louemm

hi all!

i posted a thread the other day about where the best areas are to live for my new job in bowen hills (moving out in 3 months...on my own...scared!...but very excited!), and you were all a great help and i'm now doing lots of reasearch on those areas but wanted to know which beaches were the closest to brisbane and the nicest.

i'm trying to decide if i should live nearer the city or the coast?

i'm contemplating living nearer the coast but worried it's going to be a nightmare journey into the city??

your opinions would be greatly appreciated..

thanks

bcworld

I guess it depends how long you are prepared to travel into Bowen Hills every day and how you will be doing that.

There are NO beaches within within about 40km of Brisbane CBD....to the north the closest would be Redcliffe and to the south the Gold Coast.

Driving from either in the morning to Bowen Hills is gonna hurt! There is no train at Redcliffe although you can drive to somewhere like Petrie and get a train direct to Bowen Hills from there.

If you went Gold Coast then depending on where you lived you could be a long way form the train...I think it would then be about 75mins into Bowen Hills.

Really, if I was you I'd either stay right in the city, New Farm, Teneriffe etc and enjoy the benefits of being right next to work....or stay right on the coast and enjoy the benefits that that brings....but NOT somewhere halfway in between in some anonymous middle ring suburb where you are likely to be bored senseless!

rabsody

Very good advice! New Farm is brilliant. My OH used to live there (before he met me) and used to go surfing on GC fairly regularly. Now we are in Kenmore, he hardly goes as that extra distance makes it just that bit too much effort to get down there.

If you are a single female, as I seem to recall from your last thread, I would recommend somewhere with a bit of life, the suburbs are pretty yawnsome. Personally, can't wait til my two are a bit older and we can move further in!

TrickyTree

If you want classic Australian beaches as pictured in postcards Brisbane is not the ideal place. You would have to go to the Sunshine Coast or the Gold Coast. These would be over a 1 hour commute (could be anything during peak times) and not a journey I would want to do on a regular basis. Brisbane has the bayside I will leave the commute time to the people who live out that way.

The Bloke

Or Bribie Island.

TrickyTree

I have a college who lives on Bribie (currently) who is looking to move closer into the city after doing that commute daily for a year. Sometimes she doesnt get into the office until lunch time (or turns back and goes home and never makes it).

louemm

thanks for all of your advice, close to the city it is then! what's the public transport like to get to the beach at weekends?..redcliffe for instance or would you suggest i buy a car straight away? i think i have 3 months to take the aussie test don't i?

...and bayside....is that a nice place to live? a little expensive? how far is it from bris centre? i tried to find it on the website 'our brisbane' but it must come up as another area??

bcworld

You don't have to sit a driving test....you just go into the transport office with your UK license and they will give you a Qld one.

Getting to any beach by public transport isnt the easiest. I did mention Redcliffe as being the closest but its probably not the classic surf beach you're after and so the Gold Coast is probably your best bet....there are plenty of trains to the coast but they don't actually take you to within walking distance of the beach so you'll need to get a bus connection.

If you decide to hold off on getting a car your best bet is to make some friends who'll drive you down the coast!

Bayside is nice but I wouldn't suggest its the kind of place for a young single person newly arrived, a bit too quiet - if you're interested the suburbs you should look into would be Manly, Wynnum, Cleveland, Wellington Point all on the train line to the city and I think also direct to Bowen Hills. No beaches to speak of just mangroves.

louemm

thanks again for your advice. strange one about the licence, i had read in 1 book that you had to take a knowledge test and something else (can't quite remember) after 3 months of being there maybe it was a different state? who knows! anyway, i'm pleased i can just transfer it.

ok, definitely decided now that i would ike to live as close to the city as possible to start with.

getting excited now!

bcworld

The rules were changed relatively recently, you used to have to sit the theory test but not anymore.

I think if you base yourself in any of the inner city suburbs people have mentioned you should be happy!! As for the beach.....there's always the fake one at South Bank!!

louemm

shame there's no fake sea to swim in too! ha ha! :-)

wmoore

We have a client on Bribie Island and that drive is a pain in the arse at any time of day. I really wouldn't want to do that during rush hour.

rabsody

Think you have to set off about 4am to beat the traffic

IMHO, I don't understand why people move to Aus to beat the rat race, quieter pace/better quality of life etc, and then move somewhere where they've got a 1 hour plus bumper to bumper annoying commute. But then I loathe commuting with a passion; guess others are more tolerant of it.

TrickyTree

There is fake sea in Brisbane its at Southbank right in the middle of the city.

http://www.discoverbrisbane.com/brisbane/southbank.html

louemm

cool! a fake sea! have they put fake crocs in too?!!

thanks for the website link, hadn't come across that one on google. i'll save it to my favs!