Two weeks in Brisbane and this is what we have found.
Nov 25th 2003, 8:59 pm
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2003
Location: Under a palm tree with a cold beer!
Posts: 213
Two weeks in Brisbane and this is what we have found.
We have been in sunny Queensland, (just north of Brisbane), for two weeks now and here is what we found out….
Extra baggage allowance with Singapore airlines:
When we checked in, we said that were migrating and they looked at us rather blankly as to say ‘So?’.
The check in staff called a manger over and he checked our visas and said that it is 30kg per person. Luckily I had e-mailed Singapore airlines a couple of weeks before and the e-mail I received back from them said 40kg each. I showed them this message and they said ok then. Make sure you get the extra allowance in writing as Heathrow check in staff didn’t really know what was going on.
Just because you get double baggage allowance doesn’t mean that you get double the hand luggage. Luckily our two extra bags were hidden under coats and they didn’t see them.
Car buying:
We wanted to buy a car very quickly, so we could start driving around and looking for a rental house. We stayed in a Motel (Castledine Court Motel) for the first week and they did very reasonable weekly rates.
We went to a couple of car places and they seemed to be mostly old bangers for under $10,000. In the end we went to Koala Cars in Strathpine (http://www.koalacars.com.au/) and they were extremely helpful. We found a car and they even let us use it, before we gave them the money for it, so we could look at houses for the day.
Warranties on used cars here seem very good (not like ones in the UK). For an extra $600 we have a 3 year warranty and you can get repairs done in any garage in any state. All you have to do is have the routine service carried out, again at any garage, every 10,000km. When you sell the car you can sell the warranty with it or transfer it to your new car.
Once we paid for the car they filled in all of the paper work for us as I didn’t have a clue as it is all very different here.
To upgrade the ‘Compulsory Third Party Insurance’ that you get when you register the car, to fully comp cost us $400 with RACQ. My last car in the UK cost us over $900 a year and this car is bigger!
Petrol is currently 73.5c a litre and it makes filling the car up with petrol good fun and not the heartache it was in the UK.
Houses:
When you rent a house in Queensland, the rent you pay includes the rates, which includes the water. Our only bills here telephone and electricity, which is a big help.
Banks:
Banks can best be described as a con here. They charge you for everything. Most banks, including ANZ and Commonwealth, charge you a monthly fee for just having the account and then charge you to spend your money or get cash out.
We found that HSBC was the best of a bad bunch as they don’t charge a monthly fee and EFTPOS (Switch) was free for as many as you like. Plus you can withdraw cash as many times as you like from an HSBC ATM machine. If you can’t get to the HSBC ATM you can use other banks machines five times in one month for free. You don’t really need to do this though as you can get cash back each time you use EFTPOS.
It does seem that most banks give you a stupid limit of $500 or $1000 a day on a card, even if you have half a million dollars in the bank. This made it very difficult to buy sofas, cars, tables, TV’s etc.
When we withdrew the $13,000 for the car from the bank (over the counter) they charged a 1% commission for me withdrawing my money. Bunch of **!?*�&�.
I would recommend leaving some money in a UK bank account and then using your UK credit card to buy things. If you have an account with Nationwide they let you withdraw cash and use your card for free.
Buying things:
Everyone haggles here. If you buy lots of things in one shop you can usually set your own price. Instead of paying $1250 for a fridge and a TV, we got them both for $1000. I couldn’t imagine going into Dixon’s and naming your own price. The spotty teenager behind the till would laugh.
In Queensland a shop called the ‘Good Guys’ is cheap and if you pay cash you get even more money off. As soon as they find out you are English they normally feel sorry for you as you have moved to the other side of the world and they have an aunty Flow in Birmingham and you remind them of her next door neighbour.
Most things are about 20%-30% cheaper than the UK, including all white goods and gadgets. (It’s a shame we shipped as much as we did!)
TV:
I don’t actually know why we bought one. The TV programs here are American rejects and they are full of adverts. However with a warm garden and friendly neighbours, who needs TV?
People:
The people here are very friendly. As soon as they hear your accent they want to talk to you and hear your story. In two weeks we have a couple of telephone numbers of people who have said that if we have any problems give them a ring. We don’t even know them!
Was it all worth it?:
So far is most defiantly was. We are 4km from a calm beach, 30km from a beautiful surf beach, things are cheap to buy, People are lovely and the weather is perfect.
There seems to be lots of jobs around (not that we have got one yet as there is too much exploring to do at the moment, but we have applied) and with the exchange rate going the way it is, I would get paid more here than I did in the UK.
