Where to live around Brisbane 30-40 minutes

[Guest CoxyJo]

Hi, Whopefully getting towards the end of the visa process, looking to come out early to mid 2010. Came out last year and had a good look around but now trying to remember the places and look around those areas for schools etc. :unsure:

 

Me, Jo and kids Dan(11), Mat(10), Adam(7), Olivia(6) looking to be max 20 minutes from beaches, 30-40 minutes train or car from Brisbane CBD, lots of sports / park activities local. Good secondary and primary schools - easy about state, catholic or private as long as discipined and good results.

 

Some places have in mind include Jacobs Well, Sandgate, shorncliffe, Bayside, Ormiston, Alexandra Hills, Redland, Pimpama, Omerau / Omerau Hills, Shailer Park, Cornubia, Mt. Cotton

 

Any help, advise, links, experience would be really appreciated. :hug:

[Guest JillG]

Hi, Whopefully getting towards the end of the visa process, looking to come out early to mid 2010. Came out last year and had a good look around but now trying to remember the places and look around those areas for schools etc. :unsure:

 

Me, Jo and kids Dan(11), Mat(10), Adam(7), Olivia(6) looking to be max 20 minutes from beaches, 30-40 minutes train or car from Brisbane CBD, lots of sports / park activities local. Good secondary and primary schools - easy about state, catholic or private as long as discipined and good results.

 

Some places have in mind include Jacobs Well, Sandgate, shorncliffe, Bayside, Ormiston, Alexandra Hills, Redland, Pimpama, Omerau / Omerau Hills, Shailer Park, Cornubia, Mt. Cotton

 

Any help, advise, links, experience would be really appreciated. :hug:

 

Hi There,

We liked the look of Redland bay and surrounds but after looking around we didn’t feel the area was right for us. After looking around Redcliffe area we loved the look of the beaches there. My husband has a job in Brisbane CBD and we have just got a rental in north lakes. North Lakes has everything around and only 10 mins to Redcliffe beaches. There is plenty to do for kids in the area. Take a look at: http://www.northlakes.com.au/ ttp://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/

Hope this helps a little.

Jill

[Guest woods99]

We have friends that live at Ormeau, and they love it there. There is a very good school (fee-paying). A lot depends on your budget, of course.

[Rudi]

Hi Jo

 

Welcome to PIO. We live in the Bayside area and love it and it probably ticks all your boxes. As well as Ormiston, you should look at Wellington Point, Cleveland, Thonrlands, Victoria Point and Redland Bay. They are all good suburbs and have a great mix of state, private and Catholic schools.

 

We have 3 children and there is certainly plenty to keep them occupied in this area!!!

 

If you need any more spcecific advice, please ask - I'm happy to help.

 

Love

 

Rudi

x

[Guest The Gore Family]

Hi Jo

 

Welcome to PIO. We live in the Bayside area and love it and it probably ticks all your boxes. As well as Ormiston, you should look at Wellington Point, Cleveland, Thonrlands, Victoria Point and Redland Bay. They are all good suburbs and have a great mix of state, private and Catholic schools.

 

We have 3 children and there is certainly plenty to keep them occupied in this area!!!

 

If you need any more spcecific advice, please ask - I'm happy to help.

 

Love

 

Rudi

x

 

 

Hi Rudi

we are the Gore family looking at your post we are looking around your area we have 3 kids 17 13 & 5 would love to hear more about the property your way also looking for a hospital for my wife to work at she is a midwife any help you be good

 

speak soon i hope

 

David & Heather

[Rudi]

Hi Rudi

we are the Gore family looking at your post we are looking around your area we have 3 kids 17 13 & 5 would love to hear more about the property your way also looking for a hospital for my wife to work at she is a midwife any help you be good

 

speak soon i hope

 

David & Heather

 

Hi David and Heather,

 

Good to hear from you! What do you want to know about property? We have a good mix of property here and a complete range of prices too!! Anything from a small 3 bedroomed 1 bathroom place for about 350k up to the water front properties at Raby Bay which sell for several million.....and plenty in between! There are very modern housing estates, some of which are are still being built, so you can get a house and land package, or much older Queenslander style properties - the original queenslanders are so quaint and beautiful.

