ozziepom

There is a beach at Paradise Point 10 mins away, nice but no surf as its protected by the islands, lots of BBQ areas, heaps of families having kids parties there every weekend, bars, restaurants etc. Nearest Surf beach is Main Beach ~25 mins away (depending on traffic), from there its one long streach of beach to Coolangatta 28kms away, apart from a few meters at burleigh where the creek joins. So its not exactly busy even on holidays, it is pretty cool I have to say...

Palm beach in rush hours (5AM to 9AM and 2PM to 7PM) would be more than an hour, somewhere between 1.5 and 2 hours each way - having done hope island to bris for 3 years I wouldn't even consider it. My commute (just) averages an hour, but any accident or even breakdown can add 30-60mins, Palm Beach is 90km vs my 60 and the freeway is busy for much of that. The pacific motorway is not all fast, a few spots where it crawls every day. Yes,much of the GC as it looks, like all cities (GC is Australia's biggest non-capital city 6th biggest overall) it has good and bad area's but the broadwater, broadbeach, golf resorts etc etc are just stunning. Lots of crime reported on TV but I've hardly noticed any. I'd really take the "1 hour from Palm Beach" with a huge grain of salt though, PB is OK but there are lots of nicer suburbs, which are also further north.

Everyone (naturally) likes the area they chose moved to and will promote that. We visited the bayside but didn't really like it as much as the GC (which is only another 15 mins commute) and don't fancy living in Brisbane but of course lots of people do like those areas. I'd happily live on the Sunny Coast but the extra travel is too much for me. Each to their own, you won't really know until you visit and you have to put the miles in to do your own research.

Commute longer from the Sunny coast, they're both nice but different, Sunny coast is quieter/more unspoiled, GC more built up & busier. Depends what you want really but from someone who does the GC commute I wouldn't stretch to the Sunny coast one. You really need to visit both & decide what suits you.

Hope Island is really nice, and if you're gated even better, people rock around on Golf buggies and the Marina with supermarket and restaurants & pub is also buggy accessible, great fun. We're next door and Sanctuary Cove now which we really love. I've just looked at where Redbank is and it would probably be an hour each way, the bit we drive up to & from the Logan Mwy is usually not backed up so pretty fast, traffic tends to crawl just north of Logan Mwy so you'd miss that, obviously that part is toll so you'd be up for that, not sure how much but probably $10ish per day. Best do a dry run or two of the drive but I can highly recommend the area.

I've been doing a commute from Hope Island to the CBD for about 3 years, wrote the post below after 3 months. Since then I'd say its got worse, its definately do-able but nothing I can say can adequately describe the driving on the Pacific Motorway, you have to see it to believe how bad it is, I've driven all over Aus inc Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, Qlders really are as mad as cut snakes. In terms of time it takes us around an hour to reach the CBD. We work 8-4PM so leave home before 7AM and get home around 5PM on a "normal" day. I've set off at 5AM and headed back at 2PM and its just as busy then. I'm still amazed with what I see everyday on the motorway, if you've ever seen NASCAR that would be the closest, it goes from a racetrack to Logan to a Car Park beyond. Any sort of accident on the freeway blows out the commute, took 2 hours the other night. There's a train but we gave up on it, locally known as the "Bombay express" due to overcrowding its expensive, slow, unreliable and crowded, however I think they put on a few more services recently. Hope I've given you an idea of what you're letting yourself in for. Here is what I wrote when I first started doing the commute... Three months of commuting Gold Coast to Bris - my impression I've read quite a few threads on commuting GC to Brisbane and was initially put off the idea, however when we arrived I really didn't fancy living in Brisbane or it suburbs (no offence meant and I'm no stranger to the area, lived here before) so our initial accommodation was a serviced apartment in Southport - Meriton, highly recommended. For the first few weeks we alternated between driving and taking the train from Helensvale, it was just a bit too longer commute for me, at least 90 mins each way in the car and longer on the train. However much of this was actually getting to the freeway or train station. We've now settled in Hope Island and been doing the drive for 2 months. I have to say its not bad, provided we leave by 7:00 we're in the CBD by 8:00 9 out of 10 days, occasionally 7:45. Travelling home is similar, we leave at 4PM and are home around 5:00. Nearby areas with similar commutes would be Helensvale, Pacific Pines, Coomera etc. None are on the beach but Paradise Point is 10-15 mins drive and Labrador another 10, 10 more to Surfers if that's for you. We've all but given up on the train, it is punctual but so slow and so crowded, its known as the Bombay Express due to overcrowding. One thing to mention is the driving on the Pacific Motorway has to be experienced to be believed! As you can pass on both sides basically you get 3 lanes of 110kmh traffic driving at most a couple of car lengths apart, and even then some folk swerving between lanes to make up the odd position. Traffic get heavy around Springwood and you have 10-15 km of stop start traffic, currently there are roadworks. Also as my wife and I travel together we get to use the T2 lane, but TBH I don't think it makes a huge difference. All in all, the commute is a pain, but I love living on (or at least very near) the Gold Coast and for us that's the compromise as neither of us are likely to find work there in the foreseeable future."

