Local people: Cabbage Tree Lane, Fairy Meadow resident Tony Roder

Couple Tony and Melinda Roder moved from Yamba in Northern New South Wales to be closer to their children in Wollongong. They found a new home in Cabbage Tree Lane, Fairy Meadow which not only brought the family back together, but put them “close to the best coffee shop in town”, according to Tony.

After returning from grabbing a coffee from his favourite new haunt, Tony shares why the couple has fallen in love with Fairy Meadow.

What was the reason for moving to Cabbage Tree Lane, Fairy Meadow?

We moved mainly because we have two children down here. I created this monster. I grew up in Lismore and came down here to uni 40 years ago. As my kids were going through high school I said “go to Wollongong Uni, it’s the best uni in Australia”. (Laughs) Because I spent the best four years down here.

So they did. Both of them came to Wollongong and both of them now have jobs down here. We decided to come down to be closer to them. They’re close to grandchildren age you might say - we haven’t had grandchildren yet. But we hope it’s on the cards.

Why did you choose Fairy Meadow in particular? Did you look at other surrounding areas?

We definitely looked at other suburbs in Wollongong. We were still up north. We had a 12 month option to buy on our place in Yamba. We had to wait a long time for our house to get settled.

Meanwhile, we had the two kids down here going to open houses last year from May through to October. Our daughter came to this place for an open house, and said “this is the one you want to get Mum and Dad. This is the best one we’ve seen”.

The house itself had so much appeal to us. It’s so close to the beach and so close to town. And the obvious advantages of Fairy Meadow being so central. We were quite surprised because we’ve got a creek down the back and we don't have back neighbours. The property really did appeal.

After the kids went to the open house, we jumped in the car and came down to look at it. It was a little bit out of our price range just for ourselves, so it gave us the opportunity for our son to throw in some money towards it too. So he lives downstairs - there are separate living areas upstairs and downstairs. That was a bonus to get him a foot in the door in real estate.

There were a combination of factors that said, right oh, it’s time to move on. I’ve always had a soft spot for the 'Gong. I always thought it was a great place. We love the surf, the escarpment close by...

And you’re on one of Fairy Meadow's iconic streets in Cabbage Tree Lane. What appealed to you about that street?

We love it, especially being right at the top of Cabbage Tree Lane. We’re quite a way up towards the escarpment. We’re out of the busier zone down the bottom there - and close to the best coffee shop.

What do you like so far about living in Fairy Meadow and why would you recommend it to others?

We love the closeness to the shops and the supermarket - the Fairy Meadow Coles, Woollies and Aldi. Really, it’s the closeness to everything - the beach, a couple of minutes onto the motorway, and only 15 minutes to everywhere. It’s just a really nice spot where we are. We did get lucky to get this property and location. We’re happy with the choice we made.

The affordability part of it compared to the northern suburbs is something also. Originally we would have liked to have been a bit further north, like Thirroul, but the prices were out of our range.

Now that we’re here, we’re glad we’ve come to Fairy Meadow because the traffic gets a bit congested further north. Up past Bulli Pass it gets a lot busier. So the affordability is better here than further north and the location is great. So we’re very happy with the position.

If you’d like to discuss buying or selling in Cabbage Tree Lane, Fairy Meadow or other streets in the area, contact Joanne on (02) 4285 7400.

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