kellyjamie Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Morning everyone old and new lol!! Sincere apologies to those i last had contact with ive not been back on since returning from validating at the start of feb. So....... here goes, well we took the tough decision to all return we really swithered if jamie should have stayed in Brisbane and accepted the job but we felt in the end we never ever wanted to to do this seperately and no matter how much we want this we need to stay together especially given the current housing market here in Scotland, it would have been different if i was just coming back to tie things up and had an expected time of return but as it stands weve been back nearly 7 weeks and not had a sniff with the house, so were glad we made that choice. Altho to add further insult 3 weeks after we returned Jamie received an offer for an interview with PCYC in Brisbane, but hey ho atleast we know when we return things should be good for us. Its been very difficult being back, and i dont want that to sound spoilt but having been and validated we are more focused than ever now. We are so very lucky to have ready made friends whom we stayed with in Jan for a bit as they introduced us to their circle and we just fitted right in, like as if we'd always been there!! So our validation report!! We first visited Brisbane and Sydney back in July 2008 and immediately fell in love with the place, but as the four years ticked past waiting on our chance to apply and finally being granted our visa i was concerned id lost my aussie mojo, jamie couldnt wait but im not afraid to say i had serious reservations in the weeks leading up to our trip, i neednt have bothered!! The moment we walked out of arrivals at Brisbane airport where our friends were waiting that feeling returned, driving up the highway and the peninsula past where we stayed previously it felt like returning home for me. I have to say the jet lag both going and returning this time was horrific!! We timed our flights to arrive at 8pm local time thinkin go to bed get up be sorted, NO that did not work, we were up at 5am for the first 3 days and bed by 6-7 pm. We were lucky the first4 days were great weather but after that it pretty much peed down everday except the odd day here and there, but its tropical summer time so we expected it. We spent the first 4 days with friend at North Lakes just generally chillin had a lovely BBQ with everyone on the saturday which was wonderful, the true auusie lifestyle afternoon :wink: We had a day at Wynnum Lagoon which was free and clean and friendly and a great day. We then picked up our hire car from East Coast Car Rentals who we used before and will use again theyre very good, based at Nundah. And we headed off to our rental North Brisbane Homestay in Narangba ran by Ken and Susie Orr who i have to say was absolutely wonderful, beautiful place to stay and will be where we return to. We headed off to get some food shopping and was interested to see how much it was going to cost in comparison to the UK and also to our previous visit. Truthfully?? its definately got dearer since 2008 but id say on par with here. Altho alcohol is ridiculously expensive doesnt really bother me but Jamie was havin a fit buyin some beer!! and if you smoke emigrating would be a good time to give up because its a very expensive habit to have in Australia. Chicken is half the price, other meats are on par, seafood and fish are plentiful and massive, and so is fruit, altho some fruit was a little dearer, and the other thing we noticed was bread is really expensive!! now we done two different shops. One where we got it all in Woolies and one where we shopped around, i honestly didnt see too much difference altho i loved goin to the butchers and green grocer and fishmonger seperately. And for us without doubt people were friendlier, they just were end of. The housing market appeared to have taken a pretty definate hit as far as we could see, when we looked at North Lakes 4 year ago you would struggle to pick up anything under $500k now your gettin a 4 bed 2 bath WITH pool for 430-450. Altho we really prefer Narangba so thats where were heading, it would appear a good school will put the prices up as Narangba Valley has an excellent rep the houses in the tight catchment area are raising steadily, wheras both state schools in NL have dropped slightly in rep, purely down to the amount of pupils they have. Eating out is HUUUUGE!! every kind of takeaway is within 15min drive of anywhere its unreal, we watched a programme whilst there that reckons aussies spend nearly 40% of the wages on takeaways and eating out! dependent on where you go its really not that expensive so i could understand why so many go out. Fuel is still cheaper than here but its also crept up since 2008! still find it crazy how fuel prices drastically change from garage to garage and day to day! Had a day up at Mooloolaba beach and had lunch in the RSL club which was fab felt a true blue aussie that day love it up theer, a day down at SeaWorld which you just cannot beat its expensive but such a great day out, after which we drove to Surfers for our first visit it was a bit surreal to be at the world renowned surfers paradise! the sand actually squeaks! Also a day on the beach up at Bribie island which was sooooo relaxing and had lovely fish n chips. And we HAD to go back to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary its our favourite place we love it. We found the job market to be pretty good, unless your an engineer i wouldnt bother applyin for jobs from here, you need to be there to get work, and a bit of old fashioned turn up at the door and introduce yourself will work!! both the job jamie was offered and the interview came about because he actually went to the places in person and handed in a c.v and applied for the advertised job in person, they seem to like that shows a level of trying i suppose. We had an account with Westpac ready to go we just had to go into the branch and get cards etc which took 15 min and we were sorted. Well i think ive pretty much covered it? any questions feel free to ask, were heading back for good January and it cannot come quickly enuf for us xx P.S i wanted to say thanks to everyone who supported us with their posts when we were in brissy esp Cal who was very kind xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cartertucker Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Great update Good luck ~ :0) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Great update it sounds like you have some great friends lined up. Are you coming over in Jan whether the house sells or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyjamie Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 i think so Kate, we are now at the point wherby if the house sells we will make nothing except clear our feet, we have an appointment with a financial advisor and also the bank to speak about the possibilty of potential voluntary reposession. But thats a last resort if we cant sell first we will give the rental route one last try, the housing market is so so poor here:sad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 So you're not going to Tas after all that work to get the SS visa? Didnt you like it down there? Looks like you have lots to look forward to in Qld then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs WebWeazel Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Great update! Really useful info - thanks! :0) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyjamie Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 we desperately wanted to go to tas but jamie just cannot find work there, he went down hiself for 2 days tues-thurs while were there it was goin to cost too much for all 3 of us and before we left we sent his cv to every company and charity in the hobart area that was in his line of work said he'd be in hobart the tues - thurs for any possible interviews and we had zilch in response. weve also spoke to quite a few folk who have said the same Tassie is very very tight for work, which i suppose is a gd thing? oh and while he was down there he had far better weather than we did up in brissy! lol! if we were to go straight to tassie now were very concerned we would financially struggle as it could be a while before he secured work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamjar Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 great info. thanks may I ask what your OH does? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyjamie Posted March 21, 2012 Author Share Posted March 21, 2012 yep no probs, hes a senior community anti social behaviour officer bit of amouthful lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Great post guys,, lots of luck with the house sale and your return to Aus. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freckleface Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Lovely to read your update. Hope you find a buyer for the house. All the best x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surflen22 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 What a great post! You have a realistic attitude but it still makes me excited for you both for the next stage of the adventure. Good luck with it all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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