the derbys

Hi can anyone give me some info on Cairns,
What are the house prices like or rentels
Schools for 11 yr old?
Jobs for plasterer 20 years ex
Two girls aged 11 and 17
Cost of living
What suburbs to live in?
This is all compared with Perth where we wanted to go first but now unsure
Any advice would be great

Thanks

Michelle, Andy, Amy and Ellie

sophjam

Hi I can recommend Bixs thread on queensland immigrants forum or pm him he has some great info on cairns.We have decided on the trinity anglican school for our daughter its private but has been recommended to us. Our inlaws are visiting it in sept to check it out.We are just gonna keep money back from the house to fund it just hope she settles. We are going to Bentley park we think at the moment property is good value.We have family there too and we liked it when we stayed with them hope this helps xTrudi

wardy2

We are heading to cairns also, we have 3 boys 2 that are coming aged 12 and 13.

Houses are being built at a rate of knots so I imagine there will be loads of work for a plasterer.

We are looking at 2 state high schools Cairns State High (highly reccommended to us) or Trinity Bay high school. Kids prefer the first option good for football/soccer.

Houses seem plenty cheaper than Perth and Brisbane but are I believe on the increase.

We hope to live in Trinity Beach but have been assured there are lots of good and bad suburbs to check.

Suburbs

http://cairns.qld.gov.au/community/p...b_profiles.htm

Trudi was right for great info search out Bix, Youngy79, Wandering Wombat and Snappy apologies if I have missed anyone.

For a good read about Cairns try this thread but get a cuppa and a packet of biscuits:.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...ghlight=cairns


There has been load of threads recently about Cairns it seems to be increasing in popularity especially among north east people.

Hope this helps, I cant wait to get there

kaye

Kelli28

hi were off to cairns soon house prices seem much more reasonable compared with brisbane and all state capitals have a look on www.realestate.com.au we have our sons name down for a couple of schools including st andrews college at redlynch wich has been recomended to us.
as for suburbs we will be looking at the northern beaches clifton , kewarra, and trinity beaches as we want to be near a beach

youngy73

if you want to live in nice 4x2 in one of the better suburbs your looking at $500,000 to $550,000. Tas is full of snobby nosed little shits who think they can do whatever they F%^&ing please. We have an apprentice who went there along with his siblings. He used to be the school drug dealer, he still does a bit of ice and weed. ah, the youth of today. work as a plasterer should be straight forward as there is lots of construction although the migration to the area has hiked up rental prices to ridiculous levels with record low vacancy rates. the cost of living is astronomical. fresh groceries are expensive. in fact everything up here is a lot more expensive than in a larger city and to top it all off you are in the middle of nowhere 1700 kms from brisbane. welcome to cairns

greener_grass

Why not do some research yourselves, most people on here are just visa dreamers most of which will happily give you their opinions from the UK sofa without ever going to Australia. Plenty of posts about Cairns, small not much going on, good place to retire. Hot and humid, OK to holiday but not to live.

greener_grass

Has the Honeymoon period ended for you?

youngy73

there has never been a hineymoon period. just telling it how it is and ive been up here longer than most others on here

sophjam

Im starting to feel negativity why? How can you know about a school if all you can go by is word of mouth. Im trying to do the best for my daughter who isnt keen on the move so you wouldnt recommend the TAS. Why the insults?

snappy

It is true about the cost of some things but I disagree on everything. We have a good supply of some fresh food from local farmers and it is cheaper than you get down South at times. Things like building materials are taking the mick at the moment partly because it comes from down South and partly because it is going through a building boom and everyone is trying to get rich quick - it seemed to happen badly after Larry as everyone liked to exploit the insurance companies. We are currently building a house and an example of this is if I bought a heat pump for my pool from the distributor in Cairns it was double the price of getting one sent up from NSW - and that was including the cost of transport!!!

The other thing is the major saw mills are all down South - Gympie, Maryborough etc and seeing as up here in the North we like our timber pole homes you have to go through a middle man to get your timber yet they all get it from the same saw mills - pays to shop around believe me!

As for a plastering job a good friend of mine that we met in the Sunshine Coast left there to head South and got as far as Victoria and decided to turn around and head straight back up to Cairns. The reasons being that it was too cold for him but mainly the pay was miles better in Cairns than down there. He got a job lined up before he even arrived as it is a trade in demand this way. Judging by the amount of subdivisions going on from my trip up there yesterday there is no sign that the building boom is slowing down.

Perth has been going through a boom for a while now yet Cairns is still on the cusp of one.

They are two very different places to live however, so it would be hard to compare.

youngy73

where was the insult in what i said. nothing was directed at you.

youngy73

sometimes its not practical to drive 42 kms to buy a few veggies from the market. did you also know that the majority of stall at rustys markets are owned by BI LO

greener_grass

There are some good farm stalls, I remember one on the way to Redlynch. Good produce. I always thought Rustys was crap and overrated.

snappy

So it is dependant on which area you live then

I suppose for us it is different down here. That said if I use as an example some Aussie friends that have moved over from Perth not so long ago they are finding things a lot cheaper and she adds up every cent they pay out.

sophjam

Visa dreamer! not nice ! just trying to share the info Ive managed to find out from family we all have to make decisions for ourselves in the end. Maybe Im being touchy but Im getting ready to sell up, I just didnt need comments like this today directed at me or not. sorry if ive offended you