LOL Kay, I agree with you though! []

As for poor Katoomba, I should not have been so harsh! LOL. I lived in Katoomba for 30 years, I know where it was and how it has travelled. Both parents were business people, I did my own business there ….well several businesses actually. Gone are the days where you left your back and front door unlocked and the fly screen was mesh!

My Parents still live there and it is quite expensive both to buy and to rent. I have done both.

Now i have never been accosted in Katoomba for money, maybe I blend in too well? []

I might add it used to be a nice town, a country type of place, but…….full of blow ins now!

AS for surrounding towns, lets see what the locals used to say;

Katoomba was the service town eg shops utilities etc
Leura was the North shore of the mts, expensive and where the rich had weekenders
Wentworthfalls was a town that was kinda missing in action
Bullaburra, no mans land
Lawson, again mid mts and a service town, changing socio economics
Hazlebrook, was called the Mt Druitt of the mts, woodford just got scrapped
Linden faulconbridge and Springwood, we were heading into more money again, closer to Penrith, more a major town, more expensive properties

back up the mts, Medlow, always the health resort must visit place, a la Hydro Majestic (now a tourist rip off in my opinion)
Blackheath, more money, but a few years ago, “bleakheath”- cold, miserable and uninviting.
Mt Victoria, top of the mts, small quaint village.

Now these have swung around as interest in the mts has grown, escaping sydney rat race, place to rest, rejevenate etc…good place for those with certain illnesses….to become calm and rested…

Katoomba wants to be the music and arts capital
Leura still is
Blackheath, expensive place and now considered the place to live, along with mt vic to some.
Lower mts, dont have much to do down there anymore, but still lots of housing.

I did some demographical studies years ago for research, and mid mts was fastest growing area, though there are still a lot of lower income dwellers- or as some say dole bludgers up there, but thats the same everywhere yes? lol

I dont like what they did with the carrington, or the town, but in some respects it has improved, some nice artwork adorns buildings, and i dont mean graffiti

Best time to visit if you want a peak at ‘freak’ come hippy, come alternative….’winter magic festival’ june soltice…..busiest time fo the year for Katoomba

cheers

elves

well equity is one thing, servicing a loan is another, not sure banks like pensions

Cheers

yeah so let us in…

so far a lot of posts about “nothing” []

i dont worry about the homophobic types, im not one![]

hate to disappoint the e tags….
I dont use tolls
I travel then exit strategically

M7 they say will be fully electronic eg no cash

They say the M7 will cost about 25c a km to use making it one of the most expensive.

It will have a large impact on areas where traffic is already bottlenecked and the ‘parking lot’ syndrome. The m4 is like this daily.

It will divert traffic from some of these places
It should shorten travel times (but only if you travel in the directions it uses to get you where you want to go.) – but then you wouldnt be on it otherwise.

People are already talking about how good it will be, how property prices will increase (all about proximity to and access to work, roads etc.

Personally I prefer to live away from traffic and roads and work

[}] road rage gets me

elves

Good points teabag..

I guess I think myself that a few years ago there was a large influx in an area i lived of Asian investors, they came and bought, pushed up the prices and they havent dropped since.

What that did was raise prices, but for them it was easy as they were loaded and property in their country was impossible to buy. So they were middle to upper in the money stakes, they had the means, but couldnt afford in their own place, so what did they do? come to Australia! bought big, lived here, send their kids to school here, as it was cheaper to pay all those costs, of living schooling etc for their child in another country than in their own….

is there a connection? are NZ’ers paid less or on lower than their Aust counterparts? and are we like the Asian investors aiming for a good deal? where we cant buy here now as prices have increased so much, but we can manage in someone else’s backyard?

just a thought…….

Elves