mandyp

Hi anyone n everyone!!!

Total virgin to all this have never posted a 'thread' anywhere so excuse any stupid stuff from me please!!!

Any way, as av said, headin to the gold coast in December at some point when the flights are lowest!!!

Awaiting student visa at the moment, only way for us to get over, don't plan on coming back though. (Hubbie, 2 year old, 1 year old, n me)

Needing advice on all sorts, been looking into everything for a while, but now its all getting a bit more serious!!

Firstly, Hubbie studying in Ashmore any advice on good suburbs surrounding here would be greatly received.

Initially looking for hotel, motel, caravan park, anywhere really to stay till we sort out a rental. We don't really want to rent too soon till we 'suss' everything out as we'r under the impression that a 6 month minimum rental is the norm and don't want get stuck somewhere we hate.

Cheers for now
Mandy

steve`o

hi mandy welcome to the site

for accommadation try
http://www.wentworthresorts.com.au/pelican-cove.php

call them direct, speak to jenny or murry ( managers ) and if you stay for more than 28 days the costs drop dramatically ( almost half price ) we stayed for 5 weeks whilst we found our feet as it were and looked for a house

o and the flying in dec thing is going to be chuffin expensive
as its the hieght of the holdiay season over here


regards steve

paulhill

I think you would be probably better waiting until February to fly out as December is height of Summer and obviously Christmas and January is school summer holidays and accommodation is scarce! See if you can get a good deal otherwise waiting could be a good idea.

There are lot of nice areas around Ashmore (Southport, Benowa, Parkwood, Arundel etc etc). As you said try and book a long term rental while you look around. If you need any help with accommodation please just pm me.

If you do decide to travel in the height of Summer please make sure you book a hire car and accommodation beforehand.

All the best Sue

Jonahs_mummy

Hiya! Have you a PM.
Claire x

mandyp

Hi all thanx for gettin back to me!

Sorry for the silly question but wots a pm? e-mail address am thinkin but wot do a do?

Need to go over in December as Hubbie's course starts 14th January a noticed the last lower flight prices (BA anyway) was on the 7th December either that or have to wait till around the 23rd just depends on when we sell the house and move out dates hoping for the first week in December though or maybe last week in November but just need to see how it all goes. Weighing it all up too as we can't start a job till course starts so earlier we'r over more to pay out am sure everyone's been similar!!

Just finishing off the flat makeover this weekend n gettin it on the market this week, good area so should be sold within a week or 2!!

Cheers all
Mandy

sarahlou

hi mandy,pm means that she sent you a personal message to you direct and it should show up on the top right hand corner of the screen to enable you to open it and read........dont worry im still learning as well so im glad im not the only one
sarahlou

mandyp

Oops a need to do another post, so should be able to read them now cheers!!

Mandy

Neil51

Hello Mandy,
My wife and I have just returned from Queensland. The Gold Coast is a beautiful place and the house prices are relatively affordable. The people are also nice.
I didn't want to start this post in a negative way, but I hope that you might learn from our mistakes. After planning the emigration for five years we lasted only six weeks.
We went to Townsville (big mistake) so since the Gold Coast is better then you have picked a winner there I feel.
We also had two young children and I worry that you will struggle on your own to get settled. It was not the children's fault, but there is so much to do to sort out a home, tax file numbers, banks, etc, and the children understandably wanted to play rather than get dragged about all over the place. In hindsight it would have been best to leave one parent at home with the children while the other went to Australia alone to get all these things sorted in preparation. My wife and I had never been apart in nine years of marriage and we didn't want to take this option, but if we had we might still be in Australia now. Please think carefully about doing this.
The second thing we did wrong was to transfer all our savings out at the same time as we emigrated. we ended up losing a lot in the exchange rates. It would have been better to leave the savings at home until we knew we had settled.
My wife wants to return because after leaving Townsville we encountered "normal" people and we really loved Brisbane and Gold Coast.
send us a PM if you want some further info.

johnpod

Hi Mandy

Welcome to BE. We got our visa yesterday and I have just booked flights on 4th Dec with Singapore Air (direct on their web site - £2153.60 for 4 adults) Heathrow to Brisbane - we are also heading to the gold coast to live. I have tried Pelican Waters web site but they are full from 20th Dec so no joy there. Try Seqrents (google it) as this is a site which offers loads of different rent options in various areas from houses to flats, funrished, unfurnished, long/short term and pet friendly if necessary - hoping we can get something sorted soon or will be sleeping on the beach!!!

Good luck

Ali

mandyp

hi Ali,

Good price for flights a think?!! Have only checked out a few so far but they've been around £2400 for the four of us ( thats putting the kiddiewinks down as children rather than infants as we'd rather they had their own seats).

Have had a look at seqrents and looks ok, just too early to book andy yeah a also saw that pelican was booked out.

Good luck n keep me posted!!

Cheers
Mandy

soapy©

hi mandy, im from glasgow too theres a load of us on the gold coast and all willing to help with answers if you need them.

things like tax file numbers and bank accounts are easy, and can be done in the first few days, most banks will open an account while you are in the bank and the tax file number can be done online at an internet cafe when you are here. takes about 2 weeks to come through.

your accommodation: that might be a problem if you arrive in the high season. its all about coast. i know a few ex pats have contacted a member on here called doub. he has a place on broadbeach that you might be able to rent for a couple of weeks till you get a rental. all the people i know who have rented his place have said good things about it and him. but hes busy, so you might not get in. worth contacting him though. most places will cost at that time of year, so dont even think about a caravan park (most of them are shite anyway)
i know you think 6 months is a long time to rent as soon as you get here, but its not. it takes at least that to find your feet! you wont have time to hate it lol
heres a few tips
1, send a PM tp moneypen20 she is very good on the area and will always help new people heading out this way.

2, get yir arse to a gold coast meet as soon as you can after you get here. theres a couple on the go at the mo Sept meet ....... Oct meet
have a look through both these thread and ask anything you want from anyone. they will tell you it all FREE they have all been where you are now!
3, make sure you at least hire a car for the first couple of weeks. it will make things much easier.

all the areas around ashmore are sound, so dont worry too much about that.
so good luck mandy and dont forget, all you need to do is ask.

soapy

mandyp

Cheers Soapy,

Lots of well cool info to keep me goin for tonight whilst am watchin crap on the telly!!!

Good to hear that there's a few glaesga folk out there!! Had the radio on yesterday n thought it be strange not to hear the patter a think we'l miss that!!!

Cheers
Mandy

mandyp

Cheers Soapy,

Plenty to keep me goin tonight whilst a watch crap on the telly!!!

Good to hear plent a gleasga folks around cause we'l totally miss the patter n banter!!

We'l keep an eye out for the December meet, if there is one, n come along if we make it over in time!!!


Mandy

mandyp

Hay anyone,

Found a coupla sites for short term rental

www.roamfree.com
www.goldcoastaustralia.com

Any thoughts on how long best to book a short term rental, specially as it'l be in December? A thought about 2 weeks, hubbie thinks less!

Cheers
Mandy

Stella340

Hi Neil,
Sorry to hear you returned to the UK. If you come back we are 'normal' on the Gold Coast, well maybe not so much after a few glass of vino! See Soapy's posts above about TFN's and Medicare and of course the 'meet ups'. It can feel very difficult trying to find your feet after landing but there's plenty of us out here to give 'free advice' and as Soapy said, we've all been in similar situations to you.
Hope you come to a decision about what is best for your family
xx