kirra

Hi BrisDubBris we are in Auchenflower (inner west). He would be happy to travel. Pls PM me ...he went to Victoria Park last weekend and said it was nice. Good view.

Hi - Im posting on behalf of my husband. My husband is a pom (Im an Aussie) and we have been in Brisbane since December and love it. My husband is from South London, is 36 and could do with 1. more exercise, and 2. to start making some friends He bought some golf clubs today and hopes to start playing of a weekend. He is by no means a good golfer...just enjoys it. If anyone out there is around Brisbane and enjoys a game of golf...maybe he could tag along? Otherwise he is just going to find a club and go it alone. Be better if you enjoyed a pint with your game..he would like that :biggrin:

Me me! Im an Aussie and was in the UK 10 yrs and just moved back. From Newcastle NSW but we decided to move to Brisbane. My husband is British and my 2 kids were born in London but have Aussie citizenship by descent Ive been home 2 mths and dropped $AUD51K. So money is flying out the account :goofy: That does include $18K on a car and my rent and bond and stuff Its been a huge project getting us here and been stressful, but here we are. Its alot easier living here than London - less admin as its not such a **** fight to do the grocery shopping or find a park. Job hunting is frustrating. There is no sense of urgency and a permanent role can take months. brisbane also feels like a small town and you really get the sense the locals do all know each other! In 2 mths I havent stopped spending, enrolling, enquiring...Im looking forward to when its all done....still getting there In 10 yrs Australia has changed for me. Its alot more patriotic and it feels like there is alot of propaganda everywhere......lots of BS being spouted from all places "nows the BEST time to buy property [it isnt!]", and alot of "Australia ia the BEST place for X"...everyone sips from the 'australia is better than everywhere else' kool aid..that gets old. At least British people stop and question whether britian is good..Aussies just blindly bang on about being the best *yawn*

Hi Ive had lots of friends from the UK come over initially on WHV's and still be here 15 yrs later! All just happened to get sponsored ...admittedly this was 10-15 yrs ago. I maybe wrong but I think the whv rules have eased and you can work the whole time, not just 50% of the time like it used to be. I honestly dont know...but Id just grab a WHV, save some cash and head on over. Head to SYD or MEL for a better chance of employment as they are your finance centres

Hmmm in Australia we call 'pension' Superannuation. As its a legal requirement that all firms must pay you Super I would have thought that industry was possibly bigger here than in the UK where a pension isnt mandatory..I could be wrong Like anything financial at the moment its taken a beating but theres a big industry,Id stick with what you know also you are young enough for a working holiday visa. You can work contract roles on that within your industry

My husband works in Eagle Farm..probably the same company! We live in Auchenflower and in 'peak hour'..I quote it as compared to LOndon its a leisurely drive, it takes him 17mins to drive. Piece of cake! If it was just me and I was single and wanted to be close to the action and in a trendy place and the *right* side of the city for Eagle farm..Id be looking around New Farm. I love it around there. My brother is young and single and lives there and its a great spot (possibly with a price tag to match) If it takes my husband 17 mins to drive from Auchenflower it will be less from New Farm

Ugh Im looking for work in IT and its painful..but, its a bad time of yr. I am an Aussie with Aussie education so they cant complain about all that, but some of the agents have been really bad. I have been the past 10 yrs working for tier 1 investment banks. One agent asked me who one of them was (mind you its one of the biggest banks in the world...*sigh*). When I explained his face was still blank then he said 'so which bank is it like? westpac? anz? suncorp?'..I replied: 'None of them'..I worked for global investment banks..umm not australian small fry retail banks..just sayin'! :nah: Im this --->.<------ close to packing up and going to SYD or MEL. ADmittedly its one or 2 agents, the rest have been fine..but saying that, most are british anyway! It seems because my last few exp have been in the UK it means nothing but the firms Ive worked are world class prestigious firms...yet some crapoloa aussie small fry shop is all 'freaked out' by international experience. HOnestly...everyones told me its cracking that first job than it gets easier

I sucked up bigpond as speed and performance was my main driver. Certainly not cost :skeptical:. Unfortunately Australia treats broadband like some golden goose and they charge the earth for it and restrict you. It infuriates me

Hi We currently still pay into and keep our UK created life insurance and critical illness plans. The plan is to keep paying the UK plans until we both get jobs in Australia and know what our employers offer us...then stop the UK plans and fully sign up to Australian ones Does anyone know if the UK plans are still valid for us if we are now not resident in the UK? So we are still keeping up with the payments, but, residency status wise we now reside in Australia? Im so worried something is going to happen to one of us in the next few mths and due to a legal loop hole we will be screwed and not covered Just curious if anyone has looked into this (before I really dig into the paperwork)

