DeadVim

You're welcome to it, it was all sweaters draped around the shoulders and manicured trees last time I looked

coldbeer

We were keen on a house in Sanctuary Cove but the Body Corp fees put us off. We bought nearby on Hope Island and visit the cove regularly, its a bit plastic but so am I, I suppose

lesleys

I don't know which is worse, Sanctuary Cove or Sovereign Island.

heilel

I recently (about 2 months ago) moved to Brisbane from the UK with my wife and 2 young kids and work in Toowong.
I settled on living in Taringa, which is fairly pricey, but seeing as I can walk to to work I haven't bothered buying a car yet and when I DO get a car, I won't be using it for commuting, so will save lots of money that way.
Taringa, Indooropilly and their surrounding areas are lovely and loads of facilities and very good schools as well.
That and there's loads of public transport to wherever you want to get to as well. The city centre is very close and accessible.

Boo2008

....as long as your not moving to Oz to ever see a beach!! I lived in Taringa and hated it!!

No-one can tell you where a nice place to stay is cause its so personal - my advice - for what its worth - is don't sign a lease longer than 3 months..!!!

Least you have kids so you will make friends.......

heilel

We have gone to the beach with no problems. IT's not THAT far to a beach and you don't even need to drive there, the public transport is great here.

Yes I suppose it's down to expectations and what you feel is too far to what you're looking for.

Good luck finding a place that will allow you to sign a 3 month lease.

Pipers Mummy

Six month or one year rental would be the best idea, After that time you should have a very good idea of what Brisbane and its surrounds are like before committing to buying. There will be numerous threads on here related to life in and around Brisbane for you to read. - Good Luck, 100's of Brits come here every week !

Chortlepuss

Work out where work is and make the commute as easy as possible for you. Toowong is a good spot for public transport to the city. If you have to drive along Coronation drive as part of your commute I promise you it will make you weep. One aspect of Brissy I dislike is the lack of decent beaches - Nothing like as good as Perth, Syd or Adelaide. Northern suburbs (redcliffe etc) are lovely and the beach is quite nice. Great beaches can be found within an hour - hour and a half drive if the traffic's O.K

heilel

If you live in Toowong and work in the CBD, you could easily cycle into work.
There's a very nice wide cycle path/footpath along the banks of the river.

It'd only take 20-30 minutes to cycle in. But yeah I agree, driving into the CBD along Coronation drive as a commute is not nice.

You can use www.translink.com.au to plot journeys using all the available public transport as well, it's very good, we often just use public transport instead of driving, especially when going into town for a shopping trip.
The kids love taking the ferry into town along the river from Toowong.

coldbeer

I'd rather a longer commute than be forced to live in Brisbane.

PunkDebutante

I live in Toowong and it is a lovely area to raise a family.

Chortlepuss

If you live near the busway you can have a really quick commute and not have to live in the city. If I could afford to buy a house (Ha Ha Ha!) I'd try to buy one where I could walk to a busway or train. I commuted from Mount Gravatt to Toowong for a year and drove. Coronation drive twice a day nearly broke my heart. It's a really short distance off peak from my house but you never knew what the traffic would be doing or how long it would take, particularly return journey after 4 p.m. When it rained hard, there was an alarming tendency for people to drive into each other... Sheer frustration caused by desperate queues and so many traffic lights.

coldbeer

We drive to the CBD from Hope Island on the Gold Coast daily, the commute is a real pain, about an hour each way but its a beautiful place to live, the train is a nightmare though.

arnie2oz

We live in Cleveland and have done so since moving here almost 8 years ago.
End of the train line to Brisbane (about 1 hour in aircon train to Central Station) or 35 mins drive by road (outside rush hour).
Good schools; easy to visit North Stradbroke Island (beautiful beaches and scenery) as the ferry leaves from Cleveland; 45 mins to the Gold Coast; 75/90 mins to Caloundra / Mooloolaba.
We rented an apartment in Brisbane for 2 weeks when we arrived to give us time to sort out a 6 month rental, buy a car and organise furniture etc for the rental. We then bought a house which we still live in and have settled well finding friends through Bushwalking Club, Bowls Club and work (Nikki!)
Good luck with whatever decision you make - but remember you can always move if a place doesn't work out for you.

KJCherokee

Trains are pretty reliable, but unless you live within 5-10 minutes walk of a station parking at a station can be next to impossible after 7-7:30am.

There are dedicated busways running both north and south of the city, but the same parking problem exists.

Don't even contemplate driving into the CBD unless your job contract includes guaranteed parking - and even then the traffic can be a nightmare (though if you are coming from a major UK city you'll probably think it's fine!). All the major roads into the CBD clog up after 7:30am and from 4:30 pm - and a stupidity (I refuse to call them accidents) will turn any road from a snail to a car park..