bri.thomson

My company has offered me a job in Australia and will sort out all the visa's etc.

Say I can stay anywhere in Aus/NZ whatever I choose.
My wife likes the look of Brisbane (suburbs).
We have two Kids a girl of 14 and a boy aged 12.

Can someone help and point us in the right direction in regards, location, schools etc...........

They are not giving me much time to decide, so all help is very much appreciated.

The S's

Hi Bri,

welcome to the site.

My personal opinion only, but I would and have chosen Brisbane to be my 'new adventure', there seems to be more for us and for the kids than the other areas we've looked at. Brisbane seems to have quite a lot going for it. I have a friend who was considering emigration to NZ and after holidaying there a number of times, she has decided its not really for her, yes its very beautiful, but there were problems with her partner getting a job (they were going on her skills) and day to day things are generally quite expensive over there.

Sorry can't be more help

Good luck in whatever you choose, but I'm pretty sure in Brisbane they'll be plenty for your kids to do

peterinblack

Hi bri
welcome to the site
try doing some serches on the site lots of info
also try looking at ourbrisbane this site is full of info
regards peter

lawlaw

for loads of good information, check out www.ourbrisbane.com, fantastic website, whiled away many an afternoon at work on that one

Three Legs

Darwin or Tasmania ...

That's where "its" at.

bri.thomson

Thanks for the help.

I will go and do some surfing(internet) of course and see what I can come up with.

Any and all information will still be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a Lot

Brian.

chatty34

HI Brian

Of course this is only my personal opinion but we have settled in Bridgeman Downs just north of Brisbane. It's a lovely area with plenty of countryside around and still a short distance into the city.
Our children are 11 and 14 and both attend good public schools just a short drive away and there are also a couple of good private schools in the area too.
We have only been here 8 weeks and we are loving it here and I just cannot believe the difference in our way of life already. Our daughter is really enjoying school and making lots of new friends and our 11yr old son has never been so active, he actually puts himself to bed at 8pm which was unheard of in the UK.

Good Luck!
Sharon

bri.thomson

Hi Sharon
Thanks for that information. Have the kids settled into the school okay? Its always a worry as you are never sure at how they will react and especially my daughter as when the job offer came, she was not moving and was going to stay with her grandparents, my son I think has already packed his bags.
Was it simple enough to enroll the children?
Brian

chatty34

HI Brian
My son settled into school straight away, he found the kids really friendly and was on the softball team within 2 days, my daughter took a bit longer, she is the same age as your daughter and as you know its a difficult age, but thankfully she is really happy here and has made some really nice friend's and knows her way around the school finally. She had a bad day a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't help asking her if she were given the choice of staying or going back what would she do and she said stay 100%
Enrolling our son was very easy, I approached the school for a look around and he started the next day. Secondary school was slightly more difficult, we were out of the catchment area for the school that we wanted her to go to so we were told that we had to write a letter and to sell our daughter to them and if initially approved then we would have to have an interview, it really was an interview too, I had to have a cigarette when I got home
With my letter to them I enclosed every single award, certificate, school report etc from the past two years and luckily my daughter is not the pupil that I was so had very good school reports etc and I think all of this helped.
None of this would have been necessary had we been in the catchment area, as the school informed us that they would have had to accept her had this been the case.
I have found the whole school experience quite refreshing compared to my experiences in England. The teachers are far more approachable here, even the principals point out that their door is always open should you need to discuss anything. My son didnt like going to school in England but he loves going to school here, he is a very active boy with loads of energy and Australian school life seems to suite him, he goes swimming twice a week and plays softball twice a week plus lots of football and soccer.
This doesn't mean that the schools only cater for sporty kids as my daughter is more academic and we are thrilled with the curriculum that she is following as is she.
All I can say Brian is that having children of similar ages I would definitely give it a go, we are all loving the life here and can never imagine wanting to go back.
The only obvious downfall is that our family and friends are not here with us and this does give me the occasional off and tearful day but then I pick my happy children up from school and know that they are going home to play in the pool or play tennis at the local courts and not sitting on the pc or ps2 and know that we have done the right thing.


Sharon

ABCDiamond

Have a look at the Brisbane Bayside site, for some info on the suburbs just to the East of Brisbane.

wanderingwombat

Darwin for the more adventurous

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Nation...026370068.html :scared:

Tasmania
LOL

WW

mlbonner

Hey Sharon - good to hear you're settling in so well, B.downs is a lovely area too!!

Brian, good luck in your search. I've been in Brisbane for the best part of three years now... feel free to ask questions. I dont come on here as much as I used to but check in from time to time and will answer them as much as I can!

bri.thomson

Many Thanks Sharon & mlbonner?

I think I will have to get my wife to come and chat with you.
I think my Daughter is panicing a bit about the new school and friends etc........ I really do understand where she is coming from.

We were (internet) looking at homes in Bald Hill, Brendan and around that areas, so "great minds, think alike"? or as my wife would say "Fools seldom differ"?

Sharon what is the catchment area for the school your daughter is in? Do the schools vary greatly in what the kids achieve? I know my kids wont be nuclear scientists, but they are both bright and I would hate to blow it for them by making a wrong choice.

We are not in UK at present we are down in Spain and the secondary education s**ks and we need to get the kids out ASAP, back to UK we were heading until my work popped up and sent me spinning into this situation.

The Kids have done really well down here, they are both fluent in Espanol, its a pity their thick 'padre' was not the same.
But the academy schooling has brought us all down to earth with a bump and we are scared of making the same mistake twice?

mumomonty

you mentioned NZ???? Dont' go there. More opportunities in Aus for families.

bri.thomson

Okay Mum

NZ appears to be out of the running as far as location is concerned.

Thanks.