Moving to Tasmania from mainland (qld) questions

[Tjsmum]

1 hour ago, Bulya said:

You couldn’t pay me to live in Qld let alone Nth Qld.  As for the high hot water bill, is there no solar hot water??

We have suffered today! Hot all day, only for 15mins of rain and a bit of rumbles, sigh! 
 

No solar on our house we live in FN department of housing 

[Tjsmum]

12 hours ago, Skani said:

Yes, they are lovely if you can get a reliable supply of good wood and somewhere dry to store it.  We had one for 30 years in this house  (3 bedrooms and a quarter of the way up Mt. Welllington so sometimes snow in winter) and it kept the place really toasty.  But since I'm now widowed and getting a bit ancient    I have replaced it with a pellet heater.  I do miss the log burner though.  

Sounds so warm and cosy! 
Are you not able to get wood delivered? Or a family member to help with getting wood?

what is a pallet heater? 

[InnerVoice]

@Tjsmum we live in Cairns, and have been considering Tasmania as a retirement destination in the next couple of years. Finding work wouldn't be a necessity for me as I'm hoping to put my feet up, but my wife wants to keep going a while longer. (It's just the two of us)

Have you visited Tassie yet? We had a holiday/reconnaissance visit back in Jan/Feb this year and loved the island. We're undecided yet whether we'd move there yet, but I certainly wouldn't go just to escape the heat of FNQ as there are plenty of other places in Australia with a temperate climate, if that's the main reason for your move. You might be interested in reading my post regarding our trip, in particular our findings on page 5.

https://www.pomsinoz.com/topic/216384-retiring-in-tasmania/

We're also considering east coast towns from Coffs Harbour down to Newcastle, so that will be focus for our next trip. We've decided that wherever we go, we'll rent out our house in Cairns for a year and rent somewhere first, to see how it goes. I see that you're renting so that wouldn't be a consideration for you, although you might want to weigh up the pros and cons of shipping everything from Queensland to Tassie versus the cost of storage, until you decide it's the right move for you. Good luck! 

[Tjsmum]

4 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

@Tjsmum we live in Cairns, and have been considering Tasmania as a retirement destination in the next couple of years. Finding work wouldn't be a necessity for me as I'm hoping to put my feet up, but my wife wants to keep going a while longer. (It's just the two of us)

Have you visited Tassie yet? We had a holiday/reconnaissance visit back in Jan/Feb this year and loved the island. We're undecided yet whether we'd move there yet, but I certainly wouldn't go just to escape the heat of FNQ as there are plenty of other places in Australia with a temperate climate, if that's the main reason for your move. You might be interested in reading my post regarding our trip, in particular our findings on page 5.

https://www.pomsinoz.com/topic/216384-retiring-in-tasmania/

We're also considering east coast towns from Coffs Harbour down to Newcastle, so that will be focus for our next trip. We've decided that wherever we go, we'll rent out our house in Cairns for a year and rent somewhere first, to see how it goes. I see that you're renting so that wouldn't be a consideration for you, although you might want to weigh up the pros and cons of shipping everything from Queensland to Tassie versus the cost of storage, until you decide it's the right move for you. Good luck! 

@InnerVoice I read your post before making my own,   I’m glad I’m not the only one from up this way complaining about the heat, 

We will be visiting Tas after we go back briefly to the UK to see my dad at the end of this year, he isn’t too well sadly.

Once we are back here we will start making short holidays to tas, mainly during summer and winter, to the parts we are considering settling at, to see how the weather is.

I like your idea of leaving stuff in storage for a short period of time to see how we handle life in Tas….

The other driving factor for us wanting to move to Tas is because it’s most like home, the population of the towns we’ve looked at are nice and small, almost like being in the Cotswolds, whilst I do not truly feel at home until I am actually back home in the UK I have spent nearly 15years feeling like I’m in the wrong place, with Tas being more like home I believe I will feel more content.

Today has been another boiling hot day and the heat makes me miserable! 

[Toots]

8 minutes ago, Tjsmum said:

@InnerVoice I read your post before making my own,   I’m glad I’m not the only one from up this way complaining about the heat, 

We will be visiting Tas after we go back briefly to the UK to see my dad at the end of this year, he isn’t too well sadly.

Once we are back here we will start making short holidays to tas, mainly during summer and winter, to the parts we are considering settling at, to see how the weather is.

I like your idea of leaving stuff in storage for a short period of time to see how we handle life in Tas….

