Quote:
Originally Posted by Allan_L
The below map (posted by Gak) is a few years old now but it should give an idea of what you are looking for.
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That's a great map Allan, I missed the OP so thanks.
Dunk,
We're very friendly to poms, except during the cricket season.
Looking at the map it's pretty obvious that the further west the better. [Boorowa is a nice little place but the commute is a bit long.] If you are working in the CBD I'd seriously look at the prospects of using public transport. Certainly from Wollongong the train takes no longer than the car - less during the day - and then you don't have to park it. It's also cheaper, especially once you factor in parking fees. However if you are not in the CBD and have to change trains (or to a bus) public transport becomes slow. If you want to go down that track (pardon the pun) you need to look at the location of stations and the timetable.
I live in Wollongong in that little red patch and that is not the place to be. However the situation is better in the (somewhat pricey) northern suburbs and all the express trains stop at Thirroul. From there travel times to the CBD are similar to the times from Penrith. The plus side of living on the coast is that we get less extreme temperatures. True, on the two recent heatwave days where everyone was baked by the hot gale-force wind Wollongong was no better off, but on your average hot summer day it is >5 degrees cooler here than in western Sydney. On the other hand it is much cloudier here. Queensland has the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast and somewhere else is called the Sapphire Coast. I've christened Wollongong as the Cloud Coast. The escarpment behind Wollongong that helps generate that cooling sea-breeze also generates cloud. You wil still get more clear skies than in the old dart but less than western Sydney. It's a trade-off. Oh, and Wollongong is prettier than western Sydney IMHO.