Tina2

Had to laugh at your fear of fish we get some large ones (sharks) LOL. If you are building you will be fine, (are you going to put in a pool ) you will get plenty of use up in Townsville. I think most new places are Cat 5 rated now. There is a great fish and chip shop on the strand by the way. In general Qld does seem to be doing OK as far as work is concerned I guess it all depends on what you do for a living. My OH is 70 and just been asked to take on some contract work ! There are up sides to the heat, you dont need to buy heaps of clothes, and that in turn cuts down on the washing, no more wet clothes drying inside in front of the fire. Hang things on the line and in 1/2 hour they are dry and ready to bring in. Let us know how it all works out for you.

Well I have been here over 40 years and would not live in Sydney even if you paid me. Sorry to all those who live there and love it. You are correct unless you have mega dollars in the bank to live in the best suburbs life can be very difficult due to sky high prices. Melbourne is not far behind and sadly heading in the same direction. However having said that there are really nice places in Aus. We lived in Mudgee 3 hours from Sydney and loved it. We are now up on the Darling Downs in Qld. have a decent house we picked up for a 1/4 of what you would pay in Sydney or Melbourne. Weather is pretty good to though I would not say no to a bit of rain. The first thing to do BB is to talk to your husband just getting all you are feeling out in the open will be a huge relief, then you can both move forward with what ever you decide to do.

Just be aware of the humidity some find it hard to deal with, also check the cyclone rating on any home you consider buying, and learn about box jellyfish. http://qldbeaches.com/stingers.html

Seems to be an increasing number of people looking at going back to late for us now for a heap of reasons but I envy those who are still young enough and have no ties here who are going "home'

I have always wondered why people head for capital cities especially Sydney and Melbourne which are so expencive. Aus is a huge place the climate and cost of living vary a lot. Does your husband have a job that would be easy to find in a different state/town ? Honesty is always the best policy, you never know maybe he is miserable as well but putting on a brave face because he thinks you are happy in the mountains. Time to sit down and be honest and tell him how you feel. Between the two of you maybe you can come up with some ideas as to how you can make things better.

You say finances are tight, but could you afford to got for a drive up the coast for a couple of days and see if areas like Port Macquarie may suit you better than the Blue Mountains. There are many nice places in Aus you just need to see what suits you best and could be a better option than going back to the UK if your partner does not want to return to the UK.

Yep Carnival of flowers is in September. Motels are booked out months in advance. Toowoomba has some of the most beautiful parks you could ask for. Queens Park is lovely as are the Japanese Gardens which are part of the University of Southern Qld. Use to be a very basic country town but not now the place is powering ahead, but what we love is that there are many areas locked in as "rural" but only 20 minuets or so from the center of the city. Hodsonvale is another lovely area but a lot more expencive than the Northside due to it being only about 15 minuets from the center of town.

I feel your pain and am so sorry you are going through this. If you need someone to talk to at any time of the day or night call Life Line 131114 they have wonderful councilors you can unload your feeling to and who can point you in the right direction for help.

Toowoomba's economy is still going at full steam. If you do a search on here for Toowoomba you will find quite a bit of information. It is a beautiful area, Toowoomba is the second largest inland city in Qld. You can live with in minuets of the city center or drive 25 minuets out to Highfields area which is the fastest growing suburb in Qld, most homes sit on 1/2 to 1 acre. There is a brand new state high school and a very good prep to 12 catholic school. A new 4 lane road is under construction from the city out to Oakey so areas along that road are opening up. Torrington, Glenvale, Cotswold Hills, Gowrie Junction, Gowrie Mountain and Meringandan West are all only 20 to 25 minuets drive to the city center, that is not to say there are no shops out side of the city there are in fact plenty of smaller shopping complexes, Highfields for example has a large woolworths, post office, chemist, hardware store, hairdresser, coffee shops etc. There is a 500 million dollar expansion of Grand Central Shopping center in the city its self. http://www.thechronicle.com.au/news/toowoombas-500m-shopping-centre-development-starts/2450604/ They are developing the old grotty railway yard area in to accomadation, parkland and shops. http://www.toowoombarc.qld.gov.au/planning-and-building/planning-scheme/11022-toowoomba-railway-parklands As others have said there is now a private airport with international length runway. (Currently domestic flights only) and plans for a huge business park . http://www.wellcamp.com.au/ If you are into night clubs then that is something Toowoomba does not have and to be honest the locals like it that way. As far as schools are concerned you will be spoilt for choice, we have great state schools and top private schools, plenty of good hospitals and once the new freeway goes in between Brisbane and Toowoomba the trip to Brisbane will only be around 1.5 hours. http://www.toowoombarc.qld.gov.au/our-region/transport/toowoomba-bypass. Weather ? Well we are well into Autumn and today is 24c around 15c at night. Yes the 3 months of winter can be a bit cold but summer is lovely around 28c to 32c during the day and around 19c at night and little humitity. Work? plenty of that around if you are in the construction industry, we are on a wait list for a tiler will be around 4 weeks we are told.

