Moving to Townsville

[Linz]

We lived in Townsville in 1986/1987 at Cranbrook, in a bank managers rental property (dump), when I worked in the bank at Hermit Park.
The humidity was terrible in the summer and it was as dry as a bone most times. The only thing up there then was the casino and Maggy island...everything else was well away from the town itself.
I remember a TV ad from back then saying "come to beautiful Townsville, so much to see and do"...only thing was, you had to drive for an hour or so to get to the good parts or a cruise to the island.
Luckily for me, one of the bank customers owned a wrecking yard, so that kept me entertained for a while.
The only nice place that we found that we'd live in (if we HAD to stay) was North Ward, the rest of the town (away from Castle Hill) looked pretty old and tired apart from Annandale, which was reasonably new then.
Anyway, enough of the good points.....but seriously, we just didn't like Townsville at all, we didn't suit it and it didn't suit us... a lot of unfriendly people (especially when they found out that we came from Brisbane, they seemed to have an instant dislike for anyone south of Rockhampton).
I'll never forget the night that we left to drive back to Brisbane...I said to my wife "have a last look at Townsville in the rear view mirror"...she looked at me and stomped on the accelerator .
From what I've read on here though, things sound like they've changed for the better at last, we were just unlucky to have lived there too long ago it seems.
Good luck with your new venture, hope everything goes well for you and your family.

[AC/DC]

Annandale was reasonably new in the late 80's, , townsville has changed a LOT since then.

We had a Casino before Brisbane, , We dont have all the tourists of Cairns or the Gold Coast. We have a NRL Team, NBL Team, National Soccer Team, The Strand, Great Swimming holes, Worlds best fishing within 90 minutes drive, Townsville 400 - Which I may add was much better than the Flop A1GP !

You dont have to drive 2 hours across the city to go to work !

Reef Fishing is not far offshore.

Great golf courses which are watered with "water !"

Its a great place ! thank god it SO HOT otherwise there would be 5 000 000 people here !

AC/DC

[Linz]

Originally Posted by AC/DC

Annandale was reasonably new in the late 80's, , townsville has changed a LOT since then.

We had a Casino before Brisbane, , We dont have all the tourists of Cairns or the Gold Coast. We have a NRL Team, NBL Team, National Soccer Team, The Strand, Great Swimming holes, Worlds best fishing within 90 minutes drive, Townsville 400 - Which I may add was much better than the Flop A1GP !

You dont have to drive 2 hours across the city to go to work !

Reef Fishing is not far offshore.

Great golf courses which are watered with "water !"

Its a great place ! thank god it SO HOT otherwise there would be 5 000 000 people here !

AC/DC

As I said, looks like Townsville has changed for the better.
Thank goodness that the A1GP was a flop, no one wanted it anyway, they only want the V8's :eclipsee_
Went to the Casino once.
The Strand is one of the good places to be.
Went to the swimming holes to cool down- north and south of Townsville (can't recall the names though).
Thankfully, we live within 10 minutes drive from work down here.
I don't go fishing or play golf ATM....maybe when I retire :hihi:

Hey, I'm not saying that Brisbane is THE place to be...far from it, our jobs and family are all here, the climate isn't too bad, and everything we want is available either right now or is one days freight away.
We are planning to move when we retire, somewhere with lots of space and nice and green (no, not a golf course)...probably down south somewhere.
So c'mon lotto...pay up :

[Melz]

Townsville Subway... ask for Mel

My mate moved up there a year or so ago, loves it and wouldn't move back to Vic in a hurry.

[AC/DC]

Originally Posted by Melz

Townsville Subway... ask for Mel

My mate moved up there a year or so ago, loves it and wouldn't move back to Vic in a hurry.

Which Subway ?

[Cobra]

How's the local Ford Dealership up there? I checked it out online, and obviously you can't guage anything else other than the name. They all say the same cr@p, but we'll have to use them for our F6X and it doesn't look like there's any other ones that aren't a few hours drive away.

[Linz]

Originally Posted by Cobra

How's the local Ford Dealership up there? I checked it out online, and obviously you can't guage anything else other than the name. They all say the same cr@p, but we'll have to use them for our F6X and it doesn't look like there's any other ones that aren't a few hours drive away.

