Travelling North -- Our New Home In Yamba

Belated Merry Christmas and a Happy 2013

Yamba NSW

The blog has been a bit thin lately as we finished our travels in mid November and spent some time in Sydney.  There was a bit of coming and going, but after looking at houses in the area we used to live in Sydney, we decided we did not want to spend the money required to buy a house there and made the big decision to move north.

 In early December, we put an offer on a house in Yamba and it was accepted.    Yamba is a coastal town in northern NSW about 7 hours north of Sydney and 3.5 hours south of Brisbane, Qld.  It has a population of about 7,000. The economy is based on tourism with fine surfing, swimming and fishing beaches.  There is also a  successful commercial fishing industry.  Sugar cane is grown in the area, as are blueberries, which might surprise Canadian readers who think of them as cold climate plants.  The area is sub-tropical and there are a number of interesting coastal and inland national parks in the area for camping and exploring.  There is sailing on the mouth of the Clarence River for Bill, and golf courses in town and 20 kilometres to the west in the town of Maclean.

Our new house is 2 blocks from one beach and a 10 minutes walk to another.  It is two stories with a 3 bedroom + study flat on the top floor for us, and 2 x 2 bedroom units on the ground floor.  The ground floor units came complete with tenants so we have truly taken on a new lifestyle.  We think it will be handy when we travel, however, as the tenants are pleasant and it will be good to have people around while we are away.  There is also a big double garage which has been a lifesaver as we “downsize” into this smaller living area. 

1/58 Yamba Street (corner of Ager Street)

Living Room looking out onto front porch

Outdoor covered entertaining deck

Our new address, for all those intending to visit or drop us a line, is

1/58 Yamba Street

Yamba  NSW  2464

Australia

Our mobile phone numbers are the same and so are our email addresses.

It was difficult to leave all of our friends in Sydney and the many organizations we were involved in – the Mona Vale Surf Life Saving Club and Silver Plus, the jewellery group which after three years in the wilderness finally got a new workshop – were dear to Bobbie’s heart.  Bill will miss his sailing buddies, Chris with the Monday Night Twilight Races, his Wednesday golf group and the dune regeneration group at Mona Vale Beach.  We hereby issue an open invitation to all our friends to drop in to Yamba and check the place out.

We have already jumped into the Yamba lifestsyle.  Bobbie has joined the surf club and today entered the Yamba 2K Ocean Swim.  A year on the road with more running and cycling than swimming resulted in a modest performance and a great sigh of relief when she finally crossed the finish line.  Bobbie found a Masters Swimming Club with many friendly faces and hopes to get back into swimming form in the next few months.  She also met the Surf Sports Coach for Yamba SLSC but is not sure she wants to get back into board paddling.  We shall see.  Bill went out for Wednesday afternoon races with the local yacht club, and was much appreciated crew for one captain whose other crew weren’t available.

Overview of Yamba and mouth of the Clarence River

Main Beach Yamba

Pippi Beach Yamba

Downtown Yamba.  Update to Google Maps required (see sign)

We end this blog with an unashamed commercial plug for our friend Jenny, who runs a sparkling clean and friendly motel in Hawks Nest, NSW.  She has kindly put Bill and I up on our travels back and forth to Yamba.  The hotel is in another beautiful coastal tourist spot about 2 hours north of Sydney.  Jenny can recommend the best beaches, hikes, kayak hire and fish and chips in the area.  Go to www.hawksnestmotel.com.au

Hawks Nest Motel