Our validation trip to Brisbane
May 8th 2006, 11:31 am
#1
Brisbane bound
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2004
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 389
Our validation trip to Brisbane
Hi, we got back from our validation trip/reccie/holiday to Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast on Saturday so I though I’d post my thoughts….
The Flight
There’s no getting around the fact the flight is long and coupled with the jet lag we arrived exhausted, but Malaysia Airlines were absolutely fantastic by far the best airline I have ever flown with (and I have flown with over a dozen to date). The extra two inches of legroom over other airlines makes a huge difference and the flight crew were always friendly and seemed happy to help. We had the added nightmare of an eight month old baby to contend with but they really tried to make life easier. They even had a toy for her, as well as baby food, formula and nappies in case we ran out. The food was interesting though – we were given a meal when we got on the plane and then they went straight into KL time. So when we would have been having dinner the lights were off as it was the middle of the night in KL – by the time they gave us breakfast we were starving
!
Week 1: Brisbane
I really liked Brisbane (good thing too since we plan to live there
). It was a good start as customs and immigration were really friendly, cracking jokes with us. We declared everything (from baby food to aspirins) and I would recommend anyone else to do the same as as long as it is sealed they have no problem with it. We hired a car which I would advise anyone to do, we used Thrifty who were the cheapest when I checked and very conveniently located in the airport terminal. We also had our trusty Tom-Tom satnav which was a godsend as my wife doesn’t do maps 
On the drive in from the airport my first impressions were how clean everything was and how wide the roads were. There was no traffic to speak of either at 8pm on a Saturday, made a nice change from London! We arrived at our apartments (Manhattan Apartments – more info below) to a friendly welcome and fell straight into bed absolutely knackered. On our second day we drove into the CBD to sort out our HSBC account (btw driving was a bad idea short term parking is extortionate). As other posters have said it was a simple matter of presenting your passport, drivers licence and $2000 and the account was opened there and then – in fact I was given an ATM card (without my name on it) straight away. The CBD was really nice – busy enough that it felt like a proper city without being as mad as London.
The following few days we drove around a few of the suburbs mainly to the North of Brisbane as that’s where we have friends. We first followed the train line up to Bald Hills to try check out the suburbs on the line but didn’t see much we liked. We paid particular attention to Zillmere, Geebung and Nundah but they just seemed a bit run down to us. We did like Carseldine though, if you’re looking in this area I’d definitely recommend you give it a look. We then ranged a bit further out and particularly liked Sandgate which seemed nice and relaxed right on the sea with lots of older character properties. We also had a short excursion to some southern suburbs, our favourite of the ones we saw was Greenslopes which definitely makes the shortlist. On our last day in Brisbane we followed the train line out to Ferny Grove and we liked most of the suburbs out that way, Ferny Grove especially is high on our list as all the houses seemed nice (proper brick houses which I have to say I prefer) with decent gardens and a nature park on your doorstep. Keep in mind though that this is all personal preference and we are looking at suburbs that suit our particular requirements, which include an easy commute into Brisbane and decent sized houses for around $350k.
Manhattan Apartments
Like a few other posters we stayed in the Manhattan apartments in Newstead. The apartments definitely have their pros and cons and it depends on your particular needs. They are in a very central location a short bus ride from the city and not far from anywhere, perfect if what you are looking for is a base to get everything sorted. The apartments themselves are lovely, very well appointed with the best shower I have ever used! However Newstead itself is not the nicest area – we wanted somewhere we could go for walks with the pram and from that point of view it wasn’t great. There is a short walk along the river other than that it’s all car dealers and small warehouses. Having said that it looks like in a few years that will all have changed – there’s tons of construction going on.
Week 2: Sunshine Coast
Our second week was spent at Sunseeker Lodge on Sunshine Beach near Noosa. The apartments were fantastic, a similar level of accommodation to the Manhattan Apartments but in the nicest seaside town I’ve ever stayed in. It was a short stroll from the apartment down to the beach and we started every day with a walk on the sand. There is a small parade of shops with all the basics including some great restaurants (the lifesaving club restaurant is especially worth visiting) and an award winning bakery (the meat pies come highly recommended ), and nearby Noosa has a Coles supermarket. Also the Noosa heads provide some great walks for those who are that way inclined!
