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We are here 1 week in
Hi All
We arrived in Brisbane last Tuesday and have been here a week only and I must say things have gone alot better than planned. We stopped the first night in Formule One hotel near the airport for $65 a room, sleeps three comfortably. We then moved onto the Gateway Village Resort and are staying in a three bed villa which cost us $1300 for two weeks. Our first priority was finding somewhere to stay. As I am working in Sumner Park we aimed our search for rentals in Springfield Lakes although we really loved the Forest lake area. Anyway we applied for two rentals and was approved for both the next day so took our pick which on we wanted. I would highly recommend that you get photocard drivers licences as they help alot for the points needed for a rental as well as some form of letter from your estate agent saying you were tidy people etc and they knew you for .... long. A credit card can also be used to gain some points so I would recommend bringing them over even if they are paid off keep the account open until you are at least into rental accomadation. We had no problem providing the neccessary points!! As for banks I opened an ANZ account from the UK and used Ozforex to transfer over our lump sum of money. When we arrived we went down to the bank the next day, activated our accounts, got the cards sorted (these they post out to you so we just used a relatives address and they turned up three days later). You can withdraw money in the meantime with your passport as identification. The ANZ also do a visa debit card which may be the way to go if you will be buying online alot and costs only $1 more a month ($6 versus $5). Next on our list was cars, this was a bit more hardwork as the cars over here are either really expensive or really cheap, anything in between is not sold and the owners hold onto them until they are knackered, they then fall into the cheap bracket! After two days searching I found a 2004 Holden Rodeo dual cab 4x4 for $22000 and the wife found a 2003 Daihatsu Rodeo 4x4 for $11500. I would recommend haggling the price down as we got $1800 of the wifes car just by refusing to pay more and saying we would go elsewhere. One thing I have learnt this week is never pay what is advertised. Just for peoples future information car insurance for the Holden is $52 a month and for the missus is $53 a month. I have 9 yrs no claims bonus of which I got a certificate from my insurer before I left the UK and the wife had no claims bonus however if you use RACQ for insurance they do a discount if you have multiple policies with them (we have 2 motor & one house contents). In Springfield Lakes you can have wireless broadband and your phoneline combined for $58 a month and the phonecalls are made over the internet. This method also has no fixed contract so you are free to stop anytime you want, ideal if you are in rental and need to move in a few months etc. Anyway we are due to move into our rental next Tuesday and will be glad to have all our own furniture back after four months!! Hope some of this information will help someone in the future and we are glad we made the move now, the weather has been superb so far and we have spent alot more time outside as a family. Cheers Mark |
Re: We are here 1 week in
Excellent post Mark, glad you found it so easy to get a rental, everything seems to have fallen into place for you. Good luck for your new life, Brisbane is a brilliant city and we will be there next year with any luck.
Clairex |
Re: We are here 1 week in
Great post Mark. So you recommend photo drivers lic, Credit card and letter from an estate agent to get a rental. I have never rented and always owned what would you suggest would be exceptable as proof of being good tennats.
regards Rich |
Re: We are here 1 week in
Excellent post Mark! Thanks for all the information.
We are coming over at the end of Feb so this has come in realy useful! :D |
Re: We are here 1 week in
Mark,
The information about the house rental is great, thanks. Ian |
Re: We are here 1 week in
Fantastic post MArk, some great hints. Thanks. Well done for getting so organised so soon. Hope you get settled in your rental quickly.
