Monday, April 8, 2013

My Hometown

I read a great little post over at Daisy, Roo and Two about why living in a country is a pretty neat experience, and it got me thinking about the things I like about my hometown. The town I still live in actually, despite swearing to myself on high school that I would escape to more exotic locale as soon as I was able. So where do I live? Dubbo, in central west NSW - and despite what you may have heard, or seen on trashy TV journalism shows, it is a pretty good place to live and raise a family. What do I like about it?


1. The zoo- for those of you have never heard of Dubbo before, we are home to the biggest open range zoo in the Southern hemisphere. We have ' zoo friend ' passes, which basically means we can visit the zoo every single day of the year if we like. I take the kids at least once a fortnight - we pack some morning tea, pick a few animals to visit and get out of the house.

2. The amenities - yes, I would love it if Dubbo were just that little bit closer to Sydney for all the big events, but we have some great facilities out here. We have plenty of schools, both public and private; both a public and private hospital; fantastic sporting ovals, with a premier athletics complex being planned; and a theatre and convention centre that is starting to host respectable mainstream acts like Guy Sebastian, Jimeon and The Wiggles (!)

3. Proximity to family - everyone in my immediate family ( on my side anyway ) lives within a 10 minute drive of my house. That may sound like a nightmare to some of you but for a supportive,m loving family like mine its great to be able to be so close to each other. And, as you know, we are soon to move in with my parents so we'll be even closer!

4. The playgrounds - it may not sound like much, but there are some really good playgrounds in town, plus an indoor play centre. When you have a very active 3 year old, playgrounds rate a mention! And, just like Daisy, we even have one with ducks!

5. The ease of living - not just the cost of living, which is of course much cheaper than a big city, but how comfortable it. What I mean is that there is no long haul daily commute; you can buy pretty much everything you need right here ( though yes, you can loads of it cheaper on the net ); there are some great resturants and eateries with more cropping up  all over the place; and most educational and medical needs can be met with no fuss.

So, there you go - my view of DubVegas in a nutshell! Have you ever visited Dubbo? What did you think? What do you like about the place you live?

Its Tuesday, so link up with IBOT over at EssentiallyJess!

9 comments:

  1. I love the Dubbo Zoo! Whenever we visit a theme park I feel like we need to cover the whole thing to get our money's worth! Those zoo friend passes sound perfect - no need to turn a day out into an enormous expedition, dragging everyone around the entire zoo - just a few animals sounds like the perfect way to do it!

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    1. Yep, the zoo friend passes are great! Even when my 3 yr old is having a bad day and chucking his nana I will just snap ' right, we're going for a drive! ' and do a lap of the zoo to calm him down!

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  2. Funnily enough Dubbo is one of those places I have always wanted to visit, mostly because of the zoo. I remember begging Mum and Dad to take us when we were kids, but I imagine the prospect of the travel, with 5 kids, was a deciding factor in why we didn't ever get there! I am determined to one day though, maybe once Punky is a little bit older.

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    1. Come! Bring Mia and the new bubby and we will totally play tour guide for you!

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  3. We are moving in 2 weeks to a small mining town in the middle of freaking nowhere. It is rough, with so many social problems, it is stinking hot and not pretty. But I am so looking forward to the lifestyle this move will bring us. To survive in towns like this, you need to roll with it and embrace the positives. I love the sound of having the zoo there - we are zoo members in Perth and I am going to miss our weekly zoo school :)

    Hello from #teamIBOT

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    1. That's the thing - some city people think living in the country is such a huge sacrifice but the advantages, the things you gain, to me far outweigh the things you miss out on...

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  4. I think I could have written a very similar post! I too live in the town I grew up in, and while it is a lot smaller than Dubbo it is still nice to live in such a good community. There's nothing like having family close is there? Regular trips to the zoo sound awesome!

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  5. Oh the Western Plains Zoo! We spent many a weekend day there when we lived out in Trundle and Peak Hill for my step dads work!! I think that would be my number one pick for best perk of living in DubVegas!!
    Thanks for the linky love too!

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