fish.01

You sure it's a red back ? They unusual make formless messy webs underneath furniture and in nooks and crannies...not usually large proper webs across open spaces ?

Yeah that's correct, the loading is nothing to do with tax. @OP There are two government "incentives" to push people into private insurance. One is based on your age, the second on your wealth. Age ---- A sliding penalty loading which increases the cost of your private health insurance depending on how old you are, after 30 years of age, when you first take out private health insurance. It's stated purpose is to encourage people to not wait until they are old and unwell to take out private health insurance. You are only penalised if and when you subsequently take out private health insurance; your premiums will be higher for 10 years. If you stick with Medicare only you will not incur any penalty loading. Wealth -------- As stated if you earn over $180,000 as a family (or $90,000 single) you will incur an additional amount of tax if you do not hold private hospital insurance for the full year. Note this has nothing to do with the "extras" portion of any private insurance plan, only the private hospital cover. If you earn under the thresholds this will not affect you.

We live around 10 mins walk from Paddington so I cycle through Red Hill, Paddington & Bardon most days. I love it because it suits my interests. I really love character homes, the history everywhere, the windy hilly old streets, the little independent shops, the old trees and gardens, the great food and coffee, the accessibility to the city, the bike riding distance to town etc. So for me it is worth it as I get a kick out of it every day but it does depend on your priorities. I also love that traffic has almost disappeared from my life. When we lived further away commute traffic was a big part of everyday life. Barely think about it anymore as easy to cycle or get a bus so it has almost disappeared from my life. Bliss. As I mentioned if you do have to use your car you can just take the empty back roads few use until you get right near town. People say that because outer suburbs have less traffic they are better for avoiding traffic stress but having lived in both I have found it the exact opposite...it is the daily grind of commute traffic that gets to you in the further out suburbs. We have also found the kindergartens to be just lovely (Rosalie Creche & Kindergarten and Red Hill C&K) and our children love their school. My wife is English and has made some great friends from Australia and all over the world that she sees all the time. Many lovely families that meet up at the local park for birthday parties, coffee mornings etc. I have always been able to cycle the kids to or from kindergarten/school and then go to work and my wife does it via bus at the other end. Has meant I have been a lot more involved with my kids life (knew all the kindergarten teachers really well, children's friends etc) than I would have been in an outer suburb with long commutes. Easy to jump on my bike at work and cycle back if one of the kids is sick or something.

If you're looking in Paddington and want to cycle I would stick either to the Red Hill/Ashgrove side of Paddington to pick up the Ithaca Creek bikeway (flat, goes right into the city off-road) or the Rosalie Village side of Paddington to ride via the Bicentennial Bikeway (flat, to city, mostly off-road). You can ride down Latrobe Tce in the morning ok and ride back up using the footpath in the evening but not as pleasant as the two other options above.

If you move out of catchment while your child is in primary you may not get into the catchment high school though.

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FYI, Paddington's state high school is Kelvin Grove college which is around the same distance as the local private schools. Around 1.5km away from the edge of Paddington at the closest point. See:https://kelvingrovesc.eq.edu.au/Pages/default.aspx

Interested in this if you can expand Roberta ?

Paddington is really easy now with the airport link tunnel, just have to pay that pesky toll.

Hi Roberta, I'm not sure what you consider a Queenslander but I presume my definition if far wider than yours as those prices seem extremely high given my definition. As I understand almost all pre-WWII homes are considered queenslanders, just many different styles. I presume you have one particular style in mind. Maybe the colonial style with full wrap around verandahs ? Around 5km out you can get 3/4 bedders character homes starting around $800,000: Example: http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-qld-red+hill-122762886 Example: http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-qld-ashgrove-121045198 Paddington does have the Maroon city glider, 385 etc and the distance is short so the bus trip is only 10-15mins in peak...I find Latrobe Tce one of the least congested streets leading into Brisbane in peak hour. Living in the area I find the traffic the easiest of anywhere I have lived in Brisbane. The steep windy streets are actually a blessing as only the locals know the way through many of them and the smaller connecting suburban roads are often empty almost right to the edge of the city, even when the neighbouring arterials carrying people from further away suburbs are busy. The rat runners don't dare enter the maze, it's great

Plenty of the local kids go to state schools. The state schools in those areas are very well regarded.

I hope you don't do like my wife and say you hate those bloody shacks, and then years later when they double in price decide you love them You know me, I would honestly struggle to live in any other style of house now...they just feel so great and I'm obsessed with them I get depressed when I go too far out and the houses turn to post-war wood & tile or brick & tile. I must be nuts... though surely you could live in this house Cal ? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3287467/The-colourful-past-landmark-Brisbane-home-Massive-century-old-house-hosted-lavish-secret-gambling-parties-1-500-square-metre-grounds.html

My primary choice is location. I would rather live in a smaller house to get the location I want with the same budget as a bigger house in the suburbs.

