chloe98

Hi, not sure about bikes- you can buy cheap ones here but maybe good quality ones are dearer than UK-not sure. As for soccer boots- yes,yes,yes- definately stock up before you come. Same goes for sports clothes,football socks etc. We usually but from Uk and even paying for the shipping it works out way cheaper than buying from here and the choice is very limited here too

we got a little electric one from AlDi last year. was about 30 bucks I think. its good for us cos the oven in our rented house is crap, takes forever to heat up and burns the bum out of everything! would love an outdoor one. maybe one day....

ok, this is very rough estimate - we are in regional Victoria so maybe city might be bit more expensive(tho maybe not. gas and elec- 150 per month phone and internet- 100 per month pay tv- 80 per month water- 50 per month there is no council tax equivalent or rates when renting. could work out cheaper depending on size of house being heated etc, if has air con etc also internet and pay tv packages vary ofcourse.

sounds fantastic jonmitch.we are hoping to go to somewhere near maroochydore/ sippy downs Andy. and yes I am aware that skin is waterproof but dragging 5 kids out in the pissing rain when its 6 degrees to trail thru mud,rain and wind isn't that much fun. .we don't have the money to take them to indoor places-cinema,bowling etc.at least queensland rain should be a wee bit warmer

meanest was supposed to be jeans west!- stupid phone. will leave the bill estimate to someone living in Melbourne

for the clothes shops,- sportsgirl, cotton on, meanest, just jeans, glassons , know they all have websites you can check tho online products tend to be pretty limited. also target have some clothes online you could look at

just wondered how you spend your weekends on the sunshine coast? is it generally the beach? what about when its cooler or wetwe are currently in Victoria and with the cold wet winter weather its really not much different from uk- ie sitting in house,watching tv, playing xbox etc hoping to move to sunny coast soon and also hoping it might be a bit closer to the outdoorsy life I imagine(have 5 kids- ages 3- 14).would love to hear how you all spend your freetime-(ideally without spending too much money).

yeah, woolies /safeway do balsamic vinegar roasted style ones in a blue bag- they are cheap too, compared to nobbys etc. more salt n vinegar than dry roasted but better than nothing and very yum:)

lol, I feel your daughters pain re the school.uniforms. I still ha e a chuckle when I see them with their Tartan skirts and lace up boy shoes or clumpy buckle up ones - luckily our girl has been here since she was 6 so doesn't know any different and I am starting to think maybe its quite sweet and keeps them young and innocent looking for longer

can only speak of our town, Ballarat which is really a country town(approx 80,000 pop), so prob very different from living in a city , but you asked about our 14 yearold . he is seriously into football so trains most days after school and a lot of the weekend but he does,and a lot of his friends,go "down the street", which generally means hanging out at mcdonalds or wandering round the shops. there are 4 or 5 main high schools and everyone Facebook and asks"who is going down the street?" so there's always kids about to hang out with. I would imagine this would be similar in other areas or suburbs,which kids hanging out at malls or skate parks etc. but yes there are a lot more organised activities and sports here, but by 14 I see a lot of this drop off unless the kids are seriously into their sport. is your 14 year old male or female? ours is a boy and loves it here,been here since 10. do you know if they would be going into year 8 or 9 this year(depending on birthday?).so long as they are settled before year 11 then education shouldn't be problem and you only have to worry about social life x

Hia, I would say def go for it- especially as you are not having to sell up here so are keeping options open. Just one point re starting in a new school year tho, if thats the only reason you are waiting till the end of the year to take the kids, I would go sooner(if you are able to get organised sooner)- starting mid year is no big deal at all and giving the kids a few months at school and join clubs would make a huge dfferance in being able to make freinds, get settled before the long summer holidays in Dec and January.I dont know about schools where you will be, but my 14 year old finishes schools for summer at the start of December (where as the younger ones dont break up till just before xmas), so its a long 2 months for a teenaget if they dont have any mates best of luck.X

just realised you are already in Brisbane.you prob know more about queensland football than I do then - what club does your son play for? what do you think of it? we are more looking at sunshine coast but thinking possibly of Brisbane. thanks

hi. Am not sure about academics but from the research I have done, it seems that there are2 or 3 high schools in Brisbane that offer academies of excellence in Brisbane- Kelvin Grove, Cavendish Road are a couple that come to mind. If you have a look thru the Football queensland website you will see what clubs seem to perform best aswell- Rochedale Rovers seems to have alot of kids making the state teams last year but there are plenty of clubs in Brisbane, maybe someone who lives there will know more than I do.At under 10 he would probably want to be getting into the skills aquisition program and then hopefully state representative teams when he is u13+. We are in Victoria but have been looking at moving to quuensland so I have been trying to find out as much about the development pathway as I can, for my sons. If you want to pm me I can tell you what I know, our eldest has played for Victoria so we know a bit about how it all works, tho I know queensland is a wee bit different.

I would definitely stock up if I were you. I have kids clothes from tesco, Asda etc that have been passed down thru 3 boys and still in better condition than stuff bought over here for double the price(tho most of our clothes do come from cheapo shops-smart etc,but they certainly aren't as cheap as UK), unfortunately we aren't on a better wage here than we were in UK and really struggle making ends meet- luckily clothes and looking good seems to be much less of a priority here

HI, Know this post is a month old, but if you still interetsed in info, we hvae lived here almost 4 years now. The areas of Mt Clear, Mt helen etc are all lovely- I prefer then to the other side, but Ballarat HS is def the best public school to get into(very tight catchment area tho). WE have our kids in Catholic schools tho we not religious at all, but feel its worth it, even tho it leaves us struggling financially . If you want any more info, please feel free to inbox me