My Coast - Kariong

The A-Z of the Central Coast, NSW, Australia

Welcome to the eleventh installment of my fortnightly photo blog exploring my local area, the Central Coast. This week's destination is Kariong, which is a special one for me as it is where my family and I have called home for the last two years.

K-Kariong

Kariong is located at the southern end of the Central Coast, ten minutes drive from Gosford. It is largely a commuter suburb, due to being located right on the exit of the M1, which is the main route down to Sydney. This is the road that I, along with thousands of other commuters from the Central coast area, take every day to work in Sydney.

The view from my driveway during an evening last Autumn

We think Kariong is a great location to live as you can reach most places  with a 45 minutes drive. The beaches of the peninsula are 20 minutes away, and the pacific coast is less than 20kms away. You can drive to the northern tip of Sydney in 30 minutes.

Another beautiful sunset in Kariong

Kariong is a residential suburb with a population of around 7,000. It is mainly families living in the area. There are a couple of small shopping malls, providing all the essentials along with a pub and a couple of servos.

Kariong Quality Meats is our local, national and state award winning butcher and can lay claim to having Australia's best Lamb sausage. They keep my barby sizzling through the year and their Curry Lamb and Coriander sausage is really amazing.

Sunset at the lake at Mt Penang

Keeping up the foodie experience at the end of my street is another favourite of ours, My Little Deli, where Chef Daniel cooks up a treat. His pop up dinner menu is a real showcase of his cooking talent and has a different theme each time. If ever you are in Kariong this is a must place to eat.

Soaking up the sun at the Central Coast Food and Wine Festival with the backdrop of the Parklands

Kariong is bordered by Brisbane Water National Park on one side and Mt Penang Parklands on the other. Mt Penang hosts lots of local events, as well as being home to my daughters pre-school and the International Football School as well. There is a lake on the parklands which is one of my favourite places to shoot sunset locally. The lake is bordered by fields with horses. It is a great place to walk, or cycle or even take part in the weekly 5km run that is held every Saturday morning.

We took on the 20km Century Cycle Challenge earlier in the year finishing at Mt Penang Parklands

The origins of where Kariong's name came from has been a matter of debate. Some say it came from the aboriginal word meaning "meeting place". While other early residents were told it was the "place of the cold winds". This would make sense to me as it is located on top of a hill and does seem to have its own weather systems at times. It can be covered in cloud, while 5kms down the hill it can be sunny in Gosford.

Carving of a Wallaby

Carving of the aboriginal warrior “Bulgandry”

Down the road from Kariong is the Bulgandry Aboriginal art site. The site is home to a range of well preserved engravings varying from 200-2000 years old. The name "Bulgandry" belongs to the carving of a warrior man who is thought to represent an ancestral hero, complete with a large head dress. There are also different carvings of animals, including wallabies, fish and dolphins. It is a really nice place to take the kids on a short bush walk, in preparation for the longer ones we will take on as they grow older.

I hope this has given you a bit of an insight into why we like living in Kariong so much. Thank you very much for reading. If you would like to be notified of my next post in two weeks time, where the destination will be Long Jetty, please click the link on the right.