The tears from relatives at the airport wasn’t nice, but I think I have spoken more to people via MSN Instant Messenger, E-mail and telephone more than I ever did in the UK.
So far everything has worked out well and nothing has really gone wrong, I guess there is still time!
They say Queensland is ‘Beautiful one day… Perfect the next’. It sure is!!!!
Extra baggage allowance with Singapore airlines:
When we checked in, we said that were migrating and they looked at us rather blankly as to say ‘So?’.
The check in staff called a manger over and he checked our visas and said that it is 30kg per person. Luckily I had e-mailed Singapore airlines a couple of weeks before and the e-mail I received back from them said 40kg each. I showed them this message and they said ok then. Make sure you get the extra allowance in writing as Heathrow check in staff didn’t really know what was going on.
Just because you get double baggage allowance doesn’t mean that you get double the hand luggage. Luckily our two extra bags were hidden under coats and they didn’t see them.
Car buying:
We wanted to buy a car very quickly, so we could start driving around and looking for a rental house. We stayed in a Motel (Castledine Court Motel) for the first week and they did very reasonable weekly rates.
We went to a couple of car places and they seemed to be mostly old bangers for under $10,000. In the end we went to Koala Cars in Strathpine (http://www.koalacars.com.au/) and they were extremely helpful. We found a car and they even let us use it, before we gave them the money for it, so we could look at houses for the day.
Warranties on used cars here seem very good (not like ones in the UK). For an extra $600 we have a 3 year warranty and you can get repairs done in any garage in any state. All you have to do is have the routine service carried out, again at any garage, every 10,000km. When you sell the car you can sell the warranty with it or transfer it to your new car.
Once we paid for the car they filled in all of the paper work for us as I didn’t have a clue as it is all very different here.
To upgrade the ‘Compulsory Third Party Insurance’ that you get when you register the car, to fully comp cost us $400 with RACQ. My last car in the UK cost us over $900 a year and this car is bigger!
Petrol is currently 73.5c a litre and it makes filling the car up with petrol good fun and not the heartache it was in the UK.
Houses:
When you rent a house in Queensland, the rent you pay includes the rates, which includes the water. Our only bills here telephone and electricity, which is a big help.
Banks:
Banks can best be described as a con here. They charge you for everything. Most banks, including ANZ and Commonwealth, charge you a monthly fee for just having the account and then charge you to spend your money or get cash out.
We found that HSBC was the best of a bad bunch as they don’t charge a monthly fee and EFTPOS (Switch) was free for as many as you like. Plus you can withdraw cash as many times as you like from an HSBC ATM machine. If you can’t get to the HSBC ATM you can use other banks machines five times in one month for free. You don’t really need to do this though as you can get cash back each time you use EFTPOS.
It does seem that most banks give you a stupid limit of $500 or $1000 a day on a card, even if you have half a million dollars in the bank. This made it very difficult to buy sofas, cars, tables, TV’s etc.
When we withdrew the $13,000 for the car from the bank (over the counter) they charged a 1% commission for me withdrawing my money. Bunch of **!?*�&�.
I would recommend leaving some money in a UK bank account and then using your UK credit card to buy things. If you have an account with Nationwide they let you withdraw cash and use your card for free.
Buying things:
Everyone haggles here. If you buy lots of things in one shop you can usually set your own price. Instead of paying $1250 for a fridge and a TV, we got them both for $1000. I couldn’t imagine going into Dixon’s and naming your own price. The spotty teenager behind the till would laugh.
In Queensland a shop called the ‘Good Guys’ is cheap and if you pay cash you get even more money off. As soon as they find out you are English they normally feel sorry for you as you have moved to the other side of the world and they have an aunty Flow in Birmingham and you remind them of her next door neighbour.
Most things are about 20%-30% cheaper than the UK, including all white goods and gadgets. (It’s a shame we shipped as much as we did!)
TV:
I don’t actually know why we bought one. The TV programs here are American rejects and they are full of adverts. However with a warm garden and friendly neighbours, who needs TV?
People:
The people here are very friendly. As soon as they hear your accent they want to talk to you and hear your story. In two weeks we have a couple of telephone numbers of people who have said that if we have any problems give them a ring. We don’t even know them!
Was it all worth it?:
So far is most defiantly was. We are 4km from a calm beach, 30km from a beautiful surf beach, things are cheap to buy, People are lovely and the weather is perfect.
There seems to be lots of jobs around (not that we have got one yet as there is too much exploring to do at the moment, but we have applied) and with the exchange rate going the way it is, I would get paid more here than I did in the UK.