Depends what you want I suppose, we're around Hope Island and don't know Ormeau specifically (been through it a lot on the train), seems to be a large residential development with the freeway running through the middle. My guess is there wouldn't be much you can walk to if that's important. Its probably 40 mins to The beachside of Gold Coast and similar to Brisbane (non rush hour). There is a pub at Jacobs Well which is OK. If you're looking for a change to rural QLD you may be better off moving nearer one of the two cities.

The only way Aus is likely to have its own GFC is if China does, although several people think that could well happen. All booms bust eventually, usually when very few expect it.

Sent you a PM

15MB/s (which I think is both up and down). The infrastructure can do 100 but for some reason the Body corp have set that as a limit (ISP told me). Still 15 is better than most places, until the NBN comes along, nearby I'm currently getting 3MB/s. Plenty of other nice areas too, but SC is a bit "different" you either like it or you don't.

We like Sanctuary Cove, in fact we're under contract to buy a place there. We moved nearby (Hope Island border) a couple of years ago but always regretted not buying in Sanctuary Cove, fingers crossed, we will be soon. Things we like: - Security, we're gated at the moment but the cove seems to have very good security. - Resort feel, all of the golf courses, landscaped areas, country club. Looking forward to getting around on a Golf Buggy! - The Marine Village, lots of restaurants, a pub and shops, all on the doorstep and reachable by buggy - The neighborhood, although we're buying a modest house its one of Australia's premier communities, several famous people have property there, including Andrew Winter, Adam Scott, Casey Stoner, Jamie Winchup. If its good enough for them... - Internet access, everywhere has fiber to the home for very fast broadband (although not as fast as it technically could be) - Close to the freeway and also to the broadwater (by boat) Body Corp is a bit steep though. Sorry, can't comment on schools but lots of good one's at Southport I believe, do you know the surrounding area? I know it pretty well so feel free to ask any questions.

I'd second that, for many people finding work is the biggest issue on the Gold Coast, peak hour traffic can be bad and distance to work is a major factor. We commute to Brisbane from the northern end of the coast, and I can't recommend it but we like living here but sadly doubt I'll ever find a job on the coast paying anywhere near what I'm on on Bris. So if you have work lined up, look for places fairly nearby, if not be careful of committing too much to one area until you do.

I'd be looking around Main Beach.

I couldn't agree more with that part, but the rest...nah - sorry. Mr & Mrs Smith probably didn't make any profit at all, in fact they likely made a loss (in real terms), the Joneses probably also made a (real terms) loss, albeit a smaller one. Really, its up to everyone to educate themselves on the real knock-on effects of inflation, and of nominal vs. real profit or loss. Another quick example: Mr White buys a painting for $100 in 1970, in 2013 he sadly passes on, and leaves it to his grandson. Grandson White goes on the Antiques Roadshow and is delighted to hear its now worth $300. Q. Did grandson White make a profit on his granddad's investment? A. In Nominal terms Yes, but in real terms No. Google "nominal vs real", I'll update later as to the reasons why if need be but all I'm saying is tax is one way the govt generates income, inflation is another. Most people recognise tax is the govt taking a cut of the fruits of their labour, very few realise inflation is a far more deadly one.

