tina0101

The local papers round here usually list all the houses and their opening times. Realestate.com.au also has a search by Inspections and Auctions in the area so just pop along. The personal approach always works best we found.

We had a friend from the UK who worked in a school here, and put my husband in contact with the Deputy Head while we were in the UK. We found it really hard to get any interviews from the UK. We arrived the Wednesday night in August and on the Friday morning he had an interview at our friends school and they offered him a job to start in January. After a few weeks he went in for supply work and the school decided that as he was there nearly every day covering they'd bring his contract forward and he started in October on a proper contract!! You can apply from the UK, as it may help get your foot in the door with a couple of schools and I know some people have been successful in getting jobs that way. At weekends we see friends (I'd recommend joining facebook groups for the area you live in and go along to BBQs and gatherings where people will chat to you and get to know you), go to the beach (Gold or Sunshine Coasts are an hour or so away), we have just bought a house so some renovations interspersed with jumping in and out of our pool!! I really don't think we are ever bored at weekends!! Good luck - pm if you want to know any more :-)

If you are a teacher, don't forget to register with Queensland College of Teachers as you will not be able to teach until you have done that (took my husband about 12 weeks, so make sure you do it well before you get here). With regards to schools, it depends if you want to go state or private for your son. Anglican Church (where I work) and All Hallow's are great, but expensive. Most Catholic schools usually are happy to take kids of other/no religion, as long as they believe in the school ethos (usually about being a good person and helping others). There are varying degrees of how good the state schools are. I'm near Cleveland (on the Bayside) and that has a great reputation as a state school. It's about 45 minutes to the CBD by car and close to a couple of small beaches. Do a google search for schools in the area and look at http://www.myschool.edu.au/. It's not a great website, but gives you a vague overview of the schools. Brisbane is great. We love it here!!

We bought here, apart from our sofas. IKEA are reasonable for furniture and, if you're not too worried about sturdiness, Target/KMart/Fantastic Furniture all do bits. Good Guys for appliances (if you buy quite a few things and ask for the best price, you can get some savings too - the price on the tag, isn't the price!!). Again, Target and KMart do all the kitchen stuff (pots, crockery, cutlery etc). You can get some good deals online (oo.com.au) for bedding if you get it in their sales. We're in Brisbane too and have found if you shop around, you can refurnish without breaking the bank. Just keep an eye out for the sales :-)

We found a great Chinese in Manly/Wynnum. Quite a few good curry houses too (now I'm over the fact that a madras is very different to a UK madras!) I find there is lots of choice is you are having a takeout or fancy a trip to a restaurant.

So glad you have posted and that you are here. I am a walking advert for aeroguard - if I use it, I am ok and don't get bitten, otherwise I am a mosquito's buffet!!! Hubby and I both have speeding points too - they hide in bushes and things!! Lol. Keep enjoying it and try to not dwell on your family at home too much. They made the choice to behave the way they did and it's your life and not theirs. It sounds like the kids have settled and you need to just get yourself out and about. Maybe join Facebook and see if there are any groups in the Gold Coast - there are a few for the Brisbane area and we have met and made some lovely friends through it. X

Rather than struggle now, sell the car and get a cheap runaround. Otherwise you're going to be struggling for a while. Our family car is $565 a month and that's a brand new car, so you are paying a lot for yours. The more you can save and keep yourself on track now, the better it will be for you mentally and health-wise. You're probably earning too much for rent help, but you may as well try. Good luck.

I filled out a form inline for our TFN's. Easy as. When end looking at banks, definitely check out where the ATMs are (Google search) - they charge you to use other bank's ATMs here (like the UK did years ago). great post :-)

Ours was a relatively straightforward visa, but I'm still glad we used an agent. With everything going on, it helped having someone else to do that part of it. And extra £1600 on top of everything else was worth it to remove the stress!

We were able to get phone contracts straight away by proving we had PR and providing our bank statement (sold our UK house so it looked pretty good!). But we couldn't get a second phone for our son until one of us could prove we had a job. When you fill out card application forms, it asks your salary, what proportion of bills/other loans etc you pay, so if you don't have a job, you may struggle. and we don't get HECS or course help as we are only PR. You have to pay each semester upfront :-(

Enjoy the 3 weeks. I had two weeks between leaving work and flying. Used to to see family and say goodbyes. Was very very emotionally draining!! Ive been surprised though at how easy it is to Skype. It's not the same, obviously, as being in the same room, but I thought it would be terrible and awkward and forced and it's not. Its a a huge shift in life. We've been unbelievably lucky since we arrived and the fist 7 months has flown.