The other driving factor for us wanting to move to Tas is because it’s most like home, the population of the towns we’ve looked at are nice and small, almost like being in the Cotswolds, whilst I do not truly feel at home until I am actually back home in the UK I have spent nearly 15years feeling like I’m in the wrong place, with Tas being more like home I believe I will feel more content.

Today has been another boiling hot day and the heat makes me miserable! 

I don't think the towns here are anything like towns in the Cotswolds.  Give them another 200 years and they may have acquired a bit more character.  

We had another cool windy day here.

[Tjsmum]

29 minutes ago, Toots said:

I don't think the towns here are anything like towns in the Cotswolds.  Give them another 200 years and they may have acquired a bit more character.  

We had another cool windy day here.

@Toots Weather there sounds great! 
 

Im currently dripping sweat, waiting for the traffic to move , sigh! 

[InnerVoice]

1 hour ago, Tjsmum said:

The other driving factor for us wanting to move to Tas is because it’s most like home, the population of the towns we’ve looked at are nice and small, almost like being in the Cotswolds, whilst I do not truly feel at home until I am actually back home in the UK I have spent nearly 15years feeling like I’m in the wrong place, with Tas being more like home I believe I will feel more content.

@Tjsmum I don't want to be the messenger who gets shot but I think you're living in denial here. Tasmania is lovely, but it's incomparable with the UK - except for the cooler weather.

If you feel that way you should think about returning to the UK rather than moving to Tassie. I had similar yearnings so l returned to the UK between 2008 and 2011. At first it was great but I found the winters very depressing, and so much had changed. Most of my friends had moved on, one way or another. In my opinion the country had really gone downhill compared with the 80s and 90s, but then we always see our glory days through rose-tinted spectacles! Instead of Tasmania why not return to the UK for a year (or maybe 18 months, so at least you get two summers and one winter over there) and see how you go? One of the few advantages of renting over home ownership is having that flexibility to be able to up sticks relatively easily. I'd been renting in Australia but I still owned a house in the UK which I'd been renting out, so moving back when I did was easy with a home to return to. I sold the place when I returned to Australia, so I've definitely burnt my bridges with the old country now!

Anyone who still refers to the UK as 'home' after 15 years in Australia is clearly homesick. I know there are many Poms who just can't settle here and my heart goes out to them. I still miss things about good old Blighty but now that all my family over there have passed on, I don't have any compulsion to return. Personally, I was going to retire anywhere other than Australia then it would probably be southern Europe because at least you'd have the combination of nicer weather, with a bit of culture and sophistication thrown in.

[InnerVoice]

2 hours ago, Toots said:

I don't think the towns here are anything like towns in the Cotswolds.  Give them another 200 years and they may have acquired a bit more character.  

Ross would probably be the closest to anything in the Cotswolds - I loved the bridge and church!

[Toots]

@InnerVoice Richmond a pretty town 26km north of Hobart, also has a bridge built by convict labour between 1823 and 1825 for movement of military, police and convicts on the way to Hobart and Port Arthur.

 

[Tjsmum]

1 hour ago, InnerVoice said:

@Tjsmum I don't want to be the messenger who gets shot but I think you're living in denial here. Tasmania is lovely, but it's incomparable with the UK - except for the cooler weather.

If you feel that way you should think about returning to the UK rather than moving to Tassie. I had similar yearnings so l returned to the UK between 2008 and 2011. At first it was great but I found the winters very depressing, and so much had changed. Most of my friends had moved on, one way or another. In my opinion the country had really gone downhill compared with the 80s and 90s, but then we always see our glory days through rose-tinted spectacles! Instead of Tasmania why not return to the UK for a year (or maybe 18 months, so at least you get two summers and one winter over there) and see how you go? One of the few advantages of renting over home ownership is having that flexibility to be able to up sticks relatively easily. I'd been renting in Australia but I still owned a house in the UK which I'd been renting out, so moving back when I did was easy with a home to return to. I sold the place when I returned to Australia, so I've definitely burnt my bridges with the old country now!

Anyone who still refers to the UK as 'home' after 15 years in Australia is clearly homesick. I know there are many Poms who just can't settle here and my heart goes out to them. I still miss things about good old Blighty but now that all my family over there have passed on, I don't have any compulsion to return. Personally, I was going to retire anywhere other than Australia then it would probably be southern Europe because at least you'd have the combination of nicer weather, with a bit of culture

and sophistication thrown in.