 

As well as suburban property, there are rural areas with acreage properties.....but still close to all the local amenities.

 

Cleveland has a large hospital, so that might be somewhere your wife could consider working.

 

Cleveland, Ormiston and Wellington Point are all on the train line, Thornlands, Victoria Point and Redland Bay are not. We live at the very southern end of Thornlands and it's about an 8 minute drive to the station. However, property in Thornlands, Vicky Point and Redland bay is very slightly cheaper as a result.

 

School are generally good, with state, semi private (church schools generally) and private schools.

 

I hope that helps a bit. If you want some specific info about housing, let me know. Two good sites to look at to get an idea of what you can get for your money are domain.com.au and realestate.com.au.

 

Love

 

Rudi

x

[Guest sh7t man no way]

redcliffe mate--its got all you want

[Guest CoxyJo]

Thanks everyone, lots of good information, will now start looking into the them all a bit more specific for the arteas you are all highlighting. cheers will be posting soon

[Guest Moved2Brisbane]

Hi - Redland Shire is wonderful for families and is bayside as you know. Schools are great with many choices of private/fee paying and public. ( you may need to get on wait lists for the private colleges asap as they have already worked out their enrolments for 2010.

 

The area has a whole community spirit and every sporting/leisure and acitivity club, sporting facility, community group that you can think of. It even has it's own Performing Arts Centre and Festival.

 

Commuting time is important to consider as Brisbane traffic and roadworks are a big factor. Bottlenecks occur in specific places in ithe West and North. Transport links are good in the Redlands with a train service that starts at Cleveland and goes through Ormiston, Wellington Pt, Thorneside etc There are also express bus services but I don't know whether they get delayed in the traffic or not.

 

Take a look at More2Redlands.com.au, shorttermaccommodation.com.au, rentalsinoz.com, stayz.com

 

If you want to know more from any of those who have posted, you can send a Personal Message (PM).

 

Good luck

Moved2Brisbane

[Guest CoxyJo]

Can you tell me more about school years please?

 

You mentioned college is this High School.

 

Our Children's details are below, Which school year do they fall in and when does the school year start?

 

Daniel 13/3/98, 11, currenlty in uk year 7 (1st year of secondary school)

Matty 19/8/99, 10, currently in uk year 6 (last year of junior school)

Adam 23/4/02, 7, currently in uk year 3 (1st year of junior school)

Olivia 8/5/03, 6, currently in uk year 2 (last year of infants school)

 

cheers

[Guest The Ropey HOFF]

Hi, Whopefully getting towards the end of the visa process, looking to come out early to mid 2010. Came out last year and had a good look around but now trying to remember the places and look around those areas for schools etc. :unsure:

 

Me, Jo and kids Dan(11), Mat(10), Adam(7), Olivia(6) looking to be max 20 minutes from beaches, 30-40 minutes train or car from Brisbane CBD, lots of sports / park activities local. Good secondary and primary schools - easy about state, catholic or private as long as discipined and good results.

 

Some places have in mind include Jacobs Well, Sandgate, shorncliffe, Bayside, Ormiston, Alexandra Hills, Redland, Pimpama, Omerau / Omerau Hills, Shailer Park, Cornubia, Mt. Cotton

 

Any help, advise, links, experience would be really appreciated. :hug:

 

Hi Jo,

 

we are validating our 175 pr visa in April and after quite a bit of research we have booked into a fabulous apartment overlooking surfers paradise beach and we are going to look round the areas of Meadowbrook, Forest lakes and Springfield lakes and the subhurbs in between. All these are about 15 to 25 km south of the CBD and there are alot of new build houses on realestate.com.au for about $375,000 to $425,000 for a 4 bedroomed 2 bathroomed house in what appears to be nice areas. I have asked before about these areas on PIO and the only place i have been told to avoid was Doolendella. This is a South Brisbane view, from somone who knows very little about it and i hope it is has nice as what previous people on PIO have said it is. We want to be about 15km from the city and about 20km from the coast which some of these areas are. All the best and i hope it all works out for you and if you go North and we are definately going South then it will be interesting to hear each others views.

