Who told you public transport was good?!

It's ok if you are going directly into the city. If you have to go anywhere across town it's not as you will usually have to go into the city and then go out again.

If I were coming fresh to Brisbane again I would make sure I was living near rail as the buses are jam packed and traffic can be pretty heavy in the rush hour (which obviously the bus sits in).

You will be tight on $63k per year. That's not to say you can't do it but you will have to live pretty frugally. Don't forget to take into account, as someone else said, the cost of schooling even at state schools (there's another thread going on this at the moment) and also the cost of healthcare, dentists etc.

Good luck!

Oh dear....not sure what to think now. It's so tempting to assume everything will be ok....but 'what if' seems to be the phrase running constantly around my head!! What if I fall ill? What if we can't find a rental? What if we don't settle? What if we run out of money? I assume most people who move to Australia go through a similar period until a decsision is reached.......or is it just me?????

Of course its not just you. These are typical thoughts in everyone's minds. It;s actually good that you are thinking of this while you are not here in AU yet. As long as you can back yourself and with a little bit of luck - you will be alright.

You will also get family assistance (child benefit) if you have a child, I did just work out what you'd get, but the Centerlink site gives a figure that is much higher than we get (we also have a 12 year old), but our income is lower than yours, so I am not 100% sure about the figure , and will therefore not quote it, (at least till I get it checked).

You may also be entitled to rent assistance if you are renting.

No research on this at all so I may be completely wrong but correct me if i am wrong - Won't an assistance/allowance that you are talking about have come condition(s) around who can claim it and how long before they can start claiming ?

Like, DOL can't be claimed from day one that one does not have a job right ?

Again - sorry no idea how Centrelink works and what allowances and assistance one can get access to....

There's no wait time for family benefits. You can claim right away, you just have to give an income estimate, and update it as things change.

Thank you....

Yep,very very wary of the public transport thing. If you can live nbear a station, its not too bad - though be warned that the comfortable half-hour walk to a UK station is not quite so comfortable here in £0+ degrees.
Buses are packed in rush hour, and infrequent outr of rush hour. You mya be lucky and get a good direct route, but generally they don't run where people need them too.
Lots of checking on HERE needed before you move anywhere, if you plan to use public transport a lot.


EDited to add - we are on around $70k and we are OK, but we can't splash out on anything and there is nothing really left for savings - and thats with no kids.

I believe you would be OK for a while, which is what you were asking. You will get something for the kids based on your income which should help and if you can be frugal until he gets a job or finishes training you'll be OK. What people think they can and can't live on varies a lot.

One of my other concerns is that my daughter is part way through a long course of dental work (braces etc). We are currently waiting for some more of her upper teeth to appear before the full brace can be applied. At the moment she attends a paediatric department at a specialist dental hospital. How would the ongoing care be dealt with in Australia & would this cost us a huge amouunt or is it covered by medicare etc??
Many thanks for all the fantastic replies and apologies for my sparodic appearance....I'm in the middle of a stretch of 12 hr days!!

Well my daughter's braces (just the bog standard numbers) have cost us $5.5k. Nothing is covered by medicare. Some schools have a dental van once or twice a year which is just the basics, check up and fillings. All major dental is paid out of your own pocket.

Ow! Now that puts a completely new twist to things as her second teeth are coming through in the wrong places (she's missing some second teeth for some reason so is going to have the gaps closed!) and need moving to their corect position before full braces applied! I see lots & lots of $$$$$$$$$$.

If you had Private health care that might help, depends on the extra's package you get.

But... there is usually a wait time before the extras kick in and not sure how that works because your daughter already has a pre existing condition. It's worth looking into though.

Although, with your income getting private health care isn't necessary (for tax reasons) unless it's something you want.

I suppose the thing is, that everyone has different abilities to budget, and different priorities when it comes to spending money. So one persons ability to survive or not doesn't mean another person would be able to. I don't see that cost of living where we are (which isn't Brisbane) is that different to the UK. I suppose a question to be asking yourselves is 'could we survive on $63k in the UK?'. If the answer is no chance, then my guess is that it might well be hard for you in Australia. But then I could be completely wrong.

We couldn't survive on slightly less than that for a family of four, and we now earn about $80k between us (both work part time) and whilst we don't really want for much on a week to week basis, there's no money left over for holidays etc. We don't have a lavish lifestyle, rarely eat out, don't buy expensive clothes etc (it's also worth considering that the first few months after you get here are probably the most expensive, whilst you suss out the cheap places to buy stuff from, and also replace some of the stuff that you didn't bring from the UK).

Mine cost $2000 up front and then $200 per month, so you don't have to pay the whole lot in one go.

It's also worth bearing in mind the cost of sending your kids to state school. Primary is not so bad, but high school is quite pricey as you have to pay for absolutely everything bar the teacher's wages. You will even be billed for library fund and building fund under the guise of an invoice when it's actually a "voluntary" contribution.

I'd probably allow about $1k for the first year with uniform costs etc (they are often strict on uniform and you have to buy the school branded stuff which is pricey).