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wavemaker
29th May 2004, 05:44 AM
we may have the option of moving to Hervey Bay and in general it sounds a nice sort of a place. have any of you ever lived there, whats it really like. any feedback would be appreciated.

gazgolf1
29th May 2004, 06:58 AM
prmeier from the other site lives up there.
Not much there if you are used to the "city" lifestyle but nice and relaxing if thats what your after.I'd seriously take up fishing again if I moved there.

wavemaker
29th May 2004, 07:21 AM
gazgolf thanks for that, im already seriously into fishing so that is covered and after living in cairns for 3 years i have slowed down enough to cope with a layed back sort of pace.

AndyP
29th May 2004, 08:13 AM
I believe Hervey Bay has an "older" population, with retirees and the like.

wavemaker
29th May 2004, 12:14 PM
yeah, well that will suit me if it means i get plenty of peace and quiet.

damoocow
29th May 2004, 06:35 PM
wavemaker -
I would advise against anyone actually moving to Hervey Bay by choice - the population make up is either very elderly or very much like hoodlums - it has a poor unemployment rate and plenty of stupid young people with nothing much to do - don't know much about the golf courses there though I know that Maryborough GC is not too far away and it is a truly undiscovered gem ! -I would suggest you look into living at Toogoom - close to Hervey Bay but a very nice spot - I live in Bundaberg and I would suggest you don't move here either - it is an absolute shithole!
ps- my Mum lives in Hervey Bay so I have seen what it is like.
damoocow

wavemaker
31st May 2004, 05:57 AM
thanks for that damoocow, that is exactly the sort of advice i was looking for. we have looked at properties on the net and toogoom was a spot we liked the look of.

macleod
1st June 2004, 01:38 PM
wamemaker, i was born bred and rasied in hervey bay...(damo, trust me it was a very good place to be brought up through the 70's and 80's....90's saw the shift to a less enjoyable environment with the decline of the family holidaymakers)

Having grown up there and contrasting it's moden condition is tough. The city is easy to access amenities at both ends (ie. Pialba shopping district, newer areas at Urangan nearer the marina end).

Golfwise, it has the HB Golf Club, Craignish out towards Dundowran and Eagles Nest, none of which i've played.

Damo's assessment is pretty much on the mark, during the 90's it became more of a retirement community in some senses, but the unemplyed youth factor came into play. Just a side effect of the changing times in the 90's, it went from a nice holiday 'village' to a small city with all the inherent issues, including some interesting statistics such as the highest single mother ratio, and one of the highest unemplyment figures in australia.

youths like to "cruise the 'nade" in their commodores and other hotted up cars..ie drive up and down the Esplanade all the time...what a passtime!

The funny legacy there is a rich cane farming family (The Messers) who still have their fields practially in the centre of town, but keep and iron hold on them as they want millions for the land even though their yields have been crap since i was a kid. you'll see the main shopping centre on the drag in with cane farms right near it...still funny but they are slowly decliing as developers buy up slices towards the hervey bay college and convert them to retirnement villages.

It's a good place to live if u fish, lots of beach fishing, access to Fraser Island, estuary stuff etc. Toogoom was in my day a nice fishing burg, tiny, one street, 2 fish and chip shops and that was it but it has appreciably expanded since then. Burrum Heads is also an option and was substantially larger than Toogoom.

Out towards Dundowran is more pineapple/cane areas but quite a few development down towards the beaches have come along, god size blocks to be had and still easy to get to town for shopping.

I'm going back up in septmeber to see what happened to my childhood house and parents business (flats). I lived in the same house my whole life up there, we had flats right on the esplanade at scarness.

i have plenty of good memories growing up since school holiday times the Bay was busting with families and kids on the beaches, it was good then but it hollowed out due to the recession and the building of highways, etc. easier to get there just for a weekend, do whale watching etc, sunshine coast got popular etc.

it went from a holiday town to just another city on the coast but still a jump off point for fraser. used to also be a hugh backpacker town but not sure if that's still the go.

nice spots for quiet living are at point vernon, scarness heights, booral, river heads

check here for a reference map: http://dkd.net/herveybay/map/mapr.html it makes hervey bay looks nice enough even damo would be pleased :D

the one thing id go back for is Golden Chicken (oringal store corner of queens road and torquay terrace) ...honestly the best chicken and chips i've ever had in my life and still worth a 3 hour drive for ;) i hope they haven't changed!

if u need any more info just yell!