Overall Impression
It’s the first time we’ve been to Australia and I am glad to say we liked it just as much as we expected. Some things we thought would bother us didn’t, the supermarkets seemed fine to me and I quite liked having separate fruit & veg shops, deli’s etc. I especially loved the fact that every little parade of shops seemed to have a fantastic bakery, in fact we had fresh bread almost every day which made a nice change from Kingsmill’s finest. Australians themselves all seemed very friendly and helpful (although for the most part the Aussies we had contact with were selling us something so maybe they are just good salesmen). We had very few disappointments, I had expected it to be more bicycle friendly and had visions of us going for long bike rides every day but actually it wasn’t much different from here. Also as many people have mentioned before prices aren’t much different to the UK so when you’re earning dollars you will probably have to be a bit more careful with your shopping.
I'll stop there as I've rambled on for long enough, overall it was everything we hoped it would be, I’m sure it won’t be quite the same when I’m having to go to work every day but I can’t wait to get there now! Anyone want to buy a house?
Martyn
The Flight
There’s no getting around the fact the flight is long and coupled with the jet lag we arrived exhausted, but Malaysia Airlines were absolutely fantastic by far the best airline I have ever flown with (and I have flown with over a dozen to date). The extra two inches of legroom over other airlines makes a huge difference and the flight crew were always friendly and seemed happy to help. We had the added nightmare of an eight month old baby to contend with but they really tried to make life easier. They even had a toy for her, as well as baby food, formula and nappies in case we ran out. The food was interesting though – we were given a meal when we got on the plane and then they went straight into KL time. So when we would have been having dinner the lights were off as it was the middle of the night in KL – by the time they gave us breakfast we were starving
! Week 1: Brisbane
I really liked Brisbane (good thing too since we plan to live there
). It was a good start as customs and immigration were really friendly, cracking jokes with us. We declared everything (from baby food to aspirins) and I would recommend anyone else to do the same as as long as it is sealed they have no problem with it. We hired a car which I would advise anyone to do, we used Thrifty who were the cheapest when I checked and very conveniently located in the airport terminal. We also had our trusty Tom-Tom satnav which was a godsend as my wife doesn’t do maps On the drive in from the airport my first impressions were how clean everything was and how wide the roads were. There was no traffic to speak of either at 8pm on a Saturday, made a nice change from London! We arrived at our apartments (Manhattan Apartments – more info below) to a friendly welcome and fell straight into bed absolutely knackered. On our second day we drove into the CBD to sort out our HSBC account (btw driving was a bad idea short term parking is extortionate). As other posters have said it was a simple matter of presenting your passport, drivers licence and $2000 and the account was opened there and then – in fact I was given an ATM card (without my name on it) straight away. The CBD was really nice – busy enough that it felt like a proper city without being as mad as London. The following few days we drove around a few of the suburbs mainly to the North of Brisbane as that’s where we have friends. We first followed the train line up to Bald Hills to try check out the suburbs on the line but didn’t see much we liked. We paid particular attention to Zillmere, Geebung and Nundah but they just seemed a bit run down to us. We did like Carseldine though, if you’re looking in this area I’d definitely recommend you give it a look. We then ranged a bit further out and particularly liked Sandgate which seemed nice and relaxed right on the sea with lots of older character properties. We also had a short excursion to some southern suburbs, our favourite of the ones we saw was Greenslopes which definitely makes the shortlist. On our last day in Brisbane we followed the train line out to Ferny Grove and we liked most of the suburbs out that way, Ferny Grove especially is high on our list as all the houses seemed nice (proper brick houses which I have to say I prefer) with decent gardens and a nature park on your doorstep. Keep in mind though that this is all personal preference and we are looking at suburbs that suit our particular requirements, which include an easy commute into Brisbane and decent sized houses for around $350k.
