Outcome of Reccy Trip
Apr 16th 2005, 12:41 am
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
Outcome of Reccy Trip
We flew to Melbourne and traveled to Geelong and stayed at River View Tourist Park (Big 4), which was great. Geelong was fine with lots of facilities but we wouldn’t want to live there, as it was quite built up and busy but there were lots of quieter areas nearby. We particularly liked Torquay. Melbourne has a lot to offer and felt very culturally alive. The Comedy Festival was on when we visited and the atmosphere in the city was great! We managed to fit one show in. There are some great restaurants at Southbank and the view from there at night across the river is quite spectacular!
We had a drive on the Great Ocean Road and saw some great scenery. The Apostles were amazing!
We loved the Mornington Peninsula, particularly Mount Eliza, Mornington and Mount Martha. If we move to Victoria these are the areas we would look to live.
We traveled east through southern Gippsland, which is really beautiful with green rolling hills and wonderful secluded beaches. It would be a great place to live but might be difficult for work! We stopped at the Lakes Entrance, which is well worth a visit and a place we would love to visit again.
We continued east following the coast road of NSW stopping at Narooma. There are so many great places along this stretch of coast to visit. Mimosa Rocks National Park is well worth a visit.
We stopped in Canberra for a few days, as I had been made a good job offer with relocation and wanted to check it out. We tried to keep an open mind, as we had heard lots of negative things about it but were really disappointed!!
The job alone could not tempt us to move there! I know there are lots of people who love Canberra and I apologise to anyone I may offend or upset but we found it to be a really strange, soulless place. It is plonked down in the middle of nowhere and felt more like a country town than a capital city. It was the scruffiest place we had ever visited in Australia. The amount of graffiti was unbelievable! I have a great big list of all the reasons why we didn’t like Canberra but won’t bore you with the details!
We traveled on to Sydney and had a great couple of days. I would highly recommend the Novotel at Brighton Bay, which is close to the airport. We flew from Sydney to Brisbane with Virgin Blue, which was very cheap!
We stayed at Wych-Wood Forest Escape near Murwillumbah NSW, not far from the Queensland border. We had a fab time in our secluded cabin in the woods. We were able to feed possums and wallabies.
Returning to Brisbane after three years felt quite strange at first and very emotional but after a couple of days we felt that we had never been away. We love Brisbane for many reasons: beautiful scenery, sub tropical rainforest, access to great beaches, great facilities for families, great variety of interesting and affordable housing.
We met up with our old friends in Brisbane who have been there for five years. They are all really settled and have citizenship and would not return to the UK.
Leaving Brisbane and returning to the UK was quite sad but we had a great trip.
Since our last trip we noticed there is a greater variety of shops with a better selection of clothing, particularly in Queensland. Generally prices felt much the same as the UK with the exception of petrol, which remains much cheaper. Wages remain much lower than the UK for most jobs. House prices have rocketed in the past three years, as they have done here.
General consensus after speaking to lots of expats out there was that if you move over with enough money to buy a house outright or have a very small mortgage you can live quite well on average wages but would probably need two incomes.
I feel that if you are not in this position you need to give careful consideration to where you settle, as you may never be able to afford to move on to another state or return to the UK if things didn’t work out. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t move over unless you have lots of cash. Australia can offer a wonderful lifestyle that costs very little if you live in the right place to enjoy it.
Hope you found this helpful and not too longwinded!
Would really recommend Big4 campsites and Europcar.
Sula
We had a drive on the Great Ocean Road and saw some great scenery. The Apostles were amazing!
We loved the Mornington Peninsula, particularly Mount Eliza, Mornington and Mount Martha. If we move to Victoria these are the areas we would look to live.
We traveled east through southern Gippsland, which is really beautiful with green rolling hills and wonderful secluded beaches. It would be a great place to live but might be difficult for work! We stopped at the Lakes Entrance, which is well worth a visit and a place we would love to visit again.
We continued east following the coast road of NSW stopping at Narooma. There are so many great places along this stretch of coast to visit. Mimosa Rocks National Park is well worth a visit.
