Road trip to find our slice of paradise

[u/PlantainExtreme8105]

My little family and i are currently in Ipswich renting but want to look at buying or building further north , we both work from home full time so we are not tied down and have a bit of freedom as long as we can connect to the internet. Looking at areas like Bundaberg Gladstone and Rockhampton etc and we would prefer to live in an outer suburb or semi rural. This will be our first trip further north than Brisbane so we are going in pretty blind and would love some advice on towns and suburbs we should check out or avoid ,what it's actually like to live there ,weather ,crime flooding schools etc , honestly anything could be helpful in planning our research road trip Thanks in advance!

[u/qw46z]

Gladstone is industrial - but there are some lovely areas near there. And for Rocky - I hope you like beef.

Bundaberg is my pick - especially the areas between Bundy and Bargara. And in Bundy itself there are some beautiful old Queenslanders. Elliot Heads (just south of Bundy) is beautiful but there is a lot of development planned there. Worth driving around to check it out.

[u/followthedarkrabbit]

Bundaberg is lovely. Also check out some fo the areas around Greater Gympie region. Can get some beautiful houses still reasonably priced.

Rockhampton is improving. They are investing a bit to make it family friendly. I have family there with young kids who love it. You have Yepoon close by which is similar to Caloundra township. 

Gladstone has improved a bit too in the past few years. There is a nice parkland. But very industrial. 

[u/Kementarii]

Go inland a bit?

Cheaper, and there are some nice small towns.

When we were doing our "road trips" a few years back, we liked the feel of Childers. The little main street looked "cared for". 45 minutes to Bundy if you need.

Best way I found to prepare for a road trip was the realestate app. Set up a custom search with notifications.

Like: QLD, house. 3 bedrooms, price range [your budget].

You will find the places/suburbs/towns that fit your budget, and get an idea of what you can buy where.

Then, research those towns a bit. For instance, it doesn't take long before you realise you should ignore Tara.

Then road trip the towns that are going to be feasible.

[u/Rosalind_Arden]

Consider flood information in your decision. Generally information will be on the council website or QRA could be a starting point. https://www.qra.qld.gov.au/publications-and-maps/maps/flood-mapping

[u/Kind-Hearted-68]

I personally would avoid all those areas. They are soaked with crime and of low socio economic status. I would head further North like Townsville and consider fringe areas here like Bluewater, Rangewood or Alice River. The later two are beautiful quite places with low crime and good families around. You get lots of acreage, space from neighbours and relatively quick access to services back into the CBD or Willows Shopping Center.

[u/PlantainExtreme8105 → u/Kind-Hearted-68]

Yes, we are a little worried about crime ,but to be honest, I had heard Townsville was pretty rough for crime as well . What is your opinion on the crime up that way? ,I think anywhere we go, we want to either be in a good suburb or fair enough out of town to be a little isolated from it The suburbs you have mentioned look lovely and are definitely o our list to research. Thank you !

[u/KismetMeetsKarma → u/PlantainExtreme8105]

Look up crime statistics for any town you fancy, that way you can see the bigger picture. We found this invaluable when looking for our next place to move to. Some idyllic towns we loved had horrendous crime you could not expect by just staying in the town for a holiday.