If it's still Carmichael Ford, then we had good service from them. Our 1985 Telstar TX5 Ghia had just run out of warranty by a couple of weeks and they replaced a power window motor for nothing...also service department was great, they did everything that I asked to have done, very professional team (back in 1987 that is : ).

[naddis01]

Originally Posted by linz

I'll never forget the night that we left to drive back to Brisbane...I said to my wife "have a last look at Townsville in the rear view mirror"...she looked at me and stomped on the accelerator .

Ha ha. That is hilarious.

We were looking at moving to Ayr a couple of years ago, but due to a couple of issues it didnt happen. My biggest worry was the humidity. As for it being dry up there, you should come and live out here. So far for the year we have had 185mm! Now that is what I call dry.

[Cobra]

Originally Posted by linz

If it's still Carmichael Ford, then we had good service from them. Our 1985 Telstar TX5 Ghia had just run out of warranty by a couple of weeks and they replaced a power window motor for nothing...also service department was great, they did everything that I asked to have done, very professional team (back in 1987 that is : ).

The Townsville Ford dealership is Carmichael Ford. 22 years ago? There'd be probably one or two people still working there today, the rest of them probably wouldn't have even been born in 87 as most of them would be apprentices like all dealerships.

[S3SR]

townsville is alright been here 4 years now

ITS HOT! 99% of the year, and then its hot for the rest sometimes itll rain then go back to hot

annandale and riverside gardens (douglas where i am) is mostly uni students and army personel, expect loud cars, motorbikes and stupidity
neighbourhoods are clean, friendly although no one talks to each other
i wouldnt live anywhere else

townsville does have a fair bit to offer

saturday nights are when the drags open, sometimes there is the proper drag cars from all over the place, general street meets, etc
it is full 1/4 mile

every 3rd weekend maybe 4th cant remember right now (i wait for the email), ross river has the jetski races which we compete in ....

willows shopping centre just got an upgrade

there are a few 24hr gyms if you ever feel the need to go at 12am

night life - clubs are mostly on the one road, everything from your pub style to strippers to casino to the fancy dress up sort of places

strand usually has something going on, there is a place where all the hoons go and meet

traffic is terrible for no reason people are just idiotic

i cant comment on the schools part of things but i have heard stories, but then again its pretty much the same stuff we did at school

there is enough services and shops for car related stuff but no one wants to do anything harder then sell something off the shelf - hence why i now do it myself

i try and find any reason to hate townsville but i guess i love the place or just to lazy to leave

[paule11]

Carmichael ford servicing seems ok we havent had any problems with the xr6 we brought in Brisabne as they couldnt match the price

[Jock260]

Lived here since 1996, also Just graduated from Townsville grammar is 2008 so if you want to chat about that throw me a PM. Other than that, love Tville, big city, nice people, Lots of AJ's but they keep to themselves. I live in annandale and its very tame, lots of familys. anyway enjoy Tville.

[protd]

Originally Posted by AC/DC

Oh, and the dragstrip is a total dump......

understatement of the year, not to mention won't be there anymore in about 1 - 2 years as it's already being developed around that area....

as for townsville v cairns.. i live in cairns and hate it, i have lived in townsville and i personally would never live in the dive again, it's a dry, boring, dirty, industrial, army riddled sh!!!thole, but if you have work to go to by all means go there, i just would not expect to enjoy your stay very much at all.

[XR6_661]

The strip is terrible haha. Pegging it down the end at a rate of knots, pass the finish line and you hit all these undulations and bumps and some nice loose gravel/sandy stuff covering the track...Makes braking for the turnaround interesting...Dunno how some of the fast cars do it.

