Safe/friendly green coastal towns.. (crime, unemployment, to buy)

[c9806103]

Where would you choose out of the following?

Newcastle area:
- Convenient to Sydney.
- Some property opportunities still exist.
- Nice climate and regular rainfall.
- Larger population and therefore more opportunities.
- A fair few bogans/thugs/petty crime.
- Decent enough facilities (hospital, university etc)

Coffs Harbour area:
- True sub-tropical with more rainfall and greener than Newcastle.
- Property looks slightly even cheaper in some areas.
- Quite secluded and far from both Sydney and Brisbane.
- More of a small town with less facilities etc.

Cairns area:
- The true tropics - hot/steamy all the time, beautiful gardens.
- Property still looks to be reasonably affordable, but probably bad areas.
- Petty/youth crime seems to be pretty high. (Can anyone confirm?)

Any other recommendations or input appreciated.

Important factors for me are:
- Regular rainfall and green gardens, hence coastal areas.
- Safe and lowest crime levels, I can't stand petty crime and thugs etc.
- I will be bringing my own work with me, so not looking to get a job locally.

[Derek40]

You have 3 very diverse options that you are considering.
I can't comment on North Queensland, as I have never been north of the Sunshine Coast, there are others from there on this site.
There is also another poster from Coffs Harbour, who speaks very highly of it, and with good reason.
It is probably one of the greenest areas in NSW, and is the largest population centre between Newcastle and the Gold Coast.
It is big enough to have most facilities there, including most shops - bar the big department stores like Myer or DJ's, and a campus of Southern Cross University. (The main campus is at Lismore I believe - another very green, but feral area).
A good website is www.coffscoast.com.au
I would consider this area as very family friendly as well.
There are numerous attractions here, as the range virtually meets the coast here, including things like whitewater rafting, bushwalking in the mountains, great beaches etc.
Newcastle is an older city, with a much larger permanent population.
A couple of websites I found include http://121.50.208.46/newcastle/Newca...on%20Guide.pdf
which is under
www.visitnewcastle.com.au
There is a significant bogan element in this region, but provided they leave you alone I don't see that as a mitigating factor.
It is still a good 2 hours to Sydney though, not that close that you'll be going there that often.
I would also consider the Central Coast if you want to be closer to Sydney, this has over 400,000 people in Gosford and Wyong Local Government areas, which are the two main councils in this region.
This area is also, surprisingly green.
Hope this is enough to start.

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by c9806103

Where would you choose out of the following?

Newcastle area:
- Convenient to Sydney.
- Some property opportunities still exist.
- Nice climate and regular rainfall.
- Larger population and therefore more opportunities.
- A fair few bogans/thugs/petty crime.
- Decent enough facilities (hospital, university etc)

Coffs Harbour area:
- True sub-tropical with more rainfall and greener than Newcastle.
- Property looks slightly even cheaper in some areas.
- Quite secluded and far from both Sydney and Brisbane.
- More of a small town with less facilities etc.

Cairns area:
- The true tropics - hot/steamy all the time, beautiful gardens.
- Property still looks to be reasonably affordable, but probably bad areas.
- Petty/youth crime seems to be pretty high. (Can anyone confirm?)

Any other recommendations or input appreciated.

Important factors for me are:
- Regular rainfall and green gardens, hence coastal areas.
- Safe and lowest crime levels, I can't stand petty crime and thugs etc.
- I will be bringing my own work with me, so not looking to get a job locally.

Have you thought of the south coast of NSW which includes quite a great swathe of towns, beaches and greenery. Anywhere from Kiama down to Eden will give you a good look. You also have good access to Sydney, Canberra and the Australian Alps which also have a wide variety of greenery. In the summer its a great place to go bushwalking.

[contentwriter]

I live in Coffs Harbour and absolutely love it here. I haven't lived in Newcastle or in Cairns so I can't comment on those areas, but here are some of my thoughts about living in Coffs Harbour.

