OurMove

Hi all,

My wife and I have always dreamed of moving to the distant shores of Australia and planned to do so once we had had our children. Well that time has now come. We now have 2 beautiful little ones and now time has come for us to realise our dream!

As a couple we traveled the lost continent extensively and fell in love with the Gold Coast however are both a little unsure now. The confusion exists around our babies; will the Gold Coast offer them the best future and exposure to culture as Melbourne would? Emigrating with children has more pitfalls than we had anticipated!

I'm a Land Surveyor and my wife is an accountant so both options would offer good employment. My request is for any pearls of wisdom you may have on: living, schools and lifestyle in either the Gold Coast or Melbourne. I would really appreciate any help that you could afford.

Many Thanks
Ryan

Grayling

Did you just use the words 'Gold Coast' and 'culture' in the same sentence?

BadgeIsBack

There's your answer...in an interesting article, todays Australian explains why Brisbane differs to the southern cities...

RedDragon2008

Ryan do a search on a poster called Buzzy--Bee, he did an excellent report on his exploratory trip comparing Brisbane/Gold Coast with Melbourne. He decided on Melbourne for various reasons. I dont know much about Gold Coast so have no comments either way. But if your considering Melbourne is Sydney something also on the cards? Alot of work is between Melbourne and Sydney.
"Suggest you do a search as this has cropped up a lot before.

My reccie reports on the 2 places are here -

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=412993

and here -

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=413388

Buzzy"


Childcare/nights out
Oh those were the days. Now close those thoughts where no family to rely on during sickness days, or that odd dinner out. Thegood baby sitters grow up and go travelling

Education is expensive
Be prepared to pay premium for living in the area with better state schools or
Be prepared to pay for private schooling
Luck does not come in to it. So time investigating schools is just as important as suburb to live in.

Accomodation
Try to rent in area you are also likely too afford to buy (whether you intend to buy or not). Problem later is you may not be able to buy and may have already made social network based around that area.

Work
It pays the bills so don't sweat that Australia is behind. Life is more about after 5pm I mean 6pm I mean 7pm most nights

Lifestyle
It takes the individual to make their own lifestyle, you have as much opportunity here as you do in the UK. Some take advantage of it, others well there is overtime at work

Australia is expensive, but you can live a good life, just keep in mind its expensive.

You will make social networks through the children schools, playgroups/sports etc.

Bermudashorts

I cannot agree with the statement thay Gold Coast and Melbourne would both offer good opportunities for accountants; Melbourne would, GC would be very limited.

Buzzy--Bee

Thanks - reddragon for quoting me, very flattering.

What I would say to the OP is - the very most important thing is to choose a location where you have the best chance of earning a good income. Without this factor it doesn't matter how great beaches etc are, you won't be able to live, or enjoy lifestyle, without money.

We also moved from London to Melbourne with two very small children, 5 years ago. We have found Melbourne to be fantastic for kids, I have found Melbourne to have many of the positives of London, and also great beaches and more pleasant weather most of the time, and great wild country, even skiing, within a short drive.

BB

moneypenny20

With your children the ages they are, I personally would consider them 'add-ons' concentrate on the best place for me to work. Your children will adapt to the 'best future/culture/experience' YOU provide. If you can't find work in an area, regardless of where it is in the world, then they won't get the 'quality of life' you desire for them.

Chortlepuss

I'm one of these people that don't get the Gold Coast - reminds me a bit of Torremolinos - there just seems to be nothing about it that isn't better elsewhere in Australia - beaches, shopping, restaurants. Didn't spot anything remotely cultural when I was there - although there are a lot of rich people chucking their $ about. I genuinely can't understand why anyone would want to live there when there are so many great places in Oz for people who are that minted. I suppose it has good theme parks if that's what you're after. And the Gold Coast hinterland is just sublime.
maybe it's just me

moneypenny20

Well if all you were to see is Surfers and Broadbeach etc I'd totally agree. However the GC is far far bigger than that. However, each to his or her own, I couldn't live in Brissie, I like to see a great amount of green around me and have the sea/beach within a 5 minute drive and can't remember the last time I went near the theme parks. Horses for courses and all that. You'd have one crazy huge town/city if everyone liked the same place and insisted on living there.

renth

Gold Coast hinterland is great.

jad n rich

Dont most work for themselves anyway. Its the sort of job, you can live anywhere really.

GC appeals to many, my partners bro and family are moving down, but its for the elite surf clubs, one of the kids is into the Ironwoman thing. Whole family moving down in the hope she gets on the circuit/telly Not sure I would move my kid in grade 11 but it shows we are all different.

As an accountant the very very cheap QLD housing market right now might appeal, as self employed you could make big bucks wherever you live.

Bermudashorts

I would think a very small number of accountants work for themselves. It definitely is not the sort of job where you can live anywhere, I definitely feel restricted to the major cities.

Edit: of course OP might be one of the few that works for themselves, but they would have a slog building up a new client base in GC I would imagine.

KJCherokee

What sort of Land Surveyor? To do any sort of cadastral work for land titles you would need to be registered - check out the Surveyors Act and the Surveyors Regulations

fish.01

Some glaring lack of knowledge of Brisbane mixed in with some accurate stuff. Bernard Salt draws conclusions on what he sees now rather than on what actually happened.

I agree with his general hypothesis that Brisbane has less extremes than Sydney and Melbourne, less rich and less poor, a middle class city he calls it, but I think this goes for all smaller cities in Australia compared to Sydney/Melbourne.

Anyway this is about the Gold Coast, not Brisbane, so I better not take it further off topic.

EllisG

From the amount of interest we get from Australia I would say the best pearl of wisdom I can give is to buy things you may need before you leave London and ship it with the rest of your stuff.

I know my clients ship a wide variety of European made goods such as Natuzzi furniture and taps etc for bathrooms. I personally supply them high end European kitchen appliances (Miele, Siemens, Gaggenau etc) and the price differences between UK and Australia are HUGE. Definitely something to take into consideration to reduce the cost of your move if you need to furnish your destination.