Our Aussie experience...
Jul 16th 2005, 11:22 am
#1
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Posts: 354
Our Aussie experience...
Hi everyone, well got back Saturday from our 3 week holiday on the GC. What can I say! WICKED WICKED WICKED! What an amazing experience. Such a beautifull country, and so clean. Well where do I start.
We flew out from Heathrow at 6pm (the flight I've been dreading for months with a very active 2yr old) all went so well. Took off, had some drinks, had a play, had our dinner, then by 9.30pm Jonjo was asleep. and woke up about an hour B4 landing, had his breakfast, then it was near on time to land at Singapore! We flew with Singapore airlines, and they were absolutley wonderfull. Spent about 7hrs at Singapore so we could wear out the kids ready for the next flight, so we went to the hotel (we didn't book a room) and just paid to use their open air pool onthe roof tops, and stayed there for most of the time. Then back on the plane in the evening for our next flight to Brisbane and the kids slept again. Me and Andy couldn't beleive our luck!!
Got to brisbane, and it was raining and over cast, picked up the car then heded off to Mermaid Beach..Turtle Beach Resort. We spent a long time trying to find a good apartment with alot of childrens facilities there. They were suppose to have a few different heated pools..(they were all freezing cold) 2 crazy golf courses (which were 3 holes litterally 1 step away from each other) 2 games room which were okay, and a Spa bah that was so bloody hot in the evening that you couldn't even put your big toe in it!! So bit dissapointed in the facilities there. Apartment was nice,though the cleaner only came twice in 3weeks
and all they done was wiped round the bathroom and changed bedding. So wasn't very happy about that.
But anyway. Gold coast was lovely. So clean, so freindly, beaches were stunning, the whole vibe I just loved. So many parks, BBQ facilities and good variety of shops and restaurants. The kids loved it. My oldest Toby 13yrs and Andy (Elksa) Booked up surfing lessons and really got the bug for it! Toby now can't wait to move out there, which I'm so pleased about. We went to Seaworld and I swam with the dolphins OMG what an amzing experience that was. The best ever. And when we went to Dreamworld, I actually burstinto tears when I saw the Koalas..... I've waited 34yrs to see them! Yes I adore animals!!!
The 2nd week we were out there was rain rain and more rain. In fact I don't know if I've ever seen so much rain. Woke up in the morning...rain. Went to bed at night...rain. Woke the next morning...rain. And so on and so on for 4/5days. Well 5 mins down the road, there were people walking up to the top of thir legs in floods. This really was bad. Some cars were litterally all but the roof under water. Parks we had taken the kids to, you could see the chains were the swings were suppose to be, but you couldn't even see the seats on them, nor the park benches It really was bad. I thought crikey I really do have the English weather with me wherever I go!! :scared: We checked out quite a few suburbs, and have decided on Helensvale. We really liked it there. One place we went to was Beenleigh as houses and land seemed to be pretty cheap there. They had a big BMX track there, park, lots of shops, but there was something I couldn't put my finger on. After going to the Police Station to find out about the area, they informed me that Beenleigh and Logan had a very high crime rate. I thanked them, walked out, and didn't go backthere!!
Brisbane was a lovely city, reminded me of a mini version of London but alot cleaner. Everyone has so much respect for their country out there, and unfortunately you don't get that so much in England anymore, I mean, we see 1 peice of dogs poo in 3 weeks.. that is a miracle. Theres no litter rolling around or fag buts on the floors, and as soon as we get back here, I'm dodging the poo and broken glass in the streets with a bloody push chair again.
I also loved the fact that you could be at surfers, with the huslte and buslte, then 1/2hr or so drive, and your up Tamborine mountains and the rain forests...Beautifull. Absolutley breathtaking.
So will we be moving out there? I'll leve you to work out the answer
Sorry this is such a long post, but just wanted to share my thoughts and experiences with you guys.
