shefg

Hi alan i'm free most days so send me a private message for contact details

Hi Neil we live about 15 Mins from the areas you mention. All are good areas but can be expensive if you are looking to be close to the sea. We are the same age as you guys and have a boy aged 13 and a girl aged 10 and we have been here just over two and a half years. with regards to schools I do not know what the state schools are like, however I doubt they are bad for these arears, I certainly haven't heard any horror stories. My kids go to St Paul's in Bald Hills. i believe Penninsula football club at Clontarf are a decent outfit as is Albany Creek which is a little further out. if you would like to meet up when you get here just send me a private message for my contact details. just let me know if there is any other info/help you need. cheers gregg

Hi mark When you say you do not want to be to far from the city what distance are you thinking about? If you want the comfort of being around other Brits then North Lakes is the obvious choice however this is about twenty kilometres from the CBD and is heavy traffic all the way during rush hour. We live in Bridgeman Downs which is 14 kilometres from the CBD. This is a nice area, however they seem to be allowing houses to be built on any spare land around us at the moment and no doubt in time it will look like just like any other suburb in the northern suburbs. i am no expert on the housing market however I understand prices have risen steadily throughout 2014, and the houses around us have been selling rather quickly. I understand the months either side of Christmas are the quietest for buying. one thing I would consider is the Aussie dollar strength, I was watching Sky business this week and they are tipping up to two interest rate cuts in the first six months of this year which should weaken the dollar further, if you have a decent amount of sterling to convert then a weak dollar would help to off-set some of the price rises that have happened. good luck with the move shefg

Hi we haven't been on the forum for a while so have only just seen your post. We are are family of four, wife is 42 and a doctor, I'm 45 and we would love to meet up. We are in BrIdgeman Downs and have been here 18 months. We look forward to hearing from you.

We used john mason and thought they provided a great service, the two guys who packed us up we're superb. We went to Brisbane and the company they use h ere we're utter rubbish, I am not sure who they are partnered with in Melbourne. The price you have been quoted is about the same we paid for a forty foot container.

I think your perception of kids in private education is slightly mis-placed. There are plenty of kids at St Paul's who come from very ordinary backgrounds, ie, parents are tradies, work at the local chemist etc, they certainly cannot be labelled rich. I guess people priorities are just different.

North Lakes is a new development, which some love and some hate, we looked at a few houses on their and thought they were overpriced compared to other areas, however there are a lot of English people living there so it can help with settling in and making new friends. We ended up buying in Bridgeman Downs, which is that bit nearer to the CBD than North Lakes. There is a least one state school on North Lakes, the one I know off has very big year groups, there is also a private/independent school on North Lakes, however I do not know how good it is. St Paul' is a private school and is about 10 /15 minutes from North Lakes. I see your kids are similar ages to mine, my girl is 9 and my boy is 12, if you want to meet up when you get here just send me a private message.

Hi Are you asking about state or independent schools? My kids go to St Paul's at Bald Hills, they are 9 and 12 and we have found it to be very good. The school takes kids from prep to year 12 so they would be going to the same school which is handy for drop off/pick ups.

Hi Stu We moved out last Feb and now live in Bridgeman Downs and we really like it here. The easy option would be North Lakes given the number of Brits living there, most of our friends live in this area. There is an organised BBQ every couple of months in North Lakes and it is a good way to get to meet people. If you are interested just let me know. With regard to schools, are you going private or state? My kids go to St Pauls in Bald Hills and we are very pleased with it. Shefg

Hope your settling in well. We've sent you a PM with numbers, but you may not have picked it up yet. I didn't realise PM's didn't give e-mail notification so we did not get yours for 3 weeks. Debbie

I would say were just starting to settle in here. We found leaving family and friends harder than we had thought, and particularly the last week before we left was awful. I think that all made the first few weeks here particularly difficult. Things have got a lot better now. The kids quickly settled into school which has made a huge difference. Seeing them happy has definately helped us. Getting our things over has also helped. We still have some boxes to unpack and the house is a bit of a mess, but we are getting there. We also brought out our 2 cats who arrived about 3 weeks ago, so the family is feeling complete now. We are definatley getting out and about more than we did in the UK, although now we've got the kids in a number of sporting clubs and dancing etc we are spending a lot of time ferrying them around. What we have found is that most activities happen before or after school or on Saturday which leaves Sunday free for family time. Hope your preparations for the move go smoothly, with so much happening the time will fly and you'll be here before you know it. Debbie

We're in Bridgeman Downs, about 15 mins from Mango Hill. We moved here in February. Got 2 children a boy of 11 and a girl of 8. Give us a shout if you would like to meet up.

We moved to Brisbane at the end of February. We're currently living in Bridgeman Downs which is about 20 min drive from Narangba. We've got a boy aged 11 and a girl of 8. We'd love to hear from you when you arrive. Good luck with the move.

As we have posted on here before, the service in the UK provided by JM was excellent, however the same cannot be said of their choice of partner in Australia. If anybody would like further details please feel free to PM us.

Hi, We used JM and they were fantastic. We had a problem with a clock we had bought that required a treated a crate, the guys doing the packing phoned round other companies for one and drove to another town at the end of their day to collect. I fully recommend them.Shefg

Hi Emma Not sure if we are too far north, we fly out on Feb 23rd and initially will be in Redcliffe but will be looking to buy around the Bridgeman Downs area. We have a boy of 11 and a girl of 7, would love to meet up when we arrive. PM me your email if we are near enough to you. Regards shefg

Hi Sara If you PM your email i'm sure we could arrange to meet up. I'm sure my little girl would love to play with your eldest. Thanks Shefg

No we go out at the end of feb but just have the uncertanty of being on the 457 until we can apply for permanent residency but this could be years.Your position is simply the perils of this visa. I am sure your company have the right intentions but i,m sure there are company's out there that are not.

as a medic my wife had to apply via the 457 route and she has to work for at least two years in an area of special need.We wasted over a year and £1000,s on applying for permanent residency only to have it pulled from under our feet at the last minute. Do as much research as possible. Do you have job offers? Shefg

Hi My familily (boy 11, girl 7) are moving to the bridgeman downs, eatons hill area on the 23rd of Feb and would like to meet up with similar families to help with the process of settling in. regards shefg

Hi I'm no expert but understand 45 is the cut off. My wife is a medic and it has taken well over a year (nearer 2) for us to get all the paper work sorted. She has flown out tonight to present herself to Aphra in order for her to commence work when we move at the end of Feb. I would say you would need to get the ball rolling ASAP. If you do not intend to live in Oz after leaving work i would also recommend getting advise regarding your pensions/tax liabilities. Regards Shefg

Hi We are moving out at the end of Feb to the Bridgeman Downs area. I will be at home all week and once settled would be up for a round anytime, that is if your other half is happy to go round with a hacker. Cheers Shefg

We are moving in Feb 2013 to north Brisbane, hopefully around bridgeman downs as ther kids are going to St Paul's in Bald Hills. After months of going through the visa process everything happened quickly, visa's were granted in November and we have managed to sell the house without putting it on the market. Where are you going to be? Cheers Shefg

Thanks for the reply. Crown appear to have a good reputation. We are also going to Brisbane and i like the fact that they have their own facility there.

We have had quotes from the following shipping companies could you please pass on any good/bad expereience with each? John Mason Removal Services Scotland Crown Simpsons Removal Services Scotland were the cheapest by some margin therefore we would welcome views on this company. First impressions were that the guy who came to the house simply had a general work round the house and the others complete a more thorough assessment. I suppose this should set alarm bells ringing however has anybody had a positive experience with them? Thanks Shefg