 

jim:wink:

[Rudi]

Can you tell me more about school years please?

 

You mentioned college is this High School.

 

Our Children's details are below, Which school year do they fall in and when does the school year start?

 

Daniel 13/3/98, 11, currenlty in uk year 7 (1st year of secondary school)

Matty 19/8/99, 10, currently in uk year 6 (last year of junior school)

Adam 23/4/02, 7, currently in uk year 3 (1st year of junior school)

Olivia 8/5/03, 6, currently in uk year 2 (last year of infants school)

 

cheers

 

OK......the school year starts at the end of January......however, the cut off date for ages is the end of June.......but it used to be the end of the year......confused?! Oh and Secondary school starts in year 8

 

This is what they would be starting in for this school year here in Queensland (different for other states)

 

Daniel would be going into year 7 this year - final year of primary.

Matty would be going into year 6 this year

Adam would be going into year 3 this year

Olivia would be going into year 2 this year

 

Some high schools are called colleges.....

 

Hope that helps!

 

Love

 

Rudi

x

[Guest The Ropey HOFF]

Hi Rudi,

 

i have just been looking at houses again on realestate.com.au and i think i noticed Redlands Bay was about 15km from Meadowbrook, is that right and do you know anything about this area and the surrounding subhurbs, for schools and what areas have a good name and those not so good. Also whats the beach like where you are and is there things going. Enjoy it, its been -22 here in the UK. LOL

 

JIM

[Rudi]

Hi Rudi,

 

i have just been looking at houses again on realestate.com.au and i think i noticed Redlands Bay was about 15km from Meadowbrook, is that right and do you know anything about this area and the surrounding subhurbs, for schools and what areas have a good name and those not so good. Also whats the beach like where you are and is there things going. Enjoy it, its been -22 here in the UK. LOL

 

JIM

 

Hi Jim

 

I think it's a little further, but a pretty quick run - maybe 20 minutes.

 

Redland Bay is lovely. It's very much a growing suburb. There are many new houses and lots of plots of land still available, but there are also the more established areas. There are no areas to avoid in particular, but if you ask about specific suburbs, people may have advice for you.

 

The primary school is great. The closest high school is Victoria Point High school. They get good results.

 

Hmmmm, beach....well the Brisbane area doesn't have great beaches. Moreton and Stradbroke Islands protect the coastal areas both north and south of Brisbane, meaning that there are no waves. There are a few small beaches dotted around, but not like the ones you see down on the Gold Coast. There's a small one in Redland Bay with a swimming enclosure. There is one called Thompsons Beach in Victoria Point. There are several man-made beaches in Raby Bay, Cleveland (my favourite) and then there's one at Wellington Point.

 

Certainly the one at Raby Bay keeps my kids happy - mine are 13, 10 and 7. It's so safe and we love going there.

 

Hope that is useful.

 

Love

 

Rudi

x

[Guest The Ropey HOFF]

Hi Jim

 

I think it's a little further, but a pretty quick run - maybe 20 minutes.

 

Redland Bay is lovely. It's very much a growing suburb. There are many new houses and lots of plots of land still available, but there are also the more established areas. There are no areas to avoid in particular, but if you ask about specific suburbs, people may have advice for you.

 

The primary school is great. The closest high school is Victoria Point High school. They get good results.