@InnerVoice Thank you for your honest reply, How would you say that Tas is incomparable to the UK? 
 

You have hit the nail on the head there, I am homesick,  the heat exaggerates that but when we have cool and rainy weather the homesickness disappears.

I think I did mention in my OG post that moving home is not an option, I go home every 3 years for a months holiday and come the Third week I’ve had enough and can’t wait to come back to Aus (minus the hot weather). 
Like you had found when you went back for a few years the UK is not what it used to be, nothing like our childhood times, UK is a sinking ship IMO.

Moving back to the UK even for a short time isn’t simple for me, I have custody issues with my eldest and I refuse to leave him here with his father full time, I’d have to leave hubby here to work and getting settled temporarily with our youngest would be a massive headache for a temporary homesickness fix.

Australia truly is the land of milk and honey, even though times are getting tough here too, it’s no where near as bad as the UK.
We belong here, just not in the hot parts, “insert laugh here” 

[Tjsmum]

38 minutes ago, Toots said:

@InnerVoice Richmond a pretty town 26km north of Hobart, also has a bridge built by convict labour between 1823 and 1825 for movement of military, police and convicts on the way to Hobart and Port Arthur.

 

@Toots This picture is perfection! So beautiful and a lot like England I will look up Richmond, at first I thought this was the Richmond Sydney way 

 

 

Edit : I’ve just looked at rental prices in Richmond, looks like Latrobe is more affordable, bummer 

Edited March 9, 2023 by Tjsmum
Edit sentence

[InnerVoice]

13 hours ago, Tjsmum said:

@InnerVoice Thank you for your honest reply, How would you say that Tas is incomparable to the UK? 

You have hit the nail on the head there, I am homesick,  the heat exaggerates that but when we have cool and rainy weather the homesickness disappears.

I think I did mention in my OG post that moving home is not an option, I go home every 3 years for a months holiday and come the Third week I’ve had enough and can’t wait to come back to Aus (minus the hot weather). 
Like you had found when you went back for a few years the UK is not what it used to be, nothing like our childhood times, UK is a sinking ship IMO.

Moving back to the UK even for a short time isn’t simple for me, I have custody issues with my eldest and I refuse to leave him here with his father full time, I’d have to leave hubby here to work and getting settled temporarily with our youngest would be a massive headache for a temporary homesickness fix.

Australia truly is the land of milk and honey, even though times are getting tough here too, it’s no where near as bad as the UK.
We belong here, just not in the hot parts, “insert laugh here” 

I hear you. I guess you haven't been back to the UK since before the pandemic, so I hope that when you go back at the end of this year you'll get your fix for another 3 years 

England has a population of around 55 million people. Tasmania is roughly half the size of England and has half a million inhabitants - only 1% of its population. Outside the major towns Tassie is very sparsely populated with limited infrastructure, so if you're planning on living somewhere rural to save money on housing then just be prepared for that. We thought we might find that feeling of remoteness more of an issue than the cold winters, to be honest. Of course this is just my view after a couple of visits, as I know there are many on the forum who love living there. I think you should try and visit sooner than later though, before making too many long term plans.

Wouldn't your custody issue still exist if you moved to Tasmania, or are you waiting for your eldest to come of age before the move?

[Marisawright]

21 hours ago, Tjsmum said:

The other driving factor for us wanting to move to Tas is because it’s most like home, the population of the towns we’ve looked at are nice and small, almost like being in the Cotswolds, whilst I do not truly feel at home until I am actually back home in the UK I have spent nearly 15years feeling like I’m in the wrong place, with Tas being more like home I believe I will feel more content.

Have you considered country Victoria?  It can still get hot in summer (but then it also gets hot in Tasmania) but we do have proper winters here.  Ballarat is famous for being cold!  The advantage of Victoria is that it's much more densely populated but there is still plenty of countryside and small country towns.  There wouldn't be the same concerns about lack of employment. 

[Tjsmum]

8 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

I hear you. I guess you haven't been back to the UK since before the pandemic, so I hope that when you go back at the end of this year you'll get your fix for another 3 years 

England has a population of around 55 million people. Tasmania is roughly half the size of England and has half a million inhabitants - only 1% of its population. Outside the major towns Tassie is very sparsely populated with limited infrastructure, so if you're planning on living somewhere rural to save money on housing then just be prepared for that. We thought we might find that feeling of remoteness more of an issue than the cold winters, to be honest. Of course this is just my view after a couple of visits, as I know there are many on the forum who love living there. I think you should try and visit sooner than later though, before making too many long term plans.