Err, not what I'm saying. Here's a hypothetical example: - Mr & Mrs Smith have a house in the UK and want to move to Aus, try to sell but can't, move anyway and rents it out. 2 years later they manage to sell and make 50k profit on their purchase price - which they now have to pay CGT on of $14k so they are $36k in "profit" on owning the house (ignoring inflation, repayments, maintenance etc etc) - Mr & Mrs Jones have a house in the UK and want to move to Aus, manage to sell their house before leaving, make 50k profit which they get to keep without paying any CGT. The Smiths loose out because they couldn't sell their house before moving, they get some rent but still have a mortgage and running costs to pay. Both now use their savings to buy houses in Australia, the Joneses have more to spend than the Smiths as a result of legislation designed to tax foreigners (in a UK sense) on capital gains on UK property.

...and having to pay 50k more for the same value of house in a different location giving a nice loss of 14k just because house prices have risen? Just saying, doesn't affect us, we sold before leaving the UK, but plenty of people will be worse off if they didn't.

Reason for posting it here is it will affect thousands of British people who emigrated to Aus/elsewhere and couldn't sell their houses before leaving, not I - but it easily could have been.

Ouch! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/10458673/Thousands-of-Britons-caught-up-in-tax-raid-on-wealthy-foreigners.html

No, quite the opposite, there's a load of unemployed workers floating around the IT market at the moment, since the redundancies from the state govt. So there's already an oversupply of IT folk pushing down wages and contract rates in QLD in many IT disciplines. What I was saying is its a good job that there are no IT skills on the "in demand" list. Example a bloke I've been working with, highly skilled and experienced F5, Citrix, all the M$ stuff and now his contract is coming to an end he's not finding much, part of it is the time of year of course but I know some less skilled people (testers etc) who've been out of work for months.

No surprise to see no IT/Computing skills on there, good job really!

Where I live (Gold Coast) the council says they run ceremonies monthly, not sure how full they are, either way I'd like to apply as soon as I can, just to get it done. Found an interesting reference in the BE thread quoted to show JAJ's posts above, it shows a doc (from 2010, so may have changed) which says this... "Example Calculation of the 4-year lawful residence period when a person has been absent from Australia on the day 4 years immediately before applying If a person’s first arrival in Australia is less than 4 years before they apply for citizenship, they cannot meet the general residence requirement, even if they spend 3 years continuously in Australia. The start date of the 4-year lawful residence period is usually the date 4 years immediately before they lodge their application. However, if the person has not made their first entry into Australia, they need to wait at least 4 years after their first entry to meet this requirement. Where a person was outside Australia on the day 4 years immediately before applying, but had previously been in Australia, they may still use the day 4-years immediately before applying as a start date, providing that on that day they held visa which was granted in Australia, or which was granted offshore and the person had entered Australia on that visa. If these conditions are met, then the person may use the full 4 year period immediately before applying towards meeting the general residence requirement. Example Mr Smith entered Australia on 01/01/2004 on a subclass 457 visa. He departs a week later, and reenters on 01/01/2006 on the same subclass 457 visa. He remains in Australia, becomes a permanent resident on 01/01/2008 and applies for citizenship on 01/01/2009. Mr Smith’s 4-year lawful period starts on 01/01/2005 (4 years before applying) because although he was outside Australia on this date, he was previously in Australia and was still the holder s/c 457 visa."acis-may-2010 (1).pdf acis-may-2010 (1).pdf

Err, to get back OT I'm starting to think its worth applying now, any thoughts?

An ETA is for 12 months total, 3 months per visit but even this doesn't seem to be the issue. I hope the below images are visible, these are real dates for my wife (give or take a couple of days, its from memory but I checked the 2009 dates this morning, only difference for me is I first arrived 1989, stayed for 5 years, then returned 2008 (holiday). This is my 2nd PR. Says I may qualify now.

Yes, my visitor visa was applied for in June 2009, and was valid for 12 months, however as I understand it, as soon as I was granted PR (Nov 2009) it superseded my visitor visa. However one was in effect when the other was granted, I actually validated PR before the expiry date of my vistor visa, next question is, is a visitor visa (called an ETA), actually a visa. Come to think of it the question is "when did you lawfully arrive in Australia", doesn't mention visa/eta at all. I'm off to re-do the citizenship wizard.

I think the "12 months away from Australia" may unconfound in my case, although it looks like the possibility could exist for other people. I need to check the exact dates but I think the period from my 2009 holiday and arriving with PR in 2010 was around a year, then I've been away on various trips for well over a month since, without them I may have been eligible now. Certainly my tourist visa was current when my PR was granted.