[XRGREIGHT]

Cairns and Townsville both suck!! Mackay`s the only place to live up here Honestly mate you need to experience a tropical summer up here before you decide. It`s friggin hot. Mates kid got off the plane here and thought he was suffocating. The humidity`s the killer. Some people get used to it and some can`t. Honestly, Both Townsville and Cairns are pretty good places for different reasons. Probably more employment oppurtunitys in townsville and Mackay than cairns though.Don`t think you can go wrong. Come on up. :

[protd]

Originally Posted by XR6_661

The strip is terrible haha. Pegging it down the end at a rate of knots, pass the finish line and you hit all these undulations and bumps and some nice loose gravel/sandy stuff covering the track...Makes braking for the turnaround interesting...Dunno how some of the fast cars do it.

at close to 140mph i have both my back wheels bouncing at least 6"s in the air and sparks coming of the front pickup points for my 4 link, the track is a piece of shiiiit..

Oh good luck with your move what sort of employment are you doing to make townsville FNQ's option for you??

[arlester]

Yes Townsville is quite nice. Have been to Cairns and hated it.

I moved up from Tassie about 3 years ago and have gotten used to the heat and humidity however it does always take a couple days to get used to it again. It is starting to heat up again here now.

To awnser your question about Carmichael's. They are good with servicing have had a couple of warranty problems with my car but were fixed with no hassles... (They even broke my windscreen fixing the rear view mirror and replaced F.O.C.)

There is abit to do however other than the Strand, Casino and Riverway you do have to travel a little. Not much over about 45 mins though depending in where you live. (I am in bushy beach). Oh and Maggie Island is a must.

Don't have alot to do with the car clubs but a workmate of mine runs his EVO in the bitumen sprints (laps around go kart track). And he also does the Hill climb.

As for AJ's there are a few around but as previously mentioned they keep to themselves. The ones that cause more problems are the Aboriginal popullation. However i'm not saying they are all like that.

Annandale is a nice suburb with nice houses, and as mentioned before North Ward is close to Strand and Grammar high. Do expect to pay more for North Ward though.

[Linz]

Geez, you must've nearly died when you got up there from Tassie...I remember getting off the plane after a trip back to Brissie and it was like hitting a brick wall...a HOT brick wall

[paule11]

The humididtys been good lately I remember in November 2009 changed a lightbulb in a room turned the fan off and in the time it took me to change the bulb only a few minutes my clothes were drenched in sweat. Summer can be hell but winter here is heaven

[Dazza XLT]

After spending some time in Darwin, I can safely say that Townsville will be quite easy to handle.
House we secured today!


Double garage, irrigation system & a good sized yard & patio.
A tick in every box!

[Cobra]

Originally Posted by arlester

Yes Townsville is quite nice. Have been to Cairns and hated it.

I moved up from Tassie about 3 years ago and have gotten used to the heat and humidity however it does always take a couple days to get used to it again. It is starting to heat up again here now.

To awnser your question about Carmichael's. They are good with servicing have had a couple of warranty problems with my car but were fixed with no hassles... (They even broke my windscreen fixing the rear view mirror and replaced F.O.C.)

There is abit to do however other than the Strand, Casino and Riverway you do have to travel a little. Not much over about 45 mins though depending in where you live. (I am in bushy beach). Oh and Maggie Island is a must.

Don't have alot to do with the car clubs but a workmate of mine runs his EVO in the bitumen sprints (laps around go kart track). And he also does the Hill climb.

As for AJ's there are a few around but as previously mentioned they keep to themselves. The ones that cause more problems are the Aboriginal popullation. However i'm not saying they are all like that.

Annandale is a nice suburb with nice houses, and as mentioned before North Ward is close to Strand and Grammar high. Do expect to pay more for North Ward though.

Travelling isn't a problem, we're going to live in a new place we'll want to explore. As for the indigenous population, well I've spent some time living in Port Augusta and I survived that (just) and I can't see Townsville being any worse than that! North Ward is definitely expensive, can't see us ever buying there. Eventually, I'd say we'd buy in the Annandale/Kirwan area but I guess you never know. Just see what happens I guess.

[Cobra]

Originally Posted by protd

at close to 140mph i have both my back wheels bouncing at least 6"s in the air and sparks coming of the front pickup points for my 4 link, the track is a piece of shiiiit..

Oh good luck with your move what sort of employment are you doing to make townsville FNQ's option for you??

