GreyNomad

It's hot, stuffy and muggy, a very wet damp feel to the air. Little to do other than bungee jump and go shopping at Smithfield. The streets don't have a 'safe' feel to them and without being judgemental there are some very dubious characters that frequent the streets of Trinity Beach. Every town has some bad characters but these seem to be in a league of their own. Hooning is the local sport of choice. Motorbikes are seemingly allowed on the footpaths as to police this would be too much of a task in itself. Roundabouts are negotiated by the locals by going flat out at a hundred and screaming across them blindly hoping to avoid other road users! As for shopping, it just seems to be littered with Macca's and Bottle Shops with what looks like the biggest Dan Murphy's in Queensland! When we were there we saw a lot of drinking on the streets and even locals sipping burben from cairns in traffic!!! Although it is nice to see the treetops and mountains around you this in itself is not enough to make you want to live in this area for any amount of time. It also feels too far north to be taken seriously in the business arena, anyone setting up here would no doubt struggle unless they wish to work at the local bottlo or Macca's for the rest of their life. The beaches were nice although there is a large populus of Jellyfish (or was whilst we were there) Not a lot for local families to do. Any young people approaching School leaving age would indoubtedly find it a struggle to gain decent employment that would lead to an established career. Real Estate is easy to find, still overpriced considering the facilities of the area, rentals are reasonably priced but there's a lot of run down properties so beware if sourcing a rental.

This area seems like it's built up enough to cater for young families and those nearing retirement. It's got something for everybody. The Westfields is a mecca for the local youth on a thursday night. There's a nice big park on the edge of the retail estate and some great indoor play centres for toddlers and little one's. There's a good community feel to the area, cinema's are well positioned with bowling and activity centre ensuring there's enough for young people to keep them entertained and off the streets. A slight hoon element on the roads in this area is to be expected especially on the fringes (Bray Park, Warner, Samford) There's plenty of rental properties in this area, some slightly over priced but there's heaps around so there isn't much pressure when renting if you choose to do so. Houses for sale again is the same problem, there's almost an over saturation on the market but this is counterbalanced as only a few are priced realistically. There seems to have been a recent spate of mortgagee sales to add to the sales data in this area which seems to indicate maybe some owner forced sales by their lenders which again indicates a falling value between asking price and achieved sale price. Plenty of takeaways and eateries and some nice bakeries especially the bakery near Blockbuster Video, and don't settle for eagle boys or dominos, Pizza Capers near Noodle box is the best place to go, eat in/takeaway or delivery. If you get bored of Strathpine it's twenty minutes in the car to Chermside which is huge.

Beautiful town, parks and beaches, some great fishing and scenic views beyond belief. Lovely sunsets and great for family tenting holidays with a great caravan park (Captain Cooks Holiday Village). Let down by public transport and the usual small town inadequacies (far out from civilization, few shops, little to do as far as nightlife goes other than the local tavern - which is actually fantastic!) Would be hard to operate a business in this area when not in a peak holiday season. Great local spirit though, great place to retire and wind down with some great houses overlooking the bay, good community spirit. Very free loving nature hugging feel to the town. The only two big downsides are the extreme lack of water that's serviced to the town and if you intend watching television you really need to be on cable or satellite as there is next to no free to air reception in the town. Except for the fish and chip shop everywhere else we ate was great, the bakery was very fresh and well stocked, the only problem was for anyone looking for a macca's or chinese has a long drive ahead of them. Tavern does some great meals though and operates a free shuttle bus. As for main shopping for weekly groceries there really is only one shop (A small IGA) so you'd need to be driving an hour or so each way once a week to get to a more well stocked/rounded supermarket)

Feels slightly old, dated architecture and hasn't worn well with time, gives the town a rather distant feel. There are some nice parts which are newly built but there are still the old houses that are refusing to come up to date! Not a lot going on in Drouin town, you need to get to Warragul, the next town over to get anything done, and even then that's not big enough to service most peoples weekly needs for shopping etc. Definitely need a form of personal transport to live here, public transport isn't nearly up to speed enough. Local doctors are very good as a big plus operating a late night facility to the community. Generally a town for retiree's, definitely not for young families with teenage children as there is nothing to entertain them. Some petty vandalism is probably catalysed by this fact as there is nothing to entertain the younger generation. We found there was a number of yobbish young adults between Drouin and Warragul, which makes the town seem quite foreboding to anyone settling into the area. Also as a small note, shops in Drouin seem sleepy and customer service is not a positive thing whereas Warragul town has a very much different charm and is quite nice for a day to wander around. Don't go to the bakery in Drouin, make your own 'fresh' sandwiches.... As far as Real Estate is concerned spruiking in this area is out of control, with some agents reporting it 'Close to the city with old town charm' It is k's away from the city and we didn't find the charm in the abundance they'd have you believe! This town won't change for at least a hundred years as the locals won't let it go through the transformation it desperately needs. As usual with most areas these days in Australia the locals have also noticed that other areas have had noteable price increases in properties. They have decided that Drouin should also have gone up in price, so beware, some sellers in Drouin believe that 3 bedroom wooden hut on half an acre they're selling is indeed worth double to three times what they paid for it a few years ago. As a rule of thumb, the price you see, immediately knock off thirty percent and negotiate down from there, that way you may buy something that's remotely close to it's true value.

Nice street with some lovely designer houses and good parks for the children. The local Tavern is good for a meal and the Warner Village houses a reasonably sized woolworths and a good bakery. The fish and chip shop by the video store is the better of the two found in the precinct. Real estate is overvalued in certain streets considering the size of plots you get and the area is starting to feel a little over developed. The area is bought down a little by the large complex located near the bottle shop. Constantly the target of graffiti vandals and just generally looks untidy in the middle of such an otherwise well maintained street. Another source of discontent is the speed limit that is constantly broken on Everest Street and the fact the road os often marred with skid marks and 'Donut' circles. You can hear the re-enactment of the fast and the furious nightly from the shopping centre car park where hoons gather to skid/slide and otherwise drive dangerously in order to impress their peers and annoy the neighbours! Other than the negatives though the street is well placed but give consideration when thinking of purchasing here as there are some massively overpriced properties that aren't even in the ball park of what they're worth!

Nice area, not too bad on the crime front but Real Estate is fast becoming over priced with some houses trying to make gains not feasibly possible for this area of Queensland. It still feels too far out from Brisbane yet is trying to sell at the same prices as some inner city properties, buyer beware. If you're looking for property in this area bargain long and hard as Warwick is generally a slow moving sellers market so don't feel pressured by REA's to negotiate quickly, sales records show properties sit on the market longer here in Warwick than in Toowoomba or Brisbane. Nice green area though, Rodeo show towards the end of the year is great and brings some much needed business to the area.