Salt ash weapons range?

[Mrs Nietzsche]

Hi.. we are thinking of moving back to Newcastle and i'm trying to find an area that is semi-rural, close to the water & town.. any ideas?

Someone said Salt Ash but I just discovered there's a huge weapons range close by... is this incredibly noisy/ dangerous etc? Does anyone know?

Also - my husband is Fijian and our kids are obviously mixed race, I am just a bit aware that some areas are more racist than others and I would like your honest opinion on racism around Newcastle these days.. please be honest! i don't want my kids to have to deal with too much of this

[Veritas]

There is Williamtown army base.... I'm assuming that is what you mean by Salt Ash Weapons Range.... not 100% sure on what is conducted up at the base, or where the bits and pieces are situated.....

By water do you mean beach or lake????

By town do you mean Newcastle CBD or just a built up area with shopping centre etc....

As for the racism thing, well I haven't heard of any major racially related uproars locally lately.... not that I'm all that in tune with local news, but there definitely hasn't been anything large enough to stick out....

There are pockets of areas anyone would rather avoid, but you get that anywhere really....

[Mrs Nietzsche]

NO there is an actual weapons range :S

http://leerhiannon.org.au/blog/raaf-keeps-mum-on-secret-port-stephens-pollution-reports

By water, beach ideally but definitely water...

And by town I mean CBD, lol.

Possibly impossible but I will aim high and see if anything sticks well

[Veritas]

Yeah I just looked at that... Still part of the base but at Salt Ash... seems they practice bombing, low flying for air combat etc there.....

I think anywhere around Salt Ash, Medowie, Williamstown, etc you are going to have the issue of aircraft noise at the very least....

If you come a little closer to Newie you'll hit Fern Bay, not too far from water, and heaps of new development there of late....

By semi-rural, do you mean you want to purchase a block with some land????

The south end of Lake Macquarie could be another option for you.... just depends what you really want....

Though anything semi rural is likely to be at least half hour out of the actual Newcastle CBD...

[Mrs Nietzsche]

Yeah half an hour is okay. I lived there 10 years ago but Newcastle has changed so much in that time. I'd got my heart set on something like this http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=106150177&f=0&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&cc=&c=95336905&s=nsw&tm=1260093072 :gloomy: but no good if subject to constant bombing noise and whatnot!

A friend mentioned Fern Bay and I had a look at it but then Salt Ash seemed better re older houses (character) and more land.. but now I've discovered the weapons range..

We need to live somewhere with horseriding very close for my daughter? Is there anywhere like that south of Newcastle?

eta - btw, thanks so much! It's so hard trying to work this stuff out from Brisbane

eta2 - I thought of Caves Beach etc but Swansea was a bit drongo (no offence to anyone) from my impressions of it years ago... might be very different.. also no idea re horseriding???

[Veritas]

I know there is definitely a fair amount of agistment and riding clubs in Medowie.... but you are still going to get some kind of aircraft noise there....

Your other options might be up Maitland way.... there are some lovely spots around....

From memory down the south of the lake there used to be Little Ponderosa riding club, but not 100% sure if it's still there.... it was a loooooong time ago I went riding there....

The bonus of down that way is that you get lake and beach in a water sense....

Maybe start by checking out the yellow pages for riding clubs around Newcastle then eliminate by area.... there could be something around Maryland/Minmi but not 100% sure....

[Areca]

The most affordable semi rural area would be Maitland way...about 40-50 minutes out of the CBD depending on where you actually are.....to get good land size and a nice house close to the CBD (within say 10-15 minutes) will cost you an arm and a leg.
No idea on horse riding because we don't but there is a pony club sign on the way to DD1 and DD2 swimming lessons near Warners Bay... but no idea on house costs or land that way because we don't want to live there.

[Mrs Nietzsche]

well back to the drawing board I guess... we are flying down in Jan so will drive around and work out what the go is with the aircraft noise and so on, but in the meantime I'll have to look for other options.

THe main reason I wanted to be close to CBD is for work - maximise job opportunities for DH etc (also schools I guess)

[luvmyboys]

Hi
I don't think Salt Ash is any noisier than other areas around Williamtown but they have not long ago released new flight plan details and it might be worth looking at. I had a friend who lived at Salt Ash and loved it, they only moved so they could have a larger property. The Mayor lives at Salt Ash so it can't be too bad ;).

Fern Bay is a bit new and surburban for me, depends on your taste. There are heaps of grest places to live around Newcastle, depends on where you work and what sorts of things you want in your community, school etc.

There are lots of horsey things around, pony clubs, equestrian centres, trail riding etc. Salt Ash is actually a good spot as there is a big Pony Club venue there and trail riding on the way to the bay. There is also an equestrian centre at Blackhill/minmi and one at Heatherbrae.

I really don't think racism would be an issue in the area but there may be some places where peoples ignorance is more evident. Being Fijian would probably help win you friends in a lot of places :D.

Best of luck in your move.

[Mrs Nietzsche]

Thanks luvmyboys... I've been trying to read the documents about the defence involvement there but they are obvioulsy written in order to be unintelligible and unable to be made sense of. Really don't tell anything useful. What worreid me was that I found some sites saying that all the jets were putting toxins in the air and the decibels are enough to cause ear damage at times etc etc.

I have a feeling I won't find anything that suits so well anywhere else though..

I felt the same about fern bay, too mcmansion sort of thing..

I used to live in WIckham and I was at first thinking of Stockton but then we got onto this acreage thing, I think we would be too cramped anywhere else now...

I am encouraged by what youve said!