Believe it or not, from my perspective those places are now North Jersey (used to be South Jersey for me, too).
I am in Brick & when I was little this used to be the shore, now we call it central Jersey. We love the New Gretna area. I would move there in a heartbeat but our business is here. The riding is so much better down there then in Brick where the traffic is awful & I swear people are out to kill anyone on a motorcycle. You are lucky not to live up here.