Thats good to hear. Its a shame more people dont consider some of our inland cities. So many threads on here with people moving to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. Our inland cities have so much to offer. A more relaxed lifestyle, cheaper housing, great schools, and not that far if you want a weekend at the beach. If you do end up in Bathurst have a weekend in Armidale especially in Autumn another beautiful inland city.

Well I love the central west of NSW we lived in Mudgee for a few years and it was just great. If you accept a job in Bathurst my suggestion would be to look at living in Orange and doing a 43 minuets drive. Winter is cold and yes it does snow sometimes but it is nothing like the snow you get in the UK, in fact you can wake to thick frost and by 10am the sun is out. Bathurst is OK but Orange is beautiful. You could spend many happy weekends touring around the Mudgee wine reagion. Gay friendly ? People are not really concerned about that these days, they just look at the sort of person you are so I would not worry about that. https://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrSbl9nZiZVlqUApKJLBQx.;_ylu=X3oDMTBsOXB2YTRjBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkAw--?_adv_prop=image&fr=moz35&va=orange+nsw http://www.bathurst.nsw.au/Home.aspx

Stick to the other side of the M1 as others have said Springwood and heading towards the bay. Lot of Pacific Islanders around Logan, Kingston, Woodridge, Marsden. Lots of Poms live a bit further down the M1 at helensvale. Just stay away from Coomera State College. Schools like Coomera Rivers, Coomera Spring primary are fine. You have Pimpama State High which is a brand new high school, or Ormeau Woods state high. Ormeau State Primary is one to probably give a miss, but close by you have the brand new Pimpama State Primary, and Norfolk Village Primary is ok. Jubilee Primary has a new principle and some parents are not very happy and moving kids out of the school. coomera also has a good selection of good private schools if you want to consider those. Really best thing is to rent short term and just drive around and have a good look, aks for a tour of the schools you will soon know what you are most comfortable with.

Benton Primary is a good school. http://benton.vic.edu.au/photos-and-links/photo-galleries/1/general-photos-september-2012/ Toorak is an excellant school co-ed in primary and then girls only in Middle and senior. http://www.toorakcollege.vic.edu.au The Penninsula School is a very good private school prep to Gr 12 Co Ed Have a look at http://www.myschool.edu.au just key in an area and it will list all state and private schools in that area. On the left click on Naplan, then click on numbers and it will give you academic results, but dont go on this completely as some schools are not letting struggling students sit Naplan as it lowers a schools over all results.

Perth = boring with nice weather Brisbane = more to do than perth with a humid climate Melbourne = worse weather than the above but pleanty going on Plenty going on in Melbourne but unless you can afford to live close to the city the time and costs of getting to events can often make you feel it is not worth it. We lived an hour from Melbourne, would never go on a train at night, or walk the streets alone at night, never felt safe, and cost of the train which are not exactly reliable put us off going to the city. Parking is mega expencive if you can find a park oh and plus the toll charge to get into the city. Bendigo is 1.5 hours out of Melbourne and might be worth some thought really pretty city good schools, reasonable house prices, but still get those very hot days. In Toowoomba now and love it, we have had 2 days this whole summer that have been humid, now coming into Autumn.