Gill |
Re: We are here 1 week in
Originally Posted by myedsore
Hi All
We arrived in Brisbane last Tuesday and have been here a week only and I must say things have gone alot better than planned. We stopped the first night in Formule One hotel near the airport for $65 a room, sleeps three comfortably. We then moved onto the Gateway Village Resort and are staying in a three bed villa which cost us $1300 for two weeks. Our first priority was finding somewhere to stay. As I am working in Sumner Park we aimed our search for rentals in Springfield Lakes although we really loved the Forest lake area. Anyway we applied for two rentals and was approved for both the next day so took our pick which on we wanted. I would highly recommend that you get photocard drivers licences as they help alot for the points needed for a rental as well as some form of letter from your estate agent saying you were tidy people etc and they knew you for .... long. A credit card can also be used to gain some points so I would recommend bringing them over even if they are paid off keep the account open until you are at least into rental accomadation. We had no problem providing the neccessary points!! As for banks I opened an ANZ account from the UK and used Ozforex to transfer over our lump sum of money. When we arrived we went down to the bank the next day, activated our accounts, got the cards sorted (these they post out to you so we just used a relatives address and they turned up three days later). You can withdraw money in the meantime with your passport as identification. The ANZ also do a visa debit card which may be the way to go if you will be buying online alot and costs only $1 more a month ($6 versus $5). Next on our list was cars, this was a bit more hardwork as the cars over here are either really expensive or really cheap, anything in between is not sold and the owners hold onto them until they are knackered, they then fall into the cheap bracket! After two days searching I found a 2004 Holden Rodeo dual cab 4x4 for $22000 and the wife found a 2003 Daihatsu Rodeo 4x4 for $11500. I would recommend haggling the price down as we got $1800 of the wifes car just by refusing to pay more and saying we would go elsewhere. One thing I have learnt this week is never pay what is advertised. Just for peoples future information car insurance for the Holden is $52 a month and for the missus is $53 a month. I have 9 yrs no claims bonus of which I got a certificate from my insurer before I left the UK and the wife had no claims bonus however if you use RACQ for insurance they do a discount if you have multiple policies with them (we have 2 motor & one house contents). In Springfield Lakes you can have wireless broadband and your phoneline combined for $58 a month and the phonecalls are made over the internet. This method also has no fixed contract so you are free to stop anytime you want, ideal if you are in rental and need to move in a few months etc. Anyway we are due to move into our rental next Tuesday and will be glad to have all our own furniture back after four months!! Hope some of this information will help someone in the future and we are glad we made the move now, the weather has been superb so far and we have spent alot more time outside as a family. Cheers Mark All the best in your new life, we hope to be out there at some point next year. Keep us posted! |
Re: We are here 1 week in
Hi Mark and welcome to Springfield Lakes (well next Tuesday anyway :D ).
We've been here 5 weeks and absolutely love it it's sooooooo laid back. We are staying with my brother-in-law and family at the moment but our house should be ready in about 2 weeks so we will be on the move again (but only round the corner). You will be moving in at the right time as things are starting to get going for Summer down at the Lakes and you will find that there will be something going on at weekends (film shows, bbq's etc) and it won't be long before the pub is finished :beer: :beer: . We are on James Josey Ave until we move to Neptune Street where abouts are you? May see you down at the lake for an iced coffee :D \ Loz x |
Re: We are here 1 week in
Originally Posted by rich8509
Great post Mark. So you recommend photo drivers lic, Credit card and letter from an estate agent to get a rental. I have never rented and always owned what would you suggest would be exceptable as proof of being good tennats.
regards Rich Cheers Mark Cheers Mark |
Re: We are here 1 week in
Originally Posted by loz
Hi Mark and welcome to Springfield Lakes (well next Tuesday anyway :D ).
We've been here 5 weeks and absolutely love it it's sooooooo laid back. We are staying with my brother-in-law and family at the moment but our house should be ready in about 2 weeks so we will be on the move again (but only round the corner). You will be moving in at the right time as things are starting to get going for Summer down at the Lakes and you will find that there will be something going on at weekends (film shows, bbq's etc) and it won't be long before the pub is finished :beer: :beer: . We are on James Josey Ave until we move to Neptune Street where abouts are you? May see you down at the lake for an iced coffee :D \ Loz x We will be on Fortune Street up by the new state primary school. Yeah we will definately see you down at the lake, we have already popped in there twice while passing for their huge muffins and coffee. Looking forward to moving into the area. Any idea on the woodcrest college for our 12 year son? Cheers Mark |
Re: We are here 1 week in
Cheers
Mark[/QUOTE] Many thanks Rich |
Re: We are here 1 week in
Mark,
i would be interested know more about springfield lakes please post the good and the bad as you find them. We were going to have a good look round North Lakes when we come in out January but having just looked at the Spingfield Lakes website it also looks great and will have to add it to our list. Rich |
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