Moving to Gympie - need some advice please!!!

[AliyahBlake]

Hi to any BubHub mums who live in or around Gympie.

My family and I will be moving there from Sydney - probably some time in the next month, as my DH just got a job there.

I just wanted to firstly say hi to you all, and also ask a few questions about the area.

My little girl has just started kindy here this year. I know the school system is a bit different up in Qld as they have prep instead of kindy (is that right?). I'd like to know what schools are good in Gympie and which ones we shouldn't bother with. We haven't got a house there yet, so I'm not sure where abouts in Gympie we'll be.

Next question is about daycare centres and playgroups (for my little boy - 15 months) - basically I have the same query about them - which ones are good or not so good?

If anyone has anything else about Gympie they can tell me that would be terrific.

Hopefully I'll get to meet some of you when we move there soon.

Thanks! :D

[Issey]

:wave: welcome

sorry i don't live near Gympie (its 1hr from Sunny Coast but sure somone on here does :confused:)

We have Pre-Prep here (not compulsary and is like daycare hours but more constructed during 8.45-2.30, my DS is 3 and started Pre-Prep, only because it was in another section of our current daycare, cheaper, and more resources, and trained teachers, he goes 3 days.

I have no advice apart from saying :wave:. You will definately notice it is cheaper than sydney!

[Bubmum]

Hi..I am moving back to Gympie (havent' lived there for nearly 20 years) from Sydney next week. I am absolutely freaking out about missing Sydney, but at least my family are there.
It really depends in which area you are going to move to, all of the schools are pretty much the same. There are quite a few palygroups, and I can pm you some of the daycare centre details..it is a while since you messaged, so you may have already moved and have this all in place.
Wednesday morning is story time at the library, but there aren't as many activities as in Sydney.Would love to meet up, if only to reminisce about smog and road tolls.

[SoloDad]

While i live at Maroochydore (about 1 hour away) I have spent a lot of time in and around Gympie. My work did take me there on many occasions and i have to say i am not fond of inner Gympie area as a place to live.

It was infamously and controversially written about by Professor Paul Wilson over a decade ago under the headline of Helltown....a place of prostitutes, gunrunners, rednecks, drug dealers and high crime. I think he was a little harsh, but who wants to argue with one of Australia's leading criminologists and respected professors.

If i was to live there i would reside on the outskirts on acreage. Bubmum is right, the schools (public) are pretty much the same, however my preference is and always will be for a private school.

What will make Gympie a better place for you and your family is if you can befriend other families as Gympie is a place where you will have to make a lot of your own fun. It can be a bit of a ghost town after hours or on the weekends for activities compared to the larger cities and towns.

I hope your prepared for a culture shock.

[tiggles]

Yes Gympie certainly is very different to Sydney. I personally love all the old buildings in town.

Ive only been there a couple of times (I live about 40 minutes south) and the first time we went there on a Sunday for a look around, everything was shut bar Maccas and the pubs, and there a a lot of them, lol.

So Im not much help, but hope you 2 girls moving there will enjoy living there.

I find the Sunshine Coast very quiet re things to do, especially if its raining, but having said that, Sydneysiders are very spoilt. I miss the museums, theatre, Sydney Harbour, zoo and aquarium, all the fun things to do.

But its a lifestyle change for the better and NO traffic!

[Refresh]

Give us a yell when you get here guys!!

[AliyahBlake]

Well, just letting you all know - I am finally in Gympie!!!! Arrived here on Monday, so we are busily unpacking and arranging the house - dealing with whingy and tired kids, and a dog who keeps escaping the yard and running away (found her twice but she hasn't come back as yet this time after escaping this morning :( )

We love Gympie so far. Craig and I are both NSW country bumpkins so it hasn't been a culture shock at all - quite the opposite. We love the friendly laid-back nature of people, and even love being woken by kookaburras at 5:30 am (beats being woken by truck brakes and sirens like we were in Sydney!)

Anyway Ffrenchstar and Bubmum - I will PM you both soon and we can maybe all catch up for a cuppa and chat (oh and that invite is open for anyone else in Gympie too :D )

[Refresh]

Welcome hehe!