 

Hmmmm, beach....well the Brisbane area doesn't have great beaches. Moreton and Stradbroke Islands protect the coastal areas both north and south of Brisbane, meaning that there are no waves. There are a few small beaches dotted around, but not like the ones you see down on the Gold Coast. There's a small one in Redland Bay with a swimming enclosure. There is one called Thompsons Beach in Victoria Point. There are several man-made beaches in Raby Bay, Cleveland (my favourite) and then there's one at Wellington Point.

 

Certainly the one at Raby Bay keeps my kids happy - mine are 13, 10 and 7. It's so safe and we love going there.

 

Hope that is useful.

 

Love

 

Rudi

x

 

Hi Rudi,

 

great reply and thanks. you have got me looking at Redlands Bay and the surrounding areas, the prices on realestate.com.au are still really good, we want at least a 3 bedroomed, but would prefer a 4 bedroomed house for about $400,000 dollars, we want a new build to get the new first buyers discount. Are there many new build areas there and just why do you think that Redlands Bay area would be a great place for us to emigrate to. We are stopping at Surfers paradise for 22 nights in april and we will definately be looking around Redlands Bay. When you have a bit of time, could you give us as much info about it as possible,

 

cheers jim.:biggrin:

[Guest Moved2Brisbane]

Hi CoxyJo

Have left you a detailed PM last night in reply to your kids education queries.

To get official information go to the Govt website: education.qld.gov.au, here you can check out all the schools also. If you contact the school, they will tell you immediately which year your kids will be going into. As i said, coming from the UK- I think you will pick up an extra term of the same year your kids are in. When you narrow down your choices, post another message and ask if any-one has experience at the schools you are interested in and we can PM you.

 

Reading through the posts- I am wondering if Redland Bay is getting confused with the Redland area generally. Redland Bay is in the Redland Shire/City Council area and is a lovely area. It is a little further afield than Cleveland, Ormiston, Wellington Point (which are all in the Shire). Redland Bay, Thornlands, Victoria Point are not on the train line if you have a city commuter in the family which then means 2 cars and a 15/20 min drive to the train and competition for a park at the station in the am. Just depends what your situation is.

 

There is central shopping in Cleveland popular with those suburbs. While Redland Bay, Victoria Point, Thornlands are closer to Victoria Point shopping Complex which most of us go to also as it has an ALDI chain store, all the usual franchise stores and a brilliant Cineplex with really cheap tickets for movies.

 

It is the eternal dilemma-pick the school first or the accommodation/area first? I know people who lived in Thornlands who schooled their kids at Ormiston schools private and public and it was 15-20 mins each way, each pick up = > 1 hour in the car for school runs and it seemed they if they didn't go straight home, they would be looking to hang around and fill in the day.

 

If you picked Sheldon College, Faith College (also private/fee paying), then Redland Bay, Victoria Point and Thornlands are only 10mins.

 

Also there is a brand new school starting this term in Thornlands. There are many private and public schools in the Redland Shire/City Council area including Catholic ones such as Star of the Sea in Cleveland which is pretty new, but has a good reputation and has attracted many families from other schools recently. There is a lot to choose from.

 

Cheers

Moved2Brisbane

[Rudi]

 

It is the eternal dilemma-pick the school first or the accommodation/area first? I know people who lived in Thornlands who schooled their kids at Ormiston schools private and public and it was 15-20 mins each way, each pick up = > 1 hour in the car for school runs and it seemed they if they didn't go straight home, they would be looking to hang around and fill in the day.

 

 

 

 

No it's not!!! I live at a absolute southern end of Thornlands and my kids are at school in Ormiston. At absolute worst it's a 10 minute drive.