I think most people get jittery at your stage!! Since we arrived, I haven't ever regretted it. We had no jobs and no family or friends here. Was a very nervy last few weeks in the UK. 7 months in and we love it!!

Ring the loan company. Everyone has slightly different terms. It can depend on the type of loan, how long into the loan you are etc. Without knowing the full terms and conditions, it'll be hard to advise.

In Queensland you can now wear your UK lid as long as it complies with the EC code. Came into effect in February :-) http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Safety/Queensland-road-rules/Motorcycle-road-rules.aspx

We came to Brisbane having never set foot in the area and, just over 6 months in, we all still love it!! We had a 3 week holiday let to start with and spent all our time finding suburbs and areas we liked - it helped that we knew where my husband would be working. Secured a rental in the Bayside area as we decided it was best for the trainline and my husbands job and now we have just moved into our house we have bought here!! Staying the first nights after we arrived on the 71st floor of the Meriton Hotel in the CBD certainly helped us fall in love with the place, as we woke up to the most amazing skyline!! I love the feel of the city, the weather (can be a bit too muggy sometimes), the people. The area we live is nice, fairly quiet, easy access to the trainline, close to the beach. I can understand your husband's worry, if he is that type of person. We just took the plunge and are lucky it all worked out. Google Earth is ok, but it's a snapshot of just that time the car went down the street - you can't tell much!!

We looked at Ormiston, Sheldon and Iona. Sheldon is amazing. The Head has a very clear vision and has created something very special there. But, as my son has gone into Year 12, he probably would've struggled coming from a Comp in the UK to conforming to everything Sheldon is about. Had he been younger, it would've been a definite option though. Ormiston was very different. The interviewer spent the whole time checking his reflection and clicking the lid of his pen. Everything was about their results and they wanted my son to go back a year so he would achieve the results the school wanted. As I said earlier, people I know with younger kids there absolutely love it. Iona is a Catholic school and we only looked at it on a whim. It's all boys too, so not really an option for you!! Moreton Girls is also meant to be good. If you are looking at private schools a lot lay on private buses, lots of them get public transport too, which can widen the area for when they get a bit older!!

We disliked Ormiston (although we were looking with a 16 year old boy!) as they were overly focused on results and not the whole child. I have heard fantastic things about the younger years there but I am yet to meet a person with teenagers there who is happy. In my school (which is more prestigious than Ormiston), Ormiston has a reputation for asking kids to leave after Year 10 who are not making the cut. But again, I have heard great things about the younger years and your girls are young enough.

Deposit is a big thing here too. If you don't have 20% they get you on Lenders Mortgage Insurance (you pay the insurance for the additional sum up to the 20%). That's in Queensland. We we used a mortgage broker as we'd only just started jobs. He was superb and got us a good deal for our situation.

When you do find one, remember that it's all about the haggling for the best price. I've seen some bargains on 2nd hand car forecourts and if you can get a service and a price reduction, it'll all help. A number of of people also recommended getting cars that were not European brands as they can cost slightly more to fix.

I feel your pain. We left both our cats with the in laws after they raised the price last year. Heart wrenching. They'd had everything needed from the vet and we had even paid the deposit to the company transporting them when the in laws offered to take them. Fortunately the company were fantastic and we didn't lose the deposit after cancelling. I li now get regular cat piccys and they are so happy. I also genuinely think that they wouldn't have coped out here with the heat and not being able to roam.

If they have decent GCSE grades they can be claimed as credit for Year 11 here if you child is going to go into Year 12. Having been through the GCSE system, my son is actually better prepared for his Year 12 exams than some others in his class and is on track for a great OP.

Our son started Year 11 in the October and has just started Year 12 this January. Australia is doesn't have an equivalent to GCSEs. They sit exams at the end of Year 12 to get their QCS and OP for uni. If your child has done GCSEs in the UK, you can claim credit for them if they are only completing Year 12 here, as long as their results are decent (think it was 7 B grades, but the school can advise). Each school will be different. Good luck!

Try myschool.edu.au Type in the school you want and there are various details, including links to NAPLAN where you can compare to similar schools

My son sat his GCSE's and we left 5 days after he got his results. We got him into Year 11 here for a term in October and he has just started his final year. If your eldest has a decent set of GCSE results, the school can claim the points needed to cover the Year 11 studies missed here. Our son hasn't really missed anything from Year 11 here. All the work is done in year 12 really and he is doing really well. I was worried about the amount of time he was out of school (finished exams mid June and then joined here in October) but he actually was keen get to get back into routine!!