Cheery Thistle

To be honest I haven’t told my near and dear about the bottle incident. I think they’d be really quite shocked and I don’t think my Dad would want us to move if he knew about it. So mum (or dad)’s the word! 

4 minutes ago, Nemesis said:

I had a lot of friends in the Logan area, between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Lots of vests, grubby shorts, mullets, drugged up hoons. It used to amaze me when going to a pub down that way with friends - we would never have dreamt of going down the garden dressed like some of them, never mind the pub! I also had some Aussie mates in a couple of places up the Sunshine Coast near Gympie, and they were the same when it came to going out. "Dressing up" for one guy consisted of putting on a baseball cap  

I have to say that I've really enjoyed your reflections on your trip, and think that by doing them this way - the good, and the not-so-good, it does show quite a balanced outlook. No rose-tinted-specs on show here. Obviously everyone sees things differently, but as you say, the whole point of forums like this is to allow everyone to give an opinion. 

Haha indeed! Can well imagine this. That’s what I’m talking about. 
That’s what the trip was about - seeing which areas might suit us (or not) and also to see what the compromises and ’make or breaks’ are and deciding if the positives outweigh the negatives for us specifically. 

8 minutes ago, ramot said:

I wish you nothing but happiness in your future life xM

Thank you I really truly appreciate that and I hope your life continues to give you the joy you are getting just now - must be getting something right! 

29 minutes ago, ramot said:

I’m getting a bit fed up with you having nothing good to say about where I live. It’s a lovely place with plenty of interesting people, who don’t have tattoos or mullets, of course some people do dress as you describe, but not everyone has a lot of money here, and it is a hot climate so buying food is a priority. No one I know dresses anything like your dress code description. Of course your experience with a  bottle thrown from a car was totally disgraceful, an awful experience, hooning does go on here unfortunately,, but seems to take place in certain areas, but I have never ever experienced anything like you unfortunately experienced, since living here. 

I completely respect that you love where you live and that it suits you, but everyone is different. 
With respect, you are reading through a filter and taking it personally. 
If you read parts 1 and 2 I have lots of good things to say about Aus in general and QLD specifically. 
The incident with the bottle was unfortunate, isolated and hopefully rare. I’m really glad you’ve never experienced it. That doesn’t mean I’m lying or make my experience any less valid. It’s one thing I dislike about the forum, people saying ‘well that’s never happened to me’, as if that changes anything at all, it’s as if somehow we deserved it or were ‘asking’ for it. If you came to my home town and someone launched a bottle at you while driving past at very high speed I would sympathise and I would also forgive you for being a little wary/put off, even though this has never happened to me. Totally natural. 
If you read my last post again are we really suggesting that people in North Brisbane out for dinner on a Saturday night in an area where average house price is $1.5 million plus are choosing between food and clothing? Doubtful. It’s just an observation of a cultural difference which I will have to get used to, it’s not a personal insult. 
It could be the way I was brought up, I am from a council estate and there were a lot of children in my house. My parents worked in the casino and were always very dapper, appearance was important and a priority regardless of our lack of wealth. My dad is 78 and still wears a shirt most days. It was very much ‘get up, dress up, show up’ for everything you did. I won’t apologise for that and I don’t see it changing, regardless of where I reside! Appropriate is the key word I think. 

12 minutes ago, InnerVoice said:

Well I'm sure if you compare Coogee Beach, one of the most affluent and bourgeois suburbs in Sydney, with regional QLD (which the Sunshine Coast is), you're going to see a significant difference in attire regardless of the climate. I worked in Brisbane CBD for several years in the mid noughties (nearly 20 years ago) and people dressed smartly for work in the city, even back then. If you'd travelled to regional NSW or VIC you'd have found plenty of fashion disasters, weird haircuts and bad tattoos there too, so it isn't just a Queensland thing.

