[ watch the silly, local real-estate's '2281' video - we're in paradise, aparently! ]

However, we do have water-views to die-for, through our plate-glass consulting room windows. Our amazing aspect carries an on-holiday vibe, and indeed this is a holiday spot for Sydneysiders. I still do ‘one thing every day' to ensure I feel like I am always on holiday... for seven years!

Modern building, fully equipped, with kitchen/staff room, and free, communal undercover parking, with the adjacent supermarket good for lunch. We have a tab with the coffee-shop next door, as well as a dentist, Domino's Pizza & the SCUBA Shop all also in our row + 4 pharmacies within the suburb. The closest Hospital (Belmont DH) is only 10 minutes away, with an Emergency Dept. The tertiary University teaching hospitals & University of Newcastle medical school are 30min - you will not be doing your own X-rays or delivering babies here!

We are an easy day-trip from Sydney, while Newcastle is only 25 minutes away - I initially believed that I was moving somewhere way out-bush (as many advertised jobs are!), when in fact the local area has UK-levels of amenity, in terms of communications, shopping, schools etc. Also lots of choice for fun in the immediate locale - especially water-sports, beaches, walks in nature, even recreational aviation. Lake Macquarie is literally a minute one-way, and the Pacific ocean a minute the other…

City of Lake Macquarie is about 500,000 people, with Newcastle our local city being the Australia's 7th largest and ‘just the right size' for every day-to-day need. Also in danger of ‘giving Newcastle a good name'! En route to Newcastle are Charlestown & Kotara, each sporting that Australian staple of ‘Westfield', for all-you-can-eat shopping, dining, soft-play, cinemas etc. Like I said, 'UK levels of Amenity'.

House prices here are lower than nearer Sydney, which is why we count increasing numbers of affluent Sydney commuters among our local population. We have a mix of schools from the public, state-schools through to fully-private, via the useful, small-fee-paying Catholic Schools that sit in between.

I can get to the Opera House in Sydney and back mid-week after work, if wanting to see a show (Did ‘La Boehme' for Valentine's Day), so day-trips or weekends make for very easy city-breaks. To go further afield, Newcastle and Sydney airports are bothvery accessible, (90 minutes & 50 minutes respectively) - especially as some of our patients are Uber drivers and can drop us if we ask! 'Ease-of-getting-away', including back to Europe, has always been important for me as an Expat, and is well-served by this practice's location.

Within the ‘2281' postcode (about a 5-minute radius of driving), we have some very different suburbs: Swansea, Swansea Heads, Caves Beach, Murray's Beach Pelican & Blacksmiths. Each has a different style of homes and setting, so it's interesting to decide which ‘character' suits you.