For anyone thinking ..am I doing the right thing? I say go for it. Ive only seen a tiny bit of Oz, but my God. How can you not like it, it seems a wonderfull country to wanna make a fresh start. Certainly for your children, oh yeah another thing B4 I go, I didn't see any gangs of kids hanging round shop corners with nothing to do apart from smoke spit and swear and making people feel threatened by them. I know I was only out there 3 weeks, but its an every day occurance in Essex!
We flew out from Heathrow at 6pm (the flight I've been dreading for months with a very active 2yr old) all went so well. Took off, had some drinks, had a play, had our dinner, then by 9.30pm Jonjo was asleep. and woke up about an hour B4 landing, had his breakfast, then it was near on time to land at Singapore! We flew with Singapore airlines, and they were absolutley wonderfull. Spent about 7hrs at Singapore so we could wear out the kids ready for the next flight, so we went to the hotel (we didn't book a room) and just paid to use their open air pool onthe roof tops, and stayed there for most of the time. Then back on the plane in the evening for our next flight to Brisbane and the kids slept again. Me and Andy couldn't beleive our luck!!
Got to brisbane, and it was raining and over cast, picked up the car then heded off to Mermaid Beach..Turtle Beach Resort. We spent a long time trying to find a good apartment with alot of childrens facilities there. They were suppose to have a few different heated pools..(they were all freezing cold) 2 crazy golf courses (which were 3 holes litterally 1 step away from each other) 2 games room which were okay, and a Spa bah that was so bloody hot in the evening that you couldn't even put your big toe in it!! So bit dissapointed in the facilities there. Apartment was nice,though the cleaner only came twice in 3weeks
and all they done was wiped round the bathroom and changed bedding. So wasn't very happy about that.But anyway. Gold coast was lovely. So clean, so freindly, beaches were stunning, the whole vibe I just loved. So many parks, BBQ facilities and good variety of shops and restaurants. The kids loved it. My oldest Toby 13yrs and Andy (Elksa) Booked up surfing lessons and really got the bug for it! Toby now can't wait to move out there, which I'm so pleased about. We went to Seaworld and I swam with the dolphins OMG what an amzing experience that was. The best ever. And when we went to Dreamworld, I actually burstinto tears when I saw the Koalas..... I've waited 34yrs to see them! Yes I adore animals!!!
The 2nd week we were out there was rain rain and more rain. In fact I don't know if I've ever seen so much rain. Woke up in the morning...rain. Went to bed at night...rain. Woke the next morning...rain. And so on and so on for 4/5days. Well 5 mins down the road, there were people walking up to the top of thir legs in floods. This really was bad. Some cars were litterally all but the roof under water. Parks we had taken the kids to, you could see the chains were the swings were suppose to be, but you couldn't even see the seats on them, nor the park benches It really was bad. I thought crikey I really do have the English weather with me wherever I go!! :scared: We checked out quite a few suburbs, and have decided on Helensvale. We really liked it there. One place we went to was Beenleigh as houses and land seemed to be pretty cheap there. They had a big BMX track there, park, lots of shops, but there was something I couldn't put my finger on. After going to the Police Station to find out about the area, they informed me that Beenleigh and Logan had a very high crime rate. I thanked them, walked out, and didn't go backthere!!
Brisbane was a lovely city, reminded me of a mini version of London but alot cleaner. Everyone has so much respect for their country out there, and unfortunately you don't get that so much in England anymore, I mean, we see 1 peice of dogs poo in 3 weeks.. that is a miracle. Theres no litter rolling around or fag buts on the floors, and as soon as we get back here, I'm dodging the poo and broken glass in the streets with a bloody push chair again.
I also loved the fact that you could be at surfers, with the huslte and buslte, then 1/2hr or so drive, and your up Tamborine mountains and the rain forests...Beautifull. Absolutley breathtaking.
So will we be moving out there? I'll leve you to work out the answer
Sorry this is such a long post, but just wanted to share my thoughts and experiences with you guys.