Surely you wouldn't move to Bulimba and buy a modern atrocity Cal

It doesn't help you really, but no I don't think all areas are the same. I haven't seen a toad in my yard for a long time though I'm sure the odd one must be around. I see the odd one down on the cycle path by the creek. When I was a kid they were all over the lawn at night, so it seems like it must be different in different areas. Similar to mosquitoes I guess. To avoid both mosquitoes and toads remove all possible water sources from your garden. Old plant pots, buckets, ponds etc....

Yes, spot on.

Just a historical addition in regard to the schools in case it helps, The Gap has always had the best reputation in that general area and I think Ferny Grove is ok these days as well. Mitchelton though has always had a bad rep but not sure if it is ok now ? I think its Naplan results are still way below the others, though I haven't checked how much they improve the students they do get...Keperra was always considered a knock about area and I think that leaked into Mitchelton as well. Was saying to my brother tonight it may be a good area for people to buy in as the prices may be repressed from its past reputation; though would be worried about the high school.

Just to make sure, did you mean 500k - 600k if buying or $400-$650 if renting ?

I wondered if it was that but the "insane tropical storms" made me unsure whether they meant another event ? A lot of the Qld flooding was just an unusually long wet La Nina summer rather than a just a particularly fierce tropical storm. In Brisbane it was caused by a 1 in a 100 year storm out west in the temperate areas like Toowoomba. All the water flowed in the catchment west of Brisbane and filled our dam after the La Nina wet summer. Most water flow into the catchment since 1893. Was odd, wasn't even raining in Brisbane when we flooded. Regardless it doesn't seem a deciding reason to move here or not. Would be like saying don't move to Melbourne because of bush fires...just don't buy a house in a known high danger bush fire spot.

Just note all that rain comes down in summer in about 5 minutes Which flooding was this ?

If staying in south east qld for 3 days or more you might want to consider a SEQ Explorer Card. See: http://shop.translink.com.au/epages/shop.sf/en_AU/?ObjectPath=/Shops/shop/Categories/SEEQ For three days it is $79 for unlimited travel on public transport across the whole of south east queensland transport network (brisbane, gold coast, sunshine coast; around 250km north to south) + it includes also 2 trips on the private AirTrain. From what you said you individually you may be paying: - Airtrain from International terminal to Brisbane City pre-booked online (return) = $31.35 - Brisbane city cat ferries x 4 trips ~ $12 - Public Tranport Bus to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (return) = $9 - Brisbane to Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast (return) = $24 - Tram around Gold Coast x 2 trips ~ $5 Total: $81 The bonus is you can go crazy and catch city cats all over the place in Brisbane (which are great), plus all train , buses etc - the downside is you have obviously committed to those trips so alternatively you could just load up your GoCard as you go.

As mentioned you can get into Brisbane from the domestic or international terminal on the AirTrain. It is a privately run service so does not use normal public transport fares though you can use a GoCard to pay the fare. Cheaper than a taxi for a single traveller. Normal hotel bus transfers would be available as well. If staying on Turbot you would be getting off at either Central or Roma St stations. Booking online can save you money: https://airtrain.com.au

In Brisbane I would vote for getting a GoCard as so much cheaper. For example, if you jump on the citycat in off-peak and do a 3 zone full river tour it will cost you $6.70 in cash or $3.72 using a GoCard. Also a lot simpler to jump on and off public transport with your card than holding up queues paying cash. Fares here: http://translink.com.au/tickets-and-fares/fares-and-zones/current-fares You have to pay a $10 deposit when buying a GoCard. You get this back when you refund your GoCard at the end of the your trip. To purchase a GoCard: "go card can be purchased from a range of locations, including: go card online any 7-Eleven store and selected retailers many Queensland Rail, G:link and busway stations onboard CityCat ferries." To refund a GoCard: Go to this website and change the "I want to" drop down to "Get a refund". This will show you the retailers around the city centre that refund a GoCard. You can also get a GoCard refund at the Domestic and International trains stations.

Just a note that you can still do cash on most buses and trains in Brisbane. It just costs a shedload more. I think the brisbane city council buses that don't accept cash are the city gliders (routes 60 & 61) and buses that have a P (for prepaid) in front of the route number (mostly commuter peak hour buses).

Cheer up, you're ruining our ranking :wubclub: