kulu

Well, it's been 9 months since I last took the time to look in on expats, I guess that's a good sign that we are happy and embracing our new life!
We are living on the beautiful Sunshine Coast in Queensland and despite it taking over a year to find permanent work and spending most of our hard earned pounds (and therefore having to give up on our dreams of owning the 4 bed with a pool for now), struggling to make good friends and missing people at home more than I dared imagine, life is pretty damn good!
I know that people who haven't made the move yet tend to enjoy these kinds of posts so I hope this may help...

We have 2 children now aged 4 and 6, the eldest is at the local state primary and is very happy and doing very well. If you want your child to be pushed academically then it would not be the place for you. It is a school of over 1000 children which concerned us a lot at first because his school in the UK had only 300 students and we felt he struggled there but it goes to show that size really doesn't matter! I feel there is far more parental involvement here than in the UK and I find that to be very positive all round. The facilities are good and I have no complaints at all about it. Our other son is in daycare 3 days a week (his choice not mine!!) and loves it. I am not as happy with it as I would like to be but I can see how it helps him socially and gives him an outlet that I would probably not provide at home. My issue with it is that the children have no one to one time and shy children are definitely left out but I think this could just be this particular centre and as my youngest is far from shy it isn't an issue for him.

It has been incredibly difficult to find work for my husband who is a CAD engineer. There are jobs around but they tend to go to Aussies as UK qualifications don't seem to be recognised and the pay is frankly appalling!! Unless you are in a position to set up your own business with excellent financial backing or to go into a profession that is well paid don't come here expecting to be rich! I read so many people say this before we came over and to be honest I alway skimmed over those parts of the posts (who wants bad news, right?) but it is completely true! I know that for the kind of work my husband does we would be better off in a city but coming here was about starting a new life and although I love Brisbane to visit I am not keen to live there (or any other city). Just personal preference. I have met other people from the UK here who say the same.

On the flipside our quality of life is beyond comparison. We live in a (rented) 4 bed, 2 bathroom home with a pool and loads of room in the garden for our boys to play. It's a 10-15 minute walk to beautiful beaches, shops, restaurants, school etc. There are wild kangaroos living over the road from us and we see cockatoos (black and white), lorikeets and countless other beautiful birds and other wildlife every single day. I still haven't got bored with all the wildlife even though I probably see the same things most days (I'm a bit of a nerd like that!) and yes, we have seen redback spiders, brown snakes, red bellied black snakes and other scary stuff but for me that's just part of why we are here. I love it!

As for being homesick, well, I'm not sure at the moment if that will ever go away. My parents recently came out for a month (boy, was that hard work!!) but after they went back I was far more homesick than before they came. Similarly my best friend from college came out just before Christmas and I miss her more right now than I have the whole 16 months before that. I am (finally) making some great friends here but it has been so, so slow! It seems that most people I have met here have moved here from somewhere else, interstate or overseas, and people generally don't have family nearby so on the surface we are all in the same boat but I have met so few people that I can feel any depth of friendship with. We were really lucky to know some people near Coolum before we came out (my husband's old school friend and his family) and I made friends with a lady over the road at our first rental house who has stayed a very good friend. Without these friendships I'm not sure if I could have coped and having been super critical of people going back because of homesickness before I came out I now really understand the desperate loneliness you can feel. It has often felt really superficial, going to peoples' houses for barbecues and having some drinks, all good fun but nothing deeper than that. I'm not saying I haven't met nice people, I have met some wonderful ones but it has taken all this time to feel that I have a circle of friends, real friends. Of course, that could just be me!! I'm not the life and soul of the party anymore (maybe 15 years ago .

All in all we have no regrets. It isn't how we imagined it would be. Some is better, some worse. I can only say how it has been for me and my family and I can honestly say that if ever I even begin to question what we have done I just look at how happy, healthy and fit my children are here compared to the UK and there is no doubt in my mind that we are in the right place. I could go on about how much I love this place but I am being nagged to go to the beach which I think says it all!

Good luck to all who are yet to make the move. My main advise would be to stay as open minded as you possibly can and not set your expectations too high. Hopefully it will be better than you thought. This forum is a great place to get advise and information but until you are living here you will have no idea what it's like. I can't stress that enough!

Cheers for now

Lou

chris and farideh

Hi lou,
thanks for sharing your post with us, we are due to come this August, my husband is a CAE/CAD engineer, we have done a lot of research about where it would suited for the type of job he does.
Victoria ,SA, and WA, we are heading to Adelaide.
My hubby was offer job here recently to stay in Uk until Xmas and then he get transfer to state of Victoria for the contract, but after the contract they might not offer him a perment position.
we dont know should we take it or should we go with our original plan.
now reading your post I think maybe we should reconsider it, and come there with a job rather than no jobs.

