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Our initial difficulties in Australia
Posted 22-03-2008 at 12:57 AM by MaSusie
Hi there
I avidly read PIO before coming out here on New Year's Eve. The info we got from postings and blogs was really useful whether it was finding out that manchester (sheets, bed linen) was more expensive here, to timelines for visas. So I thought i'd write a rambling blog about our experiences to date in Brisbane! I hope there's some useful info here.
The things that we found hard when we arrived:having no permanent address in order to get our Queensland Drivers Licence and Medicare card. Luckily we stayed with some fellow PIO's who let us use their address, we had to show their water rates bill and he wrote a covering letter stating that we were staying in a house owned by him. We bought a car you see before we got a permanent address, but to buy the car, we needed our Queensland Drivers Licence, and to get that, you need a permanent address!
We have used our UK visa card for buying all our new white goods, tv etc and for buying the car. This was also a painful experience as the card kept and still keeps being rejected as we are showing suspicious activity buying so much in Aus, I guess! We have to keep phoning Egg to tell them that, yes, it is us using the card in Australia. they can't seem to permanently put this info on our records so they keep stopping payments going through. so, moral of the story, if you can somehow get an Aussie credit card before you come out, do so!
We used Hifx for buying our dollars before we came out, and they were great, all went smoothly there.
Making telephone calls-we bought a $20 Ozcall card from a newsagent which involves putting in a few numbers before the international code, the cost of the call comes off your card, not the phone owners bill. so that was useful when staying with friends.
We relied on using a computer at the local library for the first 2 months ($2 for 1/2 hour). We tried buying an Optus wireless mobile broadband device (plugs into your computer via USB) so we could use our own laptop. But coverage was poor/non existant where we were staying so we returned it. That was hard, as we were so reliant on the internet, but at least the library was a solution until we got our own phoneline.
We bought a house pretty quickly, having researched areas before we came out. We spoke to as many people as poss in the area and decided that we would be happy here. Now we are in our house, and have a phoneline and broadband, it makes life seem more 'normal' again.
We're loving life out here, once we have finally unpacked we will be out there every weekend possible discovering the area. There's so much to do, it's a beautiful place, we are happy with the school, my husband now has a permanent job, so it's all coming together.
One thing is for sure, you need a stash of money to get things done! Not in a bribery sense, but as things take time to work through (like getting a drivers licence), you need to devote a lot of time to them. That means having savings to cope with that.
The children were v unsettled for the first month or two. Once their toys arrived from the UK and we got our own house, they calmed down. That was hard for all of us, they were both crying every time I dropped them off at school/nursery but now they are skipping in! We had a holiday for the first two weeks and then stayed with friends and in a motel, I guess it was just too unsettling for them.
If I think of anything else useful for making your arrival easier, I'll get it on here.
Susie.
I avidly read PIO before coming out here on New Year's Eve. The info we got from postings and blogs was really useful whether it was finding out that manchester (sheets, bed linen) was more expensive here, to timelines for visas. So I thought i'd write a rambling blog about our experiences to date in Brisbane! I hope there's some useful info here.
The things that we found hard when we arrived:having no permanent address in order to get our Queensland Drivers Licence and Medicare card. Luckily we stayed with some fellow PIO's who let us use their address, we had to show their water rates bill and he wrote a covering letter stating that we were staying in a house owned by him. We bought a car you see before we got a permanent address, but to buy the car, we needed our Queensland Drivers Licence, and to get that, you need a permanent address!
We have used our UK visa card for buying all our new white goods, tv etc and for buying the car. This was also a painful experience as the card kept and still keeps being rejected as we are showing suspicious activity buying so much in Aus, I guess! We have to keep phoning Egg to tell them that, yes, it is us using the card in Australia. they can't seem to permanently put this info on our records so they keep stopping payments going through. so, moral of the story, if you can somehow get an Aussie credit card before you come out, do so!
We used Hifx for buying our dollars before we came out, and they were great, all went smoothly there.
Making telephone calls-we bought a $20 Ozcall card from a newsagent which involves putting in a few numbers before the international code, the cost of the call comes off your card, not the phone owners bill. so that was useful when staying with friends.
We relied on using a computer at the local library for the first 2 months ($2 for 1/2 hour). We tried buying an Optus wireless mobile broadband device (plugs into your computer via USB) so we could use our own laptop. But coverage was poor/non existant where we were staying so we returned it. That was hard, as we were so reliant on the internet, but at least the library was a solution until we got our own phoneline.
