emmas123

Hi

We are moving to Brisbane 9th october after two years of agony waiting for paperwork, selling house the usual ordeal. Can't actually believe the time has come to leave. I am moving with my husband and two children aged 6 and 9.
The age old question arises which suburb which school for kids. With 4 days to go and without ever going to oz I am still none the wiser even with all the research i've been doing over the internet. There is nothing like experience!!

So areas we have been advised so far are Carindale (south/bayside), Manly, Wellington point and redcliffe I have been told is very nice. I want to be governed by good schools and a little life for us parents!!!!!! If anyone can help with some real life advise it would be much appreciated.
Can't wiat to get there especially looking at the gloomy grey clouds outside my window!!

Emma

mand8002

Once you arrive and visit suburbs you will find an area that feels right. We spent the first few days just driving round and looking at areas, and once we got to Wellington Point, we knew it was for us. Can't tell you why we came to that decision, it just felt right.

DunRoaminTheUK

Hi.

We live in Carina, which is very close to Carindale and we like it here. Where we live (at the moment) is quite leafy as we live next-door to Tingalpa Park but living in the burbs can mean that you are surrounded by a lot of other houses. On the up side, I still think that there is a sufficient degree of "leafy-ness" even in the burbs to make them nice to live in (try to compare it to somewhere like Ealing or Harlsden (London) and you will find a world of difference between them). We are also very close to Minnipa Park, which is quite big and has parks and cycle tracks (and brown snakes alas). All in all, it's a really, really nice piece of parkland.

The thing is, that there are a fair few variables to think about. For example, if you or your husband end up working in the CBD and need to take (say) the Wynnum Road to work, then it is quite possible that you'll get stuck in traffic on most mornings. The traffic on Tuesday and Wednesday morning was horrific and ground to a halt on Story Bridge (one of two major bridges leading into the CBD).

Conversely, Carina/Carindale are well situated and they seem equi-distant to most things and places. Wynnum (coast) is 15 minutes away and so is the city. Manly is nice and it seems like a very quite and peaceful place (nice Fish and Chip shop just near the marina too) and prices there are apparently still relatively reasonable but the general anticipation (not withstanding interest rate hikes) is that property prices will continue to climb (which is normal I guess, given that 1,500 a week are supposed to be moving to Brisbane). Carindale shopping centre is quite impressive and you'll spoilt for choice when it comes to shopping.

I've heard of people being told to avoid moving to Cleveland but that Wellington Point is OK? The drive from the CBD to Cleveland on a bad traffic day is akin to a bad day on the M4, in my opinion. However, they have a very good train system here (the QR) and Cleveland is a terminus on it's own respective line, so there are alternative means of transport.

I can't really comment on schools (just yet) I'm afraid.

One thing I keep getting told repeatedly is to invest in a property (when the time comes to buy) that is no more than 12km's away from the CBD (in a given radius). I like Mango Hill but local people seem to think that the commute can be nightmarish and that the investment potential is nowhere as good as closer to the CBD.

GLR

Hi Emma

Throw a stick in Bulimba Park and you'll hit three Poms. It has a village feel (unlike most of Brisbane) so I guess us Brits feel at home there.

The advantages are that it's close to CBD and schools, has a City Cat stop, Riverbend bookshop and an old style cinema. The disadvantage is that it's not cheap...

Cheers

GLR

MD09

I hear there’s an English guy who works at the Brisbane airport these days greeting new arrivals with “Welcome to my country”.

The same thing is going on at Heathrow, but the guy working there is Pakistani.

It’s a funny old world we live in.

DunRoaminTheUK

It begs the question, why do British people feel that a foreign place has to feel like "home" before they feel comfortable? Why not save a lot of time, money, effort and anxiety by simply staying at "home"?

The days of the Raj live on I guess?

Nothing personal, just an observation.

MD09

It’s happened here in Sydney in a big way in the past 20 years. Certain nationalities have taken over different pockets of the city. I guess people feel more comfortable living amongst their own – you know, same culture and values and all that.

Lets break it down,

The eye-talians in Leichardt, the Greeks around Brighton, the English in Manly/Bondi & the lower north shore, the Lebanese in Bankstown/Parramatta, And Asians, especially the Vietnamese around Cabramatta.

I guess the same is happening in Brisbane, on a smaller scale:

Asians have taken over Sunnybank, the Greeks/eye-talians in West End & surrounds and the Poms in Bayside & Northern Estates.

There aren’t many Lebanese to speak of in Brisbane yet, but I guess they’ll soon discover it. They could be coming to a suburb near you, look out. muuhaha

My observation of the Poms is that they love living anywhere near the water, be it by the beach, lake, river or harbour etc. They also infiltrate suburbs, which have certain exclusiveness about them (Mosman/Neutral bay etc).

Deadmeat

Unlike the Aussies, most of whom live in Alice Springs.

Mwhahahaha

DunRoaminTheUK

Don't get it?

232Bar

Have to agree - why move over here just to go and live on a big housing estate (sorry, designed community) with a load of other Brits - seems odd to me.

wintersgills

maybe some like living like that live and let live

Jimmy Cliff

Because it's so damn easy to live! especially raising a family. I can then retire anywhere I want.

Loving the designed community,

Vic's x

wintersgills

well said mate

JackTheLad

Australians live in these private estates too, especially young families and those migrated from other states. I think you'll find majority of the residents are Aussies, not British.

Mrs JTL

MD09

Well one would hope so – this is “Australia” afterall.