Manhattan Apartments
Like a few other posters we stayed in the Manhattan apartments in Newstead. The apartments definitely have their pros and cons and it depends on your particular needs. They are in a very central location a short bus ride from the city and not far from anywhere, perfect if what you are looking for is a base to get everything sorted. The apartments themselves are lovely, very well appointed with the best shower I have ever used! However Newstead itself is not the nicest area – we wanted somewhere we could go for walks with the pram and from that point of view it wasn’t great. There is a short walk along the river other than that it’s all car dealers and small warehouses. Having said that it looks like in a few years that will all have changed – there’s tons of construction going on.
Week 2: Sunshine Coast
Our second week was spent at Sunseeker Lodge on Sunshine Beach near Noosa. The apartments were fantastic, a similar level of accommodation to the Manhattan Apartments but in the nicest seaside town I’ve ever stayed in. It was a short stroll from the apartment down to the beach and we started every day with a walk on the sand. There is a small parade of shops with all the basics including some great restaurants (the lifesaving club restaurant is especially worth visiting) and an award winning bakery (the meat pies come highly recommended
), and nearby Noosa has a Coles supermarket. Also the Noosa heads provide some great walks for those who are that way inclined! Overall Impression
It’s the first time we’ve been to Australia and I am glad to say we liked it just as much as we expected. Some things we thought would bother us didn’t, the supermarkets seemed fine to me and I quite liked having separate fruit & veg shops, deli’s etc. I especially loved the fact that every little parade of shops seemed to have a fantastic bakery, in fact we had fresh bread almost every day which made a nice change from Kingsmill’s finest. Australians themselves all seemed very friendly and helpful (although for the most part the Aussies we had contact with were selling us something so maybe they are just good salesmen
). We had very few disappointments, I had expected it to be more bicycle friendly and had visions of us going for long bike rides every day but actually it wasn’t much different from here. Also as many people have mentioned before prices aren’t much different to the UK so when you’re earning dollars you will probably have to be a bit more careful with your shopping. I'll stop there as I've rambled on for long enough, overall it was everything we hoped it would be, I’m sure it won’t be quite the same when I’m having to go to work every day but I can’t wait to get there now! Anyone want to buy a house?
Martyn
May 8th 2006, 11:44 am
#2
Now a Mummy!
Joined: Apr 2005
Location: Beautiful Sunshine Coast!
Posts: 586
Re: Our validation trip to Brisbane
Hey-ya.. Sounds like you had a lovely time! Did you venture to Maroochydore by any chance?!
When are you hoping to move out there.. we're hoping to go end of July all things being well.
Maybe we'll see you in Brissy.. we're hoping to move to Wynnum/Manly sort of area... but we'll have to see when we get there!
Good luck
Sonic & Chopper Boy
When are you hoping to move out there.. we're hoping to go end of July all things being well.
Maybe we'll see you in Brissy.. we're hoping to move to Wynnum/Manly sort of area... but we'll have to see when we get there!
Good luck
Sonic & Chopper Boy
May 8th 2006, 11:49 am
#3
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jun 2004
Location: Mountain Creek, Sunshine Coast
Posts: 1,643
Re: Our validation trip to Brisbane
Great post and laid out really well!
Did you go down to Mooloolaba / Buderim? This is where we are heading and we thought it was really nice
Did you go down to Mooloolaba / Buderim? This is where we are heading and we thought it was really nice
May 8th 2006, 11:59 am
#4
Brisbane bound
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2004
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 389
Re: Our validation trip to Brisbane
Originally Posted by SonicBird
Hey-ya.. Sounds like you had a lovely time! Did you venture to Maroochydore by any chance?!
When are you hoping to move out there.. we're hoping to go end of July all things being well.
Maybe we'll see you in Brissy.. we're hoping to move to Wynnum/Manly sort of area... but we'll have to see when we get there!