If worse comes to worse and she needs a room for the night she can come and crash in my spare room in Auchenflower..we are a family of 4 (so kids screaming etc)..but if shes homeless...just PM me

Hi re gas/elec I didnt really research suppliers so unsure if Im on the best deal. I just asked my brother who he uses. It was Origin so I went to their website and signed up with them online. V easy. For internet I wanted good performance as opposed to cheapest deal so begrudgingly went with Telstra and got one of their phone, internet and Foxtel bundles. Expensive, but Ive been happy with the service and speed of internet and if you order it over the phone early like me you wont have to wait to get the man to come around and turn it on..you pick a date around move in time. My daughter had her first week of school last week and loved it. My one tip if you have pre-school age kids would be to get an idea of area you want to live and start applying to daycares now. Just call up and ask to have names down on the waitlist. Most have 12mth+ waitlists. If your husband has family in the area use their address..no need to tell them you havent arrived yet

I secured my rental before I arrived I used realestate.com.au. emailed the agent telling them Im interested but abroad and arriving in a few weeks. Sent my brother to do the viewing and he gave me the OK. Completed the forms online and sent scanned copies of my husbands job offer, his visa, our passports (Me and my kids are Australian) and a little cheesy doc showing them who we are - some pics of us, our current house in the UK and our hobbies. It wasnt such a big deal in the end. We arranged a time for me to drop into the agents to get the keys. The next day I had the removalists arrive with our furniture. Having an address means you can call the local school and get kids enrolled, get your utilities turned on (arrange online) and get your internet and cable tv set up the day you actually move in! So yep..it can be done

In the UK if you are turning right its common to see people stick their car nose out to stop the oncoming traffic. The traffic slow down and let them in. In Australia they wont slow down and probably crash into you to prove a point. There isnt that politeness of letting you in or slowing down to hold up the traffic to let you go. My husband is english and saw a car making a right hand turn and slowed down to allow them to jut out but it backfired. Aussies arent used to people slowing down to bank up the traffic so the person had no idea what he was doing and ignored his attempt..actually got annoyed he took so long to go by! On motorways people dont just over take in the right hand lane..every lanes a race track so expect people to over take you from any lane. Aussies love to park up in the middle lane and coast..the theory is they just want to cruise, they see the far left lane as being for the trucks and caravans and the right hand lane for the overtakers We kinda suck at driving :laugh:

I enrolled from the UK. We secured a rental so I just looked up online what school was near me and checked the catchment map. I saw I was in it, so I emailed the school and got nothing back. So I called them and the admin lady was very nice. Just asked what street I was in to check I was in their catchment then emailed me the form. I completed it and scanned it, scanned my daughters passport (she is an Aussie by descent) and also scanned our Lease to prove address and sent it off. She emailed me back overnight saying all set and enrolled fairly easy. The hardest part is getting the address! If you fall within their catchment they have to accept you. Its not like the UK where its a big lottery

Hi Im from this area. Those are all nice areas to live and I believe have good primary schools. I think its the high schools that get a bit sketchy. Belmont and Warners Bay High are fine, nothing bad, but Im not overly keen on them. Youre kids are young so high school are a long way off. Just tutor them like mad so they get into the selective Merewether High :laugh:. If you dont mind a christian school Ive heard good reports about Belmont Christian College. Also, Macquarie College at Glendale is the 2nd or 3rd highest ranking high school in the Hunter and its fees are reasonable. Me personally...I prefer the beach to the lake so I would go for Redhead to live or Dudley.More expensive though..ho hum. Belmont North could be good as its close to Redhead Beach, close to the Lake and also close to the Belmont Christian College. There is also the suburb of Jewells which is nice. Its a suburb full of ramsay street era 80's look houses. I guess so is Eleebana. Belmont is a mix of not so good houses and expensive ones around the lake. I like the new estates - Valentine Gardens and Green Point. Nice new houses in those My dad lives in Pelican. Its got a beautfil foreshore and is walking distance from the Lake and Blacksmiths beach. Flat blocks and a short distance to Swansea or Belmonth for shopping. I like it there

Our container arrived into SYD on November 1 2011 and only cleared quarantine/customs and was available to send to us on Dec 7 2011

