Mrs Kiwi

Hi guys, my OH and I have just got back from our reccie and thought I'd share it with you as I've really enjoyed reading other peoples reccies.

We started off on the Sunshine Coast which we absolutely loved, as most people seem to.
Mooloolaba was my absolute favourite - what a place. A great restaurant/bar scene and a fabulous beach which were 2 of the things we were looking for. Could live there like a shot but we're not going to (see below)
I loved the surf clubs on the Sunshine Coast. Before I went on the reccie I thought surf clubs were little cafe-type places but oh no! The Alex Heads and Mooloolaba Surf Clubs, in particular, were amazing. They are huge places with a restaurant part, bar part, dance floor, pokies etc.. I liked the fact that they were for all age groups and had a great atmosphere.
I liked Caloundra but it wasn't as lively as Mooloolaba but that might be what some people prefer.
Alex Heads was nice as was Moorochadore (bad spelling sorry!) but we didn't get a chance to spend much time there.
Buderim was really leafy with beautiful, expensive housing. It looked very peaceful and sophisticated but not much in the way of cafes/bars and wasn't on the water.

Next stop was Redcliffe and Sandgate. Can really see Redcliffe taking off in a few years as it has nice beaches and the start of a cafe scene but after Mooloolaba and the Sunshine Coast I had been spoilt and knew it wasn't for us. Sandgate had some lovely old Queensland homes.

We then went on to Brisbane city itself and the bayside suburbs.
We loved the bayside area, particularly Cleveland. Could never afford Raby Bay in a million years but could see myself having breakfast or a few drinks at the marina bars/cafes there. Thought Cleveland and Wellington Point were very pretty and even though there were no proper beaches we could see ourselves hoping over to North Stradbroke island for the odd day or weekend to fish and sunbathe and relax.
Loved the fact that the bayside was so peaceful and pretty yet we could still work in Brisbane city if necessary.

Brisbane city itself is fantastic. We spent a Friday night wandering round and all the city workers brought the city alive - everyone was milling around having after work drinks and it was a fantastic atmosphere.

The inner city suburns were ok - I got a real shock as before I came on the reccie I imagined this was probably where we would like best as we have no kids and like the cafe/bar scene but the inner city suburbs were just too built up. (Must be getting old!) Don't get me wrong - I loved the suburbs on the river like Graceville and Bulimba but they are definitely not for us.

Then we went to Hervey Bay as my brother lives there and as far as I was concerned my reccie was over and we were going to live in Mooloolaba.
Then, however, 2 things happened. (1) I saw Hervey Bay and (2) I got realistic about house prices & mortgage interest rates.

At first sight Hervey Bay was nice but that was all I thought. I had ruled it out before getting to Australia due to lack of work there and the fact that it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.
After a week there, though, I loved Hervey Bay. It has a lovely marina with bars and restaurants plus the esplanade that has loads more bars and restaurants. The beaches are lovely as is Fraser Island.
We went whale watching and I thought I'd get a glimpse of some from a distance but the whales actually came right up and stayed with our boat for 2 hours! They were performing all sorts of tricks and were about an arms length away. It was absolutely magical.
Anyway - as I have heard on this site Hervey Bay seems to be having a boom and there were LOADS of mortgage/loan companies there - that is the field I work in here in the UK so I spoke to a couple of companies who said they are always recruiting. My OH is a car painter and again we spoke to a couple of places who said there should be plenty of work for him.

So I was starting to fall for Hervey Bay - then the Courier Mail did a weekend pull out section while I was there that listed the average house price in every suburb in Queensland.
The average house price in Mooloolaba? $538,000.
Average house price in Cleveland? $467,000.
Average house price in Hervey Bay? $315,000.
That sold it for me.

Don't get me wrong - even before that newspaper house price supplement I knew house prices in bayside Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast were high - we had been in to real estate agencys in both places.
But I didn't quite realise the interest rates for mortgages was so high in Oz - my interest rate here in England is 4.95% - my brothers interest rate in Hervey Bay is 7 point something %.
I had a slow dawning realisation that maybe I couldn't afford, or didn't want us to stretch ourselves to afford as big a mortgage as I would need to get a $500,000 home in Oz.

This realisation I had was quickly added to when I saw how expensive things in Oz seem to be generally - one example is that a bottle of Domestos bleach in Oz was over $5 - thats nearly £2.50 in English money and yet in Tesco's Domestos bleach is only 94p. Not sure why I used Domestos bleach as an example but I was just so shocked that a bottle of bleach was $5!! And that was just one example - most days we would pop into a supermarket to get things for lunch and we rarely came out with change from $30 dollars - and we were literally just getting things like rolls, ham, salad, coleslaw and soft drinks.

What I'm trying to say - in a very long winded way - is that things in Oz are more than double what they are in the UK but I don't think the wages are double to compensate.
Plus the mortgage interest rates are a lot higher.

I am lucky enough to earn very good money in the UK but I don't think I will in Oz.
So I was pleased that my reccie taught me to be more realistic about what I could afford. Plus my reccie threw up some surprises - I fell in love with Hervey Bay and wasn't keen on the inner Brisbane suburbs - a totally opposite result to what I expected before the reccie!

Anyway - thanks for reading what has turned into an essay the size of War and Peace. It looks like it's Hervey Bay here we come in about a year from now. XX

maisey

Great post, very informative, love hearing about peoples experiences. Can't believe $5 for domestos.

Kapri

Great post
I always enjoy reading about people's reccies.

Have you got any pics?

brissydeb

Lovely post, know what you mean about prices in Aussie supermarkets as I was a wee bit shocked when I went into Coles in Brisbane.

Debbie

emelems

Fantastic post.. really really helpful..

alipally

We did the same reckie last month...
Loved Mooloolaba too, thought it was the most beautiful place ever, we ate in the cheapest BYO thai place down a side street and it cost £12 for 3 of us, plus the wine we bought at the bottle shop.
We too fell in love with Hervey Bay, despite the fact that we ended up staying in the most BASIC accomodation for the whole of our trip!

I didn't buy any bleach but I did notice the price of the chocolate $5.00 for a 100g bar! yes shopping does work out more expensive, if you plan to shop like we do in the UK, but I found that shopping at markets for fruit and veg and butchers for the meat etc... like shopping used to be here 30 years ago, it works out about the same. Couple that with the cheaper fuel and house prices and on balance we found after some sums that is works out a bit cheaper, not much but a bit. We're lucky because we can earn good money so on balance we'll be a little bit better off!

Up To Late

Great post!

We love Hervey Bay too!

My cousins live there - they run the sunglasses shop. It's great for us as we get free accomodation!

jad n rich

What a realistic post. Cost of living is very high as you saw.

Hervey bays house prices dont seem to have gone up much the last year, prior to that there was a big boom, probably some more steam in them yet because as you have seen the 'half million' seems to be the mark further down the coast

cresta57

That's one of the best reports I've read for a long time. You seem to have it weighed up nicely.
When we first came up here there were very few migrants to the area, the boom in property prices has seen a huge influx as people realise there's more to life than paying off a 1/2 million dollar home loan on tradies wages.

Cookster

Great post, wish my husband earned twice as much as in the UK $$$$$$$$$$$$ unfortunately not. But he has never been happier!!!!!!
Just goes to show money isnt everything!!

Angela