Kath & Graham

I dont post on here much but wondered if anyone could help me with a dilemma.

We have been here in Perth for just a year now and really cannot settle due to work etc and wondered has anyone made the transition to Brisbane and found it easier/harder the same.

We are in such a mess thinking about this, we have a 16 year old that started Year 11 yesterday and I really cant see her settling she is quite academic but has really struggled here in Perth. She is worried about meeting new friends in Brisbane as here she has found it particularly hard, the girls can be very standoffish here but is that the case there?

I would really appreciate any input into this discussion.

Also work wise, my hubbie has struggled to get anything here he had a job when we came but is struggling to find anything else with a decent wage (hes a sparkie) he has his licence and I rang Queensland and they said he can start work straight away just needs his blue card.

What Im really trying to say is is it the same crap there or should we stay here we just cannot decide, also my best friend lives there and that sways me to want to be there.

God life can be so hard !!! I would really appreciate advise .....

Im mostly worried about the kids though.

Thanks

Kath

paka

You say he finds it hard to get more work and he is a sparkie, we have been told there is loads of work for sparkies,thats why they are sponsoring them,and has your daughter been at the same school for a year.

Kath & Graham

Yes lots of work but unless you can get yourself your contractors licence the money is not that good, it cost about $1,300 and you have to be working in your trade for a year, which is another road to go down I suppose.

I havent heard of anyone being actually sponsored as a sparkie here in Perth.

no my daughter only just went up to senior college yesterday (different school).

moneypenny20

Nightmare for you Kath. Only been here a couple of months and only spent one month in Perth 20 years ago but imo there is no competition. Brisbane and Gold Coast are vastly nicer/friendlier/better lifestyle than Perth - THIS IS MY OPINION ONLY - before we have the Perthites getting heated

My girls (13 and 10) have already made friends at school (only been there a week) first born is going to a sleepover on Saturday and tiddler is going to a friends for Saturday morning.

If it comes down to struggling in Perth, giving Brisbane a go, or heading back to the UK, I would definitely give QLD a go.

The thing is we are all different and what works for us, may not work for you, but if you don't try you don't find out.

All the best.

paka

No we are of to S.A.Well i cant really have any advise not living there, but if you are thinking of re-locating, i would do it quite quickly so not to put your daughter through two much change, and if your friend is there, may be that will help as well, and if your friend has children around the same age,wont that help.hope all it all works out.

fluffy1

Hi Kath,

We are in a similar dilema, We have been in Adelaide for 8 months now and cant settle. This is due to the fact that we have visited brisbane twice and each time loved it, for us it is everything we imagined Australia to be. However having been here a while we have got back into the comfort zone of having a job, kids in schools, renting a lovely house, made some really good friends etc and cannot make our mind up as to wether to move or not.

We all feel that deep inside we will be a lot happier in Brisbane but are finding it hard to upsticks and start all over again. I think if we new people there it would make it easier. We have tried a couple of times now to try to forget about Brisbane and get on with our new life here in Adelaide however it is easier said than done. Each time, a few weeks down the line we find ourselves thinking... 'What if?...' and we haven't moved half way round the world to live life as 'what if?'. It will be a hard decison to move as you will also have settled into a comfort zone that your making do with like us but if you are thinking like this now it will be well worth trying out Brisbane. Money permitting you could always go back to Perth if it wasnt what you were looking for. That is the way we are trying to look at it and plenty of people on this site haven't settled in the State they arrived in yet have been really happy else where. After all if you decide to give Perth a bit longer how long will it be before you start thinking about Brisbane again?

Good luck with your decision and I am sure your friend will be there to help you should you choose to move.

Marie
x

paka

Hi we are moving out to Adelaide in sept, we have one child aged 11, when visiting last yr we liked greenwith, we have never been to Brisbane, so can not compare, we did go to Melbourne, but still liked Adelaide, you say you are in that comfort zone, have you found it easy to adjust, and have your children met friends easily. We found there were plenty of jobs about. would it still be like that in Brisbane.its just we have noticed a few people have not settled in Adelaide, yet dont say why.

sharon_gareth

Hi Kath

Looks like you have set your sites on trying another state? Guess you must have been over to visit so you know what to expect? If not thats is the first thing I would do. I have yet to travel to other States or Territories (we have been here 2 years) but most people I have spoke to always come back to Perth (but each to their own).

Not sure about the year work experience your hubby needs to do for his licence but could he not count work experience he did back in the UK? Only mentioning it because $1,300 sounds like a small price to pay to me. There is definatley a demand for sparkies in Perth and if he worked for himself then I am sure he would be earning a good wage.

I recently got quotes for electrics in an investment property we have just built and could not believe the size of the quotes (and that was just for the labour we supplied all the fittings). Just give a few of the sparkies a call you advertise in the local paper and ask how much they will charge to fit a few downlights.

Anyway just thought I would say my piece as if it is only work that is the issue would be a shame to leave Perth behind.

Good Luck

Sharon

JAYMAC

Hi Kath,

We have been on the gold coast for 2 months now and the kids (6 and 13 have been at school for two weeks. Daughter who is 13 and who did not want to move to Australia in the first place, settled in within 3 days and has made 4 or 5 new friends already. She is really happy in school and keeps telling me how much she loves it. Son is pretty settled too and has made a couple of friends. These things sometime take time but it is a huge relief to me as this was my biggest worry.