We bought a house pretty quickly, having researched areas before we came out. We spoke to as many people as poss in the area and decided that we would be happy here. Now we are in our house, and have a phoneline and broadband, it makes life seem more 'normal' again.
We're loving life out here, once we have finally unpacked we will be out there every weekend possible discovering the area. There's so much to do, it's a beautiful place, we are happy with the school, my husband now has a permanent job, so it's all coming together.
One thing is for sure, you need a stash of money to get things done! Not in a bribery sense, but as things take time to work through (like getting a drivers licence), you need to devote a lot of time to them. That means having savings to cope with that.
The children were v unsettled for the first month or two. Once their toys arrived from the UK and we got our own house, they calmed down. That was hard for all of us, they were both crying every time I dropped them off at school/nursery but now they are skipping in! We had a holiday for the first two weeks and then stayed with friends and in a motel, I guess it was just too unsettling for them.
If I think of anything else useful for making your arrival easier, I'll get it on here.
Susie.
Total Comments 7
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Hi Masusie,
I enjoyed reading your blog, whereabouts in Brisbane did you settle? Wendy |
 
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Hi Wendy
We settled in the north of Brisbane, in an area called Mango Hill. It seems like "Britsbane" at times, there are loads of Britishers here! But the facilities around here are excellent. Schools, a major shopping centre, health facilities being built as I type and access to the highway into town. We came to this area because we rented a room from Headstart Homestay, who advertise on this site. We liked it and a house came up nearby, which we bought! All happened really quickly. Situated here, you are about an hour from Noosa, 40 minutes from Mooloolaba (lovely beach/holiday town) and about an hour from Surfers Paradise, if you like that sort of thing! Cheers Ken and Susie |
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Hi Susie,
Well looks like there will be a few more brits in your neck of the woods in September hopefully are we are heading for the Murrumba Downs area which is not too far from you. I was also thinking of contacting Headstart Homestay initially for somewhere to stay, how much advance booking do they need as we haven't got a definite date yet? Wendy |
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Hi Susie,
Great blog, so great that i had to look up mango hill. We are hopefully heading that way in August. Only recently joined site, so any more tipes on what to bring or leave behind would be great. Glad you have settled in. Keep us posted Amelia |
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just read your blog and like the sound of mango hill so will have to look it up and have a nosey at houses for sale, glad your all more settled now, its hard work living out of suitcases.
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Hi
Yup, Mango Hill is great, and what a great name for a suburb! It sounds really exotic! I was just trying to attach a link to www.realestate.com so you could see some of the houses for sale on our estate, which is called Halpine lake. but it wasn't working. anyway, if you look up real estate, you will see the general price range for this particular estate. there are some cheaper houses for sale in North Lakes which is 5 mins drive away. that's where are the big shops are. there is a Myers coming soon, which is a bit like John Lewis, and a cinema, a medical hub, more shops, there's already Macdonalds etc and most other types of shops you need in the mall. We just wanted everything to be simple when we got here, as the move was such an upheaval. Life in the estate is indeed that, you can take the kids out on their bikes along the footpath just like that, head out to the big brand shops 5 mins away, and yet the estate is so quiet, and really very nicely landscaped with some good little playparks. Murrumba Downs is great too, again only 5-10 mins away. and we discovered Narangba last week which has a rural feel (look up houses for sale in narangba, Valentine court has 1/4 acre + blocks if you want space). Narangba also has its own train station which is handy. otherwise from Mango Hill the best bet is to drive to Bald Hills to get the train. Ten mins-ish drive, then 25 by train into the city centre, approx. Redcliffe is 10 mins drive away if you want to play on the beach or go for a long bike ride along the sea front. Hope that helps!  |
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When I said that there were cheaper houses for sale in North Lakes, and I also meant to add that there were also much more expensive ones there too! that development is far bigger than Halpine Lake, and has a greater variety of house prices, to the best of my knowledge. Halpine Lake is however going to have some 2 bed aparts built in the future.
Here's a link to the North Lakes site: http://www.stockland.com.au/Resident...thLakes/About/ |
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Recent Blog Entries by MaSusie
- Our initial difficulties in Australia (22-03-2008)
