Hi,has anybody out there moved to Cairns or North of Cairns,How have you coped with the weather is it too hot too humid,how is your body coping is it making aches and pains worse or better,is childrens health better or worse????????
All answers will be most helpful and greatfully received.
many thanks Nic
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:goofy:Its all gone pete tong!!!!!!
I dont think you will find that many people on here that live up there.
There is a couple stu:o and liddlylou and asylon but may take them a while to answer.
We are in the process of choosing Cairns/Perth Cairns is "hot" favourite with me.
If you really want to know all you can about moving to Cairns and I dont suggest this lightly as this is my fav site but you can do as I do and go to the dark side or BE and look for the Cairns mob: Bix, youngy73 are the best sources of info and if you go onto the update section and follow the thread for first weeks in Cairns there is some great info.
Bix will answer any questions you have.
Unfortunately there is not to much info on here for Cairns and believe me i've looked
The people who live in Cairns will tell you that dealing with the heat is something you get used to there are many northerners there so they must have got used to it.
Many australians have started to move to cairns to escape the drought so its becoming more popular.
best wishes
Last edited by wardy; 31-01-2008 at 02:05 PM.
Reason: forgot someone
The latitude of the Tropic of Capricorn is 23.5 degrees South. Cairns is roughly 17 degrees South. Close to teh Great Barrier Reef, I believe.
The Northrn Territory, Arnhem Land and Kakadu are three of the areas of Oz that I, personally, would most like to explore.
Not sure about living anywhere round there, though. I come from a very large family and Mum is one of the "babies" so I have first cousins who are easily 30 years older than me and I am now 51.
One cousin is a retired dentist. They lived and worked in Darwin till the typhoon flattened it some years ago. By then, their children had moved to Melbourne and Frank had retired so they followed their children to Melbourne rather than cope with rebuilding Darwin.
If you are interested in that part of Oz - which I think is quite sparsely-populated and is certainly remote - I would suggest a holiday/rekkie visit before you try to develop any firm plans.
Please also consult the climatology section of the Australian Burreau of Met website, I would suggest:
Hi Nic,
Well, yes, I live 1hr north of Cairns in Port Douglas, I have 2 children, 18 months and 3 and a half. It's the middle of the wet season now, worst time of year, but I have to say it's fine. We've had a few days where it's got up to the high 30s, seriously hot, we've needed to put the air con on in the house. Mostly it's been around 32 C and thats fine. Just need fans for that. On hot nights we leave the fans on but usually end up getting up and switching them off about 2am.
You do get used to it. You sweat A LOT. But it's not unpleasant, we sleep fine and the kids seem to be thriving on it. No health problems. No nasty viruses and colds that seemed to strike them down every week in the UK. Amazing clean air and soft drinking water, great for kids with skin problems. And all that sweating and drinking water gives you lovely skin and hair.
In the dry season it's supposed to only get up to 28C or so, and thats lovely, can't wait for the stinger season to be over (about May) so we can swim in the sea again.
Not sure about aches and pains, not got any.
I think the lifestyle generally is going to be good for everything, lots of swimming, like, every day, in creeks, the sea and pools. No stress.
There is very little to do here for your average Brit. After 40 years of recreational retail therapy the lack of shops was a shock to the system but I'm relaxing into it. I've taken up fishing.
I have to say it's unbelievably beautiful up here.
If you're thinking of going even further north then Cape Tribulation is incredibly beautiful and I think a fairly "normal" place to live based on a few friends that have lived up there. God knows how they manage with shopping though, the nearest supermarket is here in Port or Mossman and it's probably about 2 hours.
Cooktown is incredibly beautiful too, and brilliant fishing, I think that's all there is to do though. Strange place though, like another world. It's 4 hours north of here up the 4x4 track.
Oh, the wet season hasn't been too "wet" so far. Just a few huge downpours. No continuous day after day rain. Plus the rain is always realy localised, it's probably sunny 5 mins up the road. We had 10 inches one night. No flooding. The drains are fantastic.
The mozzies are out now though, there were none until about December but there are heaps now.
Your house is like a haven from sun, rain and biting insects.
The UV levels are intense though. You need sun block EVERY day, even when it's raining and it's a massive pain in the butt. Especially with the kids. It's a massive health risk. I always wear jeans to keep the sun off my legs and a very big hat.
