coventrycelt

Hi, I gave an update after our first 3 weeks in Brisbane, three months have now flown by and we are having a great time!

Jobhunting for my wife and son was the first hurdle, we applied for loads online with seek.com etc and found that only about 10% bothered to reply. We soon sussed out that the agencies were the problem and applied direct to companies and the reply rate became about 70% a huge difference.

Wife Andree now has a long term temp contract in the CBD working for an insurance company. Her income is higher than her last job in the UK.

Son Liam had a few interviews, and has now got himself a full time good job in the purchasing dept in the H/O of the oz equivilent to JJB sports.
Its based in the trendy Valley, so he can wear jeans and casual gear which is good.

I am now Secretary of the Brisbane Celtic Supporters club www.brisbanecsc.com and we have a great new social circle of friends through that.

We also have met a lot of Aussie friends, and cannot speak to highly of them.

We found that you have to be proactive in your social life, we have joined a few sports clubs with bars.

Liam is now playing cricket, its very competitive, in his first team Mathew Hayden is opening the batting this weekend, playing against Andrew Symonds Gold coast team. He also plays 5 a side every week, which is vry popular over here.

We have embraced all the sports here, seen the local soccer team, watched good quality rugby union and even enjoyed watching the rugby league. Up the Broncos on Sunday.
I also DJ in my spare time and I already have about 10 gigs booked in between now and january.

I was definatly becoming apprehensive in the weeks leading up to our departure, I think thats down to the stress which builds up before you go.

I can honestly say myself and my wife have not looked back since we got here, I have hardly thought of home and have not had one pang of homesickness. They would have to deport me to get me to go back now, the climate is great, we have a nice 4 bed with pool in The Gap, a beautiful quiet leafy suburb 25 mins for the cbd. I know will get hot and humid soon, but having spent a lot of time in Spain and Antiqua, I know what to expect.

I must admit I have never felt happier, I smile everyday when I see our surroundings, we just love it. I cant speak for my son, but he seems to have settled well, hes made a few friends, we are out most weekends watching Celtic, he plays cricket and soccer, and he seems to be enjoying life. I know he missed his friends and also his new girlfriend when he got here, so it was vital he got a job very quickly to help him acclimatise.

There always has to be downsides, so I have had a good think of mine.

1, The tv is rubbish

2, Aussie music is even worse, unless you like 70's stadium Rock

3, It gets dark too early here, because they prefer to keep the farmers happy, rather than their tourists, which seems to me to be barmy.

Thats it, the only things that bother me, so far, but they dont cause me any stress, so stuff it!!

I have got tickets to see The Beat next week, as an old Coventry two toner, that will be fun.
We also have tickets to see U2, Robbie Williams and Kylie, plus the test match and the one dayers, so living in the city is great.

If I had any regret, it is that I was not a young single man, who could enjoy everything that is out here, then it would be paradise

All the best to anyone coming out here, dont worry, its a great place!!!!!

Wendy

PMSL


I was expecting a really long post on your experiences so far

busterboy

Hi....Coventrycelt, are you loving it that much that you can only manage the smallest of greetings or are you just checking that there is a world still existing outside of Brisbane?

Hi back!

Now tell us your news!

coventrycelt

Sorry about my slip, I pressed enter by mistake and it was gone, when I pressed edit I assummed it had gone back, ah well!!! me and compute rs

busterboy

Much better...really chuffed that everything is going well for you and I know that many people will be heartened by your post. Thanks for taking the time.

Wendy

We'll let you off

Glad you are enjoy it all

Craig822

Hi

Great post - really enjoyed reading it. Dead jealous about everything but especially you going to see The Beat I didn't realise they were still around!

All the best

jothefw

As farmers we think this is great and definitely a better attitude to farmers in Oz than they have in UK but can understand your point!

Loved the post and hope we can post similar in Jan next year!

x Jo

mark 'n' joe

Great post, really enjoyed reading it. Glad youve settled well. All the best for the future and look forward to the next update.

joex

curly

Enjoyed your post hope things continue as well for you

And 'The Beat' OMG takes me back I saw them years ago

southstander

Great post
Enjoy The Beat and the Broncos!

themerlin

The commercial Radio stations are shocking !
Try Triple J 107.7 fm bit like Radio 1

coventrycelt

Thanks for your replies everyone, I will feed back on the Beat gig next wednesday, I'm told that they also incorporate all the other two tone music and a bit of the clash old hits into their set. Cant wait to hear some of The Specials stuff!!!