sam2345

Hi everyone,
I've been offered a job in Brisbane and am in the midst of deciding if it's right for the family or not. There are lots of threads on the site covering lots of areas but it's quite daunting and a lot to take in, so I thought I'd ask a different style of question...
Can you give me 2 things that surprised you about moving to Brisbane from the UK (positive or negative)
If you could give me 1 piece of advice what would it be (regarding moving to Brisbane)
If you went through the moving process again, what 1 thing would you do differently
And finally - Are there 'Little Britain' areas in Brisbane

Thank you in advance for your help!

Bermudashorts

Sam that has to win the prize for one of the vaguest posts on BE ever! Can you tell us a little bit more about the move. For example things like:

What are you hoping to achieve from your move? Do you have any short, medium or long term objectives? How old are the children? How does the salary compare to your current salary? What is your situation in the UK? E.g. In terms of being homeowner, in a good job, in an area you like, how close are y to family members? Etc

What on earth is a "little Britain" area???

sam2345

Hi, It was vague of purpose because of same threads I have read and it was a general query, but as you've asked....I'm a homeowner in London, married with two children (7&5) and it's an opportunity to try a different country. I'm very content with life in London but why not try something different, give it go, show the children another country.
My commute is currently an hour and a half, I live in one (possibly) of the most congested places to drive in Europe, so the dreaded Brisbane congestion is an non issue to me, the location we chose to live will be close to the office but because there are sites all over Brisbane that I can chose to work I am very open to suggestions about suburbs.The two most important factors are schooling for the children (it will be state runs schools that we put them in) and how smoothly they integrate, so when I say 'Little Britain'' what I mean is, are there suburbs that British people tend to populate (like Earls Court in London for Austrailians), please do not judge me on this but (and I might be wrong) I think it will be easier for my children to mix into a school that has a population of other children that have been through the same experience.
I hope this helps and please let me know if there's anything missing

bcworld

If your office is in the city...and you're going to choose to live close it like you say, then no, there are no 'little Britain' areas. The only areas you might expect to find a slightly higher concentration of British migrants would probably be some of the newer housing estates to the north and south (half way to the Gold or Sunshine coasts). Also Bayside...Cleveland, Wellington Point, Birkdale have always struck me as quite 'anglo'. I really don't think you're going to find many in the same boat though that it should influence your choice of where to live. If you want Little Britain...try Perth!

sam2345

Appreciate the feedback BC, I thought migrants might aim for the same suburbs like they do in London but I'm happy to be proved wrong

Pollyana

Bayside (as you say) probably has the highest concentration of Brits, after that I guess the North Lakes area - when they built the estates there it was a very British area but that was a few years back and I think its evened out a bit now.

1) Heat and humidity, and the huge difference in language - ts a very different English!
2) Keep an open mind on everything for at least a year - even if you are homesick stick itout for a while
3) Take more notice of the realistic (some say negative) posts on here. A lot of posters are very happy here, some of us just don't 'fit', so you need to read as much as you can and take it all on board

sam2345

Thank you Polyanna for the balanced response. Bayside isn't coming up on my Google maps, is that around the Manly area?

bcworld

Manly, Wynnum, Birkdale, Cleveland, Wellington Point, Ormiston...getting further away Victoria Point, Redland Bay.

goldchoccycoin

I was surprised by how clean it is (clean playgrounds and beachside barbeques which in my area of the UK would have been vandalised and destroyed immediately). I was also surprised at how easy I found it to live here - everything seemed simple enough from getting a place to live, tax file number, phone etc. YMMV.

My advice would be to not compare costs/salaries to the UK - salaries will seem big but the costs are also higher. Make sure you budget carefully when you know what you'll be earning so you're not surprised by the costs here.

I wouldn't do anything differently - I was a poor student with a single backpack and no worldly goods and bugger all money, so my move was simple compared to most people.

Don't think you'll need a 'Little Britain' - might be nice for the kids to be a 'novelty' at school and most state schools are reasonably multi-cultural (some more than others) so the kids will meet a lot of other kids who have emigrated, just maybe not from the UK!

Best of luck.

Beoz

I will ........ Earls Court ..... hmmmmm ..... maybe 20 or 30 years behind reality on that suggestion.

There are Aussie's in Earls Court, but certainly not your 23 year old backpacker working in a pub.

