kellyjamie

Thanks everyone, we are going to head down for 4 days in july check it out see what we think, i know thats not long enough to make a decision but its the best we can manage. Weve had this in our heads for about the last year but just dont know whats best. I am hoping by going to some mother toddler groups i will make more friends. Dont get me wrong we "know" loads of people here, i chat to mums at school, hubby gets on well with the boys at work, we will bang into people we know in coles and say hi, but we really only have a couple of friends whom we actively socialise with, and not thru the want of trying but the people we know all seem to have their circle of friends already and arent very willing to let us join, im beginning to think its us lol!! I also agree that we wouldnt be moving for the nightlife etc, altho the idea of being able to go out fr a meal and the place still be open after 9-10pm is appealing lol! I also however agree Brissy is a great laid back place to raise kids, but im feeling a tad stagnant here, and yes it could be because im not working just now so have no real conversation other than hubby at night time. Its just not really turned out how we envisaged it would be? We have recently bought an older house a Dakabin and were renovating it to make some decent cash on it, so any move would be after that. Im even wondering if maybe a move closer to the city would be better. Its funny because we came out here on a reccie and found North Lakes and always said if we end up in Brisbane we would love to live in NL, now were here im feeling differently.......

Hey guys, Hope your all well. Weve not been on for ages as weve been living life here in Brissy and weve just had a new addition to the family, a little girl born 2 weeks ago! Im coming on to ask for your advice please? Ive already spoke to a couple of peeps on the fb page so thought id ask on the main site. Been here in Brisbane now for 2 years and we have itchy feet to move down to Meloburne. Dont get me wrong we love Brisbane but we just feel somethings missing for us here. We do like the laidback lifestyle but at times we find Brisbane very very boring. I absolutely detest the weather at this time of year its awful. Im so over the lack of social life here aswell, i envisaged more than always socialising in the boring taverns that clear your plate by 9pm or revolving round a snag on a bbq in a back garden!! We have also found it extremely difficult to make friends. We have a few close friends here, whom without i would left and returned to the uk by now if im honest. And we are very out going, we will chat to anyone but we just cant find friends here. I dont know if its because were further out the city i find it so boring, we live close to north lakes. Hubby works with Mazda who are based in Melbourne, but theres also a lot of work for him in Melbourne outwith Mazda. We also have friends in Melbourne weve known for years. We dont know what to do for the best????:confused:

Thankyou :-)

Hi everyone, Quick q, we have pr and living in Brisbane, if we have a baby does it go on our visa even tho we already have pr? And am I right in thinking that as we are perm res it will automatically be a aus citizen? Many thanks Kelly

pretty gutted we cant get work in tas as we done so much research into living there an were all set for it, but we just couldnt get work there never mind work that would provide a liveable wage. we wont move again as our daughter is now extremely settled here. we now love brisbane but i do at times find myslef quite frustrated at how slow things can be up here, also the heat at times is hard to deal with

yep same as us, hubby was a season ticket holder east stand for years, last year easter road done a release of granite stones to put in the new east stand that you could have engraved so he got one in memory of his dad and himself, says that means where ever he is he'll always be at easter road! sado lol. you'll need to track the old fella down for sure! you on any of the fb hibs pages? so you and your wife settled down in SA?

jeezo, the miners! its still going strong i believe lol. I say tranent but he was from pencaitland and drank in Big T! You still following butchers barmy army?

Thanks pal, hubby from tranent but we lived out by bonnyrigg, hubbys as green and white as you'"ll ever meet aswell lol. yep were loving it still miss home but i reckon il visit with in the next couple of years, Thanks for the tip about the business il look into it Kelly GGTTH

