AnitaB

Hi everyone

We have just returned from our validation trip to Brisbane and loved Cleveland.
We will be moving there early next year (assuming the house sells!)

How many people from British Expats live there?

What are your views on schools, commuting into CBD, renting/buying houses, etc etc...

We felt at home there and cannot wait to return.

Thanks in advance!!

AnitaB

MrsDagboy

Hi Anita, stacks of us live in the bayside area & lots around & in Cleveland itself, have a look at Brisbane Bayside Brits

ffc

Anita,

I live near Cleveland. It's a loveley area to live and I believe the schools are pretty good.
Maybe do some research on Ormiston college, it has a great reputation. It has great housing.
But like the UK it depends what you want to pay.

I don't commute to the CBD but I'm guessing 45 minutes in a car. You can catch the train as well.

The markets are great on a Sunday.

We've been here just over a year and love the area.

If you need any more information let me know.

Regards,
D

Rich and Angie

Hi there Anita,
yep it sure is a beauty living here in Cleveland with that nice bayside breze, i work close to CBD takes me about 30mins in the car, unless there's a car crash then can be hours . Can be very difficult to find a rental as they tend to be snapped up really quick, and its only about 15-20min walk to oyster point.
Rich

spalen

The state school - Ormiston State School is also oustanding and free. There are tons of lower priced private schools around as well as Ormiston and Sheldon which are premium end of the private schools market in Brissie.

I can confirm its only 30-40 minutes in car in rush hour to CBD , or 1 hour on the train each way and the train costs about 2 pounds a day or something silly like that. There are express trains at 45 minutes each but they're like 0720 or something which is a time my alarm clock just wont even allow me to enter.

JackTheLad

We (A Dogs Life and I) live in Ormiston which is very close to Cleveland. In fact where we live, we are exactly half way between Cleveland and Ormiston railway stations. I love the area a lot, near the water, great schools, restaurants, and best of all, very quiet...

Unfortunately the stupid Redland council is implementing a new planning scheme, rezoning many areas to be higher density. Our block is being rezoned and that will be confirmed end of this month. When we moved into our house last year we had planned on making it our home for the next 20 or 30 years and retiring in it. With a baby on its way, and possibly another on in a couple of years, our plans have had to change...

We'll be moving to Birkdale/Thorneside in a month's time and will missing Ormiston and Cleveland, and all the convenience of the area.

We don't know what we are doing with this house yet - sell or rent out?! Anyone interested in renting a 4-bedroom bungalow?

Mrs JTL

Centurion

We live in Wellington Point which is near Cleveland and would only really consider here having been all over Brisbane looking for places to settle in the last 3 years.

Cleveland, Ormiston, Wello Point etc - Bayside is a very nice area to live good choice.

scissors

hi anita
we love cleveland to
we love all the little cafe bars and shops in the main streets and the marina is very pretty to,
we re living in thorneside at the momment in our rental but we ve found that most things that we want to do seems to be in cleveland,garys football and kerrys dancing and our ladies of pleasure lunches,lol all in cleveland, so we re buying a house there and should be moving in in the new year cant wait.

good luck with your house sale

tracey QUOTE=AnitaB]Hi everyone

We have just returned from our validation trip to Brisbane and loved Cleveland.
We will be moving there early next year (assuming the house sells!)

How many people from British Expats live there?

What are your views on schools, commuting into CBD, renting/buying houses, etc etc...

We felt at home there and cannot wait to return.

Thanks in advance!!

AnitaB[/QUOTE]

mand8002

We too live in Ormiston, just round the corner from Cleveland and it is a lovely area to live. Bayside in general seems to be a very friendly place.

wanderingwombat

Does this mean Redlands is to expats like Melbourne is to Greeks????

I can see it now: "Redlands has the second biggest UK population outside London, the Bureau of Statistics figures released today show...."

That will stuff the "village" of Cleveland right up! Funny, but I dont remember many villages in the UK with the facilities of Cleveland.

Oh well that will make the Redlands pretty unpopular soon when all the troubles in the street you are leaving will suddenly reappear in your new street.....

WW

beach bound

Hi

We are moving to the Bayside area in January 06 and can't wait. Like you AnitaB we did our validation trip and loved the Bayside area. We have just found out our daughter has a place at Ormiston College and our son is 'moving up the list' so hoping he'll get a place too. Getting the schools sorted is a priority to me so hopefully it'll be settled by the start of the new term. I'd recommend getting yourselves registered early if you are considering either Sheldon or Ormiston College.

Rich and Angie mentioned about the difficulty in getting a rental. We are planning to rent for 6 months when we get out there (arrive Jan 9th). We are planning to find a temporary holiday let for the first couple of weeks whilst we find our feet and get looking for a longer term rental. AnitaB hope you don't mind me asking a follow-up question on your thread but, given the comments, is there any advise as to how best to go about getting a rental - are estate agents the best for this or is it the local papers? If we book a hotel/holiday accom for our first 2 weeks is this a realistic amount of time for us to find and move into a rental? ANy thoughts greatly appreciated from you guys who've gone throught the process.

Cheers
BB

spalen

I think the rental market is just very slow at the moment, hardly any coming on and when they do they are either snapped up or taken back off the rental market and being sold instead. friends of ours were let down several times and didnt manage to find anything in the area. We were lucky and found something within a week of arrival.

Generally what is available on real estate is what is available, there are some ads in the local paper but only usually what is available online anyway, although that does go out of date pretty quickly.

Carol

A dogs life

Would you be looking for furnished or unfurnished for the 6 month rent?

beach bound

Hi Carol
Thanks for your reply. I looked online last night and there don't seem to be too many rentals about, which is a bit worrying! I think I might register with a couple of the real estate agents we met during our validation trip and see if they can help.

BB

nikkers

Hi anita

we live in Cleveland and love it!!!

We have been here 10 months,our daughter Hayley (nearly 17) is at Ormiston college and she loves it,she also has a job at one of the Harbour restaurants.Ormiston college were great at making her feel welcome as she was starting yr 11(very difficult) they had a day for all the new yr 11's prior to school starting in Jan and met with all the new yr 11's one month later to check they were ok.All the kids have welcomed her,the teachers have all been so helpful its a fantastic school.

I travel to the Mater (southbank) for work and it takes about 35 mins door to door with parking.

We struggled to find a rental(but it was Jan 1st) now we have bought a house.

There are so many nice places to visit great places to eat out/have coffee

We certainly are very happy here.

Nikki x