Wouldn't your custody issue still exist if you moved to Tasmania, or are you waiting for your eldest to come of age before the move?

I forgot to mention I had been back home 6months before the pandemic and we went back again last September….

the one thing I didn’t realise is how rural, rural Tas is, there is a beautiful house in Gray on average, affordable but the population is less than 100, that’s a bit too rural for us.

I do prefer small towns though, we live in a small town at present and the limited infrastructure isn’t a bother.

Latrobe is still looking good at present.

I suppose the bits of home I’m looking for are the cold weather and the greener scenery.

unfortunatley custody will always be an issue with my son he’s only in high school, whilst he can stand on court and say where he wishes to be, but at the end of the day the courts will rule what’s best for the child, if they are blinded by his fathers lies they will want him to have some kind of time with his father and I think the judge would be more willing to grant majority custody if I was still in some part of Aus where flights to see his father several times a year equal one flight to the Uk every year.

[Tjsmum]

5 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Have you considered country Victoria?  It can still get hot in summer (but then it also gets hot in Tasmania) but we do have proper winters here.  Ballarat is famous for being cold!  The advantage of Victoria is that it's much more densely populated but there is still plenty of countryside and small country towns.  There wouldn't be the same concerns about lack of employment. 

@Marisawright I haven’t considered country Vic at this stage but I will look into it, the thing that makes me hesitant with Vic is how long they were in lockdown for, I can’t handle being stuck inside for too long, that’s why I like the idea of Tas, so I can be outside gardening.

Vic was in an unnecessarily long lockdown and it would drive me crackers if we had to go through one of them 

 

edit:::::: there seems to be more affordable housing in Vic and buildings to my liking, this below is an example:  I thought this kind of housing excised only in Tas 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Tjsmum

[Marisawright]

2 hours ago, Tjsmum said:

@Marisawright I haven’t considered country Vic at this stage but I will look into it, the thing that makes me hesitant with Vic is how long they were in lockdown for,

Melbourne (the city) was in lockdown for a long time.  Not the whole of Victoria.   Victoria's borders with other states were closed -- but so were Tasmania's.  People in the rest of Victoria couldn't go to Melbourne but otherwise they just carried on with life as normal for most of it, same as Tassie. 

Besides, even when Melbourne (city) was in lockdown, we weren't barricaded in our houses!   Being in your own garden was always perfectly legal, all the way through.   And even at the height of it, we could go out for an hour each day and visit family.

That little house is very typical for country Victoria.   In fact there's a lot of houses like that even in Melbourne. 

Another consideration for country Victoria is that it will be a shorter, cheaper flight to visit your son.  It will also be cheaper to make the move.  I was stunned at how expensive it is to transport your stuff to Tassie, it's like shipping stuff back to the UK! It's because everything has to go on the boat. 

As for the weather, I lived in Sydney for over 30 years. When I moved down to Melbourne, I had to go out and buy woolly hats, gloves and scarves again, but it does still get hot in summer.   Ballarat and the surrounding villages are at high altitude so it's always a few degrees cooler/colder.  Same goes for the mountains on the Eastern side of Melbourne (Dandenong Ranges, but don't confuse them with Dandenong, which is a totally different place) -- however they are an easy commute to Melbourne city, so tend to be more expensive for housing.    

https://www.realestate.com.au/news/victoria-dominates-best-regional-towns-for-firsthome-buyers-me/

Edited March 10, 2023 by Marisawright

[Tjsmum]

29 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Melbourne (the city) was in lockdown for a long time.  Not the whole of Victoria.   Victoria's borders with other states were closed -- but so were Tasmania's.  People in the rest of Victoria couldn't go to Melbourne but otherwise they just carried on with life as normal, same as Tassie. 

Besides, even when Melbourne (city) was in lockdown, we weren't barricaded in our houses!   Being in your own garden was always perfectly legal, all the way through.   And even at the height of it, we could go out for an hour each day and visit family.

That little house is very typical for country Victoria. 

@MarisawrightAh, my apologies I thought it was the entirety of Vic.

