Exactly 3 years ago today we arrived at Brisbane airport wide eyed and naïeve, our only experience of Australia being a 10 day reccie the year before. We had no accommodation arranged, no idea where we wanted to live and no real plan of what to do first. 3 years on we are now very settled on the Gold Coast and looking forward to the next chapter in our lives.

Gold Coast

For our family the Gold Coast is a perfect choice – plenty to do for kids from beach, sport, theme parks (Wet & Wild annual pass $90 one of the best buys) most weekends there is something on to keep interest. A downside for us parents (we have 2 teenage kids 17 & 13) is that much of our time is spent as taxi drivers transporting to various venues, public transport on the GC is poor – not many routes, poor timetables and buses that frequently do not run.

We live in Carrara which is an older suburb with the benefit of houses on larger plots so that you do not smell your neighbour’s dinner every night or hear their TV choices. A lot of people overlook our suburb in favour of the younger suburbs but buyer / renter beware some of theses estates are really crammed together very tightly!
Brisbane is only an hour by train / car away and we often do a day trip up there, its different to the GC with better shopping and a more cosmopolitan feel.
To my great shame I have to say we have not travelled more than a 200 mile radius of Brisbane Airport in our time but there is plenty of time for that.

Work / Business

We have owned Carrara Village News a newsagency in the Cocos centre at Clear Island Waters for just over 2 years. We are currently relocating the business as the centre is being enlarged considerably and the opportunity of a larger, more visible unit was too good to refuse. Negotiations with the landlord have been stressful, acrimonious and very time consuming, I don’t know if this is general but the way these people do business is akin to dealing with the mafia! My advice to anyone who wants a commercial unit negotiated is get a solicitor well versed in leasing, and get any and everything in writing.

Just this week we have finally resolved all conflicts and hope to move into our new shop by Xmas. Anyone driving towards Broadbeach on the Nerang / Broadbeach Road can see our new unit just past Carrara Markets.

When we are in our new shop we will be able to trade longer hours and have a bigger and better positioned shop to exploit ‘passing trade’. We have 3 employees and will see if the need for more over time.

Home / Family

Our 2 kids (boy 13, girl 17) both attend Merrimac High School which I can recommend highly both for academic and sporting / social activities. They both have lots of mates and are always doing something. My son plays for a local soccer team and loves it – the coaching is of a high standard and he won ‘Best & Fairest’ award at the presentations last week! Last October he visited Japan with the school, stayed with a Japanese family and attended a Japanese school something I would not contemplate but he took it in his stride and his confidence and self esteem benefited massively. My daughter is doing her OP’s and complaining about the workload! She hopes to go to University with an eye on Journalism – she approached the Gold Coast Bulletin (the local rag) and has been offered a ‘junior reporter’ position at the paper.

One of the differences we have noticed with the 2 generations in our family is that all our kids’ friends are aussies whilst we seem to stick with poms. It’s not through lack of trying but the culture difference seems to be greater for us ‘old farts’ and we prefer the company of people who are more on our wavelength for sense of humour and general conversation.

It’s an old cliché but time really does fly when you are enjoying yourselves – the last 3 years has flown by! To people planning or making the move from UK my advice would be plan as much as possible but at the same time prepare to be flexible and change to suit your own families requirements Australia is not for everyone but we have found our lives more fulfilled since our move both in business and lifestyle, the kids are more confident and in my opinion have better prospects than in UK.

©Carbery