kirstennmarcus

Upwey is where I first fell in love with Australia in the late 1970s. I have periodically visited the town since then and I can honestly say that it only got better over the years. While it is as beautiful a location now as it was then, the amenities as well as the road and rail links to Melbourne CBD are even better now.

Sorry to say this, but Cooroy is not all its cracked up to be. The hype does not match reality.
Cooroy seems to have become one of the rudest towns on the Sunshine Coast. Motorists are extremely impatient with hardly anyone giving way to other motorists let alone pedestrians on a voluntary bases and there are the obligatory fights for parking spots. One also frequently simply gets pushed out of the way, for instance, in the shopping aisles of the local supermarket and there are people who obviously see nothing wrong with coughing straight at you without covering their mouth let alone an apology. We observed such attitudes even during the Christmas period.
Greed seems to rule. Products and services tend to be more expensive in Cooroy than for instance in Gympie or even other areas of the Sunshine Coast such as Noosaville. Sunshine Coast businesses which are located some distance away from Cooroy frequently provide the same on-site service to the Cooroy area at a cheaper rate despite incurring travel costs. So it really pays to make a few phone calls.
As far as the property market is concerned, properties outside Cooroy are often marketed as Cooroy properties while for a long time now there has been a tendency to pin Cooroy real estate prices to those of Noosa which in turn, as the recent past once again has shown, is highly dependent on Melbourne and Sydney investors. Investors from the southern states are however increasingly aware that regional areas are vulnerable to economic downturns not least because, as the data shows, metropolitan growth outstrips non-metropolitan growth in all but one Australian state, namely South Australia. Yet, the situation in Cooroy is so ridiculous that some real estate agents find it necessary to publicly appeal to property owners that they must meet the market.
A reason for wanting to move to the Noosa Hinterland would then be for a better lifestyle, but urban sprawl increasingly threatens the very character of Cooroy which attracted people to this Noosa Hinterland town and its surrounding areas in the first place. The negative effects of urbanisation can also be seen on acreage blocks where often there is an obsession with manicured lawns instead of having a veggie garden and chooks. While community gardens, community composting and other conservation schemes are starting to take off in major cities, it is a shame that regional towns like Cooroy which are said to have a green image are in reality still going the other way by increasingly getting urbanised and therefore, in a sense, are trying to join the rat race.

It is great to see environmental initiatives such as the community composting scheme in inner metropolitan areas such as Elwood and St. Kilda.

Healesville district's history combines with beautiful Yarra Valley scenery, attractions such as wine tastings at the many vineyards and numerous sporting activities to produce a unique tourism area which while easily accessible from Melbourne's metropolitan areas at the same time offers peace, quiet and relaxation.
We have recently returned from Queensland to live on an acreage property near Healesville. We find the people in the area to be welcoming and friendly while at the same time there is plenty to see and do. We are now wondering why we went to Queensland in the first place, especially considering what this beautiful part of Victoria has to offer not just to tourists but also its residents!