janehope

I grew up in Wagga and my husband and I came back (after living in Sydney) when we had our first child. Our two reasons for coming back were the cost of living in Sydney with a reduced income and the fact that we both had family here. Wagga was a great place to grow up but I do feel it has deteriorated since then. It has good and bad points but I think it would be quite a hard place to try to settle in if you had not grown up here. It can be hard to meet people, I actually found people in Sydney friendlier! I think this is because we met lots of people who had moved from somewhere else and were keen to make new friends. Wagga can be a bit cliquey. It is easier to meet people through your children (eg. their school, daycare etc) than in a social setting. There seems to be ongoing problems with the Council, ranging from long delays with development applications to infighting. Even though Wagga is classed as a city these days, there are still quite a lot of people living in the dark ages. The local paper often prints letters from people quoting bible passages supporting their particular prejudice, mainly against gay people. The main benefits of Wagga as opposed to Sydney: it's less expensive of course and It is much easier to get around IF YOU HAVE A CAR. You really can't manage here without one, the public transport is very poor. As far as entertainment etc goes, there's plenty of pubs etc but the main street, where most of the pubs are located, gets rough at night. Assaults are not unusual. There are no night buses and not enough cabs so you have all these people pouring out of the pubs and the nightclub with no way to get home. If you don't live in Central, it's really too far to walk and those who do walk are taking the risk of being assualted. We don't really go out here. Most pubs are full of young people getting smashed and there are plenty of young men who go out looking for a fight. As far as employment goes, I wouldn't say it's really easy to find work but if you want to work, you will probably find something. There is competition for good positions. An issue I have with Wagga is the real estate market. Prices for sales and rentals are way too high in comparison to somewhere like Albury-Wodonga, Renting a property can be a nightmare. There is lots of competion for decent properties and most agents are apathetic, rude or both.

The public hosptial is very outdated and there are frequent horror stories about patients suffering from lack of staff and/or medical mistakes. It's a bit of a lottery.

There are some nice suburbs but all overpriced. Best areas are: parts of Central, parts of Kooringal, parts of Turvey Park and probably around the lake itself in Lake Albert. Tatton is expensive and considered a good area but you won't find any character there, just large spec houses. Bourkelands is similar but not as expensive, with a mix of small and large spec houses. Glenfield has smaller spec houses and some trouble spots because of it's proximity to Ashmont and Tolland. Tolland is not a good area generally nor is Ashmont or Mt Austin, though they all have little pockets that are OK. Personally, I wouldn't live in any of those suburbs (Ashmont, Tolland, Mt Austin). There are good and bad schools and because they are all zoned now (even the private ones) you really need to pick your address to get your kids into a good school. The best public primary schools (from what I've been told) are Wagga Public (in Central) and South Wagga (Central/Turvey Park). I've also heard Kooringal Public is good. Out of the public high schools, Wagga High (Central) probably has the best reputation. With the private schools, I think they are all OK.

There is not alot to do with kids that doesn't involve spending money. There are some nice parks, playgrounds and a little zoo (which is free) but once you've done that, there's not alot left. There's a swimming centre, but of course you have to pay to get in and even through the kids love it most adults I know can't stand it. It's indoor, really noisy and very strong chlorine smell. There is an outdoor pool but the safe pools for kids are inside. The indoor play centre has re-opened but at $9 per child you can't do it all the time. On the positive side, we have a movie theatre, a civic theatre that shows plays etc, and a good art gallery. There's often good exhibitions on either at the art gallery or one of the two museum sites. These are usually free. The public library is also quite good and there are some nice restaurants (and some crappy ones!). Winter is pretty bleak in Wagga. It gets very cold so you need the heater going all the time which is very expensive. I think there are better places to live and I can't see myself staying here forever.