Inner west - Auchenflower. Location wise its central and convenient. I can walk to South Bank. Its a good 1 hour round trip but its a nice walk along the river cycle way whether we stay here is another thing. Being so inner city it comes with a hefty price tag so maybe not so affordable when time to buy. But, I dont like the outer suburb style housing estate with new houses. They are boring and soul destrying (just my opinion as someone who grew up in one). Horses for courses

dont sweat it! Kids vacc's is not a priority. Im just miss anal so when I went to Medicare they gave me a form which your GP fills out which captures all the kids UK vax's from your red book and compares it to the Aussie standard ones. We have them all except AU vax's for HepB..so the surgery is arranging for my kids to get that so we can send the completed form to the Aussie Immunization register and my kids be all good and in their system Centrelink and CRN..stands for customer reference number. You only get a number per person once a claim has been made. You just go online: http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/payments/childcare_benefit.htm and make a claim. I did that even before my son started his first day at nursery as it takes 3 weeks. your nursery will ask for your kids CRN. Only yesterday did centrelink finally get round to processing it and my kids got assigned CRN's. You only need it if you want to claim back money , up to 50% I think of the nursery bill. It is not means tested the bit I applied for. You may need to be a resident to claim this..unsure good luck with your move

The one downside I see to brisbane , which possibly could be an upside (?)..it looks like a city, but run like a country town and the locals all seem to know each other. Im looking for work here and suspect it but had it confirmed by locals themselves who all tell me alot of the time jobs come from who you know... now..if only my brother could sort ME a new job The city appears to be growing quickly though and Ive seen alot of Britsand Kiwi's here all new trying to get on with the place

OK I kind cheat..Im an Aussie, BUT, I have been living in the UK for 10yrs since I was 25 yrs old. In the UK I *grew up*..so got married to an englishman and had 2 kids. It took 2 yrs to wind down our UK life which included applying for my husbands PR and selling our house. In 10 yrs you forget lot about the admin of your home country so arriving has made me see it all from fresh eyes, as I guess a 'pom' would. So here's our story.. My husband was granted PR in January 2011 and in April 2011 did a quick fly in/fly out to Perth to activate it as we werent sure when we would actually move to Australia. The Gods shone upon is in mid 2011. Our house that wouldnt sell all of a sudden had a buyer who wanted to move quick. It went from offer to completion in 6 weeks. In September we moved into a short term and decided to wait until after xmas to move to Oz but we shipped our furniture to Sydney then thinking we will store it if it arrives before us. My husband and I were applying for jobs and we thought we were going to Sydney but I noticed on SEEK a job that suited my husbands skillset and just so happened to be with my brothers firm in Brisbane (my brother is HR Mgr). I called my Brother, he got my husbands cv and sent it to Line Mgr. he got the job! Flights booked for early December. Message sent to Sydney to re direct our shipping to Brisbane. Im not from Brisbane and know nothing of it other than my brother lives there so set researching areas with his suggestion. In early November I started applying for rentals from the UK. It was hardwork as most agents ignored me. A few didnt and I sent my brother to view them (rules are someone must view to apply). I sent the biggest suck up applications showing our financial stability (proceeds from house sale) and proof of husbands employment and offered to take up the rental 2 weeks before we arrived. We were accepted! Having an address was paramount to me before arriving as it meant I could start school enrolments from the UK and ease the burden upon arrival. I was able to set up my internet, utilities, everything to 'turn on' the day we arrive and also planned for my shipping to be there the day after. I really should be a Project Mgr! We hate being without internet so it was great having it all *working* from day 1. I also ordered online any furniture we were missing to arrive that first day..it was crazy so much stuff going on all around us. I totally recommend http://www.appliancesonline.com.au and was not too proud to buy Super Amart...the stuff is just fine and it delivered on time. I was able to arrange online for the gas and elec to be turned on ...too easy. Our shipping container also arrived that day..talk about busy, but great as no time without stuff. I enrolled my daughter into the catchment school from the UK by calling them up and scanning, emailing all docs they requested. So I didnt need to do once arrived. The first 6 weeks has been non stop buying, enrolling, organising though. Centrelink which I dreaded has been fairly straight forward and I got the CRNs for the kids and claimed the Childcare benefit rebate to help with nursery fees. I already had a medicare card so just had to go in to the shop and fill out the forms to get my husband and kids names put on it..took 3 weeks to arrive. The first GP surgery I called were happy to accept us and I booked an appt to have my kids Immunisation history verified so they can be uploaded to the Aussie Immunisation Registry (they are up to date in the UK but the UK does not vaccinate for HepB so my kids need 3 rounds of HepB to be 'Australian good' with regards to vax's). I had a major fail at the GP's. I had no idea you had to pay to see one. I saw the DR and walked out and the secretary chased after me down the street waving the bill! :laugh: I organised my husbands butt within an inch of his life and got him to apply for a NAB bank acct online from the UK. The set up was so easy and all accts and card given to him right away when he saw them. I got him to apply for a tax file number online the day he arrived so that arrived 28 days later. I sorted his medicare and just about to sort out our private medical. I also printed him the correct Driving License forms and he just went in and done it and had 4 other Brits in the centre come to him for help as he looked like a man with a plan! He's had it lucky We have mown through money. In 6 weeks Ive spent $AUD40K..admittedly that includes the purchase of a $AUD18K car and bond for our rental. We really need his income to start rolling in. I am lucky in that my UK job asked me to continue my role remotely (Im an IT contractor) so I been working the whole time Ive been here (hence why internet connection being here d=from day 1 a huge thing) From my husbands eyes he loves Brisbane so far. The ease of just being able to drive in fairly uncongested roads (compared to london), the fact you can just pull up in your car and get a park and its usually free to most places.His commute is 15mins by car...in London it was a 3 hr round trip. He likes how customer service is good and even when a product is faulty people help him and sort it out. He loves how his groceries get packed at Coles/Woolies. He hates Aussie TV. He loves drive-in bottleo's (offies) and goes out of his way to find one that is a drive in one. He thinks the big walk in beer cold rooms are heaven! He likes how nice everyone is to him but hates how he isnt 'exotic' or a novelty as everywhere you go there are as many British people as Aussie's! :laugh: He bought the biggest bbq known to mankind and bbq's..every..single...night. He takes photo's of spiders in the garden and emails them back home to the UK (saddo!). He thinks having a McDonalds/HUngry Jscks/KFC on every corner is bizarre and laughs that Aussie's love a 'big world'..ie shopping centres or any place to shop has be huge and a world..ie camping WORLD, boating WORLD...he thinks we cant handle just a shop and only satisfield if the store is the size of a football pitch and has WORLD in the title We havent really had a chance to sightsee or explore our new city but it shouldnt be long until the admin of the move calms down and we can just ...relax Me..well, Im shattered! sorry for the ramble. For those of you moving to Brisbane you need to GET EXCITED! We love it so far