No, agreed, we stayed in Coogee beach but we did go to Newcastle, Port Stephens and Byron as well. It was not quite as bad. However, if it is a regional thing then it can’t just be related to the QLD heat, can it? On a side note, plenty of bare feet in Coogee shops and cafes as well, so clearly even rich people can be quite minging as we would say in Scotland. Can’t even manage a flip flop! 
To me fashion and/or clothes are not a frivolous thing as such. I wouldn’t say I judge people on their clothes but it’s all about being appropriate. To me, being scruffy in certain circumstances shows a lack of respect (for yourself and for those around you). If you’re out with your wife/friends on a Saturday would it kill to make a bit of an effort? At least brush the mullet/man bun and put on a clean pair of shorts? Lolol. I’m talking upscale suburban North Brissie here, not the sticks!! 

4 hours ago, Toots said:

Yes I had to get stocked up with cold weather gear for the winters here in Tassie.  My sister brought  over some lovely wool jumpers from Scotland.  She has one more week here.  Hope the Scottish weather is kind to her when she gets home.

Hmm 5 degrees and actual sleet here, plus some gale force winds yesterday for good measure. Not sure if you class that as kind or not? I had my big winter jacket and woolly hat on to walk the dogs yesterday. 

4 hours ago, Toots said:

I thought Sydney and Melbourne people were very smartly and fashionably dressed going to work and on a night out.  

Yes Sydney did not suffer the same fashion epidemic that we witnessed in QLD. And it was not that much cooler there so the extreme heat is not an excuse for being scruffy! Sorry @InnerVoice not buying what you’re selling there. 

5 hours ago, Blue Manna said:

I've often thought I could get dressed in the dark and still be the best dressed person on the street in most Australian cities.

The only thing I would say is that if they wanted to hit you with a glass bottle they would have. Australians tend to be quiet sporty. Still, I would think this is unacceptable.

Well a bit of the glass did hit her. And I saw lots and lots and lots of un-sporty looking Aussies! Unless you count exercising your right arm for the remote and a beer bottle!!

18 minutes ago, calNgary said:

I pretty much would've said the same as you. I remember saying QLD is 10 yrs behind the UK and that's in manyyyy ways, some for the better , some not so much.

Shame about the bottle, hooning is an everyday occurrence ,especially if there's been a drop of rain, lol,, but throwing glass bottles is on another level and not something ive heard of happening much.

   Cal x

Haha indeed! I can see me ordering from m and s and Next online a lot. 
 

Yeah the bottle incident was a bit of a shock, especially in that location and I won’t lie, I will admit that it is partly what put us off the SC. It makes you realise very very quickly that you’re not in Paradise (though looks can be deceiving!). 

1 minute ago, bluequay said:

The picture you paint of Brisbane is very similar to my experience of the regional cities in South Australia, Adelaide itself is fortunately a bit more sophisticated, otherwise I wouldn't move!!!

We see growth potential in Brissie and we know how to avoid the things we don’t like so much. We can go anywhere really, but the climate of QLD and the growth potential of the next 10-15 years are the main draws to that area. 

3 minutes ago, Toots said:

That's a fair review of what you have observed.    Hoons are noisy, and very annoying but bottle throwing is just plain dangerous.  I stopped noticing fashion years ago and I was never a great follower of fashion anyway.  Hope you remembered to apply plenty of 30+ sunscreen!

The bottle incident was the worst thing that happened on the trip and I just don’t get the casual, shoulder shrugging attitude about the hooning. I know it’s something that I’ll just have to get used to/accept, but suppose I don’t need to ‘like’ it? It was a bit much to throw a glass bottle at an 11 year old and the end outcome could have been far far worse actually. We were lucky. 

We use factor 50, always do on any holiday. I have to say we did get a lot (and I mean a lot) of could and rain on the trip, interspersed with a bit of Sunshine. it is the least tanned I have been after a holiday!! 

If you have managed to get through my first 2 posts - well done!
 

So, here goes nothing, I almost feel I should have a disclaimer on this post - the following constitutes my own opinions and only my own opinions, it has not been designed to be harmful or offensive in any way and should not be interpreted as such! It mostly pertains to QLD but is probably relevant in a wider context too. 
 

It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the down sides of a move to Aus - after all this trip was really all about discovering what the compromises are and deciding if we can live with them. So, here are the down sides as we see them: 

1) Distance. Distance between Aus and the UK (and also everywhere else) and also distance between things in Aus. We know we are going to spend more time in the car than we do here. 
 

