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Carly Black and her husband Ben both grew up in Taree and love its supportive community. When they did move away, they couldn’t wait to get back to Taree, particularly when their daughters were about the start school. ‘We wanted somewhere where they could be a part of the community,’ explains Carly.
Carly and Ben have recently built a new home, with plenty of space inside and a big back yard for the girls to play freely outside. Carly adds, ‘building a house like this in the city would have cost us a lot more money. We were able to have a lot more nice things in this house than we would have if we were to build it somewhere else. This is probably twice the size of what we could have had if we had built the house in the city.’
Working in a regional town has not limited Carly and Ben’s career ambitions, in fact they have prospered. Carly works at Ray White Manning Valley and not only does she love the team but she also loves the challenges and the results she achieves.
Ben is a qualified mechanic and owns his own mechanical business that is growing and thriving with strong local support from the Taree community. He is growing his customer base every year.
When discussing traffic, or no traffic to be more precise, Carly explains ‘peak hour doesn’t really happen in Taree. I guess if there is a bit more traffic on the road maybe an extra couple of minutes.’ School drop off is easy as it’s less than a five-minute drive from her home to school every morning. Their eldest daughter goes to school and their younger daughter attends the community day care centre. When asked whether the girls like school and day care, Carly answers ‘the girls both enjoy going. If Amelia ever has a sick day, she hates that she can’t go to school. She’s always bursting to get back.’
Carly and Ben chose to start school in Taree because of the smaller school numbers, greater attention and the feeling of safety in the local community. ‘Everyone knows everyone in the neighbourhood’ says Carly.
After they complete high school, UNE Taree University campus will allow the girls to complete a degree without moving away from home.
And in the spare time, which is a lot more than you get in the city, there’s so much to do to keep the whole family active and entertained. Ben goes out mountain biking a few times a week. He loves it and the tracks are some of the best in Australia. Carly, Ben and the girls love spending time down on the river. The Manning River is perfect for family fishing, water skiing or just a relaxing cruise around in the boat on a Sunday.
Carly and Ben love where they live. Watch Carly and Ben’s ‘Love Taree’ story to find out more.
