faydixon1977

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Hi Sharna, I live in Redcliffe which is a 25 minute drive from the city and is a gorgeous seaside suburb (think lapping ocean not crashing surf waves). It is a great area with lovely schools. I work at one of them. We have a gorgeous rental. It is a big three bedroom home and it costs $330 a week in rent. (Only a few years old so it is immaculate). Our electricity is $350 a quarter. We don't have gas. When you rent, you don't pay rates and usually don't pay water. Our phone bill is $60 a month. I have three teenage step children living with us but only at weekends as they live with their mum in the week. There is no TV licence, we don't have cable but that is about $60 a month. I pay $40 a month for broadband. One of the private schools here is $3000 a year, public schools are around $100- $300 plus uniform and stationery costs which are tax deductible. My new car costs $400 a year to insure. I don't qualify for Medicare (public health) so I pay $100 a fortnight for private cover. This is all easy to arrange, you are not eligible for pre-existing conditions for a year. I am about to have a baby which my private cover provides for but the public hospital has a great reputation and I will be treated for free there under the reciprocal agreement with the UK. I have been really impressed so far with the health service. My husband gets Medicare so he pays $30 a week for private cover. We furnished our whole home for $10000 with lovely furniture as we came over with suitcases, nothing else. (Really bargain hunted) The quality of life is excellent here. It is a great community with clean beaches, lovely cafes and lots of community events. We had no desire to live near to the city because we love living by the sea and the lifestyle it allows us to have. There are great parks here including Settlement Cove which is a huge manmade lagoon which is perfect for free days out with the kids. We could have never afforded to live somewhere like this in the UK and I have had to live near the city centre all my life so escaping to the beach really suited me down to the ground and it is way cheaper than many of the more urban suburbs. The train station is ten minutes away and the trip into the city is 30 mins by train. I am a school teacher and my husband is a stainless steel engineer. Together we bring home a decent amount. The costs I have outlined allow us to live comfortably but we haven't been able to save much due to flying back and forth to UK etc, buying for baby etc. I am really happy to answer any more questions you might have. A lot depends on how much money will be coming in. When we came over, we rented a three month furnished rental for $360 a week and it gave us breathing space to find the right suburb and make the right decisions for us. I found it on the internet and we arrived there from the airport. It was the best decision we could have made. Please get in touch if there is anything else you want to ask, no matter how daft it might seem. Good luck with your plans. You will never be able to plan enough but you will find a way through it all. May your good health continue and take care. Fay