If anyone else wants the school info pm me.

it is only my personaL OPINION, but I have worked in a lot of the places here.

Hi

Does anyone know how long it takes to drive to Brisbane CBD from Buderim?

I love Further up the sunshine coast but my hubbie will more than likely get a job as a design engineer in the city

We want to buy maybe 1.5-2 acre plot and build - don't mind hilly as want a view - need ideas for acreage around an hours drive from Brisbane. Fingers crossed though that hubbie gets job on sunshine coast. I'm a community nurse so can probable get a job almost anywhere!

Being by the sea not important - want an area that will catch the breezes though. Still need my shopping fix/ cinema fix - ie Sunshine plaza within driving distance.

Its hard to find it all isn't it!!! So the challenge is set folks! Does such a place exist???

Lynn

Was in brisbane last weekend and drove back via buderim, it took us 50 minutes, that was a saturday tho, we drive from Noosa to brisbane and always allowed another 30 minutes if doing the journey during the week.

Had dinner in the buderim main street its lined with old trees, has a little theater and lots of restuarants plus a pub, the restaurants are refreshing after Noosa! no $35 a meal more like $10! I suppose its because its off the tourist track, very impressed.

Buderims very close to the beach even the top of the village would only be a 5 minute drive to Alexandra headland or Mooloolaba beaches, its got a reputataion for being cooler in summer due to its height and breezes so you should be right there.

Plaza is about 5 minutes, I'd allow 10 tho, the traffic people talk about is in Maroochydore itself, because its the CBD, (business/shopping/council offices etc), its probably fine by UK standards tho, you can even park for free, not like the other two CBD's Nambour and Caloundra where you pay to park even to use the council offices!

Thanks for that - we visited the Sunshine Plaza on several occasions yet I never realised how near Buderim was - will definately be checking the area out although I would imagine Buderim is already fully developed and we are looking for some rural acreage (1-2 acres max) - do you know of any other areas around this area of the sunshine Coast. My husbands cousin was brought up in Buderim and they loved it - I think they had a pole home at one point - is it hilly? I like the sound of the restaurants - we still want to be near enough to go for a drink and a meal.

Thanks again and if anyone else can tell me more then karma will be coming your way!!!

Lynn

p.s just found a good website about Buderim - looks lovely!
http://www.buderimvillage.com.au/index.html

I think you'd find theres still vacant land in most places here, the entire sunshine coasts only got a population of about 250,000, www.realestate.com.au will search on land or houses for you.

Buderims got flat and hilly land stuff with views will probably cost tho.


Edit, just saw the website bit, thats it, lovely place.

We are in the process of buying land in Buderim. We are in the process of buying a relatively small plot on the border of Buderim and Mountain Creek. We are buying for the location. It is minutes from the beach and a very short walk to the school and shops. You can get a large plot of land reasonably priced if you want to live on the other side of buderim, further from the beach. It depends what you want. Buderim is lovely though. The further out and more rural you go the cheaper the land.
Rachel

Ian, Are you sure moving is the best thing for you and your boys? I know you are finding it hard to settle in this area but I think you should tough it out for a bit longer. I dont think you could find a better area where you will be accepted although it may take a while until they get to know you. People around here are more open minded and gay friendly. Alot of queenslanders are rednecks and not very accepting. There are places where women are still not welcome in pubs. I am concerned that you are getting out of the frying pan and into the fire. It should be easier for accountants jobs here as you have easy access to the city and there is a demand. While you are checking out Buderim, ask the locals about what its like for kids because when we were the we saw a large group of youths on the rampage. I dont know if it was a one off or if the kids are bored and get into trouble.

i dont think the sunshine coast is one of the bits where women are banned from pubs, maybe outback but not brisbane or the sunshine coast, youll probably find attitudes to women exactly the same as Sydney or melbourne.

Never seen rampaging kids on coast, most have cars by 17 so ramping is done in their cars

The social life for kids coast in general. About 10 they start organising discos for them, and footy clubs etc have pizza/movie nights, this week my boys have a swim in movie and disco to attend, age 8 and 11. By 13 the police organise supervised discos too. Hanging at the shops and cinema is popular for the 13/15 age group. Learning to drive starts at 16 half and takes most of thier focus till 17 when its first car, most parents agree you rarely see them after that, there are a lot of parties but thats an aussie thing, we had lots of parties in Melbourne 25 years ago! Mine also skate and surf, facilities easy to find for both. Most kids have a sport or surf club which takes up a few nights or bits of the weekend too. I think the main problem is driving them to all this stuff by 16 you are hanging for them to drive just to get your own life back.

Women banned from pubs, Well not In Sydney or Melbourne, or The GC, or Brisbane. But outback Q'land, I wouldn't say women are banned, but they ain't exactly accepted either.

The most redneck place I've ever been, is a town just on the border, called Goondawindi, it was a total revelation to me. I pulled into town, found a motel for my family and I, and fancied a beer. The wife had to stayat the motel with the kids. Orf I go on my lonesome, with my Vic Number plated car, Into a nice big pub. Walks in, about 30 pairs of eyes stare at me. People start edgeing towards me, I order a beer. It was my accent that saved me. If i had been a traditional Mexican, like the much hated rest of us Victorians, instead of a pom, I could have been a gonner. Fancy that, Having a slight remnant of a sarrf london accent save me from a very unpleasant experience, so the barman informed me. Hows that though, they prefer poms to their own countrymen !!