Luma

Great post - glad to hear you are happy there.

cranni

Lovely story Lou,
We are in Bunbury, WA, we too prefer the smaller townsl, not city people.
Our kids love the school here, and the lifestyle is great.
Our kids are so happy, healthy, and confident.
We have built, 5 beds and we have a pool, and we are 2 mins from the beach.
And the most beautiful clean parks, Our eldest is still in UK, and my 23 yr old is studying in Perth. Him and his girlfriend love Perth [ 2hours from us]
My mum and dad are here for 3 month, and god i am dreading them going back, its so hard.
I know what you mean about the work, my hubby was sponsored and earns half what he earned in the UK, I will be starting work soon.
We have been here 16 months now, and have good days and bad days, but that is life you will get that where ever you are.
I dont reagret doing this one bit, this is a beautiful place, warts and all.
We brought our 3 youngest with us,who have settled brilliant, my daughter came 6 month later , that was the worst time for me leaving my oldest 3,
But just one to go and he will be here in the next couple of years.
We too have made some lovely friends, they have been great, i went from being a billy no mates to having a lovely circle of friends.
I left a nice family and some nice mates, but speak to them regularly on the web cam.
I hope that you will continue your new life and be happy, and as long as we dont expect too much this can be done.
All the best, Denise

tum

Thanks for sharing with us your story so far. To me it gives a honest insight of how life can be and I thank you for that.

Miranda

Vash the Stampede

Terrific post, great to hear that you're doing so well!

kulu

Thanks all for taking the time to reply to my post.

Chris and Farideh, the job situation may be different in other states, I can't say, for us we didn't look for work before we came out because we knew we wanted time to adjust and find our feet a bit, it backfired for us but we know other people that got work far quicker in this area. It is a difficult decision but if you can afford to be without work for a while then go to the area you would prefer to be in. Good luck with your decision!

Thanks Luma

Cranni, it must have been so hard to leave your children but hopefully they will fall in love with the place and come out themselves and stay

Lou

stacey and jordan

Hi Lou,

Thank you for taking the time to share this post with us. Good luck for the future and have a great time at the beach.

Stacey xx

Hutch

Sent you some K for your honest and very useful post

goppie

Hi, very nice to read your story so far, I wish people had been this frank when we moved to France three years ago. Will be arriving in Brisbane may 29th with three children 16,14 and 11 and looking forward to it very much. I appreciate that there will be hard times but it has got to be easier than what I have put up with here. My main concern at the start will be with finding schools and a place to rent, oh yes we have two dogs, so its not going to be easy, but I cant wait to get there. The best of luck in the future Jane

Betty Boop

Thanks for that - your insight is very valuable - and really helpful for those of us who are not there yet.
Glad your kids are happy, one of my main concerns for my family.
I wish you all the best, and stay happy
Lisa x

Issie

Brilliant post ...thanks for sharing

upthehammers

What a great post.It is nice how you have written the good and bad as many people are negative or positive but never both.We are heading to sippy downs when the nice man from the DIMIA says yes so it was nice to hear from someone not to far away near the same place, also the fact you have been there a lot longer than most when they post is a truer reflection on things.All the best to you and thanks for making the time to help lots of people that would have been wondering!!!!!!!!

kulu

I can obviously only tell you about my own experience I know people who have had better and people that have had worse (most have had better success with regards to finding jobs etc.). The main thing is that it is extremely difficult to come here at the same level you left the UK. It seems that for most people they have to take huge steps back and work their way up again which can be extremely frustrating, I know a couple of people who are doing the kind of work they did as an apprentice, for almost as bad pay, having left the UK in a senior role, one is just happy to be here and live without the stress, the other is miserable and considering going back. I'm not saying this to put you off, as far as I'm concerned the Sunny Coast is one of the most beautiful places there is but as someone else said, it depends how much you are willing to gamble.

We took the gamble and we lost financially but personally we feel like total winners. I guess it depends what you want in life?

Up the hammers, what made you chose Sippy Downs?

Lisa, I think that this is a far more child friendly place than the UK. I moved over from mid Essex where all our local parks were vandalised and the child play places were always overpriced and packed out. Here there are parks everywhere and even though you get some graffiti they tend to leave the actual apparatus alone! (Round here anyway!). It's also the weather that makes such a difference, knowing my children fall asleep from running around all day not because it's dark and cold outside and there's nothing else to do. I think with younger children that as long as their parents are there and happy then life is always going to be good, I think it's far harder for us adults to adjust than them! Good luck.

Jane, hopefully you and your family can look back on your time in France with far more affection in the future than you do now. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger and all that! I was surprised how many rentals allow pets and short term leases to get you started. When we arrived we had 10 days holiday accomodation booked and our furniture didn't leave the UK until after we arrived here but we managed. I'm sure you'll be fine. State schools are obliged to take your children when you enrol but if you want to go private I wish you luck! Do you know which part of Brisbane you are heading for?

Good luck everyone,

Lou

Dreamaway 10

Hi Lou thanks for taking the time to post.Glad to hear its working out for you.
We have sold our house recently after 10 months on the market hopeing to come out within the next 5 weeks or so.
My main concerns are with schooling and childcare.
My son also goes to a school in the UK where ther are only 200 kids and my daughter goes to playgroup wher there are about 30 kids and I feel taht she does not get enough attention now so how I will be I don't know.What I can say is that if my children are happy and healthy then I will relax and make the most of life.
We are buying a business so at least we do not have to worry about looking for jobs.Although every penny we have will be in the business so unless we suceed we will be skint.
We will rent for about a year or so and see how it goes.
I do not have loads of friends here in the UK but the ones I have are good friends and I feel comfortable with.
I am quite sociable so will chat to anyone so I think maybe we will get to know people through school.
We are a strong family unit so fingers crossed we will get through the hard times.
Hope it all continues to work out for you.We could get together for a coffee sometime when we settle I think we could have a lot in common.
Take Care
Dreamaway