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We made the move down to ‘Austi’ in October 2016, but we were still yo-yo between our apartment in Bondi, which we were Airbnb-ing out and the in-laws’. We have been really settled here for about one year now. My partner was offered a job down in Bowral so we drew a line between there and the Arent & Pyke studio on the coastal train line and we ended up in here!
We really haven’t looked back! Until maternity leave, I had been commuting up to Sydney three to four days a week and then working from home where possible. It’s an easy hour on the train – perfect time to devour a great book. Living in Sydney, we had really busy lives and it does feel like we have turned the volume down since moving here. The pace is so very relaxed and there is a lovely sense of community where neighbours chat over the fence and kids ride bikes until twilight.
I grew up in the Sutherland Shire, so the Coal Coast was always somewhere I went as a kid, as well as in my late teens when we all wanted to take our crappy first cars for a spin along the coastal road!
The beauty of this area for me is still the drama of the landscape. The little towns snake their way down, bound on one side by the vast ocean and on the other by the incredible scale of the Illawarra Escarpment ledge, It makes you feel so small beside it.
As the weather cools down the mist tends to sit over the steep slope. It is considerably colder and windy down here in the winter so it’s a great time to cuddle up and keep warm beside the moody grey of the ocean or the misty green plateau.
On the other hand, summer down here is pretty special too. There is almost always a coastal breeze and the temperatures remain lower than Sydney even on the hottest of days. The beaches are sparkling, the iced lattes are flowing, and it feels like you are on holidays every day.