 

Rudi

[Rudi]

Hi Rudi,

 

great reply and thanks. you have got me looking at Redlands Bay and the surrounding areas, the prices on realestate.com.au are still really good, we want at least a 3 bedroomed, but would prefer a 4 bedroomed house for about $400,000 dollars, we want a new build to get the new first buyers discount. Are there many new build areas there and just why do you think that Redlands Bay area would be a great place for us to emigrate to. We are stopping at Surfers paradise for 22 nights in april and we will definately be looking around Redlands Bay. When you have a bit of time, could you give us as much info about it as possible,

 

cheers jim.:biggrin:

 

 

Hi Jim

 

I am not sure, but I thought the grant for buying a new build house had finished now? I think that was something the government did last year to stimulate the market, but it no longer exists. There is still the First Home Owners Grant which is $7000, and is available to anyone buying in Australia for the first time.. First Home Owners Boost. You do not have to buy a new house to be eligible for the FHOG.

 

The lower priced properties are becoming rarer. You could certainly buy a 3 bedroomed home in Redland Bay and other areas in the Redlands for under $400k, but finding a 4 bedroomed home for that amount will be hard. It depends on whether you are prepared to do work to it.

 

Have a look at Mount Cotton. It's one suburb back from the water and so house prices will be very slightly lower. Same with Alexandra Hills and Capalaba.

 

Love

 

Rudi

x

[Guest CoxyJo]

What's it like???????? :eek:

 

We are begining to home in on where to live, Cornubia seems to have everything we need in the area we are looking at - but what's it really like? Anybody any views?

 

For us it has it all - 30 minutes to CBD, 20 to coast, 10 to shailer park complex, good primary and secondary schools, golf courses, semi rural with parks and reserves close.

 

Would look to rent and get the kids into the schools then look at buying land and building - could even move slightly out (kimberley park, tanah merah) once in the schools.

 

cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeers

Gary...

[Guest Bettyboop]

Hi, we moved here three months ago and your list matches my requirements exactly!!! We looked at Redcliffe and Sandgate and really loved them and I have enjoyed some days out in Redcliffe!! The lagoon area there is amazing and the kids just love it. After spending ages on the internet searching rentals and train times we ended up narrowing our search to Bayside and we have ended up renting in Wynnum. We began to run out of time with finding a place to rent but as it turns out we really like it here, it takes my hubby 35 mins on the train to get to South Bank they have express trains at peak times on the Cleveland line which means any commute from Cleveland to the city is pretty good. We have a lot of days out around Wellington Point and Cleveland, Raby Bay beaches and marina both are very good areas to live in. So far I have liked all of the bayside areas that I have seen, we live next to Manly which is another lovely place to live.

 

From what I have seen so far there is too much choice here!!!! there are so many lovely places to live and most of the places we looked at I would have happily moved to!!! you really just have to decide what is right for your family. For us I wanted to keep my hubbys travelling time to work as small as possible but also wanted to be right by the water.

 

We also have 3 children, 13, 9 and 7. If you have any questions please feel free to PM me.

 

good luck

 

love

 

Angie xxxx

[calNgary]

What's it like???????? :eek:

 

We are begining to home in on where to live, Cornubia seems to have everything we need in the area we are looking at - but what's it really like? Anybody any views?

 

For us it has it all - 30 minutes to CBD, 20 to coast, 10 to shailer park complex, good primary and secondary schools, golf courses, semi rural with parks and reserves close.

 

Would look to rent and get the kids into the schools then look at buying land and building - could even move slightly out (kimberley park, tanah merah) once in the schools.

 

cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeers

Gary...

 

Its not a bad place at all, have a look for a member named Aldo, he is away at the mo but im sure he wont mind you dropping him a PM he lived there for a while.

 

Cal x

[Guest bulldogs]

Hi David and Heather,

 

Good to hear from you! What do you want to know about property? We have a good mix of property here and a complete range of prices too!! Anything from a small 3 bedroomed 1 bathroom place for about 350k up to the water front properties at Raby Bay which sell for several million.....and plenty in between! There are very modern housing estates, some of which are are still being built, so you can get a house and land package, or much older Queenslander style properties - the original queenslanders are so quaint and beautiful.

 

As well as suburban property, there are rural areas with acreage properties.....but still close to all the local amenities.

 

Cleveland has a large hospital, so that might be somewhere your wife could consider working.

 

Cleveland, Ormiston and Wellington Point are all on the train line, Thornlands, Victoria Point and Redland Bay are not. We live at the very southern end of Thornlands and it's about an 8 minute drive to the station. However, property in Thornlands, Vicky Point and Redland bay is very slightly cheaper as a result.

 

School are generally good, with state, semi private (church schools generally) and private schools.

 

I hope that helps a bit. If you want some specific info about housing, let me know. Two good sites to look at to get an idea of what you can get for your money are domain.com.au and realestate.com.au.

 

Love

 

Rudi

x

Rudi, I've been reading your posts and I'm in the same boat as many looking to move to QLD. Things are very overwhelming from the internet so my wife and I were going to take a week trip to check things out (I'm sure not enough time). We also have 3 boys 10,12,14 to consider. Do you have any ideas on how to go about searching for rentals, schools,jobs once we are down there? Where do we start? Any help would be appreciated. Steve

[Rudi]

Rudi, I've been reading your posts and I'm in the same boat as many looking to move to QLD. Things are very overwhelming from the internet so my wife and I were going to take a week trip to check things out (I'm sure not enough time). We also have 3 boys 10,12,14 to consider. Do you have any ideas on how to go about searching for rentals, schools,jobs once we are down there? Where do we start? Any help would be appreciated. Steve

 

Hi Steve

 

Welcome to PIO.

 

It is completely overwhelming I agree!!

 

OK, where to start.

 

Well I guess the first thing you need to decide is where you are going to live. This will depend on a few things - will you need good access to the CBD or will your job be located somewhere else? What can you afford? What sort of are do you want to be in - rural, near the water, both, suburban, cafe culture etc etc etc.

 

As a general rule of thumb, a decent are = a decent state school.

 

Jobs - a good place to start looking is on Seek.com.au. What do you do now? Have you got a visa? Have you determined that you have the necessary skills etc to get a visa?

 

Rentals - it depends on area as to how easy they are to come by. I think in Qld things are not too bad and certainly we don't seem to have a whole heap of people turning up to view properties. Try having a look at realestate.com.au and domain.com.au to get an idea of cost.

 

I hope that gives you a few things to go on with! Keep asking the questions! PIO is so helpful. I find that here you get really helpful answers.

 

Love

 

Rudi

x

[Guest THE LEEKS]

Hi all,

 

This is my first post on pio. We visited Oz last year and had stays in Cairns, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, we stoped in Redcliffe last December for 5 days and liked what Brisbane had to offer better than all the other places, so much so that we have applied for Qld sponsership last March. We have been looking at housing around North lakes area at about $430,000 but they dont seem to have a lot of garden with them. Does anyone know of a place not to far from CBD 30/40 mins where the propertys have decent gardens, or is there no such thing?

[Guest Iain H]

Hi all,

 

This is my first post on pio. We visited Oz last year and had stays in Cairns, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, we stoped in Redcliffe last December for 5 days and liked what Brisbane had to offer better than all the other places, so much so that we have applied for Qld sponsership last March. We have been looking at housing around North lakes area at about $430,000 but they dont seem to have a lot of garden with them. Does anyone know of a place not to far from CBD 30/40 mins where the propertys have decent gardens, or is there no such thing?

Hi - We are doing our second Reccy to Brisbane at Easter having spent time in Redcliffe last year. If you want a bit of land at reasonable prices but within 15-25 minutes of the CBD, you could check out places like Bridgeman Downs, McDowall, Chermside and around there. You can get a pretty big plot in these places. If you havent done so already, check out the houses on www.realestate.com.au and search QLD. Just enter one of these areas in the search bar and input your price range and see what you get for your money. I'm sure that there will by similar areas in the south but others with greater knowledge than me on this site might help you there....Good Luck !!!