Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Hi everybody, we currently live in the uk but we are potentially emigrating to Brisbane early next year as my partner will have work there. I would be keen to talk to other people who have done this, we have 2 children and my partner will be working away Monday to Friday and back on weekends. Is there a good community there? I'm worried I'll be isolated as I don't have any family or friends there. Any advice would be great.

Susie

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Hi Susie and welcome :wave:

Do you know where about in Brisbane you'll be heading yet?

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

hi and welcome to BE :)
Do you have any idea which suburb he may be working in? Brisbane is huge :)

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Hi thanks for the welcome.

He will be working in Central Queensland mon-fri and staying there. Which suburbs are good to live in? My partner is asking is $120k salary good for a family of 4 to live on in brisbane? Sorry so many questions :-)

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Some may(will) argue but I think you will do fine on that income. May help if you get some casual work to bolster the income which will also help you expand your social network. We rather like where we live 45kms South of Brizzy but you will find loads of info on suburbs on here. Start with a 6 month rental somewhere which you think fits. We are doing well on a combined of 125K plus. As is often said it depends on how you cut your cloth. But feel free to ask for more details. We came over in Dec 08 2x boys now 11 and 15.

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

I've been out of work for some time is it easy to get work there unskilled? Also in school hours? My boys are 6 and 3 so still quite young :-) how difficult is it moving away from family? Also what's the average household bills per month there?

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

I think with a young child (3 year old) not in school you may well have a good opportunity to meet other Mums in a similar position. A lot of Mums I know have Mums groups and toddler activities 2-3 times per week, which is a great way to meet people and make friends. Part-time jobs in school hours are hard to come by due to the number of people that want them but you mat get lucky. If you are sensible then you shouldn't need to work on $125K.

There's no standard for a weekly bill amount but your biggest outgoing will be rent and you should be able to find something very nice for $500- $600 (3 beds are available from $400+ depending on suburb). I would look for a suburb with good transport links so you can hop on a bus or train to get around easily and it may also be the easiest way for your husband to get to/from the airport each week. I live in the Western Suburbs but there are people on this site from all corners of Brisbane who each love their area equally.

Best of luck!

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

$120k is a fine salary. I am on about this and have three kids. I assume if he will be working away in Central QLD then he will be in some sort of mining field?

If he is working away during the week then the beauty you have is that you don't necessarily have to limit yourself to Brisbane. You could choose to live on the Sunny Coast if you fancied. You would be away from the hustle and bustle of the big city and by the beach. But then the hustle and bustle might be exactly what you are looking for?

Personally, if I were in this situation, I would be living on the Sunny Coast for the lifestyle choice. Your husband would be able to fly out of Maroochydore airport for work

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

What sort of job will your husband have? Away Mon-Fri and home weekends doesn't sound like a mining/gas field job as most of those are 2 weeks on / one week off (or even 2 weeks off) - the work doesn't shut down at weekends. Will he be flying in and out? if so you should be looking at suburbs within easy reach of the airport, either north of the river (Banyo, Nundah, Wavell Heights, Deagon for example) or south of the river close to the Gateway motorway (e.g. Carindale, Mt Gravatt, Camp Hill).

Brisbane is a good place to live, but as with any move with young children your ability to make friends and settle in quickly will depend on your neighbours and the parents you meet at school, and these can be good or bad in any suburb.

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

He will be working for siemens on gas turbines as a contractor to the site. That's my biggest worry if we move to an area with bad or unsociable neighbours it will be a lonely life for me and that's not what I want. I guess the best thing to do is to look into where we would live

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Most places north side are fine.. Within 5km of cbd maybe not too affordable but 5-15km out there's plenty of decent affordable areas!

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Unfortunately the visual look of the neighborhood is no indication of the friendliness of the people - and the 'best' areas are often the least friendly as the inhabitants are more interested in 'status' than in you as a person. It depends on you as much as the neighbours; if you are outgoing and make friends easily (like my wife!) then you will be fine in most areas, if you are shy and introverted you will struggle.

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

I agree with those who say $120K should be a comfortable wage to live on. Good luck with the move. My best advice would be to treat it as an adventure. If you're worried about missing UK family, I'd keep rentals and all other contracts short term when you first arrive and always make sure you can afford flights home. Having those funds up your sleeve should give you peace of mind.

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Hi All

We are looking at coming to Brisbane late next year or early the year after just going through the visa process now
We like the look of Upper Coomera south of Brisbane does anyone know any thing about this suburb or any better ones for my wife and myself to look at
We have 2 daughters 3 and 15

Thanks

Gazza

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

I don't know that areas and neighbourhoods are in themselves friendly. There will be a mixture of people in any neighbourhood and some will be friendly and others will keep themselves to themselves.

