About Central Coast, NSW Australia

Health

It is the Central Coast has two large public hospitals, both with ED departments. Gosford Hospital is the biggest with just over 450 beds. Wyong Hospital is located at Kanwal and is home to 274 beds. There is also an unnamed hospital that is small located in Woy Woy and a Health Care Centre at Long Jetty. The biggest private hospital in the Central Coast is Gosford Private Hospital located in North Gosford. Tuggerah Lakes Private in Kanwal in Kanwal, Brisbane Waters Private in Woy Woy and Berkeley Vale Private are also major health care providers. The area has twenty-one aged care centers. They are part of the Ambulance Service of NSW has seven ambulance stations along the Central Coast located at Doyalson, Bateau Bay, , Ettalong, Point Clare, Terrigal, Toukley and Wyong.

Transport

The Central Coast is serviced by an extensive and growing road network. Bus and rail provides only a few public transportation alternatives for locals. There are also a variety of taxis that are operated through Central Coast Taxis. Transport has been an ongoing problem for the region and is ranked as priority in the past twenty years, in plans for regional development and priority areas by the federal, state and local agency of the government, making the incremental investment mostly in roads infrastructure.

Road

Sydney Newcastle Freeway

Main article: Sydney-Newcastle Freeway

The principal route to Central Coast Central Coast by road is through the 127-kilometre (79 miles) Sydney-Newcastle Freeway which is designated National Highway 1 and is commonly referred to by The F3 Freeway. Since January 2013, it has been official part of the M1 Pacific Motorway. The freeway serves as the primary connection between Sydney and in the Central Coast, Newcastle and the Newcastle and the Hunter Region.As of December 2009, The F3 freeway has three lanes each direction for 43 kilometers in length between Wahroonga along with the Kariong Interchange. 

There is an 8-kilometre stretch that runs from to the Kariong interchange up to Peats Ridge that is two lanes in each direction and then the freeway becomes three lanes each directions between Peats Ridge as well as Tuggerah. Between Tuggerah to north towards Beresfield the freeway has two lanes in every direction. The two-lane section that runs in between Kariong as well as Peats Ridge, as well as the two-lane section that runs between Tuggerah and the Doyalson interchange are currently expanding to three Lanes per direction. The work was completed in 2020.

Central Coast Highway

Main article: Central Coast Highway

The roads that connect Kariong and Doyalson (Pacific Highway, Dane Drive, Masons Parade, York Street, The Entrance Road, Oakland Avenue, George Street Coral Street, Wilfred Barrett Drive, Budgewoi Road and Scenic Road) was renamed The Central Coast Highway since the 9th of August, the year.

The roads of the Central Coast are maintained by local councils and state roads maintained by the NSW government. However because of the massive geography, issues with maintenance frequently occur.

Rail

The western suburbs on the Central Coast are serviced by the Central Coast & Newcastle Line. The line is utilized to offer mass transportation for commuters to Sydney and hence services are most frequent at the peak commuter hours (typically an hour prior to Sydney peak hours in the morning, and an hour later in the evening because of its distance). Gosford station serves as the main station along the line that connects with the majority of bus services and taxis.

Central Coast stations on the line (from from south):

• Wondabyne
• Woy Woy
• Koolewong
• Tascott
• Point Clare
• Gosford
• Narara
• Niagara Park
• Lisarow
• Ourimbah
• Tuggerah
• Wyong
• Warnervale
• Wyee

Trains stop from the Gosford as well as Wyong stations that are used by long distance trains.

Bus

Central Coast Central Coast has no government-owned bus service, however it is served by three different private operators. The bus companies that operate privately within the region include Busways with depots in Kincumber as well as Charmhaven, Red Bus Services and Coastal Liner. All of them operate in their particular areas that cover almost all regions of the region and rarely cross-pollinating.

Busways provides services through Lake Haven, Tuggerah, Erina and Gosford as central locations. The south-facing services go the entire south of Woy Woy, Umina, Ettalong and Pearl Beach/Patonga and extend out towards Kincumber, Erina, Avoca and Terrigal in the east. Some services go towards Kariong and then on towards Mangrove Mountain in the west. 