UV levels are 16-17 every day. In the UK it never realy gets above 7. Anything above 11 is extreme. Be prepared for that. You even burn through your clothes.
If you've got existing health problems stay in Cairns, that's the nearest hospital. The one in Mossman seems to be just a helicopter pad to send sick people down there. Can't even have a baby there.
Anything else? I'm here all night, nothing else to do now I'm bored with facebook.
Ax
Hi Ax,
Thanks for your reply,it was great to hear you are in Port Douglas this is where we have decided to try to get out too,however not going smoothly at the moment .
We were in Port Douglas in early August 07 and stayed at the Salt water apartments,we instantly fell in love with the whole place and as we have a 3 yr old and 9 yr old we looked in to the school situation and that seems good to.
The weather was a concern as we were aware that when we were over it was winter ( ha ha ) so you have put our minds at rest on that, we are often in Thailand and I am sure its no worse,however my wife is worried that you say the mosies are quiet bad,how long are they around for ? .
again i"m sure they are no worse than Thailand .
We did drive upto Cape Tribe,while we were there,it would have been a crime not to.We spent a few evenings in the yacht club at Port Douglas had the best T bone steak ever there and enjoyed the normality of it as we were not wanting to be holiday makers as such but potential residents from there we travelled down to Brisbane stopping at Townsville, The Whitsundays Arlie beach,Then 1770 before Surfers Paradise,all lovely but the highlight was 1770 by along way if you have not been i would thoroughly reccomend you do sometime,
Thanks again for your reply.
Nic
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:goofy:Its all gone pete tong!!!!!!
Hi again Nic,
Is 1770 a town? Never ever heard of it! We've been down the East coast before but obviously didn't see it. As soon as we get our camping gear organised we are off down to Magnetic Island for a visit so will check it out.
Well, the mozzies were not a problem at all until about December when it started raining. At the moment there are lots, even in the day, in some places. I guess they will be around until the end of the wet in May.
It's very dependant on where you live. We are in Port Gardens, new residential estate down by the Rainforest Habitat( zoo). We have hardly any in our garden as we are not near any swamps but if you live in say Reef Park, older and closer to town, with swamp, there are more.
But you know, they arn't realy a problem, none in the house, car or air conditioned shops and that's where you spend most of your life.
We got stuck in the rain forest the other day, drove over a fallen tree and a branch ripped out both our fuel lines, anyway, within a couple of mins we were in the middle of a swarm of the things. Never seen anything like it. Bush mechanics saved the day by the way.
Word of warning though, it's VERY expensive here. We took the cheapest unfurnished rental house going and it's $400/ week. It's realy nice though, most are. There are cheaper apartments and things but they all came furnished. We've just bought a house, again in Port Gardens, we paid $477000. You won't get much cheaper than that for 4 bed. The rates are high too $ 1800/ year, that's about standard in Port.
There is a primary school here and it's good but no big school, the kids either have to go to Mossman, or down to the Northern Beaches. There is a school bus but I wouldn't want my kids doing the journey south on that road every day, it's a death trap. Mossman is OK, lots of indiginous so well funded. There is an excellent Kindy which I just changed my mind about sending my son to, I'd rather keep him home. But if you wanted to use it its for when they are turning 4 and costs $45/week for 5 days a fortnight. Term time only. It's not the start of school, just day care and playing realy. Day care is about $45/day if you need it.
A lot of people live in Mossman rather than Port, it's significantly cheaper and up- and - coming. We didn't as we don't want to run two cars. It's only 10 mins, if that.We spend quite a lot of time in Mossman, playgroup and the market and sometimes the pool. Or if you want to live out of town there are options up the coast at some of the beaches, none of them are far away.
Just wondering, what line of work are you in? Not much scope up here other than hospitality. Everywhere is desperate for staff so if you want a part time or casual job it's easy. I expect building related stuff would be good too but to be honest I know bugger all about it.
We originally planned on living in Cairns but my husband got a job up here (chef) so here we are. We are pleased with the outcome. I've always worked in medical science, if I wanted to go back to that I'd have to work in cairns. But I don't!
Hope you like 4 wheel driving and fishing, not much else to do. And yes you're right, the Yacht Club and the Combined club are the two places for the locals that don't charge tourist prices. Both are great. Did you see the bandicoot at the club? He comes nosing arouind the tables of an evening. Thats a realy good place to be eaten by mozzies though.