For anyone thinking ..am I doing the right thing? I say go for it. Ive only seen a tiny bit of Oz, but my God. How can you not like it, it seems a wonderfull country to wanna make a fresh start. Certainly for your children, oh yeah another thing B4 I go, I didn't see any gangs of kids hanging round shop corners with nothing to do apart from smoke spit and swear and making people feel threatened by them. I know I was only out there 3 weeks, but its an every day occurance in Essex!
Jul 16th 2005, 11:41 am
#2
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2005
Location: halstead, essex now Cleveland, Brisbane!
Posts: 178
Re: Our Aussie experience...
Hi Funkybuddah
Great post!
We are off to Brisbane in October also for 3 weeks for a reccie (and flying out with Singapore Airlines and leaving Essex!)
Virtually everything you said in your post is how we imagine it will be.
We are just waiting for our med requests so will hopefully be out there next Feb/March.
Good luck with your future in Oz.
AnitaB
Great post!
We are off to Brisbane in October also for 3 weeks for a reccie (and flying out with Singapore Airlines and leaving Essex!)
Virtually everything you said in your post is how we imagine it will be.
We are just waiting for our med requests so will hopefully be out there next Feb/March.
Good luck with your future in Oz.
AnitaB
Jul 16th 2005, 11:49 am
#3
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Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 354
Re: Our Aussie experience...
Originally Posted by AnitaB
Hi Funkybuddah
Great post!
We are off to Brisbane in October also for 3 weeks for a reccie (and flying out with Singapore Airlines and leaving Essex!)
Virtually everything you said in your post is how we imagine it will be.
We are just waiting for our med requests so will hopefully be out there next Feb/March.
Good luck with your future in Oz.
AnitaB
Great post!
We are off to Brisbane in October also for 3 weeks for a reccie (and flying out with Singapore Airlines and leaving Essex!)
Virtually everything you said in your post is how we imagine it will be.
We are just waiting for our med requests so will hopefully be out there next Feb/March.
Good luck with your future in Oz.
AnitaB
Jul 16th 2005, 8:12 pm
#4
Suzy's Mummy too!
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: Gold Coast!
Posts: 4,231
Re: Our Aussie experience...
Originally Posted by funkybuddah
Hi everyone, well got back Saturday from our 3 week holiday on the GC. What can I say! WICKED WICKED WICKED! What an amazing experience. Such a beautifull country, and so clean. Well where do I start.
We flew out from Heathrow at 6pm (the flight I've been dreading for months with a very active 2yr old) all went so well. Took off, had some drinks, had a play, had our dinner, then by 9.30pm Jonjo was asleep. and woke up about an hour B4 landing, had his breakfast, then it was near on time to land at Singapore! We flew with Singapore airlines, and they were absolutley wonderfull. Spent about 7hrs at Singapore so we could wear out the kids ready for the next flight, so we went to the hotel (we didn't book a room) and just paid to use their open air pool onthe roof tops, and stayed there for most of the time. Then back on the plane in the evening for our next flight to Brisbane and the kids slept again. Me and Andy couldn't beleive our luck!!
Got to brisbane, and it was raining and over cast, picked up the car then heded off to Mermaid Beach..Turtle Beach Resort. We spent a long time trying to find a good apartment with alot of childrens facilities there. They were suppose to have a few different heated pools..(they were all freezing cold) 2 crazy golf courses (which were 3 holes litterally 1 step away from each other) 2 games room which were okay, and a Spa bah that was so bloody hot in the evening that you couldn't even put your big toe in it!! So bit dissapointed in the facilities there. Apartment was nice,though the cleaner only came twice in 3weeks and all they done was wiped round the bathroom and changed bedding. So wasn't very happy about that.
But anyway. Gold coast was lovely. So clean, so freindly, beaches were stunning, the whole vibe I just loved. So many parks, BBQ facilities and good variety of shops and restaurants. The kids loved it. My oldest Toby 13yrs and Andy (Elksa) Booked up surfing lessons and really got the bug for it! Toby now can't wait to move out there, which I'm so pleased about. We went to Seaworld and I swam with the dolphins OMG what an amzing experience that was. The best ever. And when we went to Dreamworld, I actually burstinto tears when I saw the Koalas..... I've waited 34yrs to see them! Yes I adore animals!!!