Good luck
Sonic & Chopper Boy
When are you hoping to move out there.. we're hoping to go end of July all things being well.
Maybe we'll see you in Brissy.. we're hoping to move to Wynnum/Manly sort of area... but we'll have to see when we get there!
Good luck
Sonic & Chopper Boy
We drove through Maroochydore and all the way up the coast - to be honest every town looked great I don't think you can go wrong. You had us completely sold on Maroochydore but while I was searching we came upon Sunseeker which just looked awesome. and it was
If our house sale goes through (don't count any chickens!) we'll get to Brisbane in September - you'll be set up by then maybe we'll be phoning you for advice
.Martyn
May 8th 2006, 12:01 pm
#5
Brisbane bound
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2004
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 389
Re: Our validation trip to Brisbane
Originally Posted by kevinbloomfield
Great post and laid out really well!
Did you go down to Mooloolaba / Buderim? This is where we are heading and we thought it was really nice
Did you go down to Mooloolaba / Buderim? This is where we are heading and we thought it was really nice
May 8th 2006, 12:05 pm
#6
Humble vaudevillian
Joined: Mar 2006
Location: Set adrift on memory bliss
Posts: 690
Re: Our validation trip to Brisbane
Great post. Thats the area we're looking at so that was very useful.
May 8th 2006, 12:07 pm
#7
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Our validation trip to Brisbane
Originally Posted by benny the ball
Great post. Thats the area we're looking at so that was very useful.
hi martyn do you mind if i ask what did you do to validate your visa we are due to go to brissy soon and need to get my husband validated .....thankyou
May 8th 2006, 12:58 pm
#8
Now a Mummy!
Joined: Apr 2005
Location: Beautiful Sunshine Coast!
Posts: 586
Re: Our validation trip to Brisbane
Originally Posted by tin
Hiya Sonic
We drove through Maroochydore and all the way up the coast - to be honest every town looked great I don't think you can go wrong. You had us completely sold on Maroochydore but while I was searching we came upon Sunseeker which just looked awesome. and it was
If our house sale goes through (don't count any chickens!) we'll get to Brisbane in September - you'll be set up by then maybe we'll be phoning you for advice.
Martyn
We drove through Maroochydore and all the way up the coast - to be honest every town looked great I don't think you can go wrong. You had us completely sold on Maroochydore but while I was searching we came upon Sunseeker which just looked awesome. and it was
If our house sale goes through (don't count any chickens!) we'll get to Brisbane in September - you'll be set up by then maybe we'll be phoning you for advice
.Martyn
You never know with the amount of folk on here going to Brissy we could have a little get together!
Sonic x
May 8th 2006, 1:20 pm
#9
Brisbane bound
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2004
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 389
Re: Our validation trip to Brisbane
Originally Posted by kerrie/wayne
hi martyn do you mind if i ask what did you do to validate your visa we are due to go to brissy soon and need to get my husband validated .....thankyou
May 8th 2006, 7:58 pm
#10
Brisbane bound
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2004
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 389
Re: Our validation trip to Brisbane
I've attached a photo we took on one of our walks on the Noosa Heads, it is of Alexandria bay a beautiful beach only accessible through the park.
Martyn
Martyn
May 8th 2006, 8:05 pm
#11
visa holder
Joined: Jan 2006
Location: Thornlands, Bayside
Posts: 1,964
Re: Our validation trip to Brisbane
Great post, very well put together and informative. That beach is gorgeous. All the best for your new life.
Joex
Joex
May 8th 2006, 8:17 pm
#12
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2006
Location: North East - planning to move to Southern Queensland
Posts: 101
Re: Our validation trip to Brisbane
Originally Posted by tin
I've attached a photo we took on one of our walks on the Noosa Heads, it is of Alexandria bay a beautiful beach only accessible through the park.
Martyn
Martyn
Good luck with the move - We'll keep an eye on your posts to see how you get on. Great tip on Malaysian Airlines - we'll be bringing our toddler so friendly cabin crew will definitely help!