Good luck
Ax,
Hi Ax,
We would have to come over on a business visa but could be a hiccup with meeting the criteria and if that don"t stop us the uk housing market could as it is near impossible to sell at the moment,hopefully we will get a rate cut this month and help people a bit,you might like to know its freezing today and lots of areas had snow yesterday but we were lucky to miss it in Hertfordshire.
We have been looking to buy a bar/restaurant and we have a couple in our sights but are in limbo and its driving us mad.It seems crazy that you can be financially secure but unable to get in ,how on earth will Australia ever grow if they keep out people who will invest?
We didn"t find the combined club,or see the bandicoot but we watched George the grouper fish ,what a whopper!
I am not into fishing but i think it is a must out there and at least you wont freeze to death,maybe get eaten though!
We did have a quick look at Mossman but at 60km you can"t really get a feel for a place can you, no we didn"t stop it just seemed a bit dull after Port Douglas but we should have and nearly did but we were all tired after driving upto Cape tribe and back,then we never went that way again.
Have a nice day and don"t forget it gets worse here every day,so don"t look back your in a better place!
Cheers Nic
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:goofy:Its all gone pete tong!!!!!!
There are loads of businesses up here for sale! They all go bust. I've been told it's because they can't absorb the lack of tourist income at this time of year. So go for it, but watch out!
Everyone keeps telling me also, that now we are into February it will rain and rain for weeks. But it still hasn't happened. I think because there hasn't been much cyclone activity as yet. There was one over Cape York back in November and it rained for a week .
And please don't pray for the BOE to cut the rate again, we've still got the bulk of our £s to turn into $s and the rate is DIRE. Loads of people on here are in the same situation. Looks like we won't be buying our boat for a few years. Hope you manage to sell anyway.
And I'll tell you something intersesting I saw in the local magasine, re:port , its available online, they don't want port to grow any more. There is talk of capping the population up here and not letting anybody else in. How on earth they are going to do that I don't know. Currently there are huge numbers of new houses going up here and in Mossman.
No, I didn't like fishing either , but there is NOTHING to do. But it's a good nothing.
Off down to Cairns today for the awesome fruit and veg market and to take the kids for a fun day out. Much better stuff down there for them, nothing up here.
My family and I live in Cairns, have been here for nearly a year and absolutely love it!!! Its pretty popular with the australians as well as they all seem to move up here from Sydney and Brisbane, probably cause those areas are not so full of jobs and decent priced property.
I personally wouldnt live in Port Douglas, just a bit too small for me. Dont get me wrong it is beautiful but Cairns is small enough for me and Port Douglas is a place we visit on the weekends. I would probably struggle to get work up there and so would the other half. I think if you are in the hospitality industry you would have not prob at all. This is just my personal opinion though.
As for the weather on the whole it is wonderful. The wet season (summer) is hot but we arrived in April (winter) and I think by the time the hot weather came we were pretty used to the heat. It really is no where as bad as people make out. Just turn the aircon on in the house, move to aircon in the car etc.
It is beautiful up North, the lifestyle is very relaxed, the people are very friendly, there is an abundance of work and the house prices although rising steadily are still much cheaper than down South.
We have a five year old daughter and she has settled fine, no illness, bugs etc. very healthy and more used to the heat than either of us adults. I think kids adapt better than we give them credit for.
The latitude of the Tropic of Capricorn is 23.5 degrees South. Cairns is roughly 17 degrees South. Close to teh Great Barrier Reef, I believe.
The Northrn Territory, Arnhem Land and Kakadu are three of the areas of Oz that I, personally, would most like to explore.
Not sure about living anywhere round there, though. I come from a very large family and Mum is one of the "babies" so I have first cousins who are easily 30 years older than me and I am now 51.
One cousin is a retired dentist. They lived and worked in Darwin till the typhoon flattened it some years ago. By then, their children had moved to Melbourne and Frank had retired so they followed their children to Melbourne rather than cope with rebuilding Darwin.
If you are interested in that part of Oz - which I think is quite sparsely-populated and is certainly remote - I would suggest a holiday/rekkie visit before you try to develop any firm plans.
Please also consult the climatology section of the Australian Burreau of Met website, I would suggest:
