mandevilla

We moved in here from a beautiful part of Sydney around a year ago, and find that this is indeed a better place to be. We were attracted by the acreage properties, the surrounding national park, and the magnificent and private beaches nearby. It is often said that when you buy a property, you only see the pros, and you will find nasty surprises later while living in it. It is certainly not our experience. This place has offered us a lot of surprises, in the good sense. There is so much more village atmosphere here compared with suburbs in Sydney. Most of the neighbours have lived here for some years, and are very welcoming to new-comers (without prejudice, mind you! As an overseas born resident, I have never experienced racist attitude here). Their friendliness is not at the surface, it is real. We got so much help in getting advice about local services, taking care of our house while travelling, and not the least important, spend time together for catch-ups. We are also surprised to find so many birds here (but no bell-bird, luckily)! As your eyes catch the surrounding national park, your ears take in the singing of birds, you easily feel yourself in the arms of nature Mother. But if you are not a bush man (or woman), you can drive to Pretty beach 5 minutes away, even with your dog, if you like. You can have dogs off-leash there, so both of you can enjoy yourself. If you fancy some nice food, the tavern across the road offers really good food. My favourite is their grilled barramundi with a super-fresh salad. If you're a Coles shopper, you can find a voucher of the tavern at the back of your docket which says half price for the second order. After a good meal, you probably need a good work-out. Well, nobody will stop from walking on the Pomona Rd up and down as many times as you want, but I'm sure you can always find something to do in your acreage property. Gym fee saved! What else do you ask from a living place on earth?
There are some inconvenience of living here, as we anticipated. The Internet connection is ok but not great. We could only get ADSL 1 from TPG (really good service, though, the best customer service from telecommunication providers we have had). The shopping centre is either Woywoy or Kincumber, which is 13-15 minutes drive. Around the corner there is a food-works, but might be a little expensive for daily stuff (good for emergency, for sure). Oh, yes, there are mossies around, but only for a couple of months, around Jan to March. We aren't that much bothered.
The parking space seems to be sufficient in shopping centres, but not sure whether there is enough for commuters to Sydney as we don't travel to Sydney for work(which is a 1.10 minute comfortable ride by train to Central Station). Not sure about schools and childcare as we don't have children. The Empire Bay Kindy is just around the corner.
A recent Residex Prediction report has identified Empire bay as a coastal town with strong potential growth. We do not count on the growth of value in the property, but it is nevertheless not a bad news :-