We stopped in Canberra for a few days, as I had been made a good job offer with relocation and wanted to check it out. We tried to keep an open mind, as we had heard lots of negative things about it but were really disappointed!!
The job alone could not tempt us to move there! I know there are lots of people who love Canberra and I apologise to anyone I may offend or upset but we found it to be a really strange, soulless place. It is plonked down in the middle of nowhere and felt more like a country town than a capital city. It was the scruffiest place we had ever visited in Australia. The amount of graffiti was unbelievable! I have a great big list of all the reasons why we didn’t like Canberra but won’t bore you with the details!We traveled on to Sydney and had a great couple of days. I would highly recommend the Novotel at Brighton Bay, which is close to the airport. We flew from Sydney to Brisbane with Virgin Blue, which was very cheap!
We stayed at Wych-Wood Forest Escape near Murwillumbah NSW, not far from the Queensland border. We had a fab time in our secluded cabin in the woods. We were able to feed possums and wallabies.
Returning to Brisbane after three years felt quite strange at first and very emotional but after a couple of days we felt that we had never been away. We love Brisbane for many reasons: beautiful scenery, sub tropical rainforest, access to great beaches, great facilities for families, great variety of interesting and affordable housing.
We met up with our old friends in Brisbane who have been there for five years. They are all really settled and have citizenship and would not return to the UK.
Leaving Brisbane and returning to the UK was quite sad but we had a great trip.
Since our last trip we noticed there is a greater variety of shops with a better selection of clothing, particularly in Queensland. Generally prices felt much the same as the UK with the exception of petrol, which remains much cheaper. Wages remain much lower than the UK for most jobs. House prices have rocketed in the past three years, as they have done here.
General consensus after speaking to lots of expats out there was that if you move over with enough money to buy a house outright or have a very small mortgage you can live quite well on average wages but would probably need two incomes.
I feel that if you are not in this position you need to give careful consideration to where you settle, as you may never be able to afford to move on to another state or return to the UK if things didn’t work out. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t move over unless you have lots of cash. Australia can offer a wonderful lifestyle that costs very little if you live in the right place to enjoy it.
Hope you found this helpful and not too longwinded!
Would really recommend Big4 campsites and Europcar.
Sula
Apr 16th 2005, 1:35 am
#2
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2004
Location: Queensland
Posts: 744
Re: Outcome of Reccy Trip
Originally Posted by sula
We flew to Melbourne and traveled to Geelong and stayed at River View Tourist Park (Big 4), which was great. Geelong was fine with lots of facilities but we wouldn’t want to live there, as it was quite built up and busy but there were lots of quieter areas nearby. We particularly liked Torquay. Melbourne has a lot to offer and felt very culturally alive. The Comedy Festival was on when we visited and the atmosphere in the city was great! We managed to fit one show in. There are some great restaurants at Southbank and the view from there at night across the river is quite spectacular!
We had a drive on the Great Ocean Road and saw some great scenery. The Apostles were amazing!
We loved the Mornington Peninsula, particularly Mount Eliza, Mornington and Mount Martha. If we move to Victoria these are the areas we would look to live.
We traveled east through southern Gippsland, which is really beautiful with green rolling hills and wonderful secluded beaches. It would be a great place to live but might be difficult for work! We stopped at the Lakes Entrance, which is well worth a visit and a place we would love to visit again.
We continued east following the coast road of NSW stopping at Narooma. There are so many great places along this stretch of coast to visit. Mimosa Rocks National Park is well worth a visit.
We stopped in Canberra for a few days, as I had been made a good job offer with relocation and wanted to check it out. We tried to keep an open mind, as we had heard lots of negative things about it but were really disappointed!! The job alone could not tempt us to move there! I know there are lots of people who love Canberra and I apologise to anyone I may offend or upset but we found it to be a really strange, soulless place. It is plonked down in the middle of nowhere and felt more like a country town than a capital city. It was the scruffiest place we had ever visited in Australia. The amount of graffiti was unbelievable! I have a great big list of all the reasons why we didn’t like Canberra but won’t bore you with the details!
