Quite a few times over the past year I’ve pondered a move to Kyneton. There are plenty of incentives. Real estate prices are not horrific, it’s only an hour to Melbourne on the train, food and coffee is good, plus it’s sufficiently art-wankerish for my liking.
Also, there’s some casual wandering room, through the Botanic Gardens with the Campaspe River alongside. It’s quite a nice way to spend a day in the cooler months when everyone else is hunkered down next to a heater.
What are the downsides? It’s a long way from the coast and I do like the ocean, plus the chicken I bought from there a few weeks ago (mentioned in my Merrell post) was modelled on one of those rubber comedy numbers. Upon receiving it, I should have taken it to the local museum and asked to have it displayed as a historical piece. Alas, I was too hungry.
A bit like the lower Blue Mountains from Sydney, except our property prices are getting a bit close to exorbitant, but it is really close to some great bushwalking areas.
A few years ago, I met some Israelis who said that Australia was very nice, but why did every town need a Botanic Gardens? I still don't know the answer.
You know what? I've never been to the Blue Mountains! I'd love to one day, but there are a lot of things to do 'one day', so I'm not sure where I can fit them all in!
It's the way things are though, isn't it? If it's a bit desirable, up goes the price. Kyneton seems interesting. It's still within striking distance of the city, cheaper than Woodend and cheaper than Castlemaine, which is further out. Anyway, circumstances have changed a bit for me, so it looks unlikely. Nice thought though!
Well, that is a good question. I reckon the best answer I could come up with to something like that is, 'why not?'.
Actually, a bit hard to go past the 3 bedroom brick houses for $140,000 on the "outskirts" of Launceston. Only 10 minutes drive into the local Centrelink.
I'm expecting that the end of the housing boom will be first seen in places like Kyneton, when people realise that it is a long way out. It has happened to a lot of the coastal towns in NSW, more than a couple of hours drive out of Sydney, and I expect that shrinking will simply move closer to the centre of the major cities.
It's never the wrong time to post autumn pics. 🙂 Autumn and winter are my favourite times of year for being outdoors. This looks like a peaceful spot to sit. The skeleton trees, the leaf colours and the river make a lovely atmosphere for pondering. I hope you get to make the move somewhere more pleasant one day, and that it includes the beach, and more succulent chicken!
Mm… Launceston is nice though, although I've only looked at it as a tourist. Living there might be a different thing altogether.
Yeah, Kyneton and some of the surrounding areas have had the same houses for sale for over a year. It appears no one is paying the prices and the prices don't seem to change, so it seems people are just hanging on to them. Who knows? In saying that, I'm feeling a little bit burnt out from the suburban lifestyle. I'd take a sleepy hamlet worth stuff all, over what I have now.
Yeah, the gardens there are nice and as to be expected, pretty when the ground is carpeted in leaves. Definitely. Give me any season other than summer 🙂
Thanks for the nice picture — and for writing (correctly) "hunkered down" and not ?!!$%#!! "bunkered down"!
Haha… Yeah, I know what you mean and I even double-checked it before writing, as I've definitely heard 'bunker down' a fair bit over the years. In fact the most entertaining thing I read about it was in the Urban Dictionary, which describes it as,
'A term morons use, particularly when bad weather is afoot, to which they confuse the meaning of "hunker" with. Bunker is a noun, yet hunker is a verb, thus while the words sound similar, when thought of in their linguistic context, one is blatantly wrong.'
Brutal!