Fishman Dan
1st June 2004, 01:40 PM
yeah, well that will suit me if it means i get plenty of peace and quiet.

It would also mean longer queues at the supermarket waiting for the old biddies to count through their 1c and 2c stashes to pay for their groceries.

Jarro
1st June 2004, 02:19 PM
yeah, well that will suit me if it means i get plenty of peace and quiet.

It would also mean longer queues at the supermarket waiting for the old biddies to count through their 1c and 2c stashes to pay for their groceries.

not that there's anything wrong with that :wink:

damoocow
1st June 2004, 06:26 PM
so macca you grew up in Hervey Bay - explains a lot! - oops I mean to say , very interesting - but I reckon you would be right - back then it would have been OK - pretty ugly now though.
damoocow

macleod
1st June 2004, 07:20 PM
thank mate....i think :D hey, i got born in maryborough since back in 1975 they pulled the plug on the maternity ward at HB hospital the year before.

well, for one thing the beaches slowly disappeared back into the bay.

the level of the sand was right up at the foreshore level when i was a kid, now it's a good 2+ metres below that in some prts. shelley beach is still shelley beach though.....

heck, the dougongs disappeared which indicated the seagrass in the bay died off or got covered by the spreading sand.

at scarness you can see rocky outcrops at low tide, never was there when i was a nipper.

the danger sign when in year 12 was the opening of Mcdonalds....i think that's a watershed indicating the arrival of modern slacker culture for the kids ;)

my dream was to go back and open a 7-11, id make money hand over fist from the kids cruisnig the nade all night :lol:

damoocow
1st June 2004, 07:29 PM
yeah - make money one night - get robbed the next!
damoocow

Golfgirl
1st June 2004, 08:56 PM
thank mate....i think :D hey, i got born in maryborough since back in 1975 they pulled the plug on the maternity ward at HB hospital the year before.



1975 was a good year.... :wink:

jaster
1st June 2004, 09:11 PM
This is fair dinkum guys....Hervey Bay has more Victorians living there now than Queenslands :shock: :wink: True story!!

AndyP
2nd June 2004, 06:17 AM
This is fair dinkum guys....Hervey Bay has more Victorians living there now than Queenslands :shock: :wink: True story!!
And your point is? :? :wink:

jaster
2nd June 2004, 06:54 AM
This is fair dinkum guys....Hervey Bay has more Victorians living there now than Queenslands :shock: :wink: True story!!
And your point is? :? :wink:

Mexicans like you all live in our beautiful state :( :P :wink:

wavemaker
2nd June 2004, 08:55 AM
ozmac thanks for that long reply. i really appreciate you taking the time to do that. that is the sort of insight we need to help in the decision process. you cant pick up the real feel of a place in a weekend. if there is plenty of fishing and golf im ok, but i have to consider the kids in all of this, so next we are checking out schools etc. thanks again to all for the info.

Speirsy11
16th June 2004, 09:19 AM
thank mate....i think :D hey, i got born in maryborough since back in 1975 they pulled the plug on the maternity ward at HB hospital the year before.



1975 was a good year.... :wink:

As another 1975 vintage, I'd like to say that '75 was well above average.....

Also, I've only been to Hervey Bay once, but it was made more then worth it by one thing:

Vic Hislop's Shark Experience

Has there ever been a more insane individual then viscious Vic and his hatred for Sharks? It is hillarious to go see. Hundreds of articles about how Sharks are indiscriminate killing machines and they should be wiped off the face of the earth, a few frozen White Sharks (HUGE....very cool, and not just cause they are frozen), and a couple of videos of Vic catching and killing sharks.....The argument could be made that Vic's shop is a little one sided, but hey, make your own opinion....definately worth it....

Oh yeah, I think there might be some kind of island or something close too.....Fraser Island or something? :lol:

Speirsy11

Courty
16th June 2004, 04:39 PM
Never been to the area mentioned, but just thought I'd add that I also hatched in 1975. It was an excellent year! :D