The tears from relatives at the airport wasn’t nice, but I think I have spoken more to people via MSN Instant Messenger, E-mail and telephone more than I ever did in the UK.
So far everything has worked out well and nothing has really gone wrong, I guess there is still time!
They say Queensland is ‘Beautiful one day… Perfect the next’. It sure is!!!!
Last edited by pabloako; Nov 25th 2003 at 9:05 pm.
Nov 25th 2003, 9:06 pm
#2
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Sep 2003
Location: North Lakes/Mango Hill, Brisbane
Posts: 1,134
Good luck to you pabloako. It sounds great - we hopr to be in the same position some time next year.
Nov 25th 2003, 9:09 pm
#3
Senior Member
Joined: May 2003
Location: Soon 2 Be Ozland
Posts: 317
Re: Two weeks in Brisbane and this is what we have found.
Originally posted by pabloako
We have been in sunny Queensland, (just north of Brisbane), for two weeks now and here is what we found out….
Extra baggage allowance with Singapore airlines:
When we checked in, we said that were migrating and they looked at us rather blankly as to say ‘So?’.
The check in staff called a manger over and he checked our visas and said that it is 30kg per person. Luckily I had e-mailed Singapore airlines a couple of weeks before and the e-mail I received back from them said 40kg each. I showed them this message and they said ok then. Make sure you get the extra allowance in writing as Heathrow check in staff didn’t really know what was going on.
Just because you get double baggage allowance doesn’t mean that you get double the hand luggage. Luckily our two extra bags were hidden under coats and they didn’t see them.
Car buying:
We wanted to buy a car very quickly, so we could start driving around and looking for a rental house. We stayed in a Motel (Castledine Court Motel) for the first week and they did very reasonable weekly rates.
We went to a couple of car places and they seemed to be mostly old bangers for under $10,000. In the end we went to Koala Cars in Strathpine (http://www.koalacars.com.au/) and they were extremely helpful. We found a car and they even let us use it, before we gave them the money for it, so we could look at houses for the day.
Warranties on used cars here seem very good (not like ones in the UK). For an extra $600 we have a 3 year warranty and you can get repairs done in any garage in any state. All you have to do is have the routine service carried out, again at any garage, every 10,000km. When you sell the car you can sell the warranty with it or transfer it to your new car.
Once we paid for the car they filled in all of the paper work for us as I didn’t have a clue as it is all very different here.
To upgrade the ‘Compulsory Third Party Insurance’ that you get when you register the car, to fully comp cost us $400 with RACQ. My last car in the UK cost us over $900 a year and this car is bigger!
Petrol is currently 73.5c a litre and it makes filling the car up with petrol good fun and not the heartache it was in the UK.
Houses:
When you rent a house in Queensland, the rent you pay includes the rates, which includes the water. Our only bills here telephone and electricity, which is a big help.
Banks:
Banks can best be described as a con here. They charge you for everything. Most banks, including ANZ and Commonwealth, charge you a monthly fee for just having the account and then charge you to spend your money or get cash out.
We found that HSBC was the best of a bad bunch as they don’t charge a monthly fee and EFTPOS (Switch) was free for as many as you like. Plus you can withdraw cash as many times as you like from an HSBC ATM machine. If you can’t get to the HSBC ATM you can use other banks machines five times in one month for free. You don’t really need to do this though as you can get cash back each time you use EFTPOS.
It does seem that most banks give you a stupid limit of $500 or $1000 a day on a card, even if you have half a million dollars in the bank. This made it very difficult to buy sofas, cars, tables, TV’s etc.
When we withdrew the $13,000 for the car from the bank (over the counter) they charged a 1% commission for me withdrawing my money. Bunch of **!?*�&�.
I would recommend leaving some money in a UK bank account and then using your UK credit card to buy things. If you have an account with Nationwide they let you withdraw cash and use your card for free.
Buying things:
Everyone haggles here. If you buy lots of things in one shop you can usually set your own price. Instead of paying $1250 for a fridge and a TV, we got them both for $1000. I couldn’t imagine going into Dixon’s and naming your own price. The spotty teenager behind the till would laugh.
In Queensland a shop called the ‘Good Guys’ is cheap and if you pay cash you get even more money off. As soon as they find out you are English they normally feel sorry for you as you have moved to the other side of the world and they have an aunty Flow in Birmingham and you remind them of her next door neighbour.
Most things are about 20%-30% cheaper than the UK, including all white goods and gadgets. (It’s a shame we shipped as much as we did!)
TV:
I don’t actually know why we bought one. The TV programs here are American rejects and they are full of adverts. However with a warm garden and friendly neighbours, who needs TV?
People:
The people here are very friendly. As soon as they hear your accent they want to talk to you and hear your story. In two weeks we have a couple of telephone numbers of people who have said that if we have any problems give them a ring. We don’t even know them!
Was it all worth it?:
So far is most defiantly was. We are 4km from a calm beach, 30km from a beautiful surf beach, things are cheap to buy, People are lovely and the weather is perfect.
There seems to be lots of jobs around (not that we have got one yet as there is too much exploring to do at the moment, but we have applied) and with the exchange rate going the way it is, I would get paid more here than I did in the UK.
The tears from relatives at the airport wasn’t nice, but I think I have spoken more to people via MSN Instant Messenger, E-mail and telephone more than I ever did in the UK.
So far everything has worked out well and nothing has really gone wrong, I guess there is still time!
They say Queensland is ‘Beautiful one day… Perfect the next’. It sure is!!!!
We have been in sunny Queensland, (just north of Brisbane), for two weeks now and here is what we found out….
Extra baggage allowance with Singapore airlines:
When we checked in, we said that were migrating and they looked at us rather blankly as to say ‘So?’.
The check in staff called a manger over and he checked our visas and said that it is 30kg per person. Luckily I had e-mailed Singapore airlines a couple of weeks before and the e-mail I received back from them said 40kg each. I showed them this message and they said ok then. Make sure you get the extra allowance in writing as Heathrow check in staff didn’t really know what was going on.
Just because you get double baggage allowance doesn’t mean that you get double the hand luggage. Luckily our two extra bags were hidden under coats and they didn’t see them.
Car buying:
We wanted to buy a car very quickly, so we could start driving around and looking for a rental house. We stayed in a Motel (Castledine Court Motel) for the first week and they did very reasonable weekly rates.
We went to a couple of car places and they seemed to be mostly old bangers for under $10,000. In the end we went to Koala Cars in Strathpine (http://www.koalacars.com.au/) and they were extremely helpful. We found a car and they even let us use it, before we gave them the money for it, so we could look at houses for the day.
Warranties on used cars here seem very good (not like ones in the UK). For an extra $600 we have a 3 year warranty and you can get repairs done in any garage in any state. All you have to do is have the routine service carried out, again at any garage, every 10,000km. When you sell the car you can sell the warranty with it or transfer it to your new car.
Once we paid for the car they filled in all of the paper work for us as I didn’t have a clue as it is all very different here.
To upgrade the ‘Compulsory Third Party Insurance’ that you get when you register the car, to fully comp cost us $400 with RACQ. My last car in the UK cost us over $900 a year and this car is bigger!
Petrol is currently 73.5c a litre and it makes filling the car up with petrol good fun and not the heartache it was in the UK.
Houses:
When you rent a house in Queensland, the rent you pay includes the rates, which includes the water. Our only bills here telephone and electricity, which is a big help.
Banks:
Banks can best be described as a con here. They charge you for everything. Most banks, including ANZ and Commonwealth, charge you a monthly fee for just having the account and then charge you to spend your money or get cash out.
We found that HSBC was the best of a bad bunch as they don’t charge a monthly fee and EFTPOS (Switch) was free for as many as you like. Plus you can withdraw cash as many times as you like from an HSBC ATM machine. If you can’t get to the HSBC ATM you can use other banks machines five times in one month for free. You don’t really need to do this though as you can get cash back each time you use EFTPOS.
It does seem that most banks give you a stupid limit of $500 or $1000 a day on a card, even if you have half a million dollars in the bank. This made it very difficult to buy sofas, cars, tables, TV’s etc.
When we withdrew the $13,000 for the car from the bank (over the counter) they charged a 1% commission for me withdrawing my money. Bunch of **!?*�&�.
I would recommend leaving some money in a UK bank account and then using your UK credit card to buy things. If you have an account with Nationwide they let you withdraw cash and use your card for free.
Buying things:
Everyone haggles here. If you buy lots of things in one shop you can usually set your own price. Instead of paying $1250 for a fridge and a TV, we got them both for $1000. I couldn’t imagine going into Dixon’s and naming your own price. The spotty teenager behind the till would laugh.
In Queensland a shop called the ‘Good Guys’ is cheap and if you pay cash you get even more money off. As soon as they find out you are English they normally feel sorry for you as you have moved to the other side of the world and they have an aunty Flow in Birmingham and you remind them of her next door neighbour.