May 8th 2006, 8:42 pm
#13
brown eyes!
Joined: May 2006
Location: Shailer park, Brisbane, AUS
Posts: 450
Re: Our validation trip to Brisbane
Originally Posted by tin
Hi, we got back from our validation trip/reccie/holiday to Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast on Saturday so I though I’d post my thoughts….
The Flight
There’s no getting around the fact the flight is long and coupled with the jet lag we arrived exhausted, but Malaysia Airlines were absolutely fantastic by far the best airline I have ever flown with (and I have flown with over a dozen to date). The extra two inches of legroom over other airlines makes a huge difference and the flight crew were always friendly and seemed happy to help. We had the added nightmare of an eight month old baby to contend with but they really tried to make life easier. They even had a toy for her, as well as baby food, formula and nappies in case we ran out. The food was interesting though – we were given a meal when we got on the plane and then they went straight into KL time. So when we would have been having dinner the lights were off as it was the middle of the night in KL – by the time they gave us breakfast we were starving !
Week 1: Brisbane
I really liked Brisbane (good thing too since we plan to live there ). It was a good start as customs and immigration were really friendly, cracking jokes with us. We declared everything (from baby food to aspirins) and I would recommend anyone else to do the same as as long as it is sealed they have no problem with it. We hired a car which I would advise anyone to do, we used Thrifty who were the cheapest when I checked and very conveniently located in the airport terminal. We also had our trusty Tom-Tom satnav which was a godsend as my wife doesn’t do maps On the drive in from the airport my first impressions were how clean everything was and how wide the roads were. There was no traffic to speak of either at 8pm on a Saturday, made a nice change from London! We arrived at our apartments (Manhattan Apartments – more info below) to a friendly welcome and fell straight into bed absolutely knackered. On our second day we drove into the CBD to sort out our HSBC account (btw driving was a bad idea short term parking is extortionate). As other posters have said it was a simple matter of presenting your passport, drivers licence and $2000 and the account was opened there and then – in fact I was given an ATM card (without my name on it) straight away. The CBD was really nice – busy enough that it felt like a proper city without being as mad as London.
The following few days we drove around a few of the suburbs mainly to the North of Brisbane as that’s where we have friends. We first followed the train line up to Bald Hills to try check out the suburbs on the line but didn’t see much we liked. We paid particular attention to Zillmere, Geebung and Nundah but they just seemed a bit run down to us. We did like Carseldine though, if you’re looking in this area I’d definitely recommend you give it a look. We then ranged a bit further out and particularly liked Sandgate which seemed nice and relaxed right on the sea with lots of older character properties. We also had a short excursion to some southern suburbs, our favourite of the ones we saw was Greenslopes which definitely makes the shortlist. On our last day in Brisbane we followed the train line out to Ferny Grove and we liked most of the suburbs out that way, Ferny Grove especially is high on our list as all the houses seemed nice (proper brick houses which I have to say I prefer) with decent gardens and a nature park on your doorstep. Keep in mind though that this is all personal preference and we are looking at suburbs that suit our particular requirements, which include an easy commute into Brisbane and decent sized houses for around $350k.
Manhattan Apartments
Like a few other posters we stayed in the Manhattan apartments in Newstead. The apartments definitely have their pros and cons and it depends on your particular needs. They are in a very central location a short bus ride from the city and not far from anywhere, perfect if what you are looking for is a base to get everything sorted. The apartments themselves are lovely, very well appointed with the best shower I have ever used! However Newstead itself is not the nicest area – we wanted somewhere we could go for walks with the pram and from that point of view it wasn’t great. There is a short walk along the river other than that it’s all car dealers and small warehouses. Having said that it looks like in a few years that will all have changed – there’s tons of construction going on.