How did you go with schools etc? Or are you yet to go down that track?

Hear from you soon! :)

[AliyahBlake]

Arrgghh!! The school thing has been a bit of a drama! Even though Aliyah has already been at school for a month in NSW, the school we want to enrol her in here want "proof" that she is academically and socially ready to start prep this year :rolleyes:. So, we have to get an independent child psychologist to give her a range of tests (including an IQ test) and then the results will be submitted to the school for cosideration. There's still no guarantees but hopefully sanity will prevail and they will let her start term 2.

[Bubmum]

Hey there..got your pm. Glad to see you are all settled..apart from the runaway dog, and the school issues. That's a bit full on, silly education system! I thought the whole point of the prep year was to bring Qld into line with the other states. Hmmmm
We've been up a few days..still waiting on the removalists, and my car to be shipped, but it's nice to be a much more relaxed mode. Maybe meet up next week some time? Hope it has stopped raining by then.

[Bubmum]

[quote=SoloDad;3548230)

It was infamously and controversially written about by Professor Paul Wilson over a decade ago under the headline of Helltown....a place of prostitutes, gunrunners, rednecks, drug dealers and high crime. I think he was a little harsh, but who wants to argue with one of Australia's leading criminologists and respected professors.


I hope your prepared for a culture shock.[/quote]
Solodad, this article was actually proposed and supported by a past teacher at one of the schools...who had sex with one of his students, was ostracised and eventually had to leave town. It's not a Helltown, it has actually produced some very fine young men and women over the years, and the schools are a lot safer than the schools in Sydney where kids riot with machetes, or the Jewish schools which have security guards patrolling due to the constant bomb threats.

[Mathermy]

laughing out loud at the thought of there being more prostitutes, drug dealers & high crime in Gympie than sydney *snorts*:laughing:

hil-ar-i-ous!:goodvibes:

[tiggles]

Goodness, I must have had my eyes shut to miss all the nasty people, lol.

Would love to read the article just out of interest.

[Bubmum]

Hi Tiggles, just read your first post on this thread..Sigh, I will miss the aquarium, and stupid me got an annual pass for my bday, doh!
Have you checked out underwater world at Mooloolaba? I haven't been for years, but I hope it is still open. Last time we went, I remember there were these freaky little fish that looked like they had hands. :eek:

[tiggles]

Hey Bubmum
Yes Ive been to Underwaterworld, but it has nothing on Sydney Aquarium, no offence to anyone. I was actually very disappointed with Underwaterworld, but DD11 loved it.

[AliyahBlake]

Hi Bubmum - yeah next week sometime would be great, whenever you're ready just PM me. I'm trying to find a playgroup to take the kids to as well so let me know if you have any ideas or know which ones are good. I've had a look at the playgroup website but thought I'd just wait til I know what's happening as far as Aliyah's schooling is concerned.

I did have a bit of a giggle at the Helltown comment! Haven't seen any "Gangs of Oz" shows about Gympie at all so I think we'll be right LOL! Where we were living in South West Sydney was getting very dangerous indeed and I definitely didn't want my kids growing up in that environment. I know all towns have their dodgy element but I think Gympie is much tamer than Sydney :D

[Bubmum]

Hi bakingpie..yay, another Gympie bubbie, yipee!!! Congrats on the upcoming birth.
My Mum used to work in the gun shop, tee hee. And trust me, she is the furtherest thing from a redneck, she is actually just a bit of a hippie. I know, I can't believe that article came up...it was in Playboy. Classy read. People like to make out Gympie is the northern Tasmania. Yes, like Tassie, the people here are down to earth, the surrounding areas are beautiful, and produce some of the finest product to be stocked in markets all across the country.
My best friend is from Wingham...I don't think we have ever had a whale come up the Mary River. That was a bit of excitement for Taree when the whale came up the Manning.

[Bubmum]

Bakingpie, i hope your bubba stays put for the moment. Naughty little possum trying to score a get out of jail early card, tsk tsk.
Pynk, I went to Central, haha, too funny. I have a theory that in the end, all roads lead to Gympie. Everyone knows someone from here, or someone who used to live here, or they lived here. It is really amazing.