Beddy

Moved :August 2012 with 18'year old 9 year old and 8 year old leaving 22 year old in uk . 22 year old is now a 26 year old teacher just bought her own house with her partner in the Uk ( after travelling Asia and Australia for a year )18 year old is now 22 travelling Australia with her partner . Both boys are excelling at school in high and primary in accelerate programmes . Both myself and oh are in paid work , we are just about to apply for citenship and looking to buy our new home

I would research what is best for your job opportunities as this would help you decide north or south of the Gold Coast . South appears more favourable to live as its nearer to the beaches but if you live North it's a lot easier to commute to Brisbane .we live North as my hubby works in Brisbane ( mechanical technician ) and the only area we was told by an estate agent to avoid was Nerang . We have lived in pacific pines since we arrived 3 years ago and can't fault it , north side I know people that live in arundel , maudsland , Helensvale , Coomera , Monterey keys , hope island , Holywell , runaway bay , Labrador , Ashmore , oxenford and Pimpama and all love where they live(all north ) Robina , varsity lakes , mudgeeraba , Currumbin and worangary are south areas extremely popular with expats and are the more desirable areas of the Gold Coast for many . I guess it's down to job circumstance and personal choice in the end . The Gold Coast as a whole is a fab place , so you can't go wrong in any suburb ( except Nerang acc to estate agent ) .im sure all the suburbs have a state primary and Childcare facilities nearby which are equally good but wise to check these out . These may be your decider. Good luck with your journey . Congrats on your visa ..

Just to update my daughter had no problems transferring her uk licence to an Australian licence and had no restrictions she gained an open licence

We chose Sunshine Coast after our reccie , chose Brisbane then for work opportunities but decided on the Gold Coast to settle as it met all our needs as a family .we have no regrets and been happy here for over 3 years

As far as I'm aware the resident return visa can only be given to those on PR that have accumulated 2 years in Australia on a PR Visa , considering he hasn't done that he would have to enter Australia before his PR deadline and could live and work here without restrictions until her accumulated 2 years as far as compelling reasons that would be between him and immigration

Thanks Ken for your reply it's very much appreciated .I followed your lead and looked on the QLD site and couldn't find any age restrictions for transferring from a Uk licence to a QLD licence .There are however references to novice drivers under 25 gaining their open licence after learning to drive in QLD so I'm going to go into a transport office and find out as I found the site a bit confusing lol

Sorry for late reply ..my daughter comes back early December so won't know until then how her uk licence will transfer in QLD but previous poster whom I vey much appreciate their response had no problems so hoping for the same . I had heard the same as you and also of an 18 year old having to go on their P's after newly gaining full uk drivers licence . I'm wondering if it is age related so will research as it may also be state related . To be honest I haven't researched apart from posting on here and local hearsay so will look into it further and let you know the outcome

Hi Suzi if your on Facebook theres Brits on the Gold Coast and expats on the Gold Coast that have lots of members in that area and always arranging meet ups so worth joining their groups and putting a post on there too

My daughter had not had any driving lessons before we came over to live in Australia 3 years ago . she has been going back and forward over the last 3 years for various reasons and whilst in England had driving lessons . she recently went back to England for a few months and has just passed her UK driving test . she has had no lessons in Australia . When she comes back to Australia in the next month she will have a UK licence but no experience of driving over here . I am on the understanding that she will have to go on her P's over here but have no understanding of the differentiation between the red and green p's . I also think she should have some lessons over here to learn the road rules , especially the merging ..she has just turned 21 and although she might be ready for the UK roads as that's where she has passed her test I worry that she won't be ready for the roads in Oz . Any advice is much appreciated

I love the fact that I wake up each day knowing it was the best move I ever made ..and each day on the school run I love the fact that each morning my kids are up and raring to go and I can drop then off right outside their school with a big sloppy kiss . No need to park up

My advice is look at your job opportunities , in turn this should determine whether northern or southern suburbs are best for you ...in terms of schools most are catchment areas and need a residing address ...rentals in most areas are very competitive .my advice is go on real estate .com.au to get a heads up on availability of your choice of area..look at the F1 forms or try download rental applications from real estate agencies ,Ashmore palms holiday village is a good stepping stone to look at ..its as central as you can get that is highly recommended between northern and southern suburbs ..plus you can use them as your residing adress for rental applications ..good luck on your journey and if I can help in any way feel free to message me

Sorry for late reply .. We stayed at Ashmore Palms holiday village which I know many other families stayed their also when they first arrived . You can also book their long stay cabins which are very basic which is what we did and booked it for 3 weeks whilst we looked for a rental which is much cheaper . They were extremely accommodating and let us add on an extra week . They are I must add very basic.. There is also treasure island resort at biggerra waters that also have short term holiday lets . As far as rentals go it can be a nightmare for hot properties but don't be disheartened by the amount of viewers ,always put your application in ... You need 100 points of ID for each application which varies , passport , drivers licence , birth certificate sufficed for some , Plus professional references and personal references we used our ledger from the holiday village and their address to go towards our 100 points . My advice is go on real estate .com.au and look at the available rentals as some let you download application forms .. Also look into the F1 forms as most agents accept these and once you have filled these in you can apply online . ... To secure our first rental we used our bank statements and Work references and personal references as we had nothing other . It's always best to be prepared so have all your information ready and your documents to upload ... Good luck on your journey

I've only ever heard good about Helensvale and the schools have a fab reputation ... We live a short drive away in pacific pines and heard lots of bad reports but we can't fault it and loved living here for the past three years . I totally agree it's very hard to say live here or live there .

firstly your holiday home can you extend if needs be .. We stayed in Ashmore palms and got week to week after our initial 3 weeks stay so well worth inquiring this possibility beforehand just in case you don't find your desired rental property in time . Go on real estate .au and see if you can download some of the application forms for rentals this will give you a heads up of what info you need to provide .. My personal experienience is this is the hardest part of applying for rentals gathering all the necessary info together . We are currently looking for a new rental after 3 years being here simply wanting to upgrade and have to vacate our current property ( through choice) early September . We've got all our info ready in place to forward if we see and view the property we would like to rent . We've also got a plan B in place if we don't get a rental of our choice in time which is put our belongings in storage and go back to a holiday home and start again . Hopefully it won't come to this and it will all work out for us as new rentals come up all the time .dont be put off by the numerous people that turn up to view rental properties .. Good houses do get snapped up because some are more prepared therefore get their applications in on the same day of viewing or have already put a previous application in with the same agent and just transfer their application to a new property . Landlords however are looking for good reliable tenants with good references so the early bird scenario only works in those cases .

It is extremely overwhelming especially when you look at the big picture when just recieving your visa . Congratulations on your visa .... my advice is to break it down . Work would be my top priority ... Research areas where your prospects for your jobs are in most demand that way you have more chance of securing work . Once you've decided on an area everything else should fall in to place . Kids school and day care you should not have a problem once you've got an address . Finances will be determined by yourself and how much money you have in your budget ... Setting up again is pretty costly and 'out of work ' time eats away at your budget .. But from my experience it was all worth it and when the jobs come and the money starts coming in again you can relax and enjoy your journey in Oz .. Good luck with your move