For me, any employment will make it worthwhile. I havn't had much luck in recent months, Adelaide just seems to be stale on the job front. Mining is my preffered employment path, but anyone who's tried to get into the mining industry with no experience, not knowing anyone, and without the right trade it can be hit and miss. My wife wants a change she's never left Adelaide in her life, she works for the fed government and can get a transfer to the Townsville office easy enough.

[paule11]

Fish and chips are a lot better here than Adelaide. If you were a young single bloke I would say stay in Adelaide the night clubs here are the opposite of there in regards to male female ratio.

[Cobra]

We have had a drastic change of plans over the last few days, which means that unfortunately we will not be moving to Townsville. My wifes work transfer will not work in the time frame we need, as well as a few other more minor reasons which I won't go into. We will however be moving to Sydney, and looking at living in the Penrith area. I have a lot of family in Sydney, which will make the move a whole lot easier.

I would like to thank everyone who has offered advice or help in regards to the move to Queensland, and in particular Dazza XL who has been extremely generous with trying to assist me. It's poeple like Dazza XL and everyone else who's sent pm's or offered advice/opinions in this thread which makes the forums such a great place.

Once again thanks, and I hope to be able to go to Townsville one day for a visit. I will certainly be closer living in Sydney than Adelaide.

Eamon

[FTE217]

heyhey good stuff Cobra !

[Cobra]

It will be good to catch up with you again Maurie, and hopefully see some of the forums veterans that I got to know from the old forums, as well as some new faces as well.

[Walt Kowalski]

[QUOTE=Cobra].......We will however be moving to Sydney, and looking at living in the Penrith area. /QUOTE]

Mate I lived in Townsville and Magnetic Island for 9 years and eventually the troppo fever would have gotten to you.

My wife and I much prefer living in Windsor NSW on the outskirts of Sydney.

Penrith is really hot but nearby Hawkesbury and nearby Blue Mountains play Penrith off the break. Check 'em out.

Don't fall for the real estate sales slogans on acreage "get out of the rat race" It's a JOKE in the Hawkesbury. To get to the acreage you generally cross the Windsor or North Richmond bridges and guess what? You have to join a rat race to get across each bridge.

Windsor is strategicially located but feels like a Country town --that's because it IS a country town and ALWAYS will be. It can never be part of the Sydney urban sprawl because it is surrounded by beautiful land which floods. No houses there EVER.

I think Windsor is the pick of the Hawkesbury. You can walk to

• 5 Hotels and 3 of the Hotels have LIVE music on Fridays and Saturdays
• the boat ramp,
• boat races with blown big blocks,
• ski races,
• at least 15 restaurants
• a brilliant market on Sunday mornings
• riverside walks
• McQuade Park for one of the various "boot camps" daily, walking the dog, Cricket and Rugby
• Sydney's best Day Spa for the wife at The Sebel and they do a great deal for locals
• 2 golf courses
• Ansell Park Motokhana track
• Historical buildings galore dating back to the Colony's first settlement
• Terrifc primary schools. One Catholic and one excellent State Primary.
• Hawkesbury Race Course
• Cycleways galore

All of that is within 2 to 5 minutes WALK from my home.

And a short drive to:

• Putty Road
• Eastern Creek
• Top level workshops involved in Drag Racing, Circuit Racing and Rallying.
• Australia's best shopping centre - The New Rouse Hill Town Centre. Well thats what my wife says.

The Hawkesbury is revhead land.

Every weekend some car or motor cycle club has an event here and you just walk to the shows.

There's always atmosphere and my wife and I love it way more than Tsv/Magnetic Island.

[FTE217]

Originally Posted by Cobra

It will be good to catch up with you again Maurie, and hopefully see some of the forums veterans that I got to know from the old forums, as well as some new faces as well.

yep sure will mate and I'll rally up some of the vets from the past once you guys have settled in. Talk about UTurns with your re location on the East Coast

[Linz]

Here is the news....."A lucky escape today for an Adelaide man when he moved to Sydney"

[Cobra]

Originally Posted by linz

Here is the news....."A lucky escape today for an Adelaide man when he moved to Sydney"

What a cunny funt you are! Considering I'm actually Victorian, I'd say my time spent in Adelaide was just a detour to sydney!