chloe98

Hi, not sure about bikes- you can buy cheap ones here but maybe good quality ones are dearer than UK-not sure. As for soccer boots- yes,yes,yes- definately stock up before you come. Same goes for sports clothes,football socks etc. We usually but from Uk and even paying for the shipping it works out way cheaper than buying from here and the choice is very limited here too

we got a little electric one from AlDi last year. was about 30 bucks I think. its good for us cos the oven in our rented house is crap, takes forever to heat up and burns the bum out of everything! would love an outdoor one. maybe one day....

ok, this is very rough estimate - we are in regional Victoria so maybe city might be bit more expensive(tho maybe not. gas and elec- 150 per month phone and internet- 100 per month pay tv- 80 per month water- 50 per month there is no council tax equivalent or rates when renting. could work out cheaper depending on size of house being heated etc, if has air con etc also internet and pay tv packages vary ofcourse.

sounds fantastic jonmitch.we are hoping to go to somewhere near maroochydore/ sippy downs Andy. and yes I am aware that skin is waterproof but dragging 5 kids out in the pissing rain when its 6 degrees to trail thru mud,rain and wind isn't that much fun. .we don't have the money to take them to indoor places-cinema,bowling etc.at least queensland rain should be a wee bit warmer

meanest was supposed to be jeans west!- stupid phone. will leave the bill estimate to someone living in Melbourne

for the clothes shops,- sportsgirl, cotton on, meanest, just jeans, glassons , know they all have websites you can check tho online products tend to be pretty limited. also target have some clothes online you could look at

just wondered how you spend your weekends on the sunshine coast? is it generally the beach? what about when its cooler or wetwe are currently in Victoria and with the cold wet winter weather its really not much different from uk- ie sitting in house,watching tv, playing xbox etc hoping to move to sunny coast soon and also hoping it might be a bit closer to the outdoorsy life I imagine(have 5 kids- ages 3- 14).would love to hear how you all spend your freetime-(ideally without spending too much money).

yeah, woolies /safeway do balsamic vinegar roasted style ones in a blue bag- they are cheap too, compared to nobbys etc. more salt n vinegar than dry roasted but better than nothing and very yum:)

lol, I feel your daughters pain re the school.uniforms. I still ha e a chuckle when I see them with their Tartan skirts and lace up boy shoes or clumpy buckle up ones - luckily our girl has been here since she was 6 so doesn't know any different and I am starting to think maybe its quite sweet and keeps them young and innocent looking for longer

can only speak of our town, Ballarat which is really a country town(approx 80,000 pop), so prob very different from living in a city , but you asked about our 14 yearold . he is seriously into football so trains most days after school and a lot of the weekend but he does,and a lot of his friends,go "down the street", which generally means hanging out at mcdonalds or wandering round the shops. there are 4 or 5 main high schools and everyone Facebook and asks"who is going down the street?" so there's always kids about to hang out with. I would imagine this would be similar in other areas or suburbs,which kids hanging out at malls or skate parks etc. but yes there are a lot more organised activities and sports here, but by 14 I see a lot of this drop off unless the kids are seriously into their sport. is your 14 year old male or female? ours is a boy and loves it here,been here since 10. do you know if they would be going into year 8 or 9 this year(depending on birthday?).so long as they are settled before year 11 then education shouldn't be problem and you only have to worry about social life x

Hia, I would say def go for it- especially as you are not having to sell up here so are keeping options open. Just one point re starting in a new school year tho, if thats the only reason you are waiting till the end of the year to take the kids, I would go sooner(if you are able to get organised sooner)- starting mid year is no big deal at all and giving the kids a few months at school and join clubs would make a huge dfferance in being able to make freinds, get settled before the long summer holidays in Dec and January.I dont know about schools where you will be, but my 14 year old finishes schools for summer at the start of December (where as the younger ones dont break up till just before xmas), so its a long 2 months for a teenaget if they dont have any mates best of luck.X

just realised you are already in Brisbane.you prob know more about queensland football than I do then - what club does your son play for? what do you think of it? we are more looking at sunshine coast but thinking possibly of Brisbane. thanks

hi. Am not sure about academics but from the research I have done, it seems that there are2 or 3 high schools in Brisbane that offer academies of excellence in Brisbane- Kelvin Grove, Cavendish Road are a couple that come to mind. If you have a look thru the Football queensland website you will see what clubs seem to perform best aswell- Rochedale Rovers seems to have alot of kids making the state teams last year but there are plenty of clubs in Brisbane, maybe someone who lives there will know more than I do.At under 10 he would probably want to be getting into the skills aquisition program and then hopefully state representative teams when he is u13+. We are in Victoria but have been looking at moving to quuensland so I have been trying to find out as much about the development pathway as I can, for my sons. If you want to pm me I can tell you what I know, our eldest has played for Victoria so we know a bit about how it all works, tho I know queensland is a wee bit different.

