Keelie

Greeting from Canada..just found this forum, and it's been something of an eye-opener.
My son, who lives in Queensland wants us to retire to Australia.
It's very tempting...particularly at this minute as I watch the snowflakes fall..and it's May 3rd! Really fed-up with the seven months of winter..but won't start whining here, being mindful that Canada has plenty to offer.

Anyway...the thing that's shocked me most in this forum is the discussion on
housing. I was under the impression that I'd pay the same price for a nice home in Aust. as I would in Western Canada.
$250.000 canadian dollars will buy a lovely new home on a nice lot, this would be a quality-built 2-3 bedroom with 2 bathrooms and a full basement.

Some of you have mentioned $400-$500 aus.dollars for a decent house...heck, that would buy a mansion here.
After reading all of the interesting advice here, we're going to see what's what,before making such a life-changing decision.

So the chocolate in Oz tastes awful, as one poster said..bad news for this chocoholic . However..Canadian's don't know how to make decent tea..or good fish and chips..so maybe it will be a fair trade-off ?
Appreciate hearing the negatives as well as the positives...when so much is at stake it helps to hear all views...even the ones you'd rather not hear.

captaincook

unfortunately house prices are rising in oz although we think it is slowing down as we approach winter.

queensland is the place of choice for lots of retirees and is attacting southerners in droves. the sunshine coast is very hot price wise still and many say this is just the start of the trend as the baby boomers sell up and move to the sun. compared to sydney melbourne queensland is still very affordable.

certainly to get a nice family home near city in brisbane now on a reasonable block you need $450k upwards. But as a retiree you may be looking for something completely different. The bayside in brisbane is booming but you could still buy an older 3 bedroom in an ok area for less than $300k although these are getting fewer they are around. It is also possible to build a new 3 bedroom house here in an outer suburb for around $300k. the general rule is the further from the city you get the cheaper it is.

It is also fair to say that a lot of people talk about prices on here for a standard 4 bedroom family home double garage etc. but if you are looking for something smaller or a unit then prices will be lower. We rent in Kangaroo Point which is very near city and pricey and there is a lovely renovated 2 bedroom turn of the century workers cottage on the market in a quiet street around the corner for c.$350,000 which would be ideal for retirees. It's not perfect as it is next to townhouses but it is very nice with a nice yard and could be extended easily. Via work i know of a two bed older unrenovated cottage at Deception bay (say 30 km north from the city) sold which fetched only $125,000 but had no land as it had been subdivided. Guess what I am trying to say that it is still relatively affordable here as long as you do not want to be close to the city and are prepared to live in the outer suburbs. You may also be looking for something a little different from other posters here who are catering for young families.

Hope this helps a little.

Don

Hmm, don't forget many Brits don't really understand what good chocolate is. For years the European Union banned UK choc from being called 'chocolate' when exported because it didn't conform to what Europe (and the rest of the world) understand to be chocolate and even now a lot of UK chocolate needs to be called 'family chocolate' when sold in the rest of the EU. It tends to be much lower in cocoa content than the rest of the world knows choc to be.

So when some people moan about the chocolate not being so good, they are moaning about it not tasting like they remember. It's actually better.

Cheers - Don

karawara88

Better is no good.

Rudy

Hi Keelie,

Welcome to the forum!

You can get an idea of the property prices online go to www.realestate.com.au

I think you will be pleasantly surprised, prices are not that bad, it really depends on what you are looking for and how close you want to be to the city.

As far as chocolate etc. it is a matter of what you are used to. In the hotter countries chocolate does have more preservatives and therefore can taste different to what we Brits are used to. I lived in South Africa before moving back to England and Cadbury's chocolate tasted completely different to me, I thought the South African chocolate was much nicer. Now after 10 years - British Cadbury's tastes better in comparison to the South African stuff.

I think it is a lot about your tastes changing according to what you are eating. Memory is a strange thing too, I crave things from SA and then when we get some, I think - what was I waiting for it doesn't taste as good as I remember!

Best of luck and happy web crawling! The internet is amazing isn't it!

Hazel.

paulf

I think the worse chocolate is the american stuff Hersheys....now that is awful.

SteveBannister

South African chocolate takes a bit of getting used too as well. They use a different recipie so it doesn't melt as fast.

Steve.

Keelie

G'day....still finding my way around these boards...can't figure out how to respond to the posters who left a message for me with real estate advice... or about chocolate!.
So..thanks to all of you, particularly Hazel who left a website address... was most helpful.
Agree with the poster who detests 'Hershey' so-called chocolate.
Keelie