The likelihood of you finding company / friends is all down to you, how easy do you normally find it to make friends? Honestly appraise yourself, not everyone does find it easy to make friends, usually because they are shy and reserved and not because they are horrible people.

Being devil's advocate here, if you believe that you are somebody that takes time to make friends, then your concerns about being isolated are ones that you really should take very seriously in view of your husband's work situation. I have seen plenty of wives struggle when they move to Australia and hubby takes a FIFO job. I don't want to frighten you here, but you obviously want to weigh this up carefully and I think you need to be realistic.

On the other hand if you generally make friends easily, then you will here as well, no matter what suburb you are in. You will possibly make friends through the children and children activities. I also have seen plenty of ex pat meet ups like coffee mornings and play dates aimed at stay at home mums, so you can tap into those.

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Personally, I wouldn't choose to live in Upper Coomera. You can google "upper coomera crime rate" for my reasons why.

Are you planning a move to Brisbane or the Gold Coast? Do you have work lined up? The answers to these questions would probably influence where else you might live.

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

I have to agree ref Coomera. We avoided it mainly due to what we heard about the school. so we ended up in Ormeau, A little closer to Brisbane(9kms closer) All due to a recommendation about the state school. Quite happy with it to and now eldest son attending Ormeau Woods. But may be a bit light on local casual work. But its expanding all the time as are most suburbs.

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

We would like to live gold coast or sunshine coast i already have a job working offshore with a good salary so it does not matter were we live for work as long as there is an airport within 1hours drive

We had not looked into the crime rate in coomera and i will do now is there any suburbs that you would recommend as my wife will be on her own when i am offshore but she is very outgoing and mixes well so making friends should not be a problem

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

If I had to stay in the Brisbane area, near-ish to an airport, I'd probably look around Cleveland or Ormiston which are Brisbane bayside. They're small-ish communities, easy to get around, near to water (not sure about sea swimming though) and close enough to the CBD if you need to go there.

PS: There's also a good English fish and chip shop and a British foods/sweets shop at nearby Birkdale too, so probably a few Brits about for your wife to meet up with if she wants.

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

And an Irish pub and Brummie curry restaurant.

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Where are they? Might pop in one day. :)

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Crime statistics for Qld

http://www.police.qld.gov.au/forms/c...atsdesktop.asp

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Adjusting is the way of life. IMO be positive and if you crave social interaction to carefully choose good neighbors by inviting them to your house.

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

You've obviously never met my neighbours. Our social interaction consists of 'change the battery in your effing smoke alarm before I rip it off the ceiling' and there is no way I would invite them into my home :ohmy:

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Talking of smoke detector batteries - the one above me is beeping - it's about 15m - 20m up - how the hell do you get a new battery in that :lol:

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

H, I've only just joined this site (literally!) this is the post post I came across & honestly could have written it myself. We're making the move in April, have two little people of 3 & 1 & my husband will also be working away from home (on the coal seam gas project). I traveled out to Oz in the summer for 8 weeks & I think we're going to look at the Sunshine Coast when we get out there. As for feeling isolated I have EXACTLY the same fears, although my hubby has been away from home since April & i can't feel any more isolated than I do now I suppose!

Not much help but just wanted you to know that you're not alone :)

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Can you please organise to live next door to sausten22 :)

Welcome to British Expats :welcome:

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Thank you for the welcome fish.01, & yes, seems like the perfect solution ;)

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

when you have kids of that age, I think it is probably easier to make friends really. Sunny Coast is a very family friendly spot. I would just get out there and take the kids to parks and other activities and before you know it you'll no doubt be making regular acquaintances with other similar people.

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

http://nearyouau.com/b1222868/073822...3822-2100.html

http://www.truelocal.com.au/business...urant/birkdale

Both right near each other:thumbup:

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

The school our kids go to organise regular morning teas for parents who are new to the area so they can meet with others and the kids have school 'buddies' to help them adjust and find their way around. Seems to work well.

Our neighbours were fantastic with us when they found out we were new to Australia, they used to take me out shopping and show me around :thumbsup:, couldn't have asked for better neighbours. Even on the plane on the way over, a couple from Helensvale gave us their phone number and said they'd do anything they could to help :)

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Yes Broad Shoulders, that's exactly what I thought, it does help that I am the type of person who will talk to anybody, hehe! No offence intended there, but I'm sure you get what I mean ;) x

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

That's an awesome idea

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Sausten22 I've sent you an email

Re: Emmigrating to brisbane
 

Im fly in fly out ,have been for years .Looking back i should have gone to the sunny coast as all i do when i get back is drive up there to enjoy the beech .im buggered now as the family has put down roots ,schools friends jobs ect.apparently you cant throw a stone in buderim without hitting a pome!!
Great community up there lots of mums going to boot camp fitness and step in to life.or theres the school gates im sure lots of mums here will agree thats your lead in, friends of your kids ect. invite someone else s kid round for tea and your away......