Katerina

Hi there, we are moving to GC soon and we are looking for a decent, affordable place to live -safe family friendly with good school for our 2 boys 3&5 (Kindy & Prep) I like the look of Ormeau and like the location-easy to get to Brisbane and not that far to GC .I had a look at the Norfolk Village school and it looks good with decent NAPLAN results. With the kids in school Mon-Fri we are happy to live the "quiet" life during the week and hit GC and Brissie at the weekends, my main concern is ,is it just too quiet? I would appreciate to hear from anyone who is living there at the moment. We live 600km north of Brisbane at the moment in a small town and absolutely hate it, so don`t want to go from bad to bad... We are on PR and our 2 years in regional QLD are up soon so just want to make the right decision Thanks Katerina

Hi there,we have been living in Boyne Island for 2 years. Clinton is not bad,Clinton primary is a good school I prefer living in Boyne/Tannum closer to the beach and if I am brutally honest I hate Gladstone it`s very ugly and industrial... We can`t wait to get out of here.. There is nothing to do in this town,beach is always dirty (too close to the harbour-heaps of dead animals on the beach..) lot of parks but not shaded so can`t use them in the summer...bike trails are ok,1 very expensive cinema, no indoor play centre, swimming pool is ok,they just built a kids water playground in there I am not being negative just saying as it is,I know I would have preferred to know the truth... on a positive side the rents have come down a lot and there are lot of new houses around.. check out the Little creek estate(close to Clinton) or Hill Close Don`t hesitate to ask any questions,I will answer them honestly but be ready for a MAJOR cultural shock if you come here:nah:

Hi fatman, search on Facebook for jobs in Gladstone and Gladstone jobs, Bechtel should be hiring soon again , what part of Tannum are you in? And yeah sunshine coast is the place to be :biggrin:

Hi I live in Boyne island, moving to Tannum soon, came here 6 months ago, I like the surroundings down here but HATE Gladstone , there is nothing in it( don't mean just shops) it has no culture, no atmosphere , most people work mad hours, so it's a ghost town.. If you have a choice think twice about living here, Gladstone was our only way to Oz so I am not moaning, will do our 2 years and then get out of here !i've lived in different countries before so its not that I am homesick or anything, met some good people but just can't imagine to stay here for good not money in the whole world would keep us here :nah: good luck whatever you decide

I did and explained the problem and the guy even asked his boss and they said they didn't have anything like that!!

Thanks Cal, Any idea where can I buy the Digi box? Cheers

We plug the Tv to the wall and the search for channels returns 0 so we can't get any programs. We bought tv here and plug it in and it finds all the free channels no problem..

Hi all, I know we need some kind of a box for our Irish tv to work here , but have no clue how is it called and where to get it..? Went to Dick Smith and they had no idea .. thanks

Thanks Ross, We were living in IRELAND but I was advised that I don't have to declare any income from abroad until the date I validated my PR so I think we are ok

Hi ROckDR, Great news , I thought the same but wasn't sure, I put 0 there for income from abroad and only declared income in Oz

Hi all, working on our tax return, doing etax and I am confused.. We arrived on PR 12/4/2012 (granted 05/03/12) DH had income in IRL and he paid taxes there, one of the questions on the tax return here was if he had any income abroad in the financial year 2011/12 does it mean he has to pay tax here on his Irish income? I can't find any info on the ATO website, its only about resident becoming non- resident but not the other way around.. hope this makes sense Thanks

Hi all, just wondering if anyone can answer this Q for me We arrived to OZ in april 2012 and hubby had income while we were living in IRL ,I am just working on his tax return for may and june 2012 and there is question how much did he earn between 01/07/2011 and april 2012 abroad..does it mean he has to pay taxes on his irish income again in here?? hope that makes sense and we have PR thanks

Hi Stovies, I was the same :wink: take everything out of the original packaging and let the packers to repack,we had new fridge,wash machine,big expensive dinning table and chairs... and no one ever knew:biglaugh:

Hi charmands, I am in Gladstone on 457 you can't apply for any Centrelink benefits(incl childcare benefit and rebate) the going rate is $60-70 a day in childcare, family day care ( at people's homes) is bit cheaper and the cut off date for school is 30.6 so your almost 4 year old won't start prep till feb 2014!! I know that because my son is 4 on the 22.7. Rocky is very nice, try to look at living in Yeppoon, very nice decently priced properties there and it's quite lively "town" Good luck with the move

We are 600 km north of Brissy and we only arrived 2 months ago and we are freezing at night!!temp is down to 8-10 C at night and the house has no heating,no insulation so we sleep with socks on and heavy duvets!:goofy:

Hi, we are here just over 2 months so few thoughts you might find usefull -DON`T bring the car seats ,they are illegal over here and we were actually stoped by police over here and as soon as they saw foreign licence they asked if they are Australian seats.. -ship everything you already have,but I wouldn`t go mad on shoping there are plenty of bargains around, as for the bedding ship whatever you have,maybe buy some good quality stuff,then buy cheap for few weeks in Target or Big W same with towels,I packed 4 towels... if you have PR then you have double allowance with Singapore airlines!40kg per person,you have to call them before you book your flights we flew with them and they were brilliant with kids I bought toaster and kettle for 8 dollars each so i think thats cheap enough!my good ones arrived on Tue :wink: In my opinion its not so expensive over here,yes some things are crazy overpriced but most of the stuff is ok so don`t panic like I did:tongue: if there is anything you would like to know just ask

thanks guys!!!! that`s great news Taylor:biggrin:and the rents are half prize than here!!!which is even better:cool:

Forgot to say thanks

Hi all,my husband had the chance to work in Ormeau and we know nothing about the area! Not sure if we should go for it( we are in Tannum sands at the moment) Anyone can help me out? Is it a nice safe place? Housing? Schools? Where to live if it's not nice?

Hi JK2510 are you doing your online course with TAFE? How are you finding it??did you apply for the VET? Thanks

Thanks to everyone,Some interesting jobs you have guys especially you harpodom:biggrin: I spent 5 hours online last night, as much as I would love to study full time there is just no way we could afford it, there are some online courses for geology.. Etc but I think you have to do those full time, I know I would struggle I was always interested in property market so I think I will study to get a diploma in property management and obtain a licence to become estate agent and eventually I would add mortgage advisor/ broker as well and hopefully one day when the kids are bigger I WILL open my own agency/ franchise

Thanks for all that guys, I really envy you that you all have jobs that you like :biggrin: I will be able to study part time or online course, no way I could study full time( cost of childcare..) thanks again

That is fascinating VERYSTORMY!! And something that didn't even cross my mind, plenty of mines in here( Gladstone) what UNI did you go to? For how long? Thanks

Hi all, we recently moved to QLD , we really like it here, DH is working, I am at home with 2 boys (4 years now!) I was working in retail management before , I am planning to go back to work in 2-3 years BUT problem is I have no idea what I would like to do.. You would say that at my age I would but I am honestly struggling with this.I know I will have to reeducate, that's fine but I just really don't know what course/ college to do!! i can't see myself in office job 8-5, need something flexible, not mad hours( DH travels for work a bit) and good pay of course:twitcy: Could you post what's sort of job you do and hopefully something will strike me ) i am really open to anything but don't want to go back to retail( long long hours) And I am 32:animal-frog: Thanks

Its being scraped from 01/07/12!! It's dif way to tax income for people who are on temporary visas