Most things are about 20%-30% cheaper than the UK, including all white goods and gadgets. (It’s a shame we shipped as much as we did!)
TV:
I don’t actually know why we bought one. The TV programs here are American rejects and they are full of adverts. However with a warm garden and friendly neighbours, who needs TV?
People:
The people here are very friendly. As soon as they hear your accent they want to talk to you and hear your story. In two weeks we have a couple of telephone numbers of people who have said that if we have any problems give them a ring. We don’t even know them!
Was it all worth it?:
So far is most defiantly was. We are 4km from a calm beach, 30km from a beautiful surf beach, things are cheap to buy, People are lovely and the weather is perfect.
There seems to be lots of jobs around (not that we have got one yet as there is too much exploring to do at the moment, but we have applied) and with the exchange rate going the way it is, I would get paid more here than I did in the UK.
The tears from relatives at the airport wasn’t nice, but I think I have spoken more to people via MSN Instant Messenger, E-mail and telephone more than I ever did in the UK.
So far everything has worked out well and nothing has really gone wrong, I guess there is still time!
They say Queensland is ‘Beautiful one day… Perfect the next’. It sure is!!!!
hi there,
nice post, glad to hear you are having a smooth time and enjoyin it.
kev.
Nov 25th 2003, 9:17 pm
#4
Rocket Scientist
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: Dreamland AKA Brisbane which is a different country to the UK
Posts: 6,911
pabloaka, are you free to come to the Brisbane meet up on the 14th of December? We have about 30 + people coming now plus kids if you are interested. Its at Wynnum 11am (or there abouts) Sunday the 14th Dec, check back a few days for the thread & post in it to let us know .
.
Nov 25th 2003, 9:19 pm
#5
Guest
Posts: n/a
Thank's for keeping us informed,nice positive post!
all the best plum&family!
all the best plum&family!
Nov 25th 2003, 9:20 pm
#6
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 151
Also, you can bargain in shops like Harvey Normans when paying with cash too....
I remember saving $500 on a digitical camera!
I remember saving $500 on a digitical camera!
Nov 25th 2003, 9:24 pm
#7
....is FAB
Joined: Jul 2003
Location: Sunshine Coast
Posts: 2,579
Great post pabloako......some great tips.....esp the haggling...can't wait to give that a go when we get to Brisbane next year! Especially if it means I'm gonna get wedges of cash off my buys!!
Good luck!
Petra
Good luck!
Petra
Nov 25th 2003, 9:41 pm
#8
Excellent Member
Joined: Nov 2003
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 32
Hi - welcome to Brisbane...
Its great isn't it
We managed to get free banking with the Commonwealth Bank as long as we keep our current account and savings with them. We had an interview with the Migrant Banking Officer who was v v helpful.
We are now looking for a 2nd car as hubby has got a job :scared: and we are off to Koala Cars tomorrow - so I'm pleased to hear they are ok.
Good luck with settling in.
Anne
Its great isn't it
We managed to get free banking with the Commonwealth Bank as long as we keep our current account and savings with them. We had an interview with the Migrant Banking Officer who was v v helpful.
We are now looking for a 2nd car as hubby has got a job :scared: and we are off to Koala Cars tomorrow - so I'm pleased to hear they are ok.
Good luck with settling in.
Anne
Nov 25th 2003, 10:13 pm
#9
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2003
Location: Newquay
Posts: 146
Re: Two weeks in Brisbane and this is what we have found.
Originally posted by pabloako
We have been in sunny Queensland, (just north of Brisbane), for two weeks now and here is what we found out….
Extra baggage allowance with Singapore airlines:
When we checked in, we said that were migrating and they looked at us rather blankly as to say ‘So?’.
The check in staff called a manger over and he checked our visas and said that it is 30kg per person. Luckily I had e-mailed Singapore airlines a couple of weeks before and the e-mail I received back from them said 40kg each. I showed them this message and they said ok then. Make sure you get the extra allowance in writing as Heathrow check in staff didn’t really know what was going on.
Just because you get double baggage allowance doesn’t mean that you get double the hand luggage. Luckily our two extra bags were hidden under coats and they didn’t see them.
Car buying:
We wanted to buy a car very quickly, so we could start driving around and looking for a rental house. We stayed in a Motel (Castledine Court Motel) for the first week and they did very reasonable weekly rates.
We went to a couple of car places and they seemed to be mostly old bangers for under $10,000. In the end we went to Koala Cars in Strathpine (http://www.koalacars.com.au/) and they were extremely helpful. We found a car and they even let us use it, before we gave them the money for it, so we could look at houses for the day.
