Karen72

Hi, moved over here with my hubby and nearly 3 year old son back in June from Fleetwood in Lancashire, we're living in Bracken Ridge on the north side of Brisbane and wondered if there's anybody nearby. Karen.x

themerlin

Hi Karen,

We are not too far away in Cashmere

Regards

Karen72

Hi, all settling well here, found a good kindy and jobs are coming along now (although this has been much slower than i anticipated) but getting there. homesickness swings around every now and again and really catches me out, but we're all fine at the moment. karen.

bethandneil

hi there
we are so not near to you!!! still in the uk but are moving out to brisbane area next summer, would you recommend bracken ridge?
Beth.

Karen72

Hi Beth, Good to hear form you! Bracken Ridge is lovely it's got shops, schools, takeaways etc. and it's right by the highway so that's easy access. It's 20 mins from city, 50 mins from lovely beaches at sunshine coast and 1 hr from surfers, it's also 5 mins from the coast at sandgate and 10 mins from lovely beach at redclife, so we think it's ideal, where are you thinking of moving too?

petelisam

Hi Karen

We are also looking at Bracken Ridge as a base when we arrive in Jan 07. We have contacted the state high school and also St John Fisher girls school.
Do you know anything about these schools?

Also are you the Karen & co that were in the Emigrate newspaper thing? I did try to contact you by email but it came back for some reason??? It's great to hear you are doing well. You say that the jobs didn't come as easy as you thought. What sort of work are you and hubby into?

Any way if you are up for it, could meet you for a coffee sometime in Feb after we arrive.

Best wishes

Lisa & co

Karen72

Hi Lisa,
good to hear from you.
yes i'm the Karen & co from the paper, i'm sorry you couldn't get through but if you like i'll send you my email address, it would be great to meet up once you're here, how many children do you have and what ages?
I haven't heard bad things about either school, there is also sandgate state high school in the area too, the girls school looks nice, there's a very good private school called St Paul's nearby and St Josephs has good reports too. Job situation is a bit of a nightmare, david has come off the cranes as the hours are so unrelaiable and he's meter reading, but there's not as much work as they initially promised and my job from the uk doesn't exist here, i'm awaiting the result of a job which would be fabulous, but it's working for medicare australia on a government health program and i'm down to the last few, i'm hoping for a decision any day but it's been 4 and a half weeks since my interview so it's been a long wait, keeping everything crossed.
k.x

themerlin

St Paul's is a very good school from what I have heard but costs a few $$$$

We have put our littleones name down incase we can afford it by the time he goes to school

Karen72

Hi, we've looked into st paul's too and it's $5000 for the year fro little ones, (which is lots but is v. cheap compared to uk private schools) it's also got a good rep for having international students.
did it cost you anything to put the name down cause we're wodnering whether or not to do it as we're not sure about finances too that far in advance!
karen.

themerlin

Hi Karen,

Yes it cost $200.
There are a few provate schools that cost about $1k a year around the place.

Karen72

are they as good as st pauls? $1000 is fab but i'd need to know the reputation first.

themerlin

I don't think they will on par with St Pauls.

bethandneil

sounds fantastic, we hopefully fly out in september 07, feels like a lifetime away but i know it will come round quickly! we are not sure where we are going to live at the moment but somewhere near brisbane due to a possible job for neil, i've heard good reports of bayside but we are open minded as to where we feel "right", hope your life out in oz is worth all the waiting and grief it takes to get there!

Beth

annqldau

It was $200 dollars to put name down then $1,500 one off joining fee then yearly subscription, sure I'm paying $3,500 yr up to year 7 then increases in yr 7.

They can go from first school year right through to yr 12 in the same school though. So far I haven't found any major faults and he is getting a better education than UK would have given him.