floweroscotland

Hi Everyone,

Well i'm here at last, arrived in the Gold Coast, Queensland yesterday!

My feelings so far

The flight. Well it is very long, no one can prepare you for that, especially with 2 small children, flew with Royal Brunai, who were great, very nice plane, good legroom and quite cheap at £1300.00 for 2 adults and 2 kids. Flew from Glasgow to heathrow, heathrow to Dubai for 20 minute stop, then Dubai to Brunai which is near singapore for 2 hours then Brunai to brisbane in all about 22 hours flying!!! very tiring.

The Gold Coast. My first impressions were brilliant, fantastic roads to drive, oh hired a budget car, renault espace, $400 for the week, nice, roomy and spotless, good service from budget. We are staying in Surfers Paradise for 2 weeks until we check out the areas we want to live. Surfers is soooo busy, so much going on, but so far the kids are hyper as there is just so much to see, the hotel we are staying in is right on the beach, which is the nicest beach i have ever seen. The hotel owner has told us the nicest areas to live which has been really good, so today we are looking at, Runaway bay, Arundel, Ashmore and Labrador. He has said Nerang isn't a good area, It's good to get a locals view to keep us right.

When we first arrived it reminded me of Florida, I know its nothing like it, but to see palm trees, nice roads, good road signs, high rise buildings. My first thought was florida, not 1 thing reminded me of the UK. Last night at 11pm it was 80 degrees, very hot and humid, so good to feel the heat.

I will keep you posted let you know how things are going and what experiences i have, if anyone has doubts, don't! it will be everything and more of what you dream about. The hardest part was saying goodbye to our families, we could easily have turned back and it was heart breaking, but we are doing this for our kids. Now we are here everythings feels so right, and all fallen into place. Once we get permanant accommodation hopefully we will really settle, but i will keep you posted.

I will keep you updated!!!

Lisa

Elaine M

Hi Lisa,

Sounds like you've got off to a flying (sorry!) start.

Hope everything goes smoothly for you - I'll look forward to Part 2.

Take care,

Elaine M

irishmolly

22 hours - 2 stops

23 hours - 1 stop

Did you find it easier travelling with Royal Brunai and having the extra stop ? I too have 2 young kids and would rather do the single stop but your way seems quicker.

Did Royal Brunai have good seat leg clearance and video/games screens in each seat for the kids ?

We really only hear about Qantas, BA, Singapore Airlines and Malaysia, how do you rate Royal Brunai ?

Good luck !!! and enjoy yourselves.

Servant24kids

From my experience, the more stops the better when you have kids. It breaks the journey and we all get a chance to stretch our legs and use a decent loo.

lindseyden

We went with Royal Brunei last year to have a look at Perth before we applied to emigrate. All I can tell you is I wouldn't fly with them again if they gave us tickets. The plane wasn't that much bigger than the ones we fly to Spain in and certainly no more leg room. The stewardess dropped a pint of milk on me 2 hours into the flight so you can imagine the smell by the time we got there, by way of an apology they gave me passes into the VIP lounge on our return flight 5 minutes before boarding!!!!. I did try to swing it so they moved us into first class as that was empty but they didn't think that a good idea because we had our 4 year old daughter with us. Films were good, food was debatably food. Presents for my daughter were good and they gave her one every time we got back on the plane so she had 6 back packs and contents by the time we got home.

Singapore or BA for me next time.

debsy

Hiys Lisa
Glad to hear that you arrived ok. There is a lovely park for the kids to play at Southport just opposite Australia Fair.

Gool luck and keep us updated.

See you soon
Debs

pukka pom

Lisa,

Glad things are going well for you, sounds fantastic. We have 3 very young children and even thinking of the goodbye's at this stage (only just submitted to TRA), gets me all upset, I think that is going to be the hardest part - saying goodby to family and friends, anyway keep us posted with your progress

S

rob&lucy

I'm glad things are going well for you and i bet your face hurts from smiling so much! Makes you want to bottle the feeling in case you ever feel down. The gold coast and Brisvegas are fun and even better is the fact that you have lots of other great places to go to that are near by. Can't wait 'til its our turn in May

floweroscotland

Hi Debsy,

We went to that park today, there are so many brilliant parks for the kids, in fact everything is set up for children, there is no way kids could ever be bored here. Surfers beach is the nicest i have ever seen but very busy around about it at night with all the teenagers in their cars, it is like something from fast & furious, they go up and down the beachfront like cars from the film. There is a big indy car race here every year and aparently half a million turn up to watch it. My first impression of Surfers is very lively, 24 hours a day, but spotlessly clean, beautiful buildings although a lot of high rise, i read on this site once someone said it was like blackpool, i don't agree, it is a lot more classier, cleaner and a gorgeous beach and amazing weather. Today it was around 80 degrees and tonight its still very warm but breezy. We are going to try and get a car and rented accom this week, hopefully we get something and i need to start looking at schools for my 6 year old, the kids seem to think they are just on holiday, we haven't pushed it too much yet as i want them to settle first without throwing them in the deep end. I'll keep you all posted and hopefully we will get our Gold Coast meet up this year sometime when everyone is over.

speak to you soon

Lisa

biggy

You sound like you are settled already Lisa....to make you feel even better...I live south of glasgow................at 11pm last night it was 4 degrees, bloody freezing with 70mph winds!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cant wait till its our turn.

Looking forward to your next post

floweroscotland

Biggy,

If i have any doubts why i am here i just need to read your post, no wonder i am sweating like a beast in this heat, i have been used to bloody rain and freezing weather all my life. it will take some getting used to, as it is so hot and humid, but great to wake up in the morning with the sun beating down and a view of the golden beach, could life get any better!!!!!

biggy

Pissin down today again

And we got 3 inches of snow on Wed!!!!!

Our house is up for sale so all goin well we will be heading out end of June woooo hooooo

What hotel are you staying at? Is it good? and how much it costin ya if u dont mind me askin

Bordy

How are the accent going down Flower?? Do you find yourself having to repeat everything??
I normally get " What part of Ireland are you from"

floweroscotland

Biggy, we are staying in fully services apartments in Surfers, right on the beach, $1600.00 for 2 weeks, there is cheaper around but you only get what you pay for, and apartments are more expensive than the hotels.

Bordy, the accent hasn't been too bad so far, although a lot have been asking where we come from!

Think i have brought the crap scottish weather with me, today is rain and Gailforce winds on the Gold coast, so i just feel like home!!!!!

I saw the Versace hotel today that the celebrities from i'm a celeb get me out of here! were staying in, i have to say it is the most beautiful hotel i have ever seen, in main beach, 5 mins from surfers, i wouldn't even ask the price!!!!!

Bought our first shopping today in coles supermarket, prices are almost the same as the uk some things more expensive, especially brand name goods, chocolate just doesn't taste the same which is good! a cream egg was around 60p .

I forgot to say going through customs was no problem, they are just so strict on bringing in food, they asked us about half a dozen times if we had anything, so don't even consider bringing anything, the only thing we had was sweets for the kids, which were fine. Ay Brisbane airport we got the bags really quick, no que's, they just looked at our passports and we had to fill in immigration cards on the plane, stamp'd them and through we went, really straight forward, and we had loads of bags, camcorder, laptop. They didn't ask a thing. So don't worry.

Lisa

debsy

Lisa
That versace hotel is awesome isnt it!! Glad you are ok. When are you starting college? Let me know if you can get Ryvitas