The 2nd week we were out there was rain rain and more rain. In fact I don't know if I've ever seen so much rain. Woke up in the morning...rain. Went to bed at night...rain. Woke the next morning...rain. And so on and so on for 4/5days. Well 5 mins down the road, there were people walking up to the top of thir legs in floods. This really was bad. Some cars were litterally all but the roof under water. Parks we had taken the kids to, you could see the chains were the swings were suppose to be, but you couldn't even see the seats on them, nor the park benches It really was bad. I thought crikey I really do have the English weather with me wherever I go!! :scared: We checked out quite a few suburbs, and have decided on Helensvale. We really liked it there. One place we went to was Beenleigh as houses and land seemed to be pretty cheap there. They had a big BMX track there, park, lots of shops, but there was something I couldn't put my finger on. After going to the Police Station to find out about the area, they informed me that Beenleigh and Logan had a very high crime rate. I thanked them, walked out, and didn't go backthere!!
Brisbane was a lovely city, reminded me of a mini version of London but alot cleaner. Everyone has so much respect for their country out there, and unfortunately you don't get that so much in England anymore, I mean, we see 1 peice of dogs poo in 3 weeks.. that is a miracle. Theres no litter rolling around or fag buts on the floors, and as soon as we get back here, I'm dodging the poo and broken glass in the streets with a bloody push chair again.
I also loved the fact that you could be at surfers, with the huslte and buslte, then 1/2hr or so drive, and your up Tamborine mountains and the rain forests...Beautifull. Absolutley breathtaking.
So will we be moving out there? I'll leve you to work out the answer
Sorry this is such a long post, but just wanted to share my thoughts and experiences with you guys.
For anyone thinking ..am I doing the right thing? I say go for it. Ive only seen a tiny bit of Oz, but my God. How can you not like it, it seems a wonderfull country to wanna make a fresh start. Certainly for your children, oh yeah another thing B4 I go, I didn't see any gangs of kids hanging round shop corners with nothing to do apart from smoke spit and swear and making people feel threatened by them. I know I was only out there 3 weeks, but its an every day occurance in Essex!
We flew out from Heathrow at 6pm (the flight I've been dreading for months with a very active 2yr old) all went so well. Took off, had some drinks, had a play, had our dinner, then by 9.30pm Jonjo was asleep. and woke up about an hour B4 landing, had his breakfast, then it was near on time to land at Singapore! We flew with Singapore airlines, and they were absolutley wonderfull. Spent about 7hrs at Singapore so we could wear out the kids ready for the next flight, so we went to the hotel (we didn't book a room) and just paid to use their open air pool onthe roof tops, and stayed there for most of the time. Then back on the plane in the evening for our next flight to Brisbane and the kids slept again. Me and Andy couldn't beleive our luck!!
Got to brisbane, and it was raining and over cast, picked up the car then heded off to Mermaid Beach..Turtle Beach Resort. We spent a long time trying to find a good apartment with alot of childrens facilities there. They were suppose to have a few different heated pools..(they were all freezing cold) 2 crazy golf courses (which were 3 holes litterally 1 step away from each other) 2 games room which were okay, and a Spa bah that was so bloody hot in the evening that you couldn't even put your big toe in it!! So bit dissapointed in the facilities there. Apartment was nice,though the cleaner only came twice in 3weeks
and all they done was wiped round the bathroom and changed bedding. So wasn't very happy about that.But anyway. Gold coast was lovely. So clean, so freindly, beaches were stunning, the whole vibe I just loved. So many parks, BBQ facilities and good variety of shops and restaurants. The kids loved it. My oldest Toby 13yrs and Andy (Elksa) Booked up surfing lessons and really got the bug for it! Toby now can't wait to move out there, which I'm so pleased about. We went to Seaworld and I swam with the dolphins OMG what an amzing experience that was. The best ever. And when we went to Dreamworld, I actually burstinto tears when I saw the Koalas..... I've waited 34yrs to see them! Yes I adore animals!!!