Warranties on used cars here seem very good (not like ones in the UK). For an extra $600 we have a 3 year warranty and you can get repairs done in any garage in any state. All you have to do is have the routine service carried out, again at any garage, every 10,000km. When you sell the car you can sell the warranty with it or transfer it to your new car.
Once we paid for the car they filled in all of the paper work for us as I didn’t have a clue as it is all very different here.
To upgrade the ‘Compulsory Third Party Insurance’ that you get when you register the car, to fully comp cost us $400 with RACQ. My last car in the UK cost us over $900 a year and this car is bigger!
Petrol is currently 73.5c a litre and it makes filling the car up with petrol good fun and not the heartache it was in the UK.
Houses:
When you rent a house in Queensland, the rent you pay includes the rates, which includes the water. Our only bills here telephone and electricity, which is a big help.
Banks:
Banks can best be described as a con here. They charge you for everything. Most banks, including ANZ and Commonwealth, charge you a monthly fee for just having the account and then charge you to spend your money or get cash out.
We found that HSBC was the best of a bad bunch as they don’t charge a monthly fee and EFTPOS (Switch) was free for as many as you like. Plus you can withdraw cash as many times as you like from an HSBC ATM machine. If you can’t get to the HSBC ATM you can use other banks machines five times in one month for free. You don’t really need to do this though as you can get cash back each time you use EFTPOS.
It does seem that most banks give you a stupid limit of $500 or $1000 a day on a card, even if you have half a million dollars in the bank. This made it very difficult to buy sofas, cars, tables, TV’s etc.
When we withdrew the $13,000 for the car from the bank (over the counter) they charged a 1% commission for me withdrawing my money. Bunch of **!?*�&�.
I would recommend leaving some money in a UK bank account and then using your UK credit card to buy things. If you have an account with Nationwide they let you withdraw cash and use your card for free.
Buying things:
Everyone haggles here. If you buy lots of things in one shop you can usually set your own price. Instead of paying $1250 for a fridge and a TV, we got them both for $1000. I couldn’t imagine going into Dixon’s and naming your own price. The spotty teenager behind the till would laugh.
In Queensland a shop called the ‘Good Guys’ is cheap and if you pay cash you get even more money off. As soon as they find out you are English they normally feel sorry for you as you have moved to the other side of the world and they have an aunty Flow in Birmingham and you remind them of her next door neighbour.
Most things are about 20%-30% cheaper than the UK, including all white goods and gadgets. (It’s a shame we shipped as much as we did!)
TV:
I don’t actually know why we bought one. The TV programs here are American rejects and they are full of adverts. However with a warm garden and friendly neighbours, who needs TV?
People:
The people here are very friendly. As soon as they hear your accent they want to talk to you and hear your story. In two weeks we have a couple of telephone numbers of people who have said that if we have any problems give them a ring. We don’t even know them!
Was it all worth it?:
So far is most defiantly was. We are 4km from a calm beach, 30km from a beautiful surf beach, things are cheap to buy, People are lovely and the weather is perfect.
There seems to be lots of jobs around (not that we have got one yet as there is too much exploring to do at the moment, but we have applied) and with the exchange rate going the way it is, I would get paid more here than I did in the UK.
The tears from relatives at the airport wasn’t nice, but I think I have spoken more to people via MSN Instant Messenger, E-mail and telephone more than I ever did in the UK.
So far everything has worked out well and nothing has really gone wrong, I guess there is still time!
They say Queensland is ‘Beautiful one day… Perfect the next’. It sure is!!!!
We have been in sunny Queensland, (just north of Brisbane), for two weeks now and here is what we found out….
Extra baggage allowance with Singapore airlines:
When we checked in, we said that were migrating and they looked at us rather blankly as to say ‘So?’.
The check in staff called a manger over and he checked our visas and said that it is 30kg per person. Luckily I had e-mailed Singapore airlines a couple of weeks before and the e-mail I received back from them said 40kg each. I showed them this message and they said ok then. Make sure you get the extra allowance in writing as Heathrow check in staff didn’t really know what was going on.
Just because you get double baggage allowance doesn’t mean that you get double the hand luggage. Luckily our two extra bags were hidden under coats and they didn’t see them.
Car buying:
We wanted to buy a car very quickly, so we could start driving around and looking for a rental house. We stayed in a Motel (Castledine Court Motel) for the first week and they did very reasonable weekly rates.
We went to a couple of car places and they seemed to be mostly old bangers for under $10,000. In the end we went to Koala Cars in Strathpine (http://www.koalacars.com.au/) and they were extremely helpful. We found a car and they even let us use it, before we gave them the money for it, so we could look at houses for the day.
