gordonsmith Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 hi folks. i have got an opportunity in cairns to come andwork in a nearby correctional facility. i would love some insight into thearea. is it really that humid? Any big scary wide life waiting to pounce onyou? are the houses good value? what’s the schools like? good bad areas to livein? what social life options? and i guess the most important question is wouldyou recommend cairns? thanks for taking time to read this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Hey Gordo, best person to ask is Kate (moving2melbourne) they've been up in cairns for a while Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordonsmith Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 thanks stacey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogian Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Hi Gordon, Yep, there are definitely some of us....I even work with a couple of Welsh guys....do they count as “Poms”?!? :wink: I’ve only been living here just coming up a year (but had visited numerous times over the preceding 4 years before moving as my wife was born and bred here). When we decided the time was right to for us to relocate to Oz we’d already done our research as to where we would like to live (we’d visited various places on the east coast), both in terms of employment opportunities for us both and also the lifestyle we wanted….and we decided on Cairns. This wasn’t just my wife’s say as this location wasn’t good for me in relation to employment prospects (one of the big cities would have been better for me), but it was for lifestyle. At the end of the day all’s turned out great though for work and lifestyle! Can’t fault the place and the surrounding areas at all and can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be! In relation to areas to live in (and also a bit of info about schools) have a look at this thread as there is some great info from M2M: http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/queensland/142540-cairns-schools-housing.html#post1354617 What’s Cairns like? I reckon the region is like a cross between north Wales and the Yorkshire dales (when you get inland), with lots more sun but heavier rain at times (during the wet season), but when it rains you can wear your shorts and T shirt! My parents have just been over and they couldn’t believe it was winter time as the weather was just perfect (note: it doesn’t rain much at all in “winter”). Business wise, in my opinion, probably a bit like the UK 10 or so years ago – a lot of stuff taken on trust; not everyone has a mobile or internet access (particularly inland, up north and out in the Straits and PNG) - people want you to fax (or even post!) stuff to them. I don’t mean any disrespect at all to the people or the country when I say the above, it’s just how I see it up this way and I reckon the reason for it being like this is because we’re quite a way away from the major hubs. Nah, no big scary wildlife going to pounce on you……unless you swim in the wrong place….or look at something in the wrong way :wink: On a serious note, my wife’s 5th generation, the family have always lived in this area (there are loads of them) and they all drive out to the middle of nowhere to camp and fish etc, sometimes for weeks at a time. None of them have ever come unstuck! All the best in whatever you decide to do! :animal-frog:ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Is it Lotus Glen you would be working for, if so you may want to live on the Tablelands, it is very much like the Yorkshire Dales and a lot cooler than being down in Cairns. Personally if that's where you are heading then you don't want to live anything further down than Kuranda, the reason being it is a windy mountain road and at the first sign of rain you start getting crashes which then block the range. They are rediscussing plans to tunnel under the range but to be honest it's never going to happen. Obviously it's up to you if you want to live closer to Cairns but bear in mind you would probably need to allow 1hour 30mins to get to work. If you aren't heading to Lotus Glen then tell me to shut up as none of the above will bother you. Cairns itself is wonderful, if you have a job to come to then I would definately jump at the chance. We were worried about the humidity after reading forums etc and to be honest it's nothing like I imagined, take this last week, blue skies, no rain (thankfully Xtonite has gone home) temp of 25 every day and no humidity. Jan and Feb are probably our most humid, but you have air con in the house, air con in the car and usually air con at work so you don't really notice it. We do have the 2 distinct seasons, wet and dry, dry season we may not see any rain at all. Wet season it doesn't rain every day but it's a tropical storm and when it comes it comes, to be honest we found it better than Melbourne in winter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Oops forgot to answer half of your questions, if you are considering Lotus let me know as it would be different areas to recommend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jeff and katie Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Hi me and my family moved to cairns in April, my partner is originally from here so that is the main reason we came here. i am currently waitng for my visa to be approved so I have a lot of time on my hands at present, so I have ventured out a fair bit with the kids. Although I have only been here 4 months I love everything about cairns, I have heard a lot about the wet season and the humidity so will find out for myself when it arrives but 25 degrees with very little rain is a great place to be in the winter. there is so much to do and see here . we live in Edmonton which is south of the city prob 15 to 20 mins away from cairns central (depending on the traffic lights on the Bruce highway). I would highly recommend cairns . Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Hime and my family moved to cairns in April, my partner is originally from here so that is the main reason we came here. i am currently waitng for my visa to be approved so I have a lot of time on my hands at present, so I have ventured out a fair bit with the kids. Although I have only been here 4 months I love everything about cairns, I have heard a lot about the wet season and the humidity so will find out for myself when it arrives but 25 degrees with very little rain is a great place to be in the winter. there is so much to do and see here . we live in Edmonton which is south of the city prob 15 to 20 mins away from cairns central (depending on the traffic lights on the Bruce highway). I would highly recommend cairns . Jeff Welcome to Cairns Jeff, there are a few of us around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 When a place looks like this it is hard not to like it :cool: If you can get work it must be very tempting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jeff and katie Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Hi thank you, beats Being back in birmingham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khm1981 Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Wow, we were torn between Cairns and the Sunshine Coast but I am tipping more towards Cairns now, those photos look amazing! I will avidly watch this thread, Kath Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Ropey HOFF Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 My wifes cousin lives in Cairns with her 3 kids and she absolutely loves it, we visited her when she lived in perth and she like it there, but loves it in Cairns, she was married to an Aussie and he was a plank, they split up and moved back to Perth. She loves the climate, the beaches, the relaxed lifestyle, it sounds like heaven, maybe a bit too humid for us though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordonsmith Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 Is it Lotus Glen you would be working for, if so you may want to live on the Tablelands, it is very much like the Yorkshire Dales and a lot cooler than being down in Cairns.Personally if that's where you are heading then you don't want to live anything further down than Kuranda, the reason being it is a windy mountain road and at the first sign of rain you start getting crashes which then block the range. They are rediscussing plans to tunnel under the range but to be honest it's never going to happen. Obviously it's up to you if you want to live closer to Cairns but bear in mind you would probably need to allow 1hour 30mins to get to work. If you aren't heading to Lotus Glen then tell me to shut up as none of the above will bother you. Cairns itself is wonderful, if you have a job to come to then I would definately jump at the chance. We were worried about the humidity after reading forums etc and to be honest it's nothing like I imagined, take this last week, blue skies, no rain (thankfully Xtonite has gone home) temp of 25 every day and no humidity. Jan and Feb are probably our most humid, but you have air con in the house, air con in the car and usually air con at work so you don't really notice it. We do have the 2 distinct seasons, wet and dry, dry season we may not see any rain at all. Wet season it doesn't rain every day but it's a tropical storm and when it comes it comes, to be honest we found it better than Melbourne in winter. it is the lotus facility. are you sure i would need 1 hr 30 to travel to lotus from reglynch or smithfeild? it only looks like 20 or 30 mile, are the roads realy that poor? i guess i will need to look at mareeba. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 it is the lotus facility. are you sure i would need 1 hr 30 to travel to lotus from reglynch or smithfeild? it only looks like 20 or 30 mile, are the roads realy that poor? i guess i will need to look at mareeba. It's about 85k from where we live, the issue you have is getting up and down the range it's only 12k of road but it's very winding and speed varies between 40-60 k you won't get any faster than 60k and if you are stuck behind a truck or a tourist then it's more like 20k It takes us 10 min to Smithfield and an hour to Mareeba on a good day? From Mareeba to Arriga (Lotus) then it's around 20k, once you get through the town of Mareeba you will probably have the road to yourself so could do it in 15min but you would need to watch for the Roos. If you are doing shift work depending on the time you may manage it in less than I've quoted and as I say it really does depend who you get in front of you going up the range. Now if this ever got built it would be quicker but don't hold your breathe http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2012/07/31/230901_local-business-news.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest damon79 Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 Cairns is epic if you love the outdoor lifestyle and don't mind being warm most of the year. Love it because they talk about the adjustments you have to make, plus working in Cairns, restaurants in Cairns, real estate, best suburbs etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteNAmanda Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Hi there my family and I are moving to cairns from england - currently awaiting our 457 visa to come through. We are 32, 31 and have a boy age 11 and a girl age 7. We will not know anyone whatsoever. My husband is comng over on a sponsorship with a company based in Smithfield and we are looking into renting for the first couple of years and trinity beach is looking like a favourite at the moment. Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated on any experience of cairns, areas to live in, schooling etc. many thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Hi there my family and I are moving to cairns from england - currently awaiting our 457 visa to come through. We are 32, 31 and have a boy age 11 and a girl age 7. We will not know anyone whatsoever. My husband is comng over on a sponsorship with a company based in Smithfield and we are looking into renting for the first couple of years and trinity beach is looking like a favourite at the moment. Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated on any experience of cairns, areas to live in, schooling etc. many thanks. We absolutely love it up here, we moved up from Melbourne and are now in our fourth year. I would look at schools before committing to a suburb. The beaches are lovely BUT you need to check the flood maps, when Yasi headed our way the only beach suburb that didn't get evacuated was Palm Cove. School wise what are you wanting? We have a number of schools that go from prep to Yr 12 personally I prefer this, it is less disruption for the children and they don't have to look at changing schools and starting to make new friends again. We tried one of the catholic schools but it grew too large and its not somewhere I would feel comfortable recommending anymore. You have TAS (Trinity Anglican) at the beaches but it only goes to Yr 7 and then continues over at Whiterock up to Yr 12. Freshwater Christian, Peace Lutheran and both schools in Redlynch go from prep to Yr 12 and they have busses that take children to the beaches. St Monica's and St Augustine's in the city are great schools as well they are not coed. If you need more help on schools ask away. Smithfield is great and you can basically live anywhere. If you do want to know more about suburbs or streets/areas let me know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest damon79 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Northern beaches are good but there are plenty of other great suburbs. Kamerunga, caravonica, redlynch, freshwater, Stratford to name a few. northern beaches just don't have the same appeal as the used to, now in peak hour it will take you around an hour to get into work. If the Aquis Great Barrier Reef resort goes ahead, the northern beaches will devalue as the time it will take to get into town will probably double to 2 hours in peak hour traffic. Government won't spend on infrastructure and it will probably cost over half a billion easy to fix the traffic issue just on the northern beaches alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest damon79 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 ive lived in cairns for quite a few years and have found it to be a good place to live. you get your problems though and it is very expensive in regards to clothes and food. Many people move to cairns and don't like it. There is a big issue with unemployment and indigenous crime as well. I advise looking at other places than trinity beach and the northern beaches. The good old days are gone and with failing infrastructure it is going to get worse. Kuranda is nice but people die on kuranda range from their terrible driving. Cairns has the worst drivers in Australia. you will suffer if you dont have air con and your first summer may break you. It breaks many people. Others end up having to leave from dengue or Ross river fever. understand it is a nice place but has some serious problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteNAmanda Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Thank u very much for your input! At the min we are looking at trinity beach and trinity beach state school for our two but our son will be going into yr 7 so will have to change at the end of the year n not sure where to look at for the high schools I know there is one in Smithfield itself! very worried about the weather if I'm honest but we are coming out at the beginning of April and believe it will be cooling down by then! A little anyway I hope! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteNAmanda Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Going to have a look at redlynch heard good things about that one! It's so hard with just the facilities of the internet I think we can't be sure until we get there but with less than 2 weeks free until hubby starts work time is not going to be what we have much of! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anoh Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Hello Pete and Amanda, We moved to Trinity Beach in June. Made sure we bought a house not in a flood area.Like being close to all the beaches and use them a lot.Cant comment on Trinity beach state school but my husband often does teaching contracts at Smithfield state high and enjoys it there. Says the kids are fine and seem to like school. Often see them cycling along the paths from Trinity beach to Smithfield and its a few minutes by car. I would echo comments that if you were working in Cairns itself the journey in at peak time is at least 45 mins and probably nearer to an hour sometimes but as your work is at Smithfield it is no distance. Found the humidity difficult at times but have still gone out and about in the summer just tailored our activities accordingly ie beach and picnics, watering holes. It is true that you do acclimatise over time. Not sure if we will stay in Cairns yet. My husband loves it but my 21 year old son cant find work and wants to move although Im sure there will be difficulties every where.The lifestyle is laid back and the scenery very beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteNAmanda Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Thank you for your post anoh! A nice positive post! Would u av any idea how we find out the flood areas please? I've been looking at Smithfield high tonight looks and sounds a good school! And from what I can tell trinity beach state school is all positive I just want my children to be happy and hopefully make friends and settle easy! Still worried about the humidity - just looks like my hair will be a frizz bomb for a few months out of the year haha! Hope your son finds work soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anoh Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 I sent you a private message --I hope! Not too good with all of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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