2) Fashion sense or lack thereof. The QLD uniform seems to consist of baseball cap, vest (or simmit as we affectionately call it in Scotland), denim or board shorts, flip flops. This is ubiquitous regardless of venue or occasion. Do they even wear this to weddings and funerals? I’m curious lol. We felt like the best dressed in Brisbane in even our most casual clothes. Went out one Saturday night in North Brissie and the most dressed guys had checked shirts on that went out of fashion in Europe about 25 years ago which brings me to down side number 3! 
 

3) Time warp effect. Being on the cutting edge in QLD especially means something completely different than it does in the UK. This is also part of its charm and could also be viewed as an upside. 
 

4) Lack of sophistication. The population generally is unsophisticated and uncultured in comparison to Europeans. This is not a criticism but an observation. It is also a generalisation - there are exceptions obviously. They are also generally blissfully unaware of this, probably due to the geographical isolation of Aus. 

5) Hoons/Hooning. Brings me back to the utes and teenagers. We had an incident. Walking along Noosa Parade (basically millionaires row) at about 6.40pm a massive Ute came roaring up behind us, must have been doing about 100kmph. It was SO loud. We didn’t really know what was happening. Just as it passed we noticed a load of smashed glass on the ground and a bit of it hit our daughter on the lower leg. We then realised that as he had gone past he had thrown a glass bottle out of the window at us/in our direction. This has made us quite wary and if we hear that again we’ll be getting well out of the way. The casual attitude towards the hooning does actually concern me, it’s not as if it’s harmless. For the rest of our stay I would watch families walking up and down the parade pushing prams with the pure fear that it would happen to them and a kid would be harmed! 
 

6) Lack of DST in QLD. Don’t think I need to explain further. Kind of leads to an extreme morning culture! 
 

7) House prices and availability. Enough said I think. 

8. Bugs and creepy crawlies 

9) Lack of variety/choice. Same same with food and fashion. 

10) UV strength. 
 

I have my flack jacket on! Hit me! 

4 minutes ago, bluequay said:

A bit late now, but to help with the move and comms, we purchased one of these in the Black Friday sale before our last trip out there, means we have a number we can use already when dealing with Australian companies\banks etc

https://www.amaysim.com.au/sim-plans/12-month-sim-plans It's available as an e-sim if your phone has that capacity so can be setup from here.

Thanks! We got 3 Aussie sims while we were over. It helped a lot - you don’t realise how much you rely on these things until you don’t have them!! 

10 minutes ago, ramot said:

Can’t earn the same money sadly, there is a scarcity of well paid work, and the daily drive to Brisbane is not viable long term, due to  the amount of traffic on the BruceHighway in comparison to 21 years ago. 

Yes there’s that too. We are in the same boat - if hybrid then it’s maybe doable from the southern end of the SC 2-3 days a week but that in itself is a compromise as you are out of the house for a lot of hours back and forth. That’s what my friend is considering doing long term. 

20 minutes ago, Blue Manna said:

Did you find those app things on the tables in pubs and restaurants that you can scan on your phone and then just order from the website? I found them excellent and much easier than going up to the bar. That was WA, but I would have thought east coast would have them?

Yes, but I hate that even more! The QR code!!  I like to be served by a human being! You can’t ask an app to customise your order. I also dislike that you are out as a family and want to relax/chat but one of you spends the first 10 minutes trawling through a menu telling everyone else what’s on it! Also as a foreigner it wasn’t hugely easy to set up payment - the app wants to send a code to your phone which maybe doesn’t work because of the SIM card etc etc. 
Just a personal thing.  I know some people love it. I can (and will have to) adjust! 

8 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

That's true, although state schools can accept out-of-catchment enrolments as long as they are not oversubscribed, and few are. There's also 'at the Principal discretion' so if your child is already enrolled in a school and you move, then they can continue attending that school - particularly if they are a good student  

By the way, glad you had such a great trip!

I have heard horror stories of people having to provide proof of address every year to maintain their state school places and especially the ‘good’ schools are not taking any out of catchment applications. 

