PWBCSA

My better half has spent the last few months worrying about telling her parents, we told them a few weeks ago and they appear to have taken the news better than just about anyone else!

Now she no longer has to worry about that she has started to think, I have been pointing this out all along, that it seems a bit daft to move to the other side of the World and not enjoy the weather. We are both annoyingly healthy outdoorsy types and one of the reasons we are leaving the UK is the great British weather, or more the lack of it.

We are currently decided on Melbourne. We have been there and liked it and we have some friends already there; more importantly our ‘best friends’ are moving there in September / October. But we know the weather will be an issue...

We have now started to think about somewhere on the sunshine coast or around NE Brisbane, as it sounds lovely. The only problem is that we have never been to Queensland; we spent four months in OZ in 2002/03 but somehow just didn’t make it there. Unfortunately, due to work, we will not be in a position to visit before we actually leave the UK.

Obviously there is a major issue with our friends that we need to consider but we wondered if anyone can offer any other advice.

We are after:-

• Great weather all year round. Sunny and hot and don’t mind (?!) humidity or tropical type rain.
• We want to live near great beaches; at maximum less than a 5 mins walk and ideally ‘right on’. Think white sands and turquoise water ala Perth, which isn’t an option, or the Maldives.
• We would like to be a hop, skip and a jump from both city life and café culture. Max 1 hr drive ‘door to door’ and ideally good public transport links.
• Someone used an analogy on this site a few months ago describing suburban areas as either a bit Lakeside or a bit Bluewater. We prefer Bluewater.
• Good local teaching opportunities.

These are the 5 most important issues to us. We’re not concerned about housing, for example, as we will just get whatever we can afford in the area we decide to live.

We’re not asking anyone to make the decision for us, just interested in any ideas or thoughts that people may have.

Cheers.

Pollyana

Don't have many requirements then, do you.........

PWBCSA

Hmmmmm... fair point.

Let me summarise:-

Good Weather, Beaches, Transport Links, Area and Teaching Opps.

Pretty much the same as everyone else then!

Our main question is have we understood the weather and beaches correctly i.e.- wet, hot, sunny and humid and white sands, crystal blue sea etc.

Cheers.

Bordy

Sunny all year round !!

It won't be Melbourne then.

MarkMyWords

I can't speak for Brisbane, so I'll give the Melburnian verdict.
Not a chance.
Not a chance.
Highly plausible.
If you mean the shopping rather than the surrounding countryside, then, ah, um you're coming to the wrong country. Sorry. (I prefer Bluewater too.) No idea.

I hope this helps.

tonyk38

LOL, that just about sums up Melb'n in a nutshell methinks!

I thought the shopping in Melb'n was really good until I did a trip to London yesterday. Sorry, but London wins hands down on choice (if not customer service.....)

Other than that a very nice city.....with some very bad weather from time to time......and very good weather.......

PWBCSA

The analogy was to do with the demographic of an area rather than the actual shopping.

No disrespect to anyone but I am sure that most people will agree that a different type of shopper visits Lakeside compared with a Bluewater type shopper.

Thanks for the advice though.

Cheers.

JackTheLad

Sounds like you are in the exact same position as us 1 and a half years ago! We had worked in Melbourne a few times, loved it, loved australia, so decided to emigrate.

Only after going most of the way through the immigration process we thought, 'hang on, why travel all that way to get the same european weather, lets go crazy and go somewhere with tropical weather'. We had never been to Brisbane either, but we did get married in Cairns

So, in a mad leap of faith we changed from Melbourne to Brisbane. I have got to say, it was the best (and also craziest) decision we ever made.
You can refer to other threads for arguments about wihich city is better, I'm not here to start an argument.

Your requirements ask alot, depends what weight you put on them though. Alot of them could be met by living on Sunshine coast or gold coast. Or if the city life thing is more important, then bayside of brisbane may meet your needs. You don't have to go into the city for cafe culture.

Sorry, no idea about teaching jobs though

Cheers,
JTL

Pollyana

Never been to either, she said, hanging her head in shame........so which nit of the population does that put me in?

PWBCSA

I think it unlikely that I can explain the difference between Lakeside (Essex) and Bluewater (Kent) shoppers without offending someone, so it is probably best I don't even try.

Suffice to say that considering they are only about 2 miles apart they are actually a World apart.

Cheers.

OzTennis

The criteria you set rules out most places on earth! For me great weather all year round wouldn't include high humidity and tropical rain (nor the relative cold of a Melbourne winter), I guess you mean high temperatures all year round? 'Where else but Queensland' I'd say from your criteria. What do you teach?

OzTennis

PWBCSA

M'beloved is a Primary School teacher; rather her than me! The advantage is that it currently means she is OK not having kids as she has 30ish everyday.

The weather is very important to us, but so are our friends. It would help if we could get over before we plan on making the final move but it just isn't going to happen.

Cheers.

OzTennis

I guess it doesn't have to be Brisbane OR Melbourne, you could try both. If you are footloose and fancy free, not a problem. Good luck!

OzTennis

Lori&Andy

I know it's a dilema that one isn't it, my partner and I had the same problem.

Melbourne is very cosmopolitan and I have been told on good advice that things like cafes and restaurants are open later than they are in Queensland and the nightlife is better than Brisbane as a whole and you can get every season in one day in Melbourne. Melbourne also appears to have more jobs depending on what areas your skills lie - my partner's a techie and I am in HR. Not sure about the living 5 minutes to the beach in Melbourne but I don't think that there are any good beaches close to the City could be wrong though.

Then there's Brisbane, smaller I would say than Melbourne, very pretty, very hot the sunshine coast, bayside and Gold Coast all have beaches which are fab and it is possible to live one hours train ride away to the city centre, decisions decisions, we decided to try Brisbane first if it doesn't work out we'll go to Melbourne the main clinchers for us with Brisbane were the beaches, the laid back atmosphere and the weather. Be warned though if you want to live on the Sunshine Coast do not look further up than Coloundra if you want a better train journey into work, we're in Woombye and it takes 2 hours each way to get into Central Station.

Good Luck
Lori

jayr

Sub tropical climates are great and so I say choose Brisbane. Note that the 5 min from Beach lifestyle is avaliable generally only to the wealthy in the Eastern states and also note that Brisbane has no beaches, they are an hour away to the Gold Coast or to the Sunshine Coast. Also these beaches are not of the white sand and blue ocean variety, you need to go further north in QLD for that. In SE QLD they are quite white and quite blue.

I don't get why UK peolpe want to move to Melbourne with its broad streets, European stone architecture and 4 seasons in one day weather. If you want Europe stay in Europe.

It may have been freakish weather, but Melbourne had a top of 13C last week - in February - which is your equivalent to August