Busways Northern Services

Busways Northern Services cover the entire region from Gosford along the north side of Tuggerah (through Tuggerah, the Narara Valley and Ourimbah) and then north until Wyong via Tuggerah and Tuggerah, which provides services to the northern region which includes Lake Haven, Charmhaven, Gorokan, Toukley, Noraville Budgewoi, Buff Point and San Remo. Other services also use routes like Blue Haven, Gwandalan, and as far as Swansea and Charlestown in Lake Macquarie. In Feb. 2008 Busways has more than fifty buses that are wheelchair accessible on their buses. (17 at Charmhaven, 33 at Kincumber)

Red Bus Services

Red Bus Services operate services predominantly in the area between Wyong as well as The Entrance as well as The Entrance and Gosford, but some routes do go to Ourimbah as well as Wyong Hospital in Kanwal. They also provide services from West Gosford, Wyoming, Holgate, Matcham, Point Frederick and Springfield. While most services run to/from Wyong Hospital via Westfield Tuggerah and Berkley Vale, one service (Route 29) operates from Bay Village to Wyong Hospital via The Entrance, Toukley, Gorokan, Magenta Shores and Lake Haven. Red Bus have around 25 buses which are wheelchair-friendly.

Coastal Liner Services

Coastal Liner operate limited route buses that travel around Westfield Tuggerah, Wyong, Wyee, Hamlyn Terrace, Woongarah, Warnervale, Dooralong and Jilliby. Routes 10, (Tuggerah-Wyee through Hue Hue Road and Wyong) and 12 (Tuggerah-Jilliby via Dicksons and Mandalong Roads) and 13 (Tuggerah-Dooralong via Jilliby Road) all operate only on weekdays and have restricted services. Route 11 is the most well-known route, connecting Lake Haven with Warnervale via Hamlyn Terrace and Woongarah. The service is offered on weekdays and often is extended into Westfield Tuggerah and Wyong Station via Hue Hue Road.

Telecommunications

Central Coast is part of the fixed phone 43xxxx region. Central Coast falls in the fixed phone 43xx xxxx area and is classified as Regional 1 for billing, with the exception of the northern suburbs Gwandalan and Summerland Point, which fall within the fixed phone region of Newcastle as well as Lower Hunter 49xx xxxx. Fixed-line telephone services are universally accessible. 3G and 4G mobile service is available through Optus, Telstra and Vodafone although a number of black spots are present due to the remoteness and topography of certain parts within the regions. The steps to increase coverage along the railway line have been declared in the Federal Government [31]. Federal Government 

ADSL Broadband

ADSL and high-quality broadband fixed-wireless services are readily accessible, but significant blackspots remain. High-speed ADSL2 is accessible at all exchanges via Telstra. There are few other providers which means that Telstra has a costly broadband service that is high-speed for the area. In many areas, there is a slow and/or insecure ADSL connections because of the age and the quality in the network.

Fiber Optic Broadband

Fiber optic broadband services are offered in certain regions that are covered through NBN. National Broadband Network NBN. This includes Kincumber, Gosford, East Gosford, West Gosford, Springfield, Berkley Vale, Tumbi Umbi & Long Jetty. The residents of these areas are offered 50 broadband retail service providers to select from. Connecting to the network will cost nothing but they are required to sign an 12 – 18-month contract. Monthly fees start at $29.50/month.

In 2011, the area was selected as one the first regions to be rolled out to be part of the National Broadband Network‘s fibre to the premise (FTP) installation that will deliver reliable speeds of 100 and 40 Mbit/s up/down load, and 40 Mbit/s up load. Two Points of Interconnect (POI) can be found in the area, at Gosford and the Berkley Vale exchanges. Regional rollouts will be radiated through these super exchanges. Services within the two POIs are accessible. The introduction of NBN to the rest area is in doubt due to a change in government in September of 2013. Tests of fiber to the node technology are scheduled to be conducted for Umina as well as Woy Woy.

Retail

Central Coast Central Coast is home to Erina Fair, the largest single-level shopping center located in the Southern Hemisphere and the largest non-metropolitan retail centre in Australia. It offers numerous amenities for the region including cinemas, restaurants and fast food outlets, as well as shopping. Another shopping center is in North, Westfield Tuggerah.

Smaller local malls are found in the area, such as in Woy Woy, Umina, Kincumber, Gosford, Wyoming, Bateau Bay and Lake Haven.