NSW Where to retire?

We're hoping that it will be our pot of gold. Metaphorically anyway.

Ours is on the left of the picture, not quite the block closest to the shore.

The trees will stay - or at least the established eucalyptus and mangrove. There's going to be a path along the shore, but not directly onto the lake - there's a big drop just there. It's not far along to the lakeside anyway.

I was going to say I wish - but I don't really. I'm not a boat person. And only a mere 680m² of the land will be ours.

 

It's progressing nicely.

We're overlooking a park - the ponds are being built.

It's good to have a Facebook group of the neighbourhood. When were locked down in Canberra, we can still get to know our neighbours - and see how it's progressing.

 

The move has made progress.

Although the land isn't yet registered, we've sold our house in Queanbeyan, and will be moving to Newcastle - we have signed a lease on a place there.

Several factors influenced this.
1. We couldn't easily get a bridging loan to build our new place.
2. We didn't want to face another Canberra winter.
3. Our daughter in Newcastle is expecting our first grandchild - and wants us to be close.

 

This is a photo I took a few weeks ago at the estate.

 

The land has registered, and we've paid the full amount. We're officially land owners.

The process of building has been a slow one. We hope to have the tender signed shortly.

In the meantime, we're enjoying Newcastle. The climate is much better than Queanbeyan, we're close to beaches and the lake, and rainforest bushwalks are accessible within city limits. And it's nice being so close to all the facilities - we previously had to drive in to Canberra for many things.

 

Yes, just south of Gwandalan, facing East over the lake, with Nords Wharf on the other side of the water.

 

The local councils have information about individual properties.

We've bought lakeside. There are two potential sources of water:
. The rising lake. Our block is well above the lake level, 4-5m, so it's not an issue for us.
. Rising rivers or creeks. We're on a peninsula with just a small creek nearby, so the water can't come from too far away. Not an issue again.

We had no flooding issues ourselves, in our rented house in Newcastle or at our block.

Bushfires are a concern. We've built according to the BAL (12.5), though the rush will reduce when further stages of the development result in further clearing of nearby trees.

I'd recommend Crangan Bay as a good place to go. Stage 3 is still selling, some people are reselling in stage 1 (where I am, one block adjoining mine is for sale), and I heard of one in stage 2 in the last hour up for sale.

However, to be fair, it depends on what you want, as well as your budget. We love the close was to the water, to the bush, and the tranquility. However, were going to miss the convenience of Newcastle.

 

It's interesting what they do in the ads. I went to look at houses for sale on our development. This one shows the block behind ours which is for sale:

It's overlooking a park which looks quite lovely

But a few images in, as a part of the same ad, the park has suddenly changed:


(We are well behind the rest of the street, our block is to the left of the last house on the bottom of the picture).

 

I can see that you joined the group. Welcome!