tina0101

Wellington Point, Ormiston, Cleveland. All on the trainline to the city, about 50-60 mins drive to the CBD in the morning in rush hour. There are small beaches in the area. Gold Coast and Sunny Coast beaches easy to get to. A lot depends on where work is :-)

Hi. There are a number of decent schools across on the mainland - Cleveland High is a fantastic secondary school and there are a lot of good state primaries. I am assuming you will live on the mainland (if not, you are restricted to, I think, Victoria Point State). There are also a number of highly-sought-after private schools around the area too. If you are on facebook, look up Poms on the Bay as well - there are lots of families on there who are local to the area you are looking at.

na

When we bought a year ago in Brisbane and, deposit wise, 20% is ideal. Anything below that and you start getting hit with insurance fees - the further away from the 20%, the higher the fees. I'd suggest contacting an insurance broker - we used one and he was invaluable. He went through all the different scenarios, explained what we needed etc. Husband was two months into a permanent contract and I was still in my work probation period. We found houses we liked and then he gave us printouts of all sums depending on how much deposit we wanted to put down.

Found Student VIP as well yesterday!! $160 for a new text book or $50 second hand - it's a no-brainer really!!!

Booked three weeks in temp accommodation and moved into a rental after five days!! I wouldn't recommend anything under about two weeks though - we were very fortunate and the temporary accommodation was too far away from where we actually wanted to be, so make sure you choose carefully - those five days in it were spend going up and down the motorway to where we actually wanted to be.

We have PR and son is starting a Business degree at QUT. Fees are $5200 a semester, to be paid upfront in March and then same again in August. Text books for a semester are $500 (will be looking second hand as that is extortionate for 6 months study!). On PR you get no financial assistance. At all. I even rang to check (you don't ask, you don't get) and was very politely told no!!

Also check out the Queensland job site - here you will find details of jobs in State schools (just in case you can't get anything decent in a private school): https://smartjobs.qld.gov.au/jobtools/jncustomsearch.jobsearch?in_organid=14904 Get the registration in to the government as soon as is feasibly possible after you get the grant - it takes a few months and schools will want you to have this or you aren't really a viable option for employment.

i agree with Gbye grey sky and if you can get him into school as soon as possible when you get here, it'll give him chance to make friends. Our son started in the last term of Year 11 and it really helped as he then had some mates to see in the holidays. Good luck!!

My son's biological father is not on the birth certificate and we only needed a Stat Dec drawn up by our solicitor.

Hi LaLa. The group is called Poms on the Bay - search it in Facebook. Not sure when the next meet up will be, but it's a useful group :-)

It's normal to feel like this!! I went from euphoria to terror to excitement to stress hourly in our last few weeks in the UK!! (and for a few weeks when we got here!) Check out your current UK mobile provider to check their overseas rates for the first few days you are here - then you have time to shop around for a good Aus mobile deal. Packet of wipes/small toothbrush and paste (although most airlines supply stuff to clean the teeth) for the plane so you can feel a bit less icky - I also had a very small bottle of hand-moisturiser and put that on my face too to feel a bit fresher!!

Some are, some aren't. A sweeping statement like that is ridiculous, in my opinion, and you should not worry about it.

Obviously you don't. It's a weather thing.

Apart from the fact that every mozzie in the world seems to want a piece of me, we are all generally healthier. In the UK you had to pay min of £20 a month to go to the gym. Here, we walk and swim and it's all free.

Passport, visa, medicare card, driving licence. Get references from your current landlord or estate agent (if you are selling property). We had references from our bosses too. Had bank statements showing we could afford funds (offered to pay six months upfront too). Husband had a job, so took his contract too. We looked at lots online using realestate.com.au but I would advise against securing anything until you get here - what was advertised on the website was not always what we had in front of us when we viewed (they use really old photos). Some looked amazing and when we arrived the houses were in a bit of a state! We booked a three week holiday home from stayz.com.au, or you could look at airbnb. Means you get some time to check out the areas first too.

It's a rollercoaster of emotions!! We went through excitement, panic, dread, excitement, wtf moments, just wanted to get here, didn't want to leave the uk... it goes on and on. It's all part of the process and you've just got to roll with it. Do your school research (I contacted a number of schools here before we left the uk and it helped having a rapport with them when we got here), we found a three week holiday let on stayz.com.au and then found a rental property within a week of getting here. I only organised the shipping of our stuff three weeks before they came to pack up!! Luckily, my husband had lined up an interview and got the job two days after landing, which helped massively!! I didn't feel organised at all during any of the process, but it all worked out and we love it here!!

Congratulations!! Bayside rocks. All the best people live here :-)

Lots of places do gift wrap - some Amazon things, Boots and so many other places. I find it much easier than buying things here and sending them!

Have you been on http://www.realestate.com.au/rent You can narrow it down from there to look at places within your price range. Look at things like the proximity to public transport. Brisbane is a massive area - I live in the Bayside, which is a 45 minute drive to the CBD, but is still classed as Brisbane. I find the public transport around to be cheap and easy to manage though - trains, buses and citycat.

I find that a lot of Aussie Barpeople have no idea what I am saying when I say Fanta..... When I attempt it in my ridiculous Aussie fake accent (I am appalling at accents), they seem to get it though!!!

It was on Singapore - 3 of us spread it over 4 cases. The only thing is that each case will weigh a bit (we have lightweight ones) so bear that in mind :-)

They are mental for LinkedIn - the first 'social media' question I got when I was arrived was that I needed a LinkedIn account. I've found that a lot of people get a foot in with jobs because of who they know. All the jobs I was looking for (admin-type) all required a cover letter and a CV. I tailored each letter to the company I was applying for - making some of my skills less prominent for some roles (e.g. I didn't overly push my spreadsheet and data skills when going for a reception job and focused on people skills and telephone manner, but went to town on spreadsheets for more data-driven positions). Good luck!!

Friends, Family and one particular slow-cooker mix that I can't find a decent substitute for over here!! I like having Chumley Warners occasionally, but also like the Aussie chippy. I've got used to the curry, although I still hate that the Madras is coconutty!!! I found that everything consumable in the Uk can be substituted.

The emotional rollercoaster was worth it for us!! I think a lot of people have moments where they think 'what am I doing?' - I certainly did!! We had a comfortable lifestyle in the UK and we gave it all up to come over to Brisbane - we knew nobody and didn't have jobs!!! You'll find it gets worse the closer you get to leaving, but it's perfectly normal. Everyone gets jitters - it's a massive move. We are certainly very glad we did it though - I love it out here!!! Personally, I'm glad we sold as much as possible before we left the UK. Everything has been easy to replace so it fits into our home. It was hard letting go of the things we had saved up to buy over the years, but the positives outweigh the negatives.