Arrived Brisbane North - 3 weeks in!

[tfarrell]

Just a quick post to let you know what I have done and any tips I can pass on.

 

We flew from Dublin to Heathrow to Singapore to Brisbane. We have three kids aged 6, 3 and a 1 year old. So we had our hands full. The first leg of the flight was ok apart from the last two hours which I can only describe as HELL. But we got off at Singapore had a wash and a change of clothes and felt a bit more normal. The kids were absolutely exhausted tho. So when we boarded for the next leg the were ready for sleep. I put my 1 year old in the bassinette and she fell asleep in bout 20 mins in the cot. I couldnt believe it as I had held for for the WHOLE first leg. So she slept soundly for the whole flight. I know... I was very lucky. And the other two slept like babies too. What a relief. My brother was at Brisbane waiting for us so we all made our way to his house and bedded down after an hour or two. We decided we would land into Brisbane in the evening so that no matter how the journey went we would keep kids up for a couple of hours then down for the night. We didnt really suffer from jetleg so that was a good idea in the end.

 

Singapore Airlines were great. Really lovely and nothing was too much trouble. We booked a basinette seat which was great as theres extra leg room and my very chubby 1 year old fitted fine into the cot.

 

I ordered the veggie Indian meal for onboard and this was lovely. My husband was gutted he didnt order the same as the meat wasnt the best. You can ask for lots of juice and fruit for the kids so no worries there. And you can ask for sambos inbetween meals. They will do anything for you really.

 

We got through customs no probs altho we didnt have any food to declare.

 

Bring a lightweight buggy with you for the plane. Its so much easier. I sent my phil and teds with my baggage as it was just too bulky. My buggy was also there soon as I got off each flight so that was great.

 

TVs onboard had everything to keep little ones and older ones entertained.

 

Cant think of anything else regarding the flight for now... but deffo reccommend Singapore Air.

 

Ok so since we have arrived I have organised our tax file number... which is done online one you arrive and is posted out to you.

 

Also done my husbands abn number (buisness) online once we received the tax file number.

 

He done his white card online too. Doddle and you print out the cert when you are finished... then send off certified copy of your passport to them. All very straight forward.

 

We done our medicare too. But remember that both adults have to be there at the time. I sent my husband off to do it but he needed me.

 

We are doing our licence today. Your old one will do for three months I think. They now have an agreement with Ireland so you just show up with your old bank card, new bank card, passport, and a bill to say where you live and you get your ozzie licence done... so no more tests.

 

I had a NAB account set up from before I left so we just called into the branch and picked up our stuff.

 

We are still looking for a rental. My advice is to have packs made up before you leave that include copies of the following..

Birth Certs, Passports, Police clearance, Old job reference, any landord refs or if not your mortgage closing account letter,

then we you get medicare sorted take a copy of this and also bank details from nab with your new address and if you get phones when you get here take a copy of that with your address.

We also had a lump sum from the sale of our house back home so I got a nab statement and included this in our rental pack. As my husband hasnt started work yet.

Might also be a good idea to include a letter to introduce yourself and if you can offer a months rent in advance if say you had no work to come to straight away. The rental market is tough over here.

 

We went with vodafone and its 39 bucks a month and we got free samsung galaxy. Suits us for now and will look into it more when we are settled.

 

We have bought our cars too. I bought a holden captiva... 7 seater so will room for family when the come over.

My husband bought a ute.

Car prices are high compared to back home but it means if you want to see you will get good money back on them.

 

Food prices are also high. But again my husbands wages will be higher back home so it will even out I reckon.

 

My little girl enrolled in McDowall State Highschool and loves it. Altho she did have a couple of wobbly days shes fine now. Shes also doing gymnastics too. And I will get her into a dance and drama class once my husband starts working.

 

I havent looked into anything for my 3 year old yet as Im gonna wait till my husband starts working as I dont want to dig into our savings.

 

The weather has been absolutely beautiful since we arrived.... we are loving it.

 

The people are VERY friendly and helpful.

