As people say, if you want to go cruising and have a family aboard, also look at the old half tonners and Cav 28.
S80s used to race overnight and I never heard any complaints about their stability but some people claim they broach, and they are pretty minimalist down below. The Cruising Tens have done Sydney to Hobart so there is no doubt about their seaworthiness, but are also pretty small down below. The Northshore 27 is nice down below but not in the same speed class as most of the other boats considered here. The Cav 30 usually came with a fractional rig and in their prime they were definitely quicker than the 28s.
As noted, Cav 28s go faster than they look and are about as fast as the half tonners. You can roughly group half tonners into three groups, speed-wise; the S&S 30/East Coast/Endeavour 30/M&W 32/Cavalier 32s/Adams/Knoops/Spencer 30/Pion 30/Currawong bracket all go about the same speed overall although each has their favourite conditions. The Holland 30 and most Peterson 30s are a couple of minutes quicker around the average course but tend to have less interior. The Nantucket 32 is about as quick as the Holland and Peterson but generally are very nice inside. Then there are the fractional rig boats (Peterson Santana 30 fractional version, Farrs, Dubois) that are quicker again but are normally stripped out.
The speed of most of these boats is close enough that your choice can get down to personal preferences on things like accommodation and deck layout, and the "bang for the buck" of the individual boat.
This is over your budget, but looks sweet;
yachthub.com/list/yachts-for-sale/used/sail-monohulls/carter-30/220561One issue with just about all of these is the big overlapping genoa. You may want a boat without roller furling, which is pretty inefficient in typical Wollongong conditions; just using a smaller but more efficient No 3 most of the time may be the way to go, with the option of putting on a No 1 if you know it's going to stay light.
