A year in SE Queensland
Oct 18th 2006, 10:56 am
#1
Decreased member
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: Pere Lachaise Cemetary, plot 666
Posts: 1,381
A year in SE Queensland
After over 2 years of reading posts on British Expats which we have found as an invaluable mine of information (especially before our move), and the first anniversary of our arrival at BNE we would like to share our 'roller coaster' of experiences over the last 12 months.
My wife & I had owned a large Newsagency in Bournemouth for 18 years and although we had a relatively comfortable life we felt that our area was not getting any better, So in October 2003 we took the decision to apply for a business owner visa. We had not been to Aus before but decided to apply first, then make the validation trip to see if we liked it 'Down Under'. The visa was granted on 1st July 2004 (we used Go Matilda as agents - expensive, but worthwhile as the application process is complex) and we made our validation trip in August 04. We were very impressed & on our return immediately put our business & home on the market. It took 10 months for the sales to go through and a couple more months to tie up 'loose ends'.
We finally arrived at Brisbane on 4th October last year, checked into a motel close to the airport (Aerolodge, Kingsford Smith Drive). The next day we found an apartment in Newstead (Manhattan on Newstead) which had been recommended on this site - We can add to those recommendations,the apartments are clean, well positioned and have all the facilities needed.
John the manager, his wife Pauline and Bev who works in the office are very helpful.
We enrolled our kids in schools and they both started 10 days after we arrived - our daughter at Kedron High & our son at Kedron state school.They both coped very well with their new schools being welcomed by all the pupils and accepted immediately.
We started to look at different businesses around Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast and quickly developed a routine of dropping the kids at school, driving round different suburbs, looking at businesses, and seeing if the schools and housing were what we were looking for. In late November we were introduced to the owners of a business on the Sunshine Coast, saw the shop, liked the area and decided to make an offer to them. We were pleased when the vendors accepted our offer and ' went to contract 'for the purchase of the business. After signing the contract there is