from london you will really struggle as the illawarra is a backwater.
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