Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 4:08 pm Post subject: Sea Change?
Hi there, was wondering if any of you have made a sea change from Sydney..or anywhere for that matter. Are you enjoying life since the change, no regrets?.
Reason I ask is my wife and I are thinking of making a sea change from Sydney to Lake Cathie, this is a town about 15 minutes south of Port Macquarie.
Currently I work in IT and have a relatively well paying job, moving north would be a significant pay cut for the both of us, but in relative terms the take home pay would be about the same after a Sydney mortgage 600k etc in comparison to a mortgage under 300k(oh that sounds nice), and probably paid off much sooner.
I guess there are many benefits of moving like more places to fish, more relaxed lifestyle etc, walk to beach/fishing etc.
My wifes parents live up there as well, so we would have family there, mind the kids etc when we have them.
Will also be able to buy a boat once we get up there, so plenty of fishing available.
Interested to see your replies , so far havent heard of anyone regretting the changes.
Did it twice, once from Kununurra, WA to NSW and no job. Managed to get a few contracting jobs at first, then got on with the RTA. Second time was the retirement move from NSW to Mackay.
Never once regretted any of it....except missing the barra fishing on the Ord and Keep rivers. _________________ Cheers, Bobj.
I made the move from Sydney to Airlie Beach 18 months ago. There is no way I will ever return to the big smoke. You need to look into it very carefully and be very sure it is what you really want before you make the move. On the other hand you have to sometimes make a leap of faith and just go for it.
Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:29 pm Post subject: Re: Sea Change?
Golden_Monk wrote:
Hi there, was wondering if any of you have made a sea change from Sydney..or anywhere for that matter. Are you enjoying life since the change, no regrets?.
Reason I ask is my wife and I are thinking of making a sea change from Sydney to Lake Cathie, this is a town about 15 minutes south of Port Macquarie.
Currently I work in IT and have a relatively well paying job, moving north would be a significant pay cut for the both of us, but in relative terms the take home pay would be about the same after a Sydney mortgage 600k etc in comparison to a mortgage under 300k(oh that sounds nice), and probably paid off much sooner.
I guess there are many benefits of moving like more places to fish, more relaxed lifestyle etc, walk to beach/fishing etc.
My wifes parents live up there as well, so we would have family there, mind the kids etc when we have them.
Will also be able to buy a boat once we get up there, so plenty of fishing available.
Interested to see your replies , so far havent heard of anyone regretting the changes.
We are still pretty young, around 30s.
Thanks
Made the move from Sydney ten years ago. One of my better moves!
The pros.....no peak hour traffic, less aggro, more space, cleaner air, less populated boat ramps, better boat ramps and generally happier people.
The cons....having to return to Sydney to visit family and deal with **** (it works) traffic, poorer restaurants, poorer services, poorer standard of perishable foodstuffs, the Sydney urban sprawl moving towards us.
My wife and I 'down sized' and left Sydney 5 years ago and have never looked back. We have a lovely lifestyle on the far south coast, albeit it fairly alternate i guess, we both work part time but still end up with about the same amount of spare money but lots more time to do stuff like growing our own food, fishing, surfing, camping etc. We live well and enjoy each other and our lives. The cost of living in Sydney is a joke and requires a lot of working, travel etc to make ends meet, not the case in the country. We have found our needs are less, we don't waste money on clothes and going out, $3 cups of "good" coffee as we used to feel the need for, my car and boats are not the flashest on the ramp but they are good and will last me well so... We miss nothing of the city and don't buy into compeditive consumption anymore. A simple word of warning though, a lifestyle change requires you to change your lifestyle not just where you live, many people come unstuck because they miss this major point.
extremely good point, when moving to the country you are changing the way you live not just where you live. I live in a little town, no pub no P.O., no footy club no nothing except a little shop and the worlds friendliest people. I lived in Ballarat with a population of 85,000 in an average street for about 4 years and knew no-one now I live in a place that has maybe 200 people( no population sign) and I have always got someone over for a cuppa or am being invited somewhere. I know ballarat isnt the big smoke, but I am not going back and the thought of living in syd or melb.....well I dont even want to think about it, I will never live on less than 5 acres again. The kids have got ponies, dogs, chooks, rabbits ect.... they can experience what ever they want. How many people do you know walked their child to a bus stop on a pony this morning? now how many do you know got stuck in a traffic jam trying to rush their child to school and saw all the road rage and crap going on? I know which I prefer and I'll be doing it again monday
My wife and I moved from Melbourne to Warrnambool 7 years ago. The fishing is great, and the people clicky. You have to get yourself involved if you want to make new friends and really enjoy contry life. I went back to playing footy at 30 and cricket also.
We have two and a half year old twins and wont be moving back to Melbourne anytime soon, I hope.
One thing to keep in mind is that Old friends don't visit. It's very rare to have old friends come down from Melbourne, so don't think you can count on them. They forget about you fast, even when you make the effort.
I've only just recently joined a fishing club which is great. Top blokes.
The good jobs are there, you just need to look hard to find them.
Mate there be only one house in cathie for 300K
the rest start at 550K and keep going up.
Sydney prices all over again just with bigger blocks.
Have you considered the Central coast, sure it's a commute of around 100K's one way trip to Sydney but you still keep your job. And the mortgage will be less than Cathie, for probably a bigger home.
You got 3 big lakes here, deserted beaches, plus the ocean, could be a compromise worth considering.
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as we used to feel the need for, my car and boats are not the flashest on the ramp but they are good and will last me well so... We miss nothing of the city and don't buy into compeditive consumption anymore. A simple word of warning though, a lifestyle change requires you to change your lifestyle not just where you live, many people come unstuck because they miss this major point.
