mafeking

I lived in Spotswood for a few years until very recently; it was lovely and really close to the city although very industrial. In that time the price of real estate around me rocketed through the roof and I'm not sure that it would really represent very good value for money any longer. I lived in a small residential pocket of Spotswood close to the station and although there were very few shops around (on Hudsons road) the mini supermarket in the main street had a big variety of things and was really quite cheap (especially the liquor) and the owners were really friendly. There were lots of council parks around and the train station is very handy, only minutes to Footscray or the city and I never had a problem with car parking.

I'm sorry to say there was a lot that I didn't like in the end. My house was opposite a factory and there was noise and dust day and night; one of my neighbours once told me the factory could do whatever they liked at whatever hour they liked because of the industrial zoning. There was a large boarding house nearby situated in an old pub and unfortunately there was a lot of crime and begging associated with that - the police were often there. Hudsons road is really a fairly small residential street and yet there are huge trucks day and night going to and from the Owens Illinois glass plant. The real disappointment was the accelerating prices; both rents and house prices doubled in the few years that I was there and yet nothing really happened in that time to improve the amenity of the place - in the end I decided that I would be better off in the East where prices were (by then) almost the same.

I lived in Newport for several years and only left a few years ago. I really loved Newport as it was nicer than the outer suburb that I lived in previously but the last few years particularly I got tired of the drinkers club hanging around the park/railway station and the (sometimes) horrible industrial smells. There was a really odd mix of luxury car-driving people who liked to pretend they were actually living in Williamstown and old locals who resented them; the main shopping strip is Mason street and despite the repeated attempts to 'gentrify' the place there's still a hard core of street drinkers who hang around and make trouble.

The weirdest thing is that upmarket snobs from the East move over there and rail against the heavy industry that abounds. I once had a lady knock on my door and try and get me to sign a petition against a new truck depot on Melbourne Road and I explained to her that I thought it was actually a good idea to have a truck depot near the Westgate off-ramp - she nearly punched me in the face! It is very industrial though and the industry was there a LONG time before Newport went upmarket. There were frequent smells from the oil depot down the street; one morning I woke up and the smell of petrol in my house was overpowering and alarming (there had been a spill into the Yarra from the Shell depot). My garden furniture and my air conditioner filter used to get covered with a strange dusty grit I don't see any longer since I moved away.

Having said all that it is very close to the city; 15 minutes peak hour train but don't even bother with the Westgate in peak hour. It's usually really quiet and peaceful. The river and the beach are really close by and there are a lot of parks and bike paths; it is EXPENSIVE however - the proximity to Williamstown has driven prices through the roof in the last five years.

Have to agree strongly with the previous post; I lived there in the late 90's and return infrequently and I feel that it could be much more attractive if the local council put some more effort in. On the plus side there's a lot of natural beauty; the lakes are spectacular and the beach isn't far away. It's a nice size city and there's a full range of services and shopping; real estate is comparatively cheap and affordable and there's a lot more restaurants compared to when I lived there. On the down side there's been a lot of industry leave town and the poverty is quite evident (particularly on the eastern side and the inner areas); kids from surrounding towns come into the Mount to drink and cause trouble on the weekends and the main drag isn't the safest place to be after dark. The biggest problems are related to lack of jobs - given the State government is preparing to sell the forest industry to the Chinese the fear is that what little heavy industry that's left will be gone soon. Tourism is a big employer but that dies off over the (very cold) winters. Its also just a bit too far from Melbourne and Adelaide to make a comfortable weekend trip by car. In all it's not a bad sized city but the lack of bike paths and job options (outside retail or tourism) are a real problem. It could be really good you have a young family but you need to join churches or sporting clubs to meet people otherwise it can be very isolating.

I last lived in Horsham several years ago and still have friends and family there. Unfortunately I have to say that the only positive development in that time has been the breaking of the drought - it looks nice and green again but in many ways it continues to go backwards. The biggest problem is lack of jobs and industry; if you have a good stable government or private industry job then you can have a nice lifestyle but otherwise the biggest source of income is Centrelink. Down the street on any given day you'll see lots of bored kids sitting around smoking; at night the youth do 'blockies' endlessly up and down the main drag but I guess that's no different to any other Aussie rural city.

Inner areas have lots of run down cheap rentals - if you do move there live outside of town or in a new estate as the neighbours will probably be better. For some reason there's a general reluctance of Horsham people to renovate older houses which is a shame because a lot of older stylish Victorian and Edwardian places have been replaced with boring flats/units in the last ten years. I guess nobody renovates because blocks of land on the fringes are really cheap. I notice an earlier poster mentioned that there's a railway station; unfortunately there hasn't been a regular train service since 1993 although there's a frequent V-line bus from the main street. There used to be a really wonderful established golf course but it burned to the ground on Black Saturday (2009), they are presently trying to rehabilitate it.

In fairness some things have improved; there's a lot more restaurants to service the tourist market and I've heard that the medical facilities have improved vastly (you used to wait a fortnight to see a GP); its fairly safe for young families although educational opportunities are very limited (2 main secondary schools and a TAFE). It is also fairly easy to cycle around and there's a lot of bike paths.