3 hours ago, calNgary said:

Ute's ,mullets and Tat's are pretty normal in QLD, especially the more regional (out of Brisbane CBD) you go. Fashions sense is totally different too over here compared to the UK, i was shocked when i first arrived but after a few years when you stop comparing things so much, it just becomes normal. 

Utes are used a lot by younger ones and teens as there is a big '';off road'' and 'beach',  camping and /or fishing scene rather where having a 4wd makes sense. Insurance is also cheaper for younger ones here.

 One thing i will say is I've found the more regional (out of city) you go, the more friendly people are and places seem to have more of the community, everyone helps each other type of feel.

                      Cal x

I love how ‘out of CBD’ is classed as regional. Fashion - what fashion? Lololol. Stay tuned for my epilogue - the down side - for more on that one!! 
Oh I know about the teens and utes - again more will be revealed in the down side. 
I feel the location we have chosen has a really good combination of what we are looking for. I am not knocking anyone else’s choices. 
 

5 hours ago, ramot said:

I’m sad that you have had a rather negative impression to the Sunshine Coast, compared to my 21 years living here. I agree there is very little ‘night life’ here, that’s mainly because so many people are up and about early living a healthy lifestyle , swimming, surfing, walking, before they go to work or school. There are well attended clubs and activities for every age and cover almost everything anyone might be interested in. 
We go to the Caloundra Events Centre fairly regularly to watch a good variety of shows, eg,  QLD Ballet recently, Sunshine Coast Symphony Orchestra is playing on Saturday, all are well attended.
I have made a great group of friends, from warm and welcoming life long generations of Australians, to the  more recent immigrants, like us  from a mix of countries who have made the coast home, making it such an interesting place to live. Our son who now lives in North Brisbane would move back here instantly if he could move his job here, he has many friends here with young families, who have a great life on the coast, and they aren’t covered in tattoos. 

It is not my intent to cause any upset by the above, I just felt I needed to say that it is a nicer area than might have come across to you, and I wish you all the best for your new life in Australia.  
Moving here after living in 4 other countries, was the best decision we made for us, and our two children who followed us here say the same xM

Don’t get me wrong it’s a stunningly beautiful place, it’s just by this age and stage in life we know ourselves well and we know it’s not for us. We know where we’re headed. We have a friend in Brisbane who says the people she knows who live on the SC are the happiest people she knows so there must be something in it. To us it just felt like we’d be living in a holiday resort and we don’t want that. 
What you are saying about young families is true, it struck us as a place for young families or retirees, we don’t really fit into those categories. We are middle aged really and our daughter on the cusp of her teenage years. We just need easy access to a bit more going on! I’m not ready for things to be that slow/quiet yet. If we had moved when she was young maybe it would appeal more. I don’t mean to offend anyone either but it’s just our observations and everyone is different. Has your son tried to get a job in SC? 
 

19 minutes ago, RubyMonday said:

Are you thinking more Brisbane/GC then? I think you'd still find the dodgy wannabe hardman teenagers in most places and they all seem to love their utes over there. As for the ghost town sounds right up my alley, I'm 35 going on 85 and have no interest in any kind of night life so sounds perfect.

Sorry also just realised I tagged the wrong person in my reply! That tag function is not so easy to use!! 

North Brisbane is where we are headed. Not GC although to be honest I couldn’t really see what everyone is complaining about with GC and surfers paradise. It was spotless! When people say it’s like Blackpool they clearly have been nowhere near that manky hole for decades!! 

 Yes there are utes etc in Brisbane but they are more diluted and mixed in. It’s just a bit more cosmopolitan (not sure that’s exactly the right word, but for the want of a better one). We also need to consider where we’ll make friends and SC just wasn’t really our vibe. It will be lovely to be able to visit easily though! If you like it that quiet you might find the SC too busy, lots of people seem to be complaining that it’s got so busy, which made me laugh. 

@Ruby Tuesday yeah we are going without jobs and going to find jobs when we get there. Everyone was very positive about jobs so fingers crossed all will be OK. 
Yes, SC is too slow and quiet - husband felt that after 7pm it was like ghost town! He likened it to a retirement village! It’s also a bit too much of a time warp - bad haircuts a plenty - and without offending anyone just saw loads of head to toe tattoos and 16 year olds driving utes. More than anything we felt we’d struggle to settle and find our tribe. 