Hi sorry if this sounds like a silly question but what is "hot" in your mind ? Melbourne can have days when it is 42 and you feel like your skin is burning just stepping outside Brisbane can get to mid 30s but with the humidity it will feel hotter. Perth again gets days over 40 and this can last several days. Perth and Melbourne are both dry heat. Take into consideration heat and dry can mean bush fires even in the suburbs so keep that in mind. I guess work is a major consideration, but perhap you could research some of the inland cities, smaller than the capital cities and temperature is quite different as well. Ballarat in Vic, Toowoomba in Qld might be of interest

I assume you will be in short term accomadation to start ? Once you have employment sorted get in the car and go for a drive around 3pm in the areas you would like to live. Have a look at the kids coming out of school and how they behave that will give you some indication of what the school is like as far as disaplin is concerned. Go sit in a local cafe and ask who ever serves you what the school is like. You will be amazed at the info that comes out from locals. There is no rush to enroll your child and you need to be sure you are happy with a school in the catchment you choose to live in. Another bit of info, there are growing numbers of Government/Private schools. To be honest I am not quite sure how it works but here is a link that explains it http://www.dtf.vic.gov.au/Infrastructure-Delivery/Public-private-partnerships/Projects/New-Schools-PPP It is still a "state" school and no fees apply, well maybe a fee for an excursion somewhere but they tend to be very good schools and are opening as far as I know in Vic, NSW and Qld sorry not sure about other states.

St Pauls at Bald Hills is another co ed Anglican school worth considering http://www.stpauls.qld.edu.au/page/our-story

Not knowing where you are living makes it hard to recommend schools, but you could look at The Springfield Anglican college or St Peters Lutheran College at Indooroopilly both very good schools. St Johns Anglican college at Forest Lake is another worth looking at. For Girls only St Aidans at corinda is a good school. If your looking in Brisbane City St Josephs is a good school (known locally as "Terrace")

So much info in this thread I just hope people read this before getting on the plane.

This might help http://www.barker.nsw.edu.au has a very good name, dont know about wait list but work asking and having a look. opps sorry should have check the age of your girls they only take boys in junior school

Finance must also be considered, there are some magnificent places to live which would offer all you are looking for, but as thousands of others are looking for the perfect place to live as well, the best places can be expencive, very expencive. Your first consideration should be your job, where "can" you get work, not "hope" to get work. With out income you wont be able to realize any of your dream. Depending on what you do start looking on sites like seek, career one, or indeed. Once you know where you can get a job then you can look at things like climate, and schools.

Gets very humid in some areas of Qld especially near the coast. We are back in Toowoomba after a fair few years living in various parts of NSW and Melbourn. Although melbourn is in the south of Aus it gets "very" hot in summer up in the 40's somedays. As I said we are back in Toowoomba and loving it, only 2 hours from Brisbane but you get the seasons and not much humidity. Its a large country town which is known for its schools be that state or private. Highfields just out of Toowoomba is the fastest growing suburb in Qld, and there seems to be trade work around. Great hospitals as well. When the new by pass is complete in 2018 it will cut travel time to brisbane to about an hour and a half.

Can you get legal aid ? There are lots of community lawyers who work in various area's and are able to give free advise. I only say this because (you may know already) you can put the children on the airport watch list, which means if your ex or "someone" were for example take them from school and to the airport they would not be allowed to travel. Of course you concern is that if they go to the UK on holidays then this might happen all over again. Maybe the simple answer is to have the mother visit Aus to see the children, and being on an airport watch list she would not be able to get them out of the country to return to the UK with her. I hope at the least you will allow SKYPE access on a very regular basis. I more than understand legal costs. Our family has been wiped out by them, even had to sell up and buy a smaller less expencive house. Something really should be done about the cost of lawers.

Good to hear you are now happy and your children are back with you and doing well. May I ask will they still get to visit there mother back in the UK.

Have a look at Immanuel Lutheran College , they are in Buderim which a beautiful place just down the road from Mountain Creek. Your daughter can spend a day at the school with out being enrolled to see if she likes it. A really great school, that looks at emotional care with just as great an importance as academic results. http://www.immanuel.qld.edu.au/ http://www.immanuel.qld.edu.au/Portals/0/pdf/Fee_Schedule_2015.pdf