carnaby99

HI,

Hubby, myself and 2 kids have been in Perth for 5 years and are beginning to wonder whether we came to the right city.

We are thinking of making the move to Brisbane, but don't know if we'll be jumping from the frying pan to the fire.

We are pretty settled here, have some friends but not a close circle like we had back in the UK (not through lack of trying) and no family and are finding Perth a pretty quite place most of the time (especially myself coming from London). Has anyone else out there settled somewhere then changed their mind.

Where are the better places in Brisbane to settle. It's really hard to tell from the internet as photo's can be so misleading and hide the builing site or industrial estate in the background. Hubby has been there and liked it but I haven't, and unfortunatley can't afford the holiday to have a look at the moment.

Kids are school age but still young enough to adjust to another move.

Any help and advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks guys.

ABCDiamond

Whether one persons experience is relevant or not, who can tell, but I started in Sydney, and ended up in Redlands, just outside Brisbane. And I prefer it here.

Shellfish

Hi Carnaby99,

We live in Melbourne but we recently on holiday in Perth for a couple of days and I have to say that I was quite disappointed. I am not trying to be facetious but what do people (especially young people without children) do for entertainment? I admit that we don't know anyone in Perth so it would have helped to have someone to show us the sights and things to do but we did go to Fremantle which everyone said we should, and well, I am not too sure why...

My husband went to Brisbane on business last week, and he far preferred it. Probably also a little on the quiet side (particularly if you have lived in London) but he said he could live there (were it not for the humidity) whereas Perth, we wouldn't want to live in.

renth

Probably exactly the same things people in Melbourne do.

carnaby99

Any idea what the work situation is like there.

Hubbies a refrigeration engineer by trade, but works in refrigeration sales. I do accounts/admin part time. And is north or south better. There seems to be more of expats south or is that just because you are more sociable there??

Also from reading the forums on here I understand that there aren't many beaches close to the CBD. We drive 25 mins to a decent beach at the moment anyway as we don't like to see grain terminals and industrial buildings while we are relaxing, seems to kill the enjoyment somehow. Is it pretty much the same over distance over there to beaches?

ABCDiamond

Can't really help on the work situation, as I try to avoid things like that But if you look on www.seek.com.au you will be able to check out the general situation.

I don't know if there are more or not, plenty from the North seem to hit the drinking spots a lot But down here on the Bayside, we may be more noticable, as we have our own local forum?

The central CBD has its own kids beach area, and the Redlands/bayside has some small kids beaches, but for the larger ones you are looking at about an hour to get to say "Surfers Paradise".

Going out on the boat for some fishing seems a popular relaxing sport in this area.

Kiwipaul

If you want beaches as good as those over Perth you've got to go to the GC or SC, but remember the GC has a pop about the same as Perth, and Brisbane is about twice the size so their has just got to be more job opportunities. So if you want to live near the beaches look for a job on GC or SC as both of these are growing as fast as Brissy. GC has more activities, theme parks, shows, entertainment and excellent rail link to Brisbane (about 60 mins).

I live 11 Kms south of Brissy as most of my work is in the city and it only takes me 45 to drive to the GC beaches down a 8 lane (most of the way) motorway, which rarely has traffic problems outside of rush hour.

What puts me off the N side of Brissy is the SC is further away down a 4 lane motorway which you can just about bank on their being a traffic hold up either going or comming (even outside of rush hour).

carnaby99

Thanks for the advice.

It looks like we need to do a lot more research, and maybe try to get over there and have a look.

What are the better suburbs South of Brissie that have good infrastructure and are not too far from the coast?? And not extortionate prices!

bridiej

Maybe different people like different things, your idea of entertainment is probably very different to ours.

bridiej

Tried to send you karma for that but alas I have to "spread it around" a bit!

steve99

....
All our "young people" have children because there's nothing else for them to do...

Because we dont have any pubs,clubs,restaurants, cinemas, theatre, sports, ocean/beaches, rivers, wine regions, zoo's/wildlife parks, museums
etc etc over here....
And our weathers crap compared to Melbournes.....

Kiwipaul

If you are talking about the coast look at Bayside (Cleveland, Wynnun, Wellington point, Manly, Victoria Point) but these are NOT beachfront because their isn't any beach on the coast here. ABC is the expert on this area as he lives their.

If you are talking about beachfront you need to go down to the GC and then you could look at Robina, Helensvale, Labrador, Mudgeeraba, etc these are all inland but within 15 min drive of the beach or less. Any house close to the beach you are talking millions but the futher inland you go the cheaper houseing is. These suburbs you should be able to find 3 bed houses for $350-500,000

ABCDiamond

Here's the beach at Victoria Point
and this one at Coochie, a 5 min ferry trip from Victoria Point

barnettaj

My self and lads have just done the opposite
We drove across OZ and I left them in Perth, while I come back to the UK for 6 months

They spent 18 months on gold coast, beautiful spot , but poor employment options for them

When they arrived in Perth 70 pages of jobs in the paper, but its been cold and wet to them after coming from sunny QLD.

You are between devil and deep blue

best of luck

[email protected]

Kiwipaul

OK I stand corrected their are a few patches of sand in a few places (I think ABC supplied photos of both) but their are rocks in the water and if you go out very far you are walking in mud. If you want somewhere with a nice sea view, a stoll along the shore line or resturant overlooking the ocean these places are great.

If comming from Perth you won't give these beaches the time of day once you've experienced GC or SC.