Moving to Maitland/Cessnock

Anonymous

Moving to Maitland/Cessnock

Hi.
Just wondering what everyone’s experience of living in Maitland/Cessnock? We are looking to move from Sydney but still be close enough for day visits to family/events (I know it’s about a two hour drive). Is it a nice place to live? Are people friendly? I’ve heard Bellbird and Branxton are nice places, is this true? Are the schools any good? Any areas/school to avoid? Thanks for any help.

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3 Replies

Anonymous

Don’t do it. We moved from branxton to Sydney and we will never go back. You choices of schools will be limited as will your children’s opportunities (comparatively to what we have here). Public transport is crap. Jobs can be limited depending on your occupation. We lived in Maitland, Singleton and Branxton and nowhere was near as friendly as where we live in western Sydney. Our parks and recreation areas here are so much better.

Nice to visit. Not to live. The ONLY thing I miss is the amazing food at Pokolbin.

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Anonymous

I live in Greta and lived in North Rothbury (Huntlee) before that and have found good. We moved here from Newcastle in 2016 for my partners work. I guess it depends what your after and what you like to do. A lot of people in Huntlee bang on about “high crime” but I also know a lot of people seem to think they don’t need to lock doors and then get upset when people open them and steal their stuff. We always lock our cars and house up and have never had anything stolen. In saying that there are certain areas in Cessnock I would watch out for, maybe look up the crime stats on the BOSCAR website. I hear good things about the public primary schools in Greta, Branxton and Nulkaba and the Christian college at Nulkaba. Not sure about catholic schools or high schools. There isn’t a lot around, your driving to either Rutherford or Cessnock to do groceries (because the IGA is expensive) and that’s annoying. There isn’t a lot for the kids to do locally but there are some things. It is peaceful and I like seeing kangaroos and wombats wandering around. Housing is also a lot cheaper than what you could buy in the city. They say that the Coles a North Rothbury will be opened next year (but in saying that, they told us that back in 2016 so who would know). You do rack up excessive kms on your car. It takes about 40mins to get into Newcastle, I think from memory just under 2hrs to get to pennant hills road. As for work, it depends what you do. I found a admin job in school hours in Pokolbin and did admin temping for various mining companies. I won’t lie, if I had the chance to choose where to live I would move back to the coast (I’m a beach bum at heart and miss the closeness of retail therapy) but we are finically secure up here with a big house and lots of land.

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Anonymous

Don’t do it! Awful place, unfriendly people, worst 3 years of my life trapped in Maitland. It ruined my and my kids lives moving there. Am now safely back home in Melbourne rebuilding my life. Stay in Sydney near your family and friends - you can’t put a price on your mental health and happiness.

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