Sophie Goodall

Hi Bodsey, Wow, thank you for all the information above, it definitely helps give me peace of mind [emoji4] We are currently packing up our home in the U.K. for which the sale completion will be going through tomorrow, so it’s all become very real very quickly! We’re going to stay with my parents until departure day and we definitely have more stuff than we had thought so some thorough re-packing and a ruthless clear out will need to be scheduled into our last month... So far we have booked an air bnb for our first month in Fortitude Valley, with it in mind to get to know Brisbane well, and then perhaps move around for our first few months until we find an area to settle. As for the critters, I’ll be sure to keep well away from long grass! Thankfully I’m quite heavy footed so making lots of noise comes naturally to me. I managed 5 weeks in the campervan and hiking without incident, and everyone has been so helpful and informative on here I definitely don’t feel as stressed about that side of things anymore (although that’s now opened up a whole space of room for me to stress about other things..!) In all seriousness though, we are both so ready to get stuck in. The next 48 days are going to be long, slow and as the day gets closer, very emotional...still...you really do only live once and if you don’t try, you’ll never know what could have bee, right? Again, thank you so much for your post, it’s given me lots to think about!

Hi, Thanks for this! We definitely agree, staying centrally until we get our bearings and then moving out to the suburbs is a great idea. It’s so hard trying to pick somewhere just from forums, reviews and property ads, we definitely need to get out and get a proper feel for the areas. What a great story and we’ll definitely bear that in mind when we look around [emoji23]

Thanks for your message! Honestly I currently spend 4 hours a day minimum travelling from Kent to London for work, which at the weekends can take 45 mins each way so anyyyyything is better than that. When we visited everyone complained about the traffic though, so I guess it’s all relative. We’re thinking of starting out somewhere central and then moving out to the suburbs once we have work and are settled, so that’s definitely something to consider.

Hi Francy, Thanks for your post and I’m sorry for the late reply! My husbands sister is going to look after the older cat, we honestly don’t think he’d survive the flight...he’s such an anxious cat anyway [emoji22] and the younger one a friend of ours has said she’d love to take in if we can’t take them. We have thought long and hard about it and to be honest we would be taking them for selfish reasons if we did. Both of them love to explore (our little one literally chases me to the coach stop every time she can when I try to go to work!!) and I just don’t think it’s fair for us to take them and keep them under lock and key. Every cat is different, and I know my parents cat would quite happily stay in the garden and the house as she never leaves the garden; she was hit by a car a few years back and one of her legs is all pinned, so she can’t really climb or jump fences, but she lives a good life! Perhaps once we are there and settled we might not feel so worried but I’ve read some awful threads about cats being maliciously harmed and I just don’t think I’d forgive myself if anything happened to them. I know if they stay here they’ll be really well looked after and we can see them any time so that’s comforting! Thank you for story, it’s great to hear other people’s perspectives. Good luck with the move, wishing you all the best! We’ve finally decided to set a date and intend to head out on 22 Sept, arriving on 23 Sept which is ironic because it’s the same date that we moved into our house here! [emoji4]

Thank you for your comments, we’ll have a good look at all of the above. It’s so difficult looking at areas on a screen, you just don’t get a real feel for the area. I can’t wait to just get there and explore! Flooding is also a big concern, so I’ve found a website which details the flood plains in the area.

Thanks for this! Someone actually suggested I find a book on the local wildlife so I can at least identify what I come across, so I’ll check out the museum! Spiders I’m not brave enough to deal with though. I do have a really handy gizmo here that is effectively a clear box on a pole with a sliding door, so I’ll hang onto that! I can catch them, it’s the setting them free that makes me nervous! I had a bad experience with letting one free and it ran at me, so my husband is now designated spider releaser.

Sorry I forgot to say, ours is a 189 application!

Hi Rachel Thank you so much! It was Quantity Surveyor, and our application was lodged November 6, 2018, and I believe we were granted on March 11,2018. We put our application in with the CRB and health check so it went straight to grant. Good luck with your application [emoji8]

Hi Ramot, Thanks for this post! On the subject of cats...we have two fur babies that we would love to bring (but my sister in law would love to keep here), but I found an awful thread on this site about the general attitude towards cats...I most definitely want what’s best for them, and if it means they will be safe and happy in the UK, as much as it would break my heart I’d rather not put them in danger. Both cats are really independent and roam quite freely and happily here (one has made herself quite at home with at least 2/3 other families in our neighbourhood) so I’m wondering how your sons cat has been until this incident, and what precautions we need to take regarding their safety should they be fit to fly? I read that they were generally considered pests, and that the garden needs to be fenced in a way that they can’t get out but I just don’t know how happy they’d be being penned in (not to mention our very own Houdini who will find a way!) Thanks, Sophie

Thank you, this really puts my mind at ease! We had one encounter on our travels with a baby snake that we had to encourage off of the pathway because we couldn’t go back the other way (and I wasn’t prepared to find out how far or high it could spring!) but we were in one of the royal national parks so it was to be expected I guess!

