NEW ARRIVALS LOVE IT UP HERE
THE Grace family couldn’t be happier to leave the rat race behind in Sydney and move to Townsville.
They are among the new arrivals in the city, which has seen its estimated resident population grow to 193,601 in the year to June 2017, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.
“We got to the stage in Sydney where we were wanting a little bit more of a quieter life,” father Dan Grace said.
“Sydney was becoming incredibly intense to get to work and on the weekend just trying to do the grocery shopping took a long time. It was difficult to get a ( car) park. I don’t need that in my life.”
The Graces Graces, with two young children, hild had lived in Sydney for eight years and had bought their own property.
They looked to relocate anywhere north of the NSW border and came across Townsville when Anna Grace saw a video on the city released by marketing body Townsville Enterprise.
“I think her words were: I think I’ve found the place I want to live,” Mr Grace said. “The property prices were quite attractive to us.”
They visited the city for a holiday last July and settled on Stockland’s estate of North Shore as the place where they would build a new home.
Mr Grace said his first impression of the city was not great. The inner- city was almost l d deserted and looked dead, he said.
“That was a bit of a concern,” Mr Grace said. “But we came across North Shore and fell in love with the area and the concept. We saw a family oriented area.”
The moved into a new home in January and have both found jobs.
Ms Grace is working as a teacher at a local school and Mr Grace found work with an electrical wholesaler.
Mr Grace said they enjoyed the lifestyle of Townsville and both agreed they would never move back to Sydney.
“We’ve got a boat and go out to the island and go fishing,” Mr Grace said.
“We really enjoy Townsville and the kids enjoy it.”