Julia

Sue2

Really feel for you With regards to your husbands work, there is loads going on here on the GC and Brisbane.....really don't think he would have any trouble finding work.

Hope you get things sorted, have a search on here....I'm sure I've read a few posts where people that have moved from Perth to Brisbane.

Sue x

Kath & Graham

Thanks everyone for your words of support.

I loved Brisbane and as someone said its how I thought Australia would be.

Hubbie has his licencence so no problems theres. Its so very hard to know what to do. I do think everyday wish we had gone with our original plan and gone there but then we might have thought wish we'd gone to Perth!!!

Am gonna sit down tonight and have a family dicussion and will let you all know the outcome!!!!

Kath

fluffy1

Hi,

Firstly Kath, sorry for adding this long post on your thread.

When we first looked into migrating Adelaide wasnt even on our 'to consider' list (probably like most people). We were always set on Brisbane or Sydney so we done a reccie trip to both along with Melbourne. Brisbane completely blew us away, it had the wow factor that we were looking for and just felt right. Then came the dreaded points increase so we could no longer live there (for 2 years anyway). We chose Adelaide (without visiting) as we did not like Melbourne (purely a personal opinion) and Tasmania was not even considered. We put all of our efforts and research into Adelaide, went to meets in UK and made a few friends.

Then hubbies job was added to the MODL so we were suddenly able to live anywhere we liked. Decided to do a reccie/validation trip to Adelaide and Perth. Adelaide (for us) just didnt not have the wow factor, it was far smaller than the other states and did grow on us after a while. We chose Adelaide due to all the research and the fact that we knew a couple of families also moving here. We arrived before our friends and threw ourselves into meeting people, setting up a new home (rental), getting a job and getting girls into school all which was done relatively easier than expected. We looked around for several months to buy a house and when we realised what we were going to have to spend here for a decent 4x2 we realised that we could get an equally nice one in Brisbane. Also the cost of living was similar too (completely the opposite of what we thought in the UK). We had focused that much on our friends arriving that once they arrived we realised that we were bored of Adelaide. We did not want to live somewhere that was just 'liveable' and that had to 'grow on you', we wanted to live where we had been completely taken by surprise and that had the beautiful wow factor that we had always dreamed of (again our opinion). Adelaide to us is just too small and too country towny for us. There is nothing that Adelaide offers that we didnt already have in the UK, we had beaches, parks, countryside, city all on our doorstep. A lot of people will now be saying that Brisbane wont offer us anything different but what it will offer us is a more beautiful place to live, much easier on the eye (again our opinion).

Regarding job's we have had a much greater response from employers in Brisbane than we have had here in Adelaide. Most of the Motor Mechanic jobs are north of the city and we live in the south.

I have no doubt that Adelaide will be pure paradise to some people as each family looks for something different in both the appearance of a place and location so our opinions will vary greatly to a lot of peoples. In hindsight it was stupid for us to move here knowing how strongly we felt about Brisbane but you do get swept along with the whole migration process and are so scared of making the wrong choices that you make decisions on what you feel is right for you at that moment in time, but people change and you only learn by your mistakes. Our move would be yet another costly one and could also just as easily be another mistake but we wont know until we try and life is too short for us to live each day with 'what if ?.....'

Hope this is of use to someone and once again Kath, good luck in making your decision, you wont know until you try it.

Marie
xx

Kath & Graham

just read your post Marie thanks for that.

Yes you live once and i ke4p thinking well we came all the way here, surely going over there cant be as much as an uproot as going back to UK which is going to be even more costly and for what?? I cant think of why I'd wanna go back there now anyway.

Am I mad or stupid wanting to do this??? We have made some good friends here but something is missing I cant explain it, even though I only have one friend (bestest mate) there it feels more like the life I want, Perth is beautiful but IMO boring? if you see what I mean.....cant easily access things I knew it was isolated but never imagined it would be so much more expensive to fly interstate from anywhere else!! I wasnt nieve enough to not realise this, just didnt realise how expensive it would be and as work it hard to get into here its a big struggle for us and me (my minds mush as havent worked or found a job since being here, thats cos of kids and childcare so expensive)......

My brain aches today trying to think of what is best for all the family, youngest two are not worried just hubbie and teenage daughter........dont you wish sometimes you werent an adult and didnt have to make these kind of decisions!!!!

S orry to waffle on

OzWannabee

Hi Kath

I've only been in Brisbane 4 weeks so I'm no expert but I think its great! There again I've never been anywhere else in Australia so I don't think I'm really entitled to give an opinion but I do have a 15 year old daughter who has just started Year 11!

The first week I think she found difficult not because the kids weren't friendly but the school was a shock and how strict they were compared to the UK. By Friday she was catching the bus instead of me taking her in the car and tonight she is going late night shopping with some girls and has been asked to a party on Saturday! All of a sudden her smile has come back! I think she is really appreciating what Australia has to offer. But her main reason for liking it is that the boys are better looking!!

If you want to PM me I can give you her e-mail and MSN as she lives on there at the moment with UK and Ozzie friends!!! She will at least be able to give your daughter an idea of what it's like over here even if she hasn't been to Perth!

Hope this helps!!

Jo

Sue2

I dont think your mad if your not happy, I think its wise to look at Queensland.....giving Oz a good go

Must warn you that the house prices are alot higher compared to Perth have you ever been to Queensland....maybe a trip over before would help?

Sue x