Week 2: Sunshine Coast
Our second week was spent at Sunseeker Lodge on Sunshine Beach near Noosa. The apartments were fantastic, a similar level of accommodation to the Manhattan Apartments but in the nicest seaside town I’ve ever stayed in. It was a short stroll from the apartment down to the beach and we started every day with a walk on the sand. There is a small parade of shops with all the basics including some great restaurants (the lifesaving club restaurant is especially worth visiting) and an award winning bakery (the meat pies come highly recommended ), and nearby Noosa has a Coles supermarket. Also the Noosa heads provide some great walks for those who are that way inclined!
Overall Impression
It’s the first time we’ve been to Australia and I am glad to say we liked it just as much as we expected. Some things we thought would bother us didn’t, the supermarkets seemed fine to me and I quite liked having separate fruit & veg shops, deli’s etc. I especially loved the fact that every little parade of shops seemed to have a fantastic bakery, in fact we had fresh bread almost every day which made a nice change from Kingsmill’s finest. Australians themselves all seemed very friendly and helpful (although for the most part the Aussies we had contact with were selling us something so maybe they are just good salesmen). We had very few disappointments, I had expected it to be more bicycle friendly and had visions of us going for long bike rides every day but actually it wasn’t much different from here. Also as many people have mentioned before prices aren’t much different to the UK so when you’re earning dollars you will probably have to be a bit more careful with your shopping.
I'll stop there as I've rambled on for long enough, overall it was everything we hoped it would be, I’m sure it won’t be quite the same when I’m having to go to work every day but I can’t wait to get there now! Anyone want to buy a house?
Martyn
The Flight
There’s no getting around the fact the flight is long and coupled with the jet lag we arrived exhausted, but Malaysia Airlines were absolutely fantastic by far the best airline I have ever flown with (and I have flown with over a dozen to date). The extra two inches of legroom over other airlines makes a huge difference and the flight crew were always friendly and seemed happy to help. We had the added nightmare of an eight month old baby to contend with but they really tried to make life easier. They even had a toy for her, as well as baby food, formula and nappies in case we ran out. The food was interesting though – we were given a meal when we got on the plane and then they went straight into KL time. So when we would have been having dinner the lights were off as it was the middle of the night in KL – by the time they gave us breakfast we were starving
! Week 1: Brisbane
I really liked Brisbane (good thing too since we plan to live there
). It was a good start as customs and immigration were really friendly, cracking jokes with us. We declared everything (from baby food to aspirins) and I would recommend anyone else to do the same as as long as it is sealed they have no problem with it. We hired a car which I would advise anyone to do, we used Thrifty who were the cheapest when I checked and very conveniently located in the airport terminal. We also had our trusty Tom-Tom satnav which was a godsend as my wife doesn’t do maps On the drive in from the airport my first impressions were how clean everything was and how wide the roads were. There was no traffic to speak of either at 8pm on a Saturday, made a nice change from London! We arrived at our apartments (Manhattan Apartments – more info below) to a friendly welcome and fell straight into bed absolutely knackered. On our second day we drove into the CBD to sort out our HSBC account (btw driving was a bad idea short term parking is extortionate). As other posters have said it was a simple matter of presenting your passport, drivers licence and $2000 and the account was opened there and then – in fact I was given an ATM card (without my name on it) straight away. The CBD was really nice – busy enough that it felt like a proper city without being as mad as London. The following few days we drove around a few of the suburbs mainly to the North of Brisbane as that’s where we have friends. We first followed the train line up to Bald Hills to try check out the suburbs on the line but didn’t see much we liked. We paid particular attention to Zillmere, Geebung and Nundah but they just seemed a bit run down to us. We did like Carseldine though, if you’re looking in this area I’d definitely recommend you give it a look. We then ranged a bit further out and particularly liked Sandgate which seemed nice and relaxed right on the sea with lots of older character properties. We also had a short excursion to some southern suburbs, our favourite of the ones we saw was Greenslopes which definitely makes the shortlist. On our last day in Brisbane we followed the train line out to Ferny Grove and we liked most of the suburbs out that way, Ferny Grove especially is high on our list as all the houses seemed nice (proper brick houses which I have to say I prefer) with decent gardens and a nature park on your doorstep. Keep in mind though that this is all personal preference and we are looking at suburbs that suit our particular requirements, which include an easy commute into Brisbane and decent sized houses for around $350k.