Phoodilicious

Having arrived in Brisbane16 months ago from a 4 year stint in the US but previously in the UK here are some thoughts in partial response to your posed questions:-

1. Surprise #1 - Australia did not seem to be as expensive as everyone made out when compared to UK prices but was a huge sticker shock compared to US prices. Even now with the more favourable exchange rate coming here - if I see an Australia price (say for a meal out or an item of clothing) and think wow that's expensive, when I halve the cost to get an approximate UK conversion it no longer seems to be that much different (compared to US prices still more expensive however).

1a. Surprise #2 Aussies you meet everywhere else in the world always seem to be so laid back and super-friendly (including my Aussie neighbour in the USA for the last 3 years I was there) - however on being here over a year in the near northern 'burbs in a very family orientated area, we found it nigh on impossible to meet people! We tried pubs and restaurants and as the pub culture is very different and most places do not have bar stools at the bar or communal tables, people arrive in groups and stay in their groups at a table and so there is no real opportunity to mingle and potentially make friends. The Aussies at work are very friendly but for the most part that is a work thing and work and home don't crossover. Ex-pats colleagues at work all say the same thing - much harder to make friends without having kids in school or some such reason to meet. You will find that easier having school age children I would imagine.

We have just now moved a couple of weeks ago to the Bayside area that others have mentioned and there is a "British-style" Indian restaurant around the corner (very good Balti style) a British cafe serving typically British cafe type meals (not tried) but also having some British grocery items (some things are easily found in the standard grocery stores but some are not, however their prices are outlandish!) and a Chumley Warners fish and chip shop which does all the Brit stuff including chip shop curry sauce and mushy peas if that's your cup of tea! So I think this supports the fact that there must be some demand for all things British in this area for those businesses to thrive.

2. For the piece of advice - people will say they will come to see you in Australia and you will promise to make visits etc too - in reality it is a very long way to go almost anywhere and costly so the appetite to spend 24hrs travelling and adding that time on to both the start and finish of any holiday when most people only have 20 days paid holiday will mean you don't see people as often as you would like.

3. What would we have done differently in hindsight? We would have made our first home somewhere less suburban/family orientated when we did not fit that family scenario as not having an easy route to make friends outside of work was not ideal. While we don't really specifically seek out other Brits when we move internationally, it has to be said that even if you have nothing else in common, you can always make small talk about the old country .... :-)

jad n rich

Surprise number one will be how multi cultural it is. Kids primary friends in QLD were from Singapore, Germany, Canada and PNG.

In Melbourne their partners have been a chinese-aussie, Korean, and one now has an Indian admirer, one son has a aussie girlfriend from QLD, but they met in Melbourne. They are just off to japan to suss out working there for 6 months next year.

Surprise number 2 will probably be the climate. No doubt you love heat... expect it to be better' , will be outside more.... then you move and realise how bloody harsh the climate is. If you work outside this will be a big factor.

Surprise 3 would be, you are not just a days flight away, it gets more complicated. Partners, marriages, education systems, currency fluctuations.

The job market is very competitive, and yes also competitive in the big cities, just cause its a big city does not mean people walk into jobs.

Anyone from overseas now we get visiting is surprised at how big people are in Australia, not that healthy either, think the bronzed fit aussie myth is more 1960 than 2016.

Brisbane is a good choice, if you want an economy just starting to rumble again. Its particular weather downside is the humidity in summer, but its nothing like as humid as Cairns/Darwin. And you rarely get the stinking furnace days that the southern states and Perth get. Winds like fire, no thank you, thats no better than humidity IME.

Northlakes north brisbane was popular with english people, not sure if it is now, the appeal of big new cheap houses, with easy access to everything really. But not my cup of tea, in QLD we had acerage on the Coast as our main base.

You have to look at what you want from Australia, then see if its really exists. It might be better for you, but make sure you know what the reality is. Plenty can and do make a good life in OZ, but I really think its a very different place to the one you see on those brit TV shows for eg.

verystormy

A piece of advice though not about Brisbane. If it is coming with a 457 visa, be very careful of the restrictions and make sure you understand everything about this visa

cappuccino

My 2 cents' worth - don't sell your London property!

jad n rich

I think also try to understand the medical and dental system. Many things even for children are not free.

Just allow a few thousand a year extra for health if you need medications, dental even basic care, orthodontics, specialists. Even if its on medicare it may only cover a % of the cost.

Also long term, age pensions etc asset and income tested. Many wont even get a health care card to help with medical bills in old age. Save hard while here for those years, especially if your self employed etc. i think most migrants have no idea about that one.