Where to base ourselves in Australia

We're heading to Australia for a couple of months and looking for a laid back, beach town (with decent diving) to use as a base while we're there.

We both work freelance online (IT industry) pretty much 30-40 hours a week and like to dive and chill at the beach on our time off. We'll definitely be doing some traveling while we're there (possibly a liveaboard or maybe Rodney Fox's shark trip) but for now I'm looking more for suggestions on where to base ourselves. Ideally we'd like to rent a furnished apartment (with an internet connection) for a month or two, somewhere we can work from comfortably during the week, and then dive on the weekends or days off.

Does anyone have suggestions on a town or area that might work for us?

Thx~

Laid Back Beach town with decent diving = Byron Bay

You have the gold coast airport 40min drive north which can get you direct and inexpensive flights to most locations around Australia (ie Cairns for GBR liveaboard or to Adelaide for connection onto Rodney fox).

Depends on time of year and how much you want to spend. Byron Bay itself is expensive compared to most places in Australia. There are heaps of small coastal towns on the Far North Coast of NSW which are less expensive and have beautiful beaches and not far from Byron Bay's Julian Rocks which is one of the top 10 dive sites in Australia.

Regards Mark

Byron Bay ticks all the boxes but as Mark says it's not the cheapest place to live but still very manageable in global terms.

Thanks guys... Byron Bay was on my list to check out so glad to see it confirmed that it might fit the bill.

Timing wise we're arriving mid October, staying with some friends in Sydney for a bit, then looking to rent something around Nov. 1.

Any other suggestions?

There are heaps of small coastal towns on the Far North Coast of NSW which are less expensive and have beautiful beaches and not far from Byron Bay's Julian Rocks which is one of the top 10 dive sites in Australia.

Nelson Bay NSW for brilliant deep shore dives and boat dives.

These are all good suggestions. The east coast is packed with beautiful spots. It depends really on the style of living and diving you are looking for. Living for example can be Byron Bay - upmarket and quite busy "hippy"', Nelsons Bay is beautiful and close to a city style of living in Newcastle and v.close to Sydney. Other places between these two include Hat's Head and Seal Rocks. If you want tropical style diving you might need to think about north of Brisbane but if you want to try more temperate diving there are beautiful places south of Sydney. And then there is Western Fremantle ... Gosh I recommend you get over here, hire a car and take a look around. Things coastal get a bit hectic during the Christmas school holiday break mid December to end January.

Personnaly I would recommend Western Australia - Perth, Fremantle, Rockingham, Mandurah etc. We have a great coast line, great diving, great life style, the weather is almost perfect (with the old wet day or hot day here and there), great wineries etc etc etc.

Also we had the mining industry and all the associated businesses that go with that so getting work may be a little easier.

Karl

Thanks again guys!

So many options, so much research to do! We have resigned ourselves to the fact that we can't possibly see everything we want to while we're there and need to figure out what it is we're looking for. Like I said, for the most part we're looking for a laid-back beachy town. I think something a bit more tropical is what were after, at least for the area we decide to use as a base. Seems like somewhere in QLD might be the best fit, but hopefully while we're there we'll be able to fit in a trip or 2 to the south or the west.

Karl, as I mentioned we're both Freelance, so we aren't actually looking for work while we're in Australia. Thanks though.

Other places that come to mind which are laid back beach locations which come to mind are:

South West Rocks (Mid North Coast of NSW) and surrounding areas. Beautiful spot, surrounded by National parks and farm land. Has Fish Rock Cave which is also one of Australias Top dive sites.

Wooli, Mullaway, Coffs Coast area. Again beautiful beaches, parks and has the Solitory Island marine reserve off shore which has excellent diving.

As others have stated from late November to January is basically peak time as its our summer holidays. Rental prices are at their highest and unfortunatley places like Byron Bay have the highest in the country as they are a tourist mecca. Byron Bay town itself swells maybe 4x its size over this period.

Once you have decided on where you want to stay get in and book your accomdation as you will find limited or no choice near your arrival time.

Regards Mark