word of advice...if you know roughly your area search now for nurseries and put your name down. All around me have 12 mths wait lists. ugh. It was just by luck I called a centre who had a sister centre opening up in the cbd so I got my son a spot in this new centre. Its in the cbd so my son age 1 now commutes into the cbd and goes to his 'office' :laugh:

We had similar requirements and have 2 young kids - 4 and 1. We found a place in Auchenflower and like how conveniently close it is to the cbd. We are down near the station so although our house is nice the surrounding ones are clearly rentals and a bit scrappy so its not the suburban perfectly neat houses look but more inner city with super expensive nice houses mixed with rentals that need some TLC mixed with units. On the up side Im close to the station, on the down side I can hear the train! Its fairly quiet though. I walked into Southbank with my 1 yr in the buggy and the round trip took only 1 hour. Traffic isnt that bad so I can drive and not see huge congestion anywhere like Im used to in London. We are zoned for Milton State School and by all reports has a good reputation. The area immediately around the school - Rosalie village - looks really nice and definitely nicer than my part. Im sure the price of the houses reflects that too. I agree with the areas the previous post mentioned I spoke to a local and possibly he is biased as he is from the western suburbs of Brisbane, but he told me to stick North of the river....all the western suburbs mentioned above, or North East..so ascot/hamilton....or if south of the river he would suggest Bulimba/Hawthorne/Norman Park I think its like London...north of the river favour north, south of river, south ..

Im flying LHR->KUL-SYD tomorrow on my own with a 4yr old and 1 yr old :arghh: Ive done the flight a few times with my 4 yr old and she travels like dream. I prefer a direct flight....once you're on, you're on and she sleeps well. My 1 yr old is a 'mare though and Im not sure what to expect tomorrow. Last time I flew with him was back in July from LGW to Portugal and he screamed the whole way so my sincere apologies to all aboard malaysian airlines MH3 tomorrow I find an iPad is the best gadget for my 4 yr old. One small gadget and its loaded with lots of Peppa Pig's, educational games, drawing games etc. Nothing will work on my 1 yr old though *sigh*

We had our furniture shipped to SYD but change of plans and we are moving to Brisbane. The cost from the moving company in Sydney to move our furniture from SYD to BNE is $2024. We have about 3/4 of a 20 foot container amount of stuff seems high??

No offence at all Lucy. :biggrin:I survive where I live as Im the worker and not the lady who lunches. The lady who lunches are perfectly made out and slimi whereas I try to be presentable but look warn out and pulled in a million directions. They are generally OK to me because Im unusual in that I do the same job as the husbands they think are amazing. If anything theyre jealous I could, if I wanted, walk out on my husband and retain my quality of life. Alot feel trapped, giving up their careers and have to put up with their pigs of husbands...ok, totally generalising lol and if Im presented with any Brissy beotches Ill handle it. QLD'rs generally are not huge fans of NSW people..mainly friendly rivalry, but I guess Im an out of towner and always open to not fitting in. Im ready !