No women in that bar I can tell you lol.

Hmmm. I've been banned from a few pubs in Newcastle in my time. Let me know which pubs I'm not welcome in - I love a challenge!
Rachel x

My parents live up there and I get up there a couple of times a year. I also used to pass through it twenty years ago when I caught the coach from Sydney to Rocky (no cheap flights in those days). It's changed a lot in that time. The growth in the last decade has been significant and recent newspaper reports from there expect it to treble in population in the next twenty years. That will have impact on services, especially water.

As it is such a (deservedly) popular holiday destination there's a lot of units there. Most of them have great views and look good but tend to be built to be sold and not lived in. Fine for holidays but you wouldn't want to raise a family in them. This probably rules out Mooloolaba for a lot of people.

There's a lot of development going on there and you'll see ads all over the place for them. One of the most heavily advertised up there is Kawana Waters. Seems nice enough although it looks just a little too planned for my tastes. Avoid Kawana Island. It's basically reclaimed swampland but the flies and other pests haven't quite worked out that their normal habitat has gone. It also gets very strong winds - enough so that you can't sit on the back balcony. There's also a lot of properties in that area available for sale again which is a dangerous sign seeing as it's only been opened a fairly short time.

Most of the new land releases around Caloundra are inland. One is claiming to be only five minutes from Dicky Beach but by my calculations that's only if you're in a Ferrari, taking no note of the speed limit and you get all the lights. A lot of them advertise that you will be on the edge of the forest. That's perfectly true. Just like it was for all the other people who bought there before they cut down more of the forest.

Even during the tourist season Caloundra is a nice, quiet place. Work tends to be either small business, self-employed or manual labour. There's no large industry so make sure the work situation is sorted before moving there. There's a lot of retirees up there as well plus, appropriate for this forums, a lot of people who move there from elsewhere in the country. For those who don't want to stay in the city rat-race it's a great place.

Hello Again

And thanks to everyone who contributed - especially Heather and Tim. Well I did the Virgin Blue thing and was met by an agent who showed me properties in what was described as Budrim, but of course they were not! They were in the new developments of Kawana Island (So thanks for the warnings on wind and flies), Pelican Waters and Rainforrest Sanctuary. The standard of these new builds were high and for $550k upwards one seemed to get a lot more bang for ones buck. At least that what it looked liked coming from London via Sydney. However not a soul was to be seen on the streets of these new developments. Forget walking to the local coffee shop for a drink and a read of the newspaper - there were none! Or even a stroll to the local primary school. Get the car out! I did wonder if in Heather and Tim's words we would be moving "out of the frying pan and into the fire". I find that some sense of community is important to me. I also wondered how we would be accpeted a two guys with two children. I also took the opportunity to look at New Farm in Brisbane. This was on the edge of the CBD but had a calm, breezy and peacful (but not dead or souless) atmosphere. It was also evident it had a more diverse population. I could see us living happily there but pehaps we do need to give where we are a bit longer. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has lived or lives in or near to New Farm. I did find that the estate agent I used was very helpful - collecting me from the airport and trying his best to match what I was looking for. If anyone wants to do the same, I can recommend him. Thanks Ian12

Hi,

I am an accountant living on the sunshine coast, You will find it very difficult to get work in a private practice on the coast because they want CPA qualified accountants.

I have gone into management accounts, again it is very difficult to get that first break as most companies prefer Aus experience.

Most of the agency's I have spoken to say that there is such a massive demand from Interstate applicants that have Aus experience and qualifications to relocate to the coast that they can fill posts 30 times over.

Luckily I have got a local job with a company that is a part of Queensland Transport, in the main i think because the C/Exec was english and had a better understanding and appreciation of UKAccounting qualifications.

Occasionallly I have to travel into Brisbane. you are looking at at least 1 1/2 hours on week day from the Mooloolaba/Buderim area.

Either a 15 minute drive to Landsborough to pick up the Express which is about 1 .15mins

Or 1/2 hr drive to Caboolture then the train from there which is about 1 hr.

On the subject of Buderim. Lovely place, very pretty. But !!!!!!! Traffic is a bloody nightmare. Its just taken me half an hour to travel about 1/2 mile through main street in rush hour. and that was not a one off occurence.

There are lots of other nice places around and not as overcrowed

Bloody hell, kawana island and pelican waters are not considered buderim at all, ones in caloundra and back of caloundra which is dead at night. Buderim itself has quite a lively cafe society, local schools, and as mentioned before several good restaurants, busy main street in rush hour is anywhere really. Mooloolabas the other place with a bit of nightlife and more cafes and restaurants than you can use in a year. Noosas got nightlife at the other end but never recommended it as work can be harder to get.

I would not have worries about being two blokes with kids, we know three same sex couples here its not the backwater some would have you believe, people emigirate here from all over OZ and overseas, locals born and bred would be the minority.

New farm is lovely, a lot of new units tho, it attracts a lot of singles dont know if its a big family area, could be but houses would be expensive there. Lots of families seem to congregate at new farm park, dont know if they are locals tho, the car park always seems full.

The car thing is just most places in australia, especially suburbs, people do drive everywhere, especially with kids. I guess thats the disadvantage side to all that space.