Warranties on used cars here seem very good (not like ones in the UK). For an extra $600 we have a 3 year warranty and you can get repairs done in any garage in any state. All you have to do is have the routine service carried out, again at any garage, every 10,000km. When you sell the car you can sell the warranty with it or transfer it to your new car.
Once we paid for the car they filled in all of the paper work for us as I didn’t have a clue as it is all very different here.
To upgrade the ‘Compulsory Third Party Insurance’ that you get when you register the car, to fully comp cost us $400 with RACQ. My last car in the UK cost us over $900 a year and this car is bigger!
Petrol is currently 73.5c a litre and it makes filling the car up with petrol good fun and not the heartache it was in the UK.
Houses:
When you rent a house in Queensland, the rent you pay includes the rates, which includes the water. Our only bills here telephone and electricity, which is a big help.
Banks:
Banks can best be described as a con here. They charge you for everything. Most banks, including ANZ and Commonwealth, charge you a monthly fee for just having the account and then charge you to spend your money or get cash out.
We found that HSBC was the best of a bad bunch as they don’t charge a monthly fee and EFTPOS (Switch) was free for as many as you like. Plus you can withdraw cash as many times as you like from an HSBC ATM machine. If you can’t get to the HSBC ATM you can use other banks machines five times in one month for free. You don’t really need to do this though as you can get cash back each time you use EFTPOS.
It does seem that most banks give you a stupid limit of $500 or $1000 a day on a card, even if you have half a million dollars in the bank. This made it very difficult to buy sofas, cars, tables, TV’s etc.
When we withdrew the $13,000 for the car from the bank (over the counter) they charged a 1% commission for me withdrawing my money. Bunch of **!?*�&�.
I would recommend leaving some money in a UK bank account and then using your UK credit card to buy things. If you have an account with Nationwide they let you withdraw cash and use your card for free.
Buying things:
Everyone haggles here. If you buy lots of things in one shop you can usually set your own price. Instead of paying $1250 for a fridge and a TV, we got them both for $1000. I couldn’t imagine going into Dixon’s and naming your own price. The spotty teenager behind the till would laugh.
In Queensland a shop called the ‘Good Guys’ is cheap and if you pay cash you get even more money off. As soon as they find out you are English they normally feel sorry for you as you have moved to the other side of the world and they have an aunty Flow in Birmingham and you remind them of her next door neighbour.
Most things are about 20%-30% cheaper than the UK, including all white goods and gadgets. (It’s a shame we shipped as much as we did!)
TV:
I don’t actually know why we bought one. The TV programs here are American rejects and they are full of adverts. However with a warm garden and friendly neighbours, who needs TV?
People:
The people here are very friendly. As soon as they hear your accent they want to talk to you and hear your story. In two weeks we have a couple of telephone numbers of people who have said that if we have any problems give them a ring. We don’t even know them!
Was it all worth it?:
So far is most defiantly was. We are 4km from a calm beach, 30km from a beautiful surf beach, things are cheap to buy, People are lovely and the weather is perfect.
There seems to be lots of jobs around (not that we have got one yet as there is too much exploring to do at the moment, but we have applied) and with the exchange rate going the way it is, I would get paid more here than I did in the UK.
The tears from relatives at the airport wasn’t nice, but I think I have spoken more to people via MSN Instant Messenger, E-mail and telephone more than I ever did in the UK.
So far everything has worked out well and nothing has really gone wrong, I guess there is still time!
They say Queensland is ‘Beautiful one day… Perfect the next’. It sure is!!!!
A great post, esp. as I'm thinking of Brisbane, but just at the start of the applying adventure, not sure If I'll be able to settle there though, I don't think there is a lot of work for my strange trade - GUNSMITH. d'ohh should have been an electrician.
Useful info and some actual prices, what sort of rent do you pay, and how do grocery prices compare with UK?
Good luck with your new life
cheers !Mike
Nov 25th 2003, 10:25 pm
#10
Banned
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 4,432
Re: Two weeks in Brisbane and this is what we have found.
Originally posted by marson
A great post, esp. as I'm thinking of Brisbane, but just at the start of the applying adventure, not sure If I'll be able to settle there though, I don't think there is a lot of work for my strange trade - GUNSMITH. d'ohh should have been an electrician.
Useful info and some actual prices, what sort of rent do you pay, and how do grocery prices compare with UK?
Good luck with your new life cheers !
