Any families making the move to Brisbane early 2013??

[Nicky n Joe]

We've got our hands on the visa at last and the one-way flights (scary thought!) are booked for Jan 2nd 2013. Would love to chat to anyone in a similar situation. Myself, my husband and our 7 month old daughter are making the big move.

Just trying to decide which suburb to rent then buy in; there's so many to choose from! People have recommended North Lakes and Warner; the houses look fantastic, but we've been put off by posts saying it's "Brit central". Anyone got first-hand experience of living there??

Nicky x

[calNgary]

Hi welcome to the forum and congratulations on the visa.
The biggest 'tip' i could give you ,is to book arrival accommodation now as you will land right in the middle of the xmas/ summer/ school holidays so furnished / holiday accommodation will be hard to secure and you will need some for around 3 to 4 weeks.

Good Luck with everything , Brisbane is a great place
Cal x

[Xenon4017]

+1 for the tip about immediate temp accom.

Ringing round on day one for a hotel from the airport with a 1 year old would not be my idea of fun.

An Aussie friend of ours lives in North Lakes. It has lots of facilities, and is nicely planned, and of course none of the houses are more than 15 years old. She likens it to living in the Truman Show.

Best thing is to get here and drive around a few suburbs to see what you like. Personally I think the biggest criteria when selecting a suburb is how will you get to work from there. Once you know where you'll work, there are always good and bad suburbs nearby. If you do it the other way round then you need to be quite flexible about what kind of work you'll do. The advantage is that your child is not school age, so you could move easier than someone with kids at school.

[Nicky n Joe]

Thanks both, that's v helpful. We're lucky in that we've been offered some acommodation by someone we know who lives in Samford, so we haven't got to make other arrangements for the first 3 weeks or so. I did do a lot of searching before we got the offer and you're right, the short-term lets seem to expensive and pretty hard to find. We're hoping that we can find somewhere to rent for the next 6 months or so within that time.
The Truman show did pass through my mind when I was looking at photos of the pristine houses and gardens, that or Wisteria Lane! I think, as you say, it's best to have a drive round when we get there toget a true feel of these places. We'd really live to set up some viewings for the first week we're there though, so would be good to have a list of suburbs we can start with.

[Xenon4017]

Glad to see you've got things in grip for when you first arrive. That's a major hurdle taken care of.
As for a long term rental, there isn't much you can do except peruse the real estate listing trying to get a feel for what you might like. I don't know of anyone who has actually got a rental before being here. It may even be illegal to rent out to someone who hasn't been sighted by the agent, so to speak. But once here the system is pretty clear. Empty rentals are advertised, they have a viewing and everyone troops along. I'm sure others have described the experience more fully. Anyway, you don't have to book in advance or anything; you just rock up and have a look.
You're right to set this up for when you come though. We found it's best to check out one suburb per day. Even then, it's surprising how quickly the days go by, since you've got other things to take care of too, like car, medicare etc. Most viewings are on Saturday, and it can take about 2-3 days before you get a reply from your application, so you're back round to Wednesday before you know if you have to keep looking.
But I wouldn't worry too much, if there's just the three of you then I guess you can be quite flexible about where you live/what kind of house. Where I live there are lots of 3 bedroom houses for rent, because they're too small for families with >2 kids, but too big for singlies. The standards vary though, but I'll leave to to discover that.

[bigbadcon]

My wife and I and 7 month old son will be heading to Brisbane in Feb 2013 also.

We are seriously looking at getting a Relocation agent to sort out a rental for us before we go. They do seem to be pricey but if they can save you all of the hard work of getting a rental and means you can get off the plane and go straight to your new house it sounds worth it.

They consult with you about what you want in a property and then view a few places for you and report back with pictures/videos etc and because they are on the ground over there they can have the rental sorted before you even get there included rented furniture (if your waiting on your container) and utillities etc

A rough price would be some where between $1000 to $1700 from what im seeing so far but you can also factor in that you wont be paying the high prices for short term rentals aswell.

We're still trying to make our minds up is it worth it. Anything that can reduce the stress even if your paying for it has to be worth considering


We have decided to go with Singapore airlines and are booking a seperate seat for our toddler. The thoughts of him sitting on our laps for 24 hours would be tough and also when you have an extra seat you will also get another 40kg baggage allowance (extra 20 per person because of permanent residency visa).

Another tip a friend of mine mentioned that if your going to be commuting by train in Brisbane you might want to consider a suburb that is close to one of the train junctions which will most llikely mean less swapping of trains to get from one place to another.

[Nicola57]

Hi, we will be moving to mango hill (right next to north lakes but the houses are a little older and it's not quite as full.of brits) myself, my fiance Dan our daughter 2 in October and baby number 2 due in September will be.moving either December/January.... We can organise a play date when we are all settled? Spent 6 months in mango hill already, North lakes is quite full.of brits but it's not necessarily a bad thing.. The setting makes everyone happier so you dont see the.miserable.brits you.do here.. The houses are.impressive.in my opinion, new builds some are quite close together but when you compare it.to a semi or a terrace here you realise it's not bad..

[Nicky n Joe]

Thanks for the info, v useful, especially re the open viewings on the rental properties. We're hoping to stretch to a 4-bed property, if we can manage it, as we're expecting quite a few visitors from the uk over the following few months.

[Xenon4017]

About a relocation agent; are you sure that they can arrange a rental contract without you actually being here? I'm not 100% sure, but I thought that it was actually illegal to commit to a rental contract unless the agent/landlord has seen the renter. From my own expereince here, I'd be very surprised if a landlord would rent out to someone without having first verified who they are, what they do for a living, what sort of resources they have to pay for the place etc.

And would _you_ want to take on a contract without having actually seen the place first?

The market at the moment is quite illiquid, so agents and landlords are having to search a bit more for tenants. Obviously it depends on where you are, but the stories of 20+ families queueing for a viewing have seemed to all but disappeared. I don't know how much a relocation agent charges, but is it really less than the extra you'd pay for living in temprary accom for a few weeks?

But best of luck, I'd be interested to hear how this pans out.

[Nicky n Joe]

Thanks Nicola, Yep, definitely set up a play date when we're all there. You're brave travelling with a 3/4 month old! Do you live back in the UK currently? How old was your oldest child when you first flew to Oz? The new builds do look really big in the pics, I like the idea of the open plan living and kitchen areas, my husband's already talking about getting a 50" telly to go in it!

Hi, we will be moving to mango hill (right next to north lakes but the houses are a little older and it's not quite as full.of brits) myself, my fiance Dan our daughter 2 in October and baby number 2 due in September will be.moving either December/January.... We can organise a play date when we are all settled? Spent 6 months in mango hill already, North lakes is quite full.of brits but it's not necessarily a bad thing.. The setting makes everyone happier so you dont see the.miserable.brits you.do here.. The houses are.impressive.in my opinion, new builds some are quite close together but when you compare it.to a semi or a terrace here you realise it's not bad..