Hi new to this site!

casper · 22-07-2007, 10:00 PM

Hi everyone!

I am new to this site! I emigrated over in March this year with my husband and 2 daughters and we are currently renting in the Sunshine Coast.

And we are loving every minute of it so far.

Regards.

eddie&tina · 22-07-2007, 10:16 PM

Hi Casper, welcome to the mad club. You lucky devils. Glad you're enjoying the sunshine coast. Maybe you can let us all know where you are and how you're finding it. you'll love this site.

scots-in-oz! · 22-07-2007, 10:32 PM

OOOOOOooooo! You're SO lucky!!

Congrats on the move! And welcome to the site! Hopefully we'll be in Brissie or the Gold Coast one day!
It's a really nice community on this site! I'm sure everyone would love to hear how your all getting on! Keep us updated if you're not too busy living it up!
Mags

X

casper · 22-07-2007, 11:01 PM

Thanks everyone for your messages.

When we arrived in March here, we stayed for the first 6 nights in Brisbane, really to recover from the long flight especially for my two girls aged 6 and 4! And I would recommend it to anyone, the city is lovely, especially the Southbank for the girls with a man-made beach in the city! No time allowed for shopping then!!

After our stay there we went straight up to the Sunshine Coast and stayed in Mooloolaba for then the next 2 weeks that was again excellent, and yes you guessed it - we couldnt get the girls out of the sea!!!!.

After that we were on our own to find a rental, and yes you have probably heard loads of times, but that is easier said than done! - what a nightmare, started to panic a little as all the real estates that we seemed to go in were telling us they had nothing!! anyway my husband popped out on his own one day and just happened to be in the right place at the right time and found our current rental in Golden Beach Caloundra. So this is where we are still at the moment, until Oct when the search will begin again, we are wanting to heard a little further north towards Noosa, so I will let u know how our search for a new rental turns out.

Well I better get the girls ready for school - just to let you all know that was so much easier than I ever thought it would be, the girls go in smiling and come out smiling from school and once I pick them up, 5 mins in the car and they are on the beach - not bad!!!
Speak soon.

bernie · 23-07-2007, 09:26 AM

Hi Casper, welcome. Glad the first part has gone well for you. It is encouraging to hear that! We are hopeing to head towards Brisbane area but not sure if it will be too built up for us. I have heard Noosa is beautiful, may I ask why you are looking around there? Hope you find somewhere settled soon,

Bernie

casper · 23-07-2007, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bernie

Hi Casper, welcome. Glad the first part has gone well for you. It is encouraging to hear that! We are hopeing to head towards Brisbane area but not sure if it will be too built up for us. I have heard Noosa is beautiful, may I ask why you are looking around there? Hope you find somewhere settled soon,

Bernie

Hi Bernie.

Brisbane is lovely but it is a city I suppose it is what you have been used to at home, obviously there are areas out of the city, but I am afraid I cannot comment on those as I have not visited.

We lived in a village in the south east of England, so we always decided that the Sunshine Coast was the place for us, we feel the Sunshine Coast is like Devon and Cornwall in England. We are based in Caloundra at the moment, which is really nice and about 50mins drive north of Brisbane, but for us once we headed a further 40km north, we fell in love with Noosa and the surrounding areas, that is just our personal choice though. You are spoilt for choice with it all here, but we are finding that with Australia, there is so much choice, sometimes you just dont know what to do!!! At least you are never going to get bored over here.

OldiesRUs · 23-07-2007, 04:30 PM

Hi Casper

Welcome to PIO. You certainly have chosen a wonderful part of Aus to live in. My son lived up that way for a couple of years and lived just outside Noosa. There are some really nice suburbs round there, but the housing is a bit pricey and I think renting might be too as it is a very, very popular holiday place.

But the beaches are wonderful and they have some really good markets just inland. Sorry, but I can't remember the names of them. One of the markets is huge and sells everything from Strawberries to massages and camel rides. The other are more like farmers market cum boot sales. Oh and the Ginger Factory!! You must go to the Ginger Factory, go on the train and look out for the crazy chickens. Fabulous fun.