We traveled on to Sydney and had a great couple of days. I would highly recommend the Novotel at Brighton Bay, which is close to the airport. We flew from Sydney to Brisbane with Virgin Blue, which was very cheap!
We stayed at Wych-Wood Forest Escape near Murwillumbah NSW, not far from the Queensland border. We had a fab time in our secluded cabin in the woods. We were able to feed possums and wallabies.
Returning to Brisbane after three years felt quite strange at first and very emotional but after a couple of days we felt that we had never been away. We love Brisbane for many reasons: beautiful scenery, sub tropical rainforest, access to great beaches, great facilities for families, great variety of interesting and affordable housing.
We met up with our old friends in Brisbane who have been there for five years. They are all really settled and have citizenship and would not return to the UK.
Leaving Brisbane and returning to the UK was quite sad but we had a great trip.
Since our last trip we noticed there is a greater variety of shops with a better selection of clothing, particularly in Queensland. Generally prices felt much the same as the UK with the exception of petrol, which remains much cheaper. Wages remain much lower than the UK for most jobs. House prices have rocketed in the past three years, as they have done here.
General consensus after speaking to lots of expats out there was that if you move over with enough money to buy a house outright or have a very small mortgage you can live quite well on average wages but would probably need two incomes.
I feel that if you are not in this position you need to give careful consideration to where you settle, as you may never be able to afford to move on to another state or return to the UK if things didn’t work out. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t move over unless you have lots of cash. Australia can offer a wonderful lifestyle that costs very little if you live in the right place to enjoy it.
Hope you found this helpful and not too longwinded!
Would really recommend Big4 campsites and Europcar.
Sula
We had a drive on the Great Ocean Road and saw some great scenery. The Apostles were amazing!
We loved the Mornington Peninsula, particularly Mount Eliza, Mornington and Mount Martha. If we move to Victoria these are the areas we would look to live.
We traveled east through southern Gippsland, which is really beautiful with green rolling hills and wonderful secluded beaches. It would be a great place to live but might be difficult for work! We stopped at the Lakes Entrance, which is well worth a visit and a place we would love to visit again.
We continued east following the coast road of NSW stopping at Narooma. There are so many great places along this stretch of coast to visit. Mimosa Rocks National Park is well worth a visit.
We stopped in Canberra for a few days, as I had been made a good job offer with relocation and wanted to check it out. We tried to keep an open mind, as we had heard lots of negative things about it but were really disappointed!!
The job alone could not tempt us to move there! I know there are lots of people who love Canberra and I apologise to anyone I may offend or upset but we found it to be a really strange, soulless place. It is plonked down in the middle of nowhere and felt more like a country town than a capital city. It was the scruffiest place we had ever visited in Australia. The amount of graffiti was unbelievable! I have a great big list of all the reasons why we didn’t like Canberra but won’t bore you with the details!We traveled on to Sydney and had a great couple of days. I would highly recommend the Novotel at Brighton Bay, which is close to the airport. We flew from Sydney to Brisbane with Virgin Blue, which was very cheap!
We stayed at Wych-Wood Forest Escape near Murwillumbah NSW, not far from the Queensland border. We had a fab time in our secluded cabin in the woods. We were able to feed possums and wallabies.
Returning to Brisbane after three years felt quite strange at first and very emotional but after a couple of days we felt that we had never been away. We love Brisbane for many reasons: beautiful scenery, sub tropical rainforest, access to great beaches, great facilities for families, great variety of interesting and affordable housing.
We met up with our old friends in Brisbane who have been there for five years. They are all really settled and have citizenship and would not return to the UK.
Leaving Brisbane and returning to the UK was quite sad but we had a great trip.
Since our last trip we noticed there is a greater variety of shops with a better selection of clothing, particularly in Queensland. Generally prices felt much the same as the UK with the exception of petrol, which remains much cheaper. Wages remain much lower than the UK for most jobs. House prices have rocketed in the past three years, as they have done here.