This is some really great advice too! Thank you so much! I’ll be sure to keep all my limbs well clear [emoji4]

Hi Paul, Thank you! It really was a surreal moment when we found out! We had been refreshing the page like lunatics since our visa was lodged, desperately trying to find a pattern to the processing (there really isn’t one...) I’m so glad to to hear you’re still loving your decision to make the most, that’s definitely settling the sudden waves of panic that breeze through me momentarily! We definitely saw Brisbane as a great location for its access to Sunshine and Gold Coast, where we had spent some of our best days when we visited, naturally Fraser Island takes the top spot! I agree with your point about flooding - we actually came out just after 3 big cyclones hit last year, but I’ve managed to find A great website which shows the floodplains so we’ll have to keep that in mind. We actually managed to catch a game of Aussie football while we were over and the weather had been so bad in the lead up, we had eased through the mud to get to our seats in the stadium! Thank you for your advice and well wishes!

Hi can1983, Thank you I’ll take a look at those suggestions! For the moment it is just the two of us, although we do hope to start a family in the not so distant future so some forward planning on our part is going to be required! I completely appreciate your point about managing expectations, it’s a worry for me that we have an idea in our minds of how our lives will be on the other side. That being said, while our parents and families are still fit and healthy, it is just us two and we have the means to at least ‘give it a go’, it’s be crazy not to try! We fell in love with the country for more reasons than one, and we both agree that we want more from the life we are currently living.

Hi Cal, Thank you so much for your post, I’ll take it all on board! We’ve been watching every episode of Wanted Down Under to get some suggestions on areas and have had the Real Estate app on my phone since we lodged our application, so I’ll keep looking and we can draw up a shortlist of suburbs of interest. I’ve also been trying to check commuting times on google maps around rush hour. I do remember on our trip that we hit rush hour in Brisbane (it being the only time we ever sat in traffic!) and although it was a pain, I can hand on heart say that it wasn’t a patch on trying to cross the Blackwall Tunnel in and out of London everyday!! I’m glad you mentioned the spiders...when we traveled we didn’t have any close encounters thank god! So to know it really ISNT as bad as I had expected before we came. Thank you for your well wishes and advice! Sophie x

Hey, congratulations on your visa! My husband and I are in a very similar position, I’ve just posted quite a similar plea for suggestions, as we too are hoping to settle in Brisbane!

Hi there! My husband and I finally received that delightful email confirming that our permanent residency visa has been granted just over a week ago! [emoji3060] Our date of arrival has been set as November 20, 2019, but naturally we hope to be over much sooner and are aiming for early September. In the meantime, we have a house to sell, our lives to pack up and our goodbyes to be said. Piece of cake right?! We’re planning to settle in Brisbane and are doing as much research as the hours in a day will allow, but I hadn’t anticipated how difficult it is to find up to date information...I seem to be finding conflicting posts and articles everywhere! A little about us: We got married in 2018 and visited Australia two days after our wedding, spending the most blissful 5 weeks travelling from Sydney to Cairns in a clapped out camper-van, packing in as much sun, activities , food (and when not driving...wine!!) as we possibly could. Coming home and facing the dreaded 2 hour commute into London again really hit us hard, so we thought we’d give it a go and set our sights on making the flight back on a one way ticket. My husband is a Quantity Surveyor, and I am a Patent Secretary. As we headed through Brisbane it seemed like a great place to set up home. I’m new to forums (is it obvious?), so would love to hear people’s thoughts on the city, pros and cons, and any recommendations for areas we should consider to set down some roots in/near Brisbane. I’m also totally terrified of the 8 legged beasts, and although I wouldn’t say I’m scared of snakes, I don’t fancy upsetting any, so if anyone can throw some light onto how to ‘deal’ with my anxiety, my husband would be forever in your debt. If you made it to the end of this post you’re amazing, and if you reply, you’re a hero! I’m so looking forward to leaping across the pond and I hope to get to know some of you! Sophie