An hour wouldn’t be enough outside for me, 

Yes it’s those kind of houses I love! Can’t handle the carpet though, so unhygienic! But I’d put up with it….

i wonder where the safest places in country Vic would be, natural distasteful wise? And for Tas too

We have had cyclones come this way but it’s never been more than strong wind and rain

Edited March 10, 2023 by Tjsmum
Tagged wrong person

[Marisawright]

9 hours ago, Tjsmum said:

@MarisawrightAh, my apologies I thought it was the entirety of Vic.

An hour wouldn’t be enough outside for me, 

To be clear, we could always be outside in our own gardens for the entire day.  There was a while when we couldn't leave our own property for more than an hour a day.

9 hours ago, Tjsmum said:

Yes it’s those kind of houses I love! Can’t handle the carpet though, so unhygienic! But I’d put up with it….

i wonder where the safest places in country Vic would be, natural distasteful wise? And for Tas too

All those houses have lovely old wood floors so you could always rip up the carpet. 

No cyclones in Victoria.  The biggest natural disaster risk in Victoria is bushfires and the highest risk areas are:

• Halls Gap
• Mt Buller
• Jamieson
• Lavers Hill
• Shepparton
• Warburton
• Lorne
• Belgrave
• Wye River
• Bright/Harrietville

 

[InnerVoice]

12 hours ago, Tjsmum said:

I forgot to mention I had been back home 6months before the pandemic and we went back again last September….

the one thing I didn’t realise is how rural, rural Tas is, there is a beautiful house in Gray on average, affordable but the population is less than 100, that’s a bit too rural for us.

I do prefer small towns though, we live in a small town at present and the limited infrastructure isn’t a bother.

Latrobe is still looking good at present.

I suppose the bits of home I’m looking for are the cold weather and the greener scenery.

unfortunatley custody will always be an issue with my son he’s only in high school, whilst he can stand on court and say where he wishes to be, but at the end of the day the courts will rule what’s best for the child, if they are blinded by his fathers lies they will want him to have some kind of time with his father and I think the judge would be more willing to grant majority custody if I was still in some part of Aus where flights to see his father several times a year equal one flight to the Uk every year.

Compared with northern Queensland, Tasmania is as dry as bone - at least the parts which are habitable. Devonport has about half the annual rainfall of Cairns, and Hobart a third. I do love the rain up here, but wish it didn't go on for so long!

I've only visited Tassie in February and March, and was reliably informed by forum members who live there that it does get very dry at this time of year. However, in my opinion it doesn't look much like the English countryside. The scenery is very similar to Victoria but more mountainous, so it's more impressive in that respect.

I'm no sure why you'd be concerned about lockdowns at this point in time - it's a done deal. Although there could be another pandemic of course, but I'd be far more concerned about floods and bushfires given Australia's extreme climate.

[Toots]

1 hour ago, InnerVoice said:

Compared with northern Queensland, Tasmania is as dry as bone - at least the parts which are habitable. Devonport has about half the annual rainfall of Cairns, and Hobart a third. I do love the rain up here, but wish it didn't go on for so long!

I've only visited Tassie in February and March, and was reliably informed by forum members who live there that it does get very dry at this time of year. However, in my opinion it doesn't look much like the English countryside. The scenery is very similar to Victoria but more mountainous, so it's more impressive in that respect.

I'm no sure why you'd be concerned about lockdowns at this point in time - it's a done deal. Although there could be another pandemic of course, but I'd be far more concerned about floods and bushfires given Australia's extreme climate.

We are no longer brown and shrivelled as we've had rainfall.  The middle of Tasmania and the east coast still need it.  As far as extreme weather goes I would hazard a guess that the north west coast gets the least hazardous weather.  We don't get freezing winters and we don't get baking hot summers.  We've been here 9 years and no bushfires in this area.  There was flooding in 2016 but Devonport escaped that.  Latrobe was badly flooded.  Farmers lost a lot of stock.

 

[InnerVoice]

24 minutes ago, Toots said:

We are no longer brown and shrivelled as we've had rainfall.  The middle of Tasmania and the east coast still need it.  As far as extreme weather goes I would hazard a guess that the north west coast gets the least hazardous weather.  We don't get freezing winters and we don't get baking hot summers.  We've been here 9 years and no bushfires in this area.  There was flooding in 2016 but Devonport escaped that.  Latrobe was badly flooded.  Farmers lost a lot of stock.

 

Terrible. This just goes to show why you have to be so careful choosing a home in Australia, even if it's just rental accommodation. I noted the enormous storm drain at the end of our garden when buying our property, which has never backed up - yet!