 

But they are absolute crazy drivers. And NEVER let anyone out in front of them... even if they are gonna be stopping at lights and have nowhere to go. Its was a bit scary at first but once you get a bit more confident its fine. Getting used to an automatic is strange. And finding your way around can be hard so pick up a good sat nav.

 

We love Brisbane North so far and havent stopped driving around the place. We really love the look of Eatons Hill and the houses are lovely so think we may buy up there eventually. The parks are just lovely and the sunshine makes it all worthwhile.

 

The homesickness has effected me more than I thought and its very hard talking to family on skype. I hope this gets easier. Feel so guilty for putting people through all this unhappiness but I think its the right thing to do for us. But I really do miss people... especially my Mam and my nephew who I am very close too. And sometimes the kids will ask when they are going home and thats hard to deal with. So please do not underestimate the homesickness. It was pretty much my idea to come out here and I never thought it would be this hard.

 

Cant really think of anything else... prob forgetting LOADS tho.

 

Any questions just ask!

[Guest jak2503]

good post, i agree with you on all parts there, as for the kids and homesickness that can be a real issue, i dont hink homesickness ever really goes, the kids however will adapt real quick, give it a year and they will be different, it amazed me how they adapt and change, also being younger they dont have bonds with best friends ect back in the uk, good luck and enjoy your time. also try to limit skype to once or twice a month, remember the more you skype the more family back in the uk expects it, dont be trapped into letting skype rule your life, ie having to be home at a certain time ect.

[Munchkinella]

Fantastic update! :biggrin: Packed with lots of usefully advice.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Jxxxx

[Alaska]

Hi T

 

Glad to hear that you have arrived and getting on well. Impressed you managed to get your DD into McDowall without a rental as they didn't even want to let us look around without a property - although they did let us in the end.

Eatons Hill is a lovely area (not that I'm biased!).

Look forward to meeting up. I am sure we were in the same fb group but I haven't seen you around for a while.

Free free to send me a PM any time.

xx

[Guest guest36187]

I was going to put a plug in for eatons hill too!!!! Lol you beat me!

[Missus B]

[Guest Lucky22]

Hi tfarrell, Were did you get your phones from, I take it there on contract? Me and my partner will be landing in brissy September 10th and will need phones asap

[Guest Francine]

Thanks for the useful post! We are also flying with Singapore Airlines in 4 weeks with a 6, 3 and 1 year old so good to hear positive things about the flights. I was worrying that our 1 year old wouldn't fit in the bassinet but you have eased my mind so thanks for that.

 

Hope it all works out for you. Keep us posted x

 

 

Just a quick post to let you know what I have done and any tips I can pass on.

 

We flew from Dublin to Heathrow to Singapore to Brisbane. We have three kids aged 6, 3 and a 1 year old. So we had our hands full. The first leg of the flight was ok apart from the last two hours which I can only describe as HELL. But we got off at Singapore had a wash and a change of clothes and felt a bit more normal. The kids were absolutely exhausted tho. So when we boarded for the next leg the were ready for sleep. I put my 1 year old in the bassinette and she fell asleep in bout 20 mins in the cot. I couldnt believe it as I had held for for the WHOLE first leg. So she slept soundly for the whole flight. I know... I was very lucky. And the other two slept like babies too. What a relief. My brother was at Brisbane waiting for us so we all made our way to his house and bedded down after an hour or two. We decided we would land into Brisbane in the evening so that no matter how the journey went we would keep kids up for a couple of hours then down for the night. We didnt really suffer from jetleg so that was a good idea in the end.

 

Singapore Airlines were great. Really lovely and nothing was too much trouble. We booked a basinette seat which was great as theres extra leg room and my very chubby 1 year old fitted fine into the cot.

 

I ordered the veggie Indian meal for onboard and this was lovely. My husband was gutted he didnt order the same as the meat wasnt the best. You can ask for lots of juice and fruit for the kids so no worries there. And you can ask for sambos inbetween meals. They will do anything for you really.

 

We got through customs no probs altho we didnt have any food to declare.