Hi Old and New poms We are old school members on here so theres probs more of you who dont know us now than who do lol but i thought i would drop in say hi to one and all and let you know how our first year has gone :-) Well we arrived in Brisbane Feb 2013 after an emotional farewell with friends at the airport. My parents refused to do the airport which im glad of now. We were very lucky for two reasons, we had friends here who put us up for 3 weeks and hubby was offered a job to start ASAP. We had received Tassie sponsorship but we tried and tried for jobs from the UK and it wasnt happening. We spoke to several people in TAS who told us that the job scene was very very tight and jobs were few and far between. So as we had friends in Brisbane we decided to head there while hubby would head to Tas for a few days at a time to find work. He luckily got a job offer with Mazda doing a job he done a few years ago on the north side of Brisbane so our plan was take a holiday let make some cash and head to Tassie. That didnt work out because hubby was going to Hobart every 2nd weekend job hunting but there was literally nothing in his chosen field of youth and homeless work, nor could he get anything else that would pay enough to live while i also looked for work. So we contacted Tas and told them and we stayed in Brisbane. So hows it been??...... A rollercoaster is how i can describe it. The first 5 weeks were horrific i was very homesick felt like i was in an alien land. No familiarity was the killer, and we had been to Brisbane twice before to visit friends. Not knowing a single person when you go food shopping is a crap feeling. Hubby was working and staying with friends was great but we despo needed our own place so took a short term lease on a small townhouse while we figured getting work in Tas. I didnt really unpack which didnt help and we bought cheap furniture while we waited on our shipping, word of advice bring as much as you can afford in your container. Started our daughter at school and she took to it like a duck to water and has never looked back. She was 6 and its been the best move for her. So i struggled with hubby at work and little one at school. It was at that point that we decided to stay where we were. I needed to make friends and i needed a job to do it. So i got full time work for Budget Direct insurance, i hated the job but it was my saving grace. I made some great friend there and without that job may well have gone insane or gone home! So we began to settle in work and school, hubby made good friends with his boss and we socialise regularly with him and his wife. I left Budget after 6 months because i wanted part time work which they wouldnt give me. Hubbys boss left and he was promoted and is loving his job with Mazda, long hours way longer than he worked in the UK, hes usually sleeping on the couch by 830pm! BUt in less than a year he has tripled his wage he was on back in the UK. Which has afforded me the chance to do what i always wanted and started my own cake business! Its doing really well, and im about to start selling at markets around the North side most weekends, ideally in the next 3-5 years we would like a shop! Im also one of the lucky few to have been offered a job with the new costco which is a huge bonus as its part time. We are in North Lakes and really enjoy life here, we recently moved to a gorgeous townhouse over looking a lake and the view from our balcony is just fanatastic, we sit out at breakfast and still just pinch oursleves. Not sure we would buy in North Lakes if im honest, but it suits us renting for now. Our daughter is at North Lakes State College nd i cant speak highly enough of it. My parents are here just now as is my 17 yr old son, which is just wonderful but i am dreading him going home, my parents can now see why we are here, and they have both said they know we will never go back. I say never say never. Hubby loves it here, hes like his old self again which i love to see, our daughter has just soared since being here, her hair is sunny dyed blonde, shes never out the pool, she never wants to wear shoes and shes just generally living the aussie life lol. I too love it, but i have my moments where i find it extremely difficult. I struggled with homesickness coming up to xmas and hubby had a xmas pressie for me which i wasnt allowed until the Saturday after, i thought he had got me a puppy, anyhow i wont bore you with the whole story but basically he totally decieved me and made out like he was at work, when really he was picking my best friend up from the airport and bringing her home to stay for 3 weeks!!!! She couldnt have timed it better, it was the first time ive been speechless, it was just wonderful. Now the test will be once the folks go home, how i will cope. My cousin is out in October so its a busy year for visits which is good and the business is taking off so that will keep me busy. I have just briefly given you our story without going into all the things like prices, and places, and medicare etc because i know lots of peeps will have told you all about that, i just wanted to let you all know that getting to Australia and making this monumentally huge change was a real long winding road for us. It was seriously not easy but we kept at it, and believe me it has paid off ten fold for us. Now i know not evreyone will feel like us, but if you never try you will never know. If its what you want, just keep at it you will get there eventually, it took us 5 years. If anyone needs advice or has a question please feeel free to pm us, we came here with $10k total and we made it work, Goodluck everyone Kelly x