Coffs Harbour is the 'capital' of the Coffs Coast, which includes the Nambucca and Bellingen areas as well, with a combined population of about 100,000. The Coffs Harbour LGA has about 75,000 people at the moment, but is growing fast. Coffs Harbour is actually a city, and has all the facilities you need, including large shopping centres, public and private hospitals, a university, our own airport very close to the city, plenty of water and rainfall and a dam which is always about 98% full, a very pleasant climate, lots of green areas and very accessible national parks, nature reserves, river systems and of course plenty of beaches.

There are 6 or 7 daily flights to and from Sydney with a choice of Qantas and Virgin Blue, and you're there in just over 1 hour. There are direct flights to Melbourne on the weekend and Brindabella flies directly to Brisbane. So we're not that isolated, if you don't mind flying. (There are often cheap tickets available, e.g. $69 to Sydney.)

There are also good properties available for a very reasonable price. Coffs Harbour is one of the major regional growth areas identified by the government so we're still at the start of this and we can only get more shops (indeed, we don't have a Myer or David Jones) and our properties prices can still rise a lot, making it a good investment opportunity.

However, there are some areas that don't have a good name and yes, we have our share of bogans as well and there's crime, e.g. break-ins, vandalism, drunken fights. So just make sure you know which areas are good and which aren't before you settle somewhere. I have never experienced crime myself here (in 5 years of living here), but then I don't go out to pubs on the weekend or walk along the street late at night or leave my doors unlocked etc.

There aren't all that many job opportunities here but if you're working from home, which I do as well, I think Coffs Harbour is an excellent choice in terms of lifestyle and the things you say you find important.

Besides the Coffs Coast website, which Derek mentioned above (which is more for tourists but gives you a good idea of things to do here), there's the Council site which has a good section about moving to and living in Coffs Harbour: Coffs Harbour City Council - Living in Coffs Harbour (http://www.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au/2448 - broken link)

Good luck deciding on your move. Where are you from and/or living at the moment?

[c9806103]

Thanks for the responses everyone, greatly appreciated and I found them all insightful. More info on me:
- Grew up in Newcastle and know the place well.
- Lived in Canberra for ~7 yrs and have done the alpine/snowies thing.
- Currently living in Tokyo - returning to oz around xmas time.

Re: Suggestions/advice:

Coffs:
$69 Sydney flights are great and Coffs' climate does sound pretty perfect. Property also does look well priced and these regional areas can only grow, especially with more people working remotely (via internet) and moving into regional areas in search of value.

Newcastle:
Much friendlier than Canberra, very balanced climate. I miss Union St pies! Family/friends are there, this is a strong pulling factor for me. Also my business will do best in Newcastle due to the larger regional population base. Guess I could build a massive sub-tropical fernery and grow some nice bromeliads and carniverous plants There are some lovely lush pockets.

Cairns:
To be honest, I haven't spent sufficient time up there bar a few weeks in Port Douglas to know if I would handle the 24/7 mega humidity. I will have to investigate further once I get back on Oz shores. Youth crime levels appear to be the highest out of all 3 and unemployment is also the highest. Another personal factor is that there is lots of Japanese tourists. Another lifestyle business in the back of my mind is to build a B&B specifically catering for the Japanese - Cairns would make this possible.

South Coast:
I've spent time around Batemens/Narooma/Merimbula/Jervis etc. Honestly through the year, a little too cold for me. I've also done the Canberra/alpine areas and the lack of rainfall is driving me away from returning to that area, although I loved Canberra as a well organised and catered for city. I love North Sydney, but you basically need a mil these days to buy into that place. It's just absolutely ridiculous. Another spot in mind are some of the pockets between Sydney and Newcastle, e.g. Hawkesbury area, there are some really nice rainforest patches in amongst there.

Bottom line: I guess I'm only speculating and I really can't be certain until I get back to Oz, grab a car and hit the Pacific Highway. Maybe take 1-2 months to spend some decent time in each town and see what appeals. That said, I very much enjoy reading your personal experiences with each area. It would also be great to hear from someone from Cairns area.

Thx again..