 

Bring a lightweight buggy with you for the plane. Its so much easier. I sent my phil and teds with my baggage as it was just too bulky. My buggy was also there soon as I got off each flight so that was great.

 

TVs onboard had everything to keep little ones and older ones entertained.

 

Cant think of anything else regarding the flight for now... but deffo reccommend Singapore Air.

 

Ok so since we have arrived I have organised our tax file number... which is done online one you arrive and is posted out to you.

 

Also done my husbands abn number (buisness) online once we received the tax file number.

 

He done his white card online too. Doddle and you print out the cert when you are finished... then send off certified copy of your passport to them. All very straight forward.

 

We done our medicare too. But remember that both adults have to be there at the time. I sent my husband off to do it but he needed me.

 

We are doing our licence today. Your old one will do for three months I think. They now have an agreement with Ireland so you just show up with your old bank card, new bank card, passport, and a bill to say where you live and you get your ozzie licence done... so no more tests.

 

I had a NAB account set up from before I left so we just called into the branch and picked up our stuff.

 

We are still looking for a rental. My advice is to have packs made up before you leave that include copies of the following..

Birth Certs, Passports, Police clearance, Old job reference, any landord refs or if not your mortgage closing account letter,

then we you get medicare sorted take a copy of this and also bank details from nab with your new address and if you get phones when you get here take a copy of that with your address.

We also had a lump sum from the sale of our house back home so I got a nab statement and included this in our rental pack. As my husband hasnt started work yet.

Might also be a good idea to include a letter to introduce yourself and if you can offer a months rent in advance if say you had no work to come to straight away. The rental market is tough over here.

 

We went with vodafone and its 39 bucks a month and we got free samsung galaxy. Suits us for now and will look into it more when we are settled.

 

We have bought our cars too. I bought a holden captiva... 7 seater so will room for family when the come over.

My husband bought a ute.

Car prices are high compared to back home but it means if you want to see you will get good money back on them.

 

Food prices are also high. But again my husbands wages will be higher back home so it will even out I reckon.

 

My little girl enrolled in McDowall State Highschool and loves it. Altho she did have a couple of wobbly days shes fine now. Shes also doing gymnastics too. And I will get her into a dance and drama class once my husband starts working.

 

I havent looked into anything for my 3 year old yet as Im gonna wait till my husband starts working as I dont want to dig into our savings.

 

The weather has been absolutely beautiful since we arrived.... we are loving it.

 

The people are VERY friendly and helpful.

 

But they are absolute crazy drivers. And NEVER let anyone out in front of them... even if they are gonna be stopping at lights and have nowhere to go. Its was a bit scary at first but once you get a bit more confident its fine. Getting used to an automatic is strange. And finding your way around can be hard so pick up a good sat nav.

 

We love Brisbane North so far and havent stopped driving around the place. We really love the look of Eatons Hill and the houses are lovely so think we may buy up there eventually. The parks are just lovely and the sunshine makes it all worthwhile.

 

The homesickness has effected me more than I thought and its very hard talking to family on skype. I hope this gets easier. Feel so guilty for putting people through all this unhappiness but I think its the right thing to do for us. But I really do miss people... especially my Mam and my nephew who I am very close too. And sometimes the kids will ask when they are going home and thats hard to deal with. So please do not underestimate the homesickness. It was pretty much my idea to come out here and I never thought it would be this hard.

 

Cant really think of anything else... prob forgetting LOADS tho.

 

Any questions just ask!

[Guest jak2503]

Hi tfarrell, Were did you get your phones from, I take it there on contract? Me and my partner will be landing in brissy September 10th and will need phones asap

 

i remember when we landed it was easy for the wife to get a contract pair of phones due to me not having a job, apparantly because she was a house wife it was classed as a job for credit on phones, we ended up getting 19 bucks a month on two phones (vodaphone), never gone over the limits and make the odd call to blighty on em. i would check coverage on where you intend to live though, we have no coverage in our house and have to hug the front window to get a signal, dont think there are any probs nearer the city though. i think telstra is the best for coverage but their more dearer.