I would definitely stock up if I were you. I have kids clothes from tesco, Asda etc that have been passed down thru 3 boys and still in better condition than stuff bought over here for double the price(tho most of our clothes do come from cheapo shops-smart etc,but they certainly aren't as cheap as UK), unfortunately we aren't on a better wage here than we were in UK and really struggle making ends meet- luckily clothes and looking good seems to be much less of a priority here

HI, Know this post is a month old, but if you still interetsed in info, we hvae lived here almost 4 years now. The areas of Mt Clear, Mt helen etc are all lovely- I prefer then to the other side, but Ballarat HS is def the best public school to get into(very tight catchment area tho). WE have our kids in Catholic schools tho we not religious at all, but feel its worth it, even tho it leaves us struggling financially . If you want any more info, please feel free to inbox me

Hi Emma, What school are you going to be working at? Alfredton is a very popular area and expanding all the time. Plenty of rentals there(dont know about short term ones tho- we stayed with family in Melbourne then a couple of nights in caravan park, then just bought some new furniture while we waited for stuff to be shipped over- didnt ship that much, nut wish we had shipped everything as very expensive to replace). I had to actually look up my map to see where newington was- when I saw it on map I always just considered it part of Ballarat central so maybe thats why theres no rentals showing up in newington- sure there will be plenty if rentals in that area too. Do you have a good map of Ballarat? areas od Redan will be close to where you want to be too. St Thomas MOore has a great reputation, dont know anyone who goes to St Pats primary tho am sure its good too- all the catholic schools are pretty good. We have been in Ballarat for almost 4 years so inbox me if you want any more info. cant really help you with childcare as I've never used it, but I hear its pretty hard to find and pretty expensive:( xx

Hi, We have an autistic son who we really want to get into a special school in Qld( he is currently in special school in Victoria.age 13)- If he is classed as "not intellectually disabled" enough, he may have to go to mainstream school. Does anyone have any experience of high school kids in special education within a state high school? Is it as bad as I imagine, teasing etc. Do they have seperate classes or have to sit in a room with all the other students but do seperate work? really not sure how it would work with our son as he is a million miles away from a normal 13 year old in terms of social skills and although he is bright, he wouldnt be able to learn or understand year 7 curriculum. would really appreciate any experience you have. thankyou. Ps- maybe this should be in education thread but we are planning move to sunshine coast so have been looking at currimundi specialist school

Hia- wondering if anyone can give me any feedback about these 2 schools? We are currently living in Victoria so can only research online and both look good- especially interested in the football and futsal programmes for our boys (primary and secondary age), but also needs to be good all round school for our daughter. Anyone any experience of these schools or heard anything- good or bad. Also is it difficult to get into the schools if not within the immediate catchment zone?am a bit worried about finding rentals when we get up there. Thankyou

Thanks for all your replies. boganbear; how much is it costing you to transport all your furniture etc up there,if you don't mind me asking ?

Thanks very much for that. Sounds similar to what we do at the moment in Victoria.Can I just ask where abouts Central Queensland play? (sorry if I am being dumb). Does the central queensland team play other teams from all over queensland or do they just play within central queensland? Does he have a chance to play for the queensland state team from playing for central? Thanks again, really appreciate it

hia, know this may be a bit of a random question, but we are considering moving from victoria to queensland (prob sunshine coast) with our 14 year old son who takes his football very seriously. Just wondered if anyone knew anything about how the queensland football development pathway work- is the level of coaching good? what are the local leagues like? do you need to be in brisbane to get access to good facilities and coaching? thanks very much

Hia, Just looking for some advice/opinions. We are currently in regional victoria, about an hour from melbourne and thinking of moving to queensland- probably sunshine coast. We really like it here and quite enjoy having the season, along with chilly winters but think my o/h could earn a better wage in queensland near the mines. My main concern is uprooting the kids again. we moved from scotland 4 years ago and they all settled so quickly here it was great and I know the older ones wont be keen to move( 14 and 11). I however have always wanted to live in queensland, just moved here to be near o/h family but as it turns out we barely see them so its really not an issue to move away from them. I am also a bit concerned about the rain, humidity and year round warmth(does it get boring?- is it ever cold enough for jeans and boots and jumpers and coats?). also the bugs- cant stand flies and mozzies, dont have too many down here but imagine it would be worse in the tropics?I guess these are things you prob get used to. as for kids having to move schools and get new friends etc- anyone had experience moving a 14 year old?- he is fairly quiet but has alot of freinds here, is in year 9. would it be ok moving schools so long as he was settled before year 11?- am not sure if the queensland secondary education is similar to vic or not. He is also seriously into football and would need to find a good club with good coaches- would that mean being nearer the city(brisbane), does anyone know? sorry about all the questions-just alot to think about, almost like emigrating again

Will be great if they are selling games and other stuff that they arent allowed to ship here from US or UK. If its just books and they arent any cheaper then not much point as post usually arrives from Uk quicker than local AU post from my experience of mail order

Am I the only idiot who tortures themelves by browsing through the Uk food online and drooling? We have been in Oz for almost 4 years and I miss british food SO much.Its the one thing I would move home for(oh, and maybe clothes shops too). I know Australia has great fresh food and most people cook from scratch, do home baking etc, but thats just not me - I really miss the selection of biscuits, crisps, chocolate(have finally, after 3 years managed to stomach australian chocolate now but theres just not a hige choice of chocolate biscuits, is there?), yogurts, deserts, ice lollies, ready meals(especially vegetarian),coleslaws etc etc. I get so depressed everytime I go into coles or wherever- its crazy:arghh: Anyway, please dont take offense to this or tell me I need to get a life and get out and enjoy life(which I do)- just a light hearted question, wondering if anyone else feels the same? X:laugh: