Guest Michael Rimmer Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 Well we (Me, the wife adn our 5 year old son) fly to Brisbane now in just under 10 hours - just finishing the last little bits whilst in the heathrow hotel before trying to get some sleep. Not sure if I will manage that as now quite excited as the starin from all the goodbyes and the stress of packing the house up has disappeared. We are flying with Singapore Airlines and have a rental for the first few weeks organised with my work. Well, I will update once we are on the other side and hope to see some of you at the Brisbane gettogether in mid september. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 Safe journey xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cazbeckham Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 Have a safe trip and a fantastic new life here in Australia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest36187 Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 Have a fantastic trip xx see you on the flip side x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest juliemtaylor Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 Have a good flight and hear from you Oz side x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smackey Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 Hello and Welcome to Aussie Hopefully you guys are here now and found your rental etc. Hope the flight went ok and the little one coped with it ok. let us know how you're settling in Sx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Michael Rimmer Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 Well we have been here just about 2 days now so here are my initial thoughts: We flew with Singapore airlines on the big airbus A380 - did wonder how it was ever going to leave the ground but it was really good and so quiet. The airline staff were brilliant, never been so well fed and watered on any flight. Jacob enjoyed the flight helped the sheer amount of entertainment on offer and also his DS and our Ipad that had a couple of movies as well. We all managed some sleep on the first leg to try and get ourselves onto Aussie time. We arrived in Singapore and only had a 2 hour stopover so a quick refresh and it was time to board the flight to Brisbane (may sound like madness but the short turnaround meant we arrived in Brisbane at 7.30 in the evening which I think is ideal). The plane was smaller but almost empty so people pretty much picked their seat. Again the staff were fantastic and we arrived in Brisbane at 7.30. My work have sorted us out a rental in the CBD on felix street for the first few weeks and luckily I don't start work for 2 weeks. The first day was spent having a walk along the river and exploring the city centre as well as sorting the bank out (even did abit of a shop in woolworths). I would say as a tip from me to stop thinking in pounds and pence as soon as you get here otherwise you won't buy anything, especially your morning coffee and cake! I cant believe how many coffee places there are here. Today we had a trip on the citycat and ended up in Toowong to have a look at the School where Jacob might be going to, very impressed and we are now going to start the process of house hunting. Tomorrow we might go and see what the south bank is all about! That is all for now except I still think that everyone is strange walking around in jackets and scarfs whilst I am in shorts and t-shirt. It is 25 degrees, surely thats abit warm...:wink: cheers Michael, Sharron and Jacob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaz36 Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 Hi Michael, Good to see you've settled in a bit and not too bad with jet lag it seems. Are you going to base your house hunting around the school at Toowong or are you looking at other areas too? Is it a state school or private? Always interested to hear about people's experiences once there, as we'll be making the move over soon. Cheers Shaz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Michael Rimmer Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 The school in Toowong would be private (Brisbane Boys College), however we are not limiting our search for a house round there (I think our idea of a commute is different to peoples here and the traffic I have seen decirbed as bad is nothing when compared what I was used to on my commute to work in Leeds from home where it took an hour to go about 7 miles). Ideally we would be around the toowong area so that the school trip was not too bad and I could get to the cbd fairly easily but the public transport seems quite good from my limited experience of it so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue Ashforth Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 We're jealous! Hoping to get there middle of next year - save some space for us!! Good luck and hope it all goes well for your family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crispysince70 Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 C'mon Michael and Co, give us an update, I'm dying to know how things have been going on for you all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Michael Rimmer Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Update – 5 Months In Well as requested here is a little update from us. So we have been here for 4 months now and that time has flown by and seen so many things happen, not all good but all adds to the experience. We ended up staying in the CBD apartment that my work had sorted out for us for 4 weeks and in this time we sorted our sons school out, he goes to Brisbane boys College in Toowong and settled in straight away. He is in the year above in terms of his age groups but that is more closely aligned to the level he was at in the UK as they start school a year later over here. We also bought a car as that is an absolute necessity and also attended the first Brisbannites meeting at New Farm Park. This was organised by a couple (Matt & Sharon aka Smackey & Benchola) on PIO initially who came over just before we did, an absolutely fantastic idea and one that has continued every month at a different location around Brisbane and the Brisbannites group is ever growing and now even has its own Facebook page/group. It is good to meet up with people in similar situations and have a chat over the BBQ and a beer. Once we had the car then the house hunting started, we wanted to stay within 10kms of the city and eventually settled on the western suburbs as was better for access to Jacobs school and good links to the city for me. We are currently renting a house in Bardon on a little complex that has the advantage of a shared pool and bbq area. In no time at all it seemed that Jacob was breaking up for his ‘summer / Xmas’ holidays which he was loving as he has just come off his UK summer holidays but not before the start of the Ashes at the Gabba in Brisbane. Jacob and his Cricket class were offered tickets to the first day and would also have the chance to get on the pitch at the lunch break and play some cricket, I as a good parent obviously had to accompany him – that was brilliant (only concern was Jacob wanted Australia to win as he I think he sees himself as an Australian already…). And then the strange weather arrived. Just as it was meant to be summer in Brissie I am not sure how many days of sunshine we actually got in the months of November / December – there seemed to be a lot of rain about but at least it was never cold and we all heard about the horrendous snow back in the UK. More strange and tragically devasting was the floods that seemed to come from no-where. We were not directly affected (although my office was closed for 2 weeks) but we were not far from the areas that were, the scale of the damage is just very hard to comprehend. In the first few months that we have been here it seems that we are out and about every weekend as a family and with friends, be it at the various theme parks (Seaworld, Movieworld, dreamworld & wet n Wild) or the many beaches and parks around (Surfers, Colundra etc). That is the best part about being out here – that and the fact that as we won the Ashes. Apart from all of the above we are really enjoying it out here and the good weather has now arrived – it is very hot and very humid at the minute but that is more what we expected in the summer time. Cheers Michael, Sharron & Jacob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crispysince70 Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Thanks for the update, it's so nice to hear that you're settling in, and getting on with things. We're still in the process, but thinking ( well, worrying lol) about how we'll do things when we get there. I'm pleased to hear that you're son seems to have taken it all in his stride and is happy. Good luck with everything!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HavenMarra Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Great post - thanks for the update - sounds like it is all going well for you guys. We leave from Glasgow for Brisbane mid March. Similar deal - accom for a month in the CBD while we find a rental. Meet ups sound fab - can't wait to get there and join everyone. Off to look for FB group now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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