The 2nd week we were out there was rain rain and more rain. In fact I don't know if I've ever seen so much rain. Woke up in the morning...rain. Went to bed at night...rain. Woke the next morning...rain. And so on and so on for 4/5days. Well 5 mins down the road, there were people walking up to the top of thir legs in floods. This really was bad. Some cars were litterally all but the roof under water. Parks we had taken the kids to, you could see the chains were the swings were suppose to be, but you couldn't even see the seats on them, nor the park benches It really was bad. I thought crikey I really do have the English weather with me wherever I go!! :scared: We checked out quite a few suburbs, and have decided on Helensvale. We really liked it there. One place we went to was Beenleigh as houses and land seemed to be pretty cheap there. They had a big BMX track there, park, lots of shops, but there was something I couldn't put my finger on. After going to the Police Station to find out about the area, they informed me that Beenleigh and Logan had a very high crime rate. I thanked them, walked out, and didn't go backthere!!
Brisbane was a lovely city, reminded me of a mini version of London but alot cleaner. Everyone has so much respect for their country out there, and unfortunately you don't get that so much in England anymore, I mean, we see 1 peice of dogs poo in 3 weeks.. that is a miracle. Theres no litter rolling around or fag buts on the floors, and as soon as we get back here, I'm dodging the poo and broken glass in the streets with a bloody push chair again.
I also loved the fact that you could be at surfers, with the huslte and buslte, then 1/2hr or so drive, and your up Tamborine mountains and the rain forests...Beautifull. Absolutley breathtaking.
So will we be moving out there? I'll leve you to work out the answer
Sorry this is such a long post, but just wanted to share my thoughts and experiences with you guys.
For anyone thinking ..am I doing the right thing? I say go for it. Ive only seen a tiny bit of Oz, but my God. How can you not like it, it seems a wonderfull country to wanna make a fresh start. Certainly for your children, oh yeah another thing B4 I go, I didn't see any gangs of kids hanging round shop corners with nothing to do apart from smoke spit and swear and making people feel threatened by them. I know I was only out there 3 weeks, but its an every day occurance in Essex!
We are headed for the GC next year hopefully, and are looking to settle in Ashmore/Southport area. Gorgeous innit?
Claire
x
Jul 16th 2005, 8:40 pm
#5
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Joined: Aug 2004
Location: From Sidcup to Elanora...Sunny GC! 20/08/05
Posts: 2,075
Re: Our Aussie experience...
Hiya hun great post!
Glad you had a gr8 time
when do you think you guys will be out there? we are on our way on the 18th Aug, hope our two travel as well as yours!!
Sue
great post!Glad you had a gr8 time
when do you think you guys will be out there? we are on our way on the 18th Aug, hope our two travel as well as yours!!Sue
Jul 16th 2005, 9:01 pm
#6
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Posts: 354
Re: Our Aussie experience...
Originally Posted by Jonahs_mummy
Brill post - thanks for taking the time
We are headed for the GC next year hopefully, and are looking to settle in Ashmore/Southport area. Gorgeous innit?
Claire
x
We are headed for the GC next year hopefully, and are looking to settle in Ashmore/Southport area. Gorgeous innit?
Claire
x
When next year are you planning on going over?
Jul 16th 2005, 9:24 pm
#7
Suzy's Mummy too!
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: Gold Coast!
Posts: 4,231
Re: Our Aussie experience...
Originally Posted by funkybuddah
We really liked Ashmore ourselves, but it's just a little to far from Brisbane for Andy's work. Although Ashmore to Helensvale not reall all at far it seemed to take a good 15 - 20 minutes because all the traffic lights.
When next year are you planning on going over?
When next year are you planning on going over?
Claire
x