Just finishing my lunch break so here goes…. 
 

Environment - let’s start with the good! We found the environment in Aus amazing! The space, the proximity to nature, the beaches, the parks. Loved the fact that there are free communal bbqs and they are well kept and clean. Also a noticeable lack of litter all over the place. It’s just so….clean! Lots of the beaches have free changing and toilet facilities and they are usually clean enough (a few exceptions). The access to free and cheap family activities is excellent. The SC in particular was very ‘manicured’. Hubby and I likened it to the Disney town Celebration! 
 

Housing - this will be by far the most challenging aspect of our move. We attended 4 open homes - one had in excess of 60 viewers and we were only there 10 minutes! Houses are expensive and there’s a lot of competition. We plan on renting for a short period and as soon as we can get a mortgage we will buy. The market is moving really quickly and prices only seem to be going one way! 
 

Schools - we went to see a few private schools and we have applied for a few. The main reason for that is that catchments in state schools are so tightly managed and we might need to move around and we’d rather not move our daughter school. We liked that fact that there’s more choice in Aus for a range of budgets. 
 

Stay tuned for part 3 where I will discuss what hasn’t really been mentioned yet - the down side!! 

Lol ‘Ned’s’ means something different in Scotland! 
Noticed that hubby’s relatives had stocked up for the war in toiletries and they explained about the specials! 

As some of you know we have just returned from a 3 week trip to the east coast to check out potential areas to live in when we move later this year (and to do some sight seeing and visit family). 
I thought it might be helpful for people who maybe haven’t been yet (or not for a long time) who maybe lurk on the forum, to get some feedback on our trip so I’m going to share some general observations in particular about things we were interested in finding out about. 

Food/drink - Always a priority! We found the quality of food much better than the UK in general - both eating in and eating out. Eating and drinking out was cheaper in general - example - meal in a North Brisbane hotel, 3 main courses, 2 large wine, 2 beers and a soft drink $107. Would be at least that amount in £ at home. Brunch in Sydney - pancakes with fruit, avocado smash and a full cooked breakfast plus 4 coffees $90. Supermarkets generally didn’t have as wide a range as UK and were more expensive. Odd things like toiletries and dairy products were expensive ($8 for a tin of Sure deodorant for example). You would have to shop around and I would estimate we will spend at least $300 per week on groceries. Also fruit and veg actually has flavour, unlike in the Uk. And the coffee is amazing - it’s true!! What is that voodoo?? What we didn’t like was being given your cutlery in a tin (somewhat primitive) and having to go up and order at the bar. I like to be served lol. 

Driving - we drove up the east coast from Sydney to Noosa and back down to Brisbane. Actually found the driving a skoosh compared to the UK. Never had one bad incident on the roads (beginners luck)? Roads are in far far better condition and are much bigger/wider. Most people stuck to the speed limits. We actually felt like some of the roads in the SC were literally just laid they were so new! I think we saw 2 potholes in 3 weeks! Here we would dread an hour driving but actually going 45 minutes there was no bother at all. Also observed far more free or cheap parking than here. You can park more or less in central Brisbane all day for free and it’s easy to get a space. Left the car at New Farm all day for free and got the city cat into south bank. Here in Edinburgh it’s at least £5 an hour to park and they have brought in LEZ in the city centre as well as parking charges up to 10pm. 

Public Transport - in the cities this was generally really good and also cheap (relatively). So I pay £22 return to go 45 minutes in the train to work in Glasgow. In Sydney we went from Coogee to Manly which involved a bus, then light rail then a ferry(!) all for $18 each on the Opal card (since there are daily and weekly caps on what you pay). We thought that was amazing. Outside the city centre it gets trickier and car reliance is much more prevalent (we knew/expected this). Distances are always far greater and we found general time taken to get from A to B a bit of a pain and will take some getting used to. 
 

Stay tuned for Part 2 where I will discuss housing, schools and environment!