Mike
A great post, esp. as I'm thinking of Brisbane, but just at the start of the applying adventure, not sure If I'll be able to settle there though, I don't think there is a lot of work for my strange trade - GUNSMITH. d'ohh should have been an electrician.
Useful info and some actual prices, what sort of rent do you pay, and how do grocery prices compare with UK?
Good luck with your new life
cheers !Mike
Nov 25th 2003, 10:30 pm
#11
Happy Daddy
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: Dodgey West Midlands , UK
Posts: 1,312
Re: Two weeks in Brisbane and this is what we have found.
Hi pabloako,
great post. Nice to hear how things are out there.
The banks sound shite, surprised they charge so much and no one has gone into that market to shake it up.
Keep the info coming on everyday life.
Hope it goes well.
Mark
great post. Nice to hear how things are out there.
The banks sound shite, surprised they charge so much and no one has gone into that market to shake it up.
Keep the info coming on everyday life.
Hope it goes well.
Mark
Nov 25th 2003, 11:12 pm
#12
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2003
Location: Under a palm tree with a cold beer!
Posts: 213
Re: Two weeks in Brisbane and this is what we have found.
We are renting through http://www.daviddeane.com.au/ and we are currently paying $200 a week for a three bed, brick lowset with a big garden and enough spaces to start our own car park.
We are paying $40 a month in direct debit for electricity (I don't know if that is good or bad, but we will find out in a couple of months I guess).
Telephone is just over $26 a month for the line rental and then the calls are on top of that.
Groceries are not a bad price. Bread is expensive as you are looking at around $2+ for a loaf of just the cheap stuff. I would say that we are spending about the same as in the UK; however we are eating lots more fruit here as it is a better quality and there is tons of it. Six stubbies of VB / XXXX is around $11.00 from the bottle shop.
I don't know about the job situation for gun smiths; however we did read that there are more guns per head of population in the Northern territories than any other country in the world. It may be wise looking there!
We are paying $40 a month in direct debit for electricity (I don't know if that is good or bad, but we will find out in a couple of months I guess).
Telephone is just over $26 a month for the line rental and then the calls are on top of that.
Groceries are not a bad price. Bread is expensive as you are looking at around $2+ for a loaf of just the cheap stuff. I would say that we are spending about the same as in the UK; however we are eating lots more fruit here as it is a better quality and there is tons of it. Six stubbies of VB / XXXX is around $11.00 from the bottle shop.
I don't know about the job situation for gun smiths; however we did read that there are more guns per head of population in the Northern territories than any other country in the world. It may be wise looking there!
Originally posted by marson
A great post, esp. as I'm thinking of Brisbane, but just at the start of the applying adventure, not sure If I'll be able to settle there though, I don't think there is a lot of work for my strange trade - GUNSMITH. d'ohh should have been an electrician.
Useful info and some actual prices, what sort of rent do you pay, and how do grocery prices compare with UK?
Good luck with your new life cheers !
Mike
A great post, esp. as I'm thinking of Brisbane, but just at the start of the applying adventure, not sure If I'll be able to settle there though, I don't think there is a lot of work for my strange trade - GUNSMITH. d'ohh should have been an electrician.
Useful info and some actual prices, what sort of rent do you pay, and how do grocery prices compare with UK?
Good luck with your new life
cheers !Mike
Last edited by pabloako; Nov 25th 2003 at 11:17 pm.
Nov 25th 2003, 11:26 pm
#13
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 8,147
lovely to hear everything is going so well for you!!!
keep the info coming !!
sue
keep the info coming !!
sue
Nov 26th 2003, 9:02 am
#14
Guest
Posts: n/a
good , good.
Hey, mate, change your "fed up with waiting caption!"
Badge
Hey, mate, change your "fed up with waiting caption!"
Badge
Nov 26th 2003, 9:44 am
#15
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2003
Location: Helensvale, Gold Coast
Posts: 214
Hi,
great to hear everythings going well.
we hope to be over Jan 2005, seems such along way off!
We know what you mean about the banks, we opened an account with the commonwealth bank, when we where on a working holiday 2year ago, it's a right rip off!!
But living in Oz makes it all worth while. Just think about the money your saving not paying for community charge!!
Take care and enjoy,
keep us all updated
Marie and Neil
great to hear everythings going well.
we hope to be over Jan 2005, seems such along way off!
We know what you mean about the banks, we opened an account with the commonwealth bank, when we where on a working holiday 2year ago, it's a right rip off!!
But living in Oz makes it all worth while. Just think about the money your saving not paying for community charge!!
Take care and enjoy,
keep us all updated
Marie and Neil