Carraba Street, Taroom, QLD 4420

I lived and worked in Taroom for almost two years. While it's a nice enough little town, with a fairly interesting history, there is little in the way of facilities for families. Childcare is a definite problem and schooling is only available to Grade 10, although there is both a public and a Catholic school. It is a fair drive to any major centre, with both Rockhampton and Toowoomba at least 4 hours away. The little hospital is okay, and the nurses are efficient, but the town doctor at the time (I left in 2005) was atrocious, and I would not go near him - instead I travelled to Chinchilla, some two hours away, for prenatal and other care.

Power service may have improved by now, but one year, we lost power for more than 14 hours, and had regular outages in the summer months. It's quite a hot place, and airconditioning is essential. There is a swimming pool there, and water service is good, although water rates are high.