General consensus after speaking to lots of expats out there was that if you move over with enough money to buy a house outright or have a very small mortgage you can live quite well on average wages but would probably need two incomes.
I feel that if you are not in this position you need to give careful consideration to where you settle, as you may never be able to afford to move on to another state or return to the UK if things didn’t work out. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t move over unless you have lots of cash. Australia can offer a wonderful lifestyle that costs very little if you live in the right place to enjoy it.
Hope you found this helpful and not too longwinded!
Would really recommend Big4 campsites and Europcar.
Sula
Apr 16th 2005, 1:39 am
#3
Account Closed
Joined: Sep 2004
Location: Cairns, Qld.
Posts: 2,863
Re: Outcome of Reccy Trip
Great stuff Sula; brings back memories of many places on my trips to Aus.
Glad you liked the Murwillumbah area, as I've been increasingly thinking of moving to that area, and you mentioned the wildlife, which gives me an added incentive.
So where do you think you'll finally be heading for?
Glad you liked the Murwillumbah area, as I've been increasingly thinking of moving to that area, and you mentioned the wildlife, which gives me an added incentive.
So where do you think you'll finally be heading for?
Apr 16th 2005, 3:16 am
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Outcome of Reccy Trip
Originally Posted by tonyk38
Great stuff Sula; brings back memories of many places on my trips to Aus.
Glad you liked the Murwillumbah area, as I've been increasingly thinking of moving to that area, and you mentioned the wildlife, which gives me an added incentive.
So where do you think you'll finally be heading for?
Glad you liked the Murwillumbah area, as I've been increasingly thinking of moving to that area, and you mentioned the wildlife, which gives me an added incentive.
So where do you think you'll finally be heading for?
It will depend on work but is likely to be Queensland or Victoria.There are some great properties with land to buy around Murwillumbah.The wildlife was wonderful apart from the leeches that attacked me! :scared: I'll be wearing salty socks next time I go for a walk in that area!
Sula
Apr 16th 2005, 3:50 am
#5
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: Berkshire
Posts: 360
Re: Outcome of Reccy Trip
Originally Posted by sula
Since our last trip we noticed there is a greater variety of shops with a better selection of clothing, particularly in Queensland. Generally prices felt much the same as the UK with the exception of petrol, which remains much cheaper. Wages remain much lower than the UK for most jobs. House prices have rocketed in the past three years, as they have done here.
General consensus after speaking to lots of expats out there was that if you move over with enough money to buy a house outright or have a very small mortgage you can live quite well on average wages but would probably need two incomes.
I feel that if you are not in this position you need to give careful consideration to where you settle, as you may never be able to afford to move on to another state or return to the UK if things didn’t work out.
General consensus after speaking to lots of expats out there was that if you move over with enough money to buy a house outright or have a very small mortgage you can live quite well on average wages but would probably need two incomes.
I feel that if you are not in this position you need to give careful consideration to where you settle, as you may never be able to afford to move on to another state or return to the UK if things didn’t work out.
Apr 16th 2005, 12:24 pm
#6
High in the Dandenongs
Joined: Apr 2003
Location: Listening to Puffing Billy
Posts: 9,183
Re: Outcome of Reccy Trip
Nice post, thanks for taking the time. We are big fans of big 4 and europecar too
Apr 18th 2005, 3:01 am
#7
Account Closed
Joined: Sep 2004
Location: Cairns, Qld.
Posts: 2,863
Re: Outcome of Reccy Trip
Originally Posted by sula
Hi Tony,
It will depend on work but is likely to be Queensland or Victoria.There are some great properties with land to buy around Murwillumbah.The wildlife was wonderful apart from the leeches that attacked me! :scared: I'll be wearing salty socks next time I go for a walk in that area!
Sula
It will depend on work but is likely to be Queensland or Victoria.There are some great properties with land to buy around Murwillumbah.The wildlife was wonderful apart from the leeches that attacked me! :scared: I'll be wearing salty socks next time I go for a walk in that area!
Sula
Also, watch out for ticks in the drier parts of the year!