[Tjsmum]

14 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Melbourne (the city) was in lockdown for a long time.  Not the whole of Victoria.   Victoria's borders with other states were closed -- but so were Tasmania's.  People in the rest of Victoria couldn't go to Melbourne but otherwise they just carried on with life as normal for most of it, same as Tassie. 

Besides, even when Melbourne (city) was in lockdown, we weren't barricaded in our houses!   Being in your own garden was always perfectly legal, all the way through.   And even at the height of it, we could go out for an hour each day and visit family.

That little house is very typical for country Victoria.   In fact there's a lot of houses like that even in Melbourne. 

Another consideration for country Victoria is that it will be a shorter, cheaper flight to visit your son.  It will also be cheaper to make the move.  I was stunned at how expensive it is to transport your stuff to Tassie, it's like shipping stuff back to the UK! It's because everything has to go on the boat. 

As for the weather, I lived in Sydney for over 30 years. When I moved down to Melbourne, I had to go out and buy woolly hats, gloves and scarves again, but it does still get hot in summer.   Ballarat and the surrounding villages are at high altitude so it's always a few degrees cooler/colder.  Same goes for the mountains on the Eastern side of Melbourne (Dandenong Ranges, but don't confuse them with Dandenong, which is a totally different place) -- however they are an easy commute to Melbourne city, so tend to be more expensive for housing.    

https://www.realestate.com.au/news/victoria-dominates-best-regional-towns-for-firsthome-buyers-me/

@Marisawright Thank you for clarifying the lockdown bits for me, 

I haven’t been able to find an estimate online for shipping container to Tas, but I did say to Hubby if we moved to Vic instead, that we could drive a hire truck down there with a family member and the family member could drive it back to FNQ.

Yes, affordable flights would be a must if everything went swimmingly with custody case, as my eldest sons father is looking to move down somewhere near Brisbane.

Thank you for the info regarding housing, we will never buy, it’s too costly sadly, we fought tooth and nail 3years ago yo get pre approval but that was back when you could get a decent house for $250k, we have come to terms with the fact that we will rent until retirement age and then we will become nomads 

[Tjsmum]

3 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

Compared with northern Queensland, Tasmania is as dry as bone - at least the parts which are habitable. Devonport has about half the annual rainfall of Cairns, and Hobart a third. I do love the rain up here, but wish it didn't go on for so long!

I've only visited Tassie in February and March, and was reliably informed by forum members who live there that it does get very dry at this time of year. However, in my opinion it doesn't look much like the English countryside. The scenery is very similar to Victoria but more mountainous, so it's more impressive in that respect.

I'm no sure why you'd be concerned about lockdowns at this point in time - it's a done deal. Although there could be another pandemic of course, but I'd be far more concerned about floods and bushfires given Australia's extreme climate.

@InnerVoice That’s interesting, I’d thought with it being cooler it would be wetter, I did see the flooding not too long ago can’t remember where in Tas it was.

I’m one of those people that likes to be prepared, I like to think of all possibilities, there will come a time when we may have to have another lockdown , when we had our short lockdown no body really cared, we still had to do social distancing and masks but we continued to move around driving to other towns and the police were not there to enforce it, I guess it’s because we aren’t in the city, harder to keep eyes on everyone, so country Vic sounds good 

Edited March 11, 2023 by Tjsmum
Correction of sentence

[Marisawright]

2 hours ago, Tjsmum said:

I haven’t been able to find an estimate online for shipping container to Tas, but I did say to Hubby if we moved to Vic instead, that we could drive a hire truck down there with a family member and the family member could drive it back to FNQ.

Thank you for the info regarding housing, we will never buy, it’s too costly sadly....

Best bet is to contact some removalists and ask them for quotes.  No harm in it, there's never any obligation to actually book!    The problem with Tassie is that somewhere along the line, your stuff has to be loaded onto a ship, and it's the sea freight that costs all the extra money.

If you're renting, then I'd say country Victoria is a better bet than Tasmania, where I'm told rents have gone up drastically.  

Edited March 11, 2023 by Marisawright

[Toots]

3 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

Terrible. This just goes to show why you have to be so careful choosing a home in Australia, even if it's just rental accommodation. I noted the enormous storm drain at the end of our garden when buying our property, which has never backed up - yet!

I would never buy a house close to a river or in a low lying area no matter what country I lived in.  We do live next to a river here but it doesn't flood in Devonport as it empties out into the sea.