Jean

casper · 23-07-2007, 10:08 PM

Hi Jean.

Thanks for your message.

We have only been to the Eumundi Market on a Wednesday and Saturday. They run on both of those days every week from early morning until just after lunch and yes I totally agree, its fantastic, a real buzz, the girls even get to go on a camel!!! or a horse and cart so as always they are really happy. There is also a fantastic Strawberry picking farm just around the corner and that was great fun too.

Regards.

Ryan, Rachel & Beth · 23-07-2007, 10:33 PM

Hi Casper, just wanted to say how lovely it is to hear from somone that has recently made the move and is having a fantastic time, it sounds like you've settled in really well and the girls sound as though they are having a fab time which must be so comforting!

I'm sure you'll find PIO will be very helpful and there seems to be quite a few people following in your footsteps so no doubt you'll have a lot of questions coming your way!

One question I would like to ask is how did you find the climate change? It must have been pretty warm out there on your arrival? And can I also ask how are your family feeling now that you have settled? We're having a bit of trouble from our folks about going (there is a thread on this) and wondered if familes recover quickly once you are out there?

Any info would be gladly accepted, thanks Rachel x

casper · 24-07-2007, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan, Rachel & Beth

Hi Casper, just wanted to say how lovely it is to hear from somone that has recently made the move and is having a fantastic time, it sounds like you've settled in really well and the girls sound as though they are having a fab time which must be so comforting!

I'm sure you'll find PIO will be very helpful and there seems to be quite a few people following in your footsteps so no doubt you'll have a lot of questions coming your way!

One question I would like to ask is how did you find the climate change? It must have been pretty warm out there on your arrival? And can I also ask how are your family feeling now that you have settled? We're having a bit of trouble from our folks about going (there is a thread on this) and wondered if familes recover quickly once you are out there?

Any info would be gladly accepted, thanks Rachel x

Hi Rachel

Thanks for your message.

Yes there does seem to be quite a few of us taking the plunge, but I guess most of us feel that if we dont do it now, we never will. For us we had to take advantage of having our two girls still young. Our eldest one did have a few tears in the first few weeks on and off, but mainly when she was tired, we certainly didnt get any tears when she was on the beach, or at Australia Zoo (which to let everyone know is fantastic) and you must visit. When are you planning on coming out? Which area are you going to?

In answer to your questions, the temperature when we first arrived was just under 30 degrees most days so yes it was warm, but for us we were on a holiday to start with so my husband was not having to work in it and the girls were not in school, but it was more than bearable, you very quickly over here to just go under and shade, and yes there is plenty, the girls had hats on all the time, and even in school now if they dont have a hat they are not allowed out to play, so the Country is very sun safe, our impression of the Australians were that they were going to be all bronzed, but in fact its quite the opposite which is really great to see. The temperature in the city was obviously warmer than at the coast just becuase of the sea breezes up here, but everything is airconditioned so it was fine, so that was spring, we are now in winter and most days the temp is in the low to mid 20s so not bad for a winters day, but you do need jackets and jumpers for the evening as it for the very first time in a long while we had a small covering of frost in Queensland!!! obviously made the front pages of the papers here as this is unheard of!!! but what with all the goings on in England with the floods at the moment and frost here, the weather is certainly very strange these days.

In answer to your 2nd question, we are all more than happy, but I have to say if it wasnt for the computer and skype /messenger we might have been feeling a little different! We are in contct with everyone here more than we were ever back in England, so if you can get yourselves onto the net asap that will really help, we are in daily contact with home, obviously because of the time difference the best time to get hold of people that are at work is at the weekend, but if you have anyone at home in the week, we speak to people here just after dinner time anything from 6pm onwards ourtime as everyone in the uk are just getting up for the day! We also have parents coming out for a month a xmas so that will be excellent especially for the girls. Honestly the computer is a lifeline back to home. Good luck.