Manhattan Apartments
Like a few other posters we stayed in the Manhattan apartments in Newstead. The apartments definitely have their pros and cons and it depends on your particular needs. They are in a very central location a short bus ride from the city and not far from anywhere, perfect if what you are looking for is a base to get everything sorted. The apartments themselves are lovely, very well appointed with the best shower I have ever used! However Newstead itself is not the nicest area – we wanted somewhere we could go for walks with the pram and from that point of view it wasn’t great. There is a short walk along the river other than that it’s all car dealers and small warehouses. Having said that it looks like in a few years that will all have changed – there’s tons of construction going on.
Week 2: Sunshine Coast
Our second week was spent at Sunseeker Lodge on Sunshine Beach near Noosa. The apartments were fantastic, a similar level of accommodation to the Manhattan Apartments but in the nicest seaside town I’ve ever stayed in. It was a short stroll from the apartment down to the beach and we started every day with a walk on the sand. There is a small parade of shops with all the basics including some great restaurants (the lifesaving club restaurant is especially worth visiting) and an award winning bakery (the meat pies come highly recommended
), and nearby Noosa has a Coles supermarket. Also the Noosa heads provide some great walks for those who are that way inclined! Overall Impression
It’s the first time we’ve been to Australia and I am glad to say we liked it just as much as we expected. Some things we thought would bother us didn’t, the supermarkets seemed fine to me and I quite liked having separate fruit & veg shops, deli’s etc. I especially loved the fact that every little parade of shops seemed to have a fantastic bakery, in fact we had fresh bread almost every day which made a nice change from Kingsmill’s finest. Australians themselves all seemed very friendly and helpful (although for the most part the Aussies we had contact with were selling us something so maybe they are just good salesmen
). We had very few disappointments, I had expected it to be more bicycle friendly and had visions of us going for long bike rides every day but actually it wasn’t much different from here. Also as many people have mentioned before prices aren’t much different to the UK so when you’re earning dollars you will probably have to be a bit more careful with your shopping. I'll stop there as I've rambled on for long enough, overall it was everything we hoped it would be, I’m sure it won’t be quite the same when I’m having to go to work every day but I can’t wait to get there now! Anyone want to buy a house?
Martyn
Most interesting post.
We will be moving out to Brisbane - having never been there and have been looking at suberbs on real estate websites but its difficult to tell what they are like.
We have made a note of the areas you have mentioned.
Thanks
Pete and Heidi
May 9th 2006, 6:24 am
#14
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jun 2002
Location: Gold Coast- the best place in the world
Posts: 3,196
Re: Our validation trip to Brisbane
Originally Posted by BillandAbby
Oh Mate - what a photo! We are planning to move out to Brisbane / Sunshine Coast around Christmas time and your picture just about sums up why. We really liked Caloundra when we visited last year but there is so much development going on that I think loads of the towns are becoming more accessible for commutes to Brisbane.
Good luck with the move - We'll keep an eye on your posts to see how you get on. Great tip on Malaysian Airlines - we'll be bringing our toddler so friendly cabin crew will definitely help!
Good luck with the move - We'll keep an eye on your posts to see how you get on. Great tip on Malaysian Airlines - we'll be bringing our toddler so friendly cabin crew will definitely help!
I would not recommend Caloundra if you need to commute. It is a 1 1/2 hour journey each way in the rush hours and the train service is very under developed here. It is a fantastic place to live, but do your research on jobs available first as it is hard to get decent jobs here unless you are a tradie.
May 9th 2006, 7:44 am
#15
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2005
Location: Sunny Brisbane
Posts: 421
Re: Our validation trip to Brisbane
Hi
We've been in Ferny Grove for 3 months & we love it,glad you liked it too
We've been in Ferny Grove for 3 months & we love it,glad you liked it too