Kymmbo Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Hi all, Been here a couple of months with partner and daughter (4yrs) and hoping to make new friends/partners in crime. Anyone in this area for coffee/playdates? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Sorry I'm not sure who is in the area. Hopefully someone will see your thread, they soon fall off the page and people can easily miss posts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrets Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Sorry to hijack the thread :wink: We want to be near Caloundra and recently got our visas. Would be good to find out a bit more in terms of commuting to Brisbane, schools, etc and how you have found the first few months. We are a family of four, and will hopefully relocate in the next few.months. Our kids are 3 1/2 and 2. Any thoughts on Caloundra would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kymmbo Posted March 2, 2016 Author Share Posted March 2, 2016 Sorry to hijack the thread :wink: We want to be near Caloundra and recently got our visas. Would be good to find out a bit more in terms of commuting to Brisbane, schools, etc and how you have found the first few months. We are a family of four, and will hopefully relocate in the next few.months. Our kids are 3 1/2 and 2. Any thoughts on Caloundra would be great. A hijack is better than nothing! Caloundra is lovely, loads of parks for little kids, feels very safe, beaches are great and very family-friendly. We live in meridan plains, lots of new building work going on. My daughter is really enjoying kindy, which is a 5 min walk, and heard lots of good reports about meridan state college, the closest school to us (although I think all the schools in the area have a pretty good rep). A drive to Brisbane takes around an hour when quiet but, as has been mentioned quite a bit on these forums, it would probably be a long commute as the Bruce highway gets very busy, and it usually seems to be recommended to live closer to the city if you are working there. Public transport isn't great here - would take me 2 buses and a train to get to Brisbane hitting around 3 hours - although I haven't bothered to attempt that yet! Obviously depends on how long you are prepared to commute. May be easier commuting to beaches at the weekend. My gut feeling is that we probably won't stay here long term - it is beautiful but a bit quiet, and job prospects for myself aren't looking great. Also wonder if it would get a bit boring (gasp!) for older kids and teenagers. It is also very hot and humid - sounds obvious but although great for the beach, it's not so good for everyday life (only my opinion!). Do do you have permanent visas? If so, there are benefits available for child care, family tax but they can take weeks to process so when you arrive I'd recommend getting down to the nearest centreline office asap to start the process. Also, bring your kids vaccination history/red books as you will need to provide all that before they can enrol in a school/kindy. They'll also need to start a course of hep B when you arrive if not had in the uk. It's compulsory and they'll get it free over here. Hope that is some help. Everyone is different, and although we may not stay here, it's been a great landing pad while we suss things out. Good luck with the move! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrets Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Thanks Kymmbo, great info! We got our 189 2 weeks ago so it's getting very real. Bit of confession.....we got married on Moffat Beach back in 2014 but had only really had "holiday" glasses on at the time, and only went serious with our desire to move back end of 2015; therefore we hadn't done much research on expat living on the ground. Coming rapidly to the conclusion that the best option is Brisbane with a weekend commute to the beach....but would still love to make Caloundra work :wink: Now I just need to hold.my nerve and resign!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMT1980 Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 Hi all, Been here a couple of months with partner and daughter (4yrs) and hoping to make new friends/partners in crime. Anyone in this area for coffee/playdates? Cheers Hey Kymmbo, my wife and I along with our two daughters (2yrs and 6yrs) have been here since beginning of Feb. We have family about an hour down the coast but decided for us we'd like to be up on the Sunny Coast so we settled in Pelican Waters/Caloundra. We are loving the way of life up here and are doing so much now compared to the UK, it's great, especially for the girls. We are getting out and about all the time and are finding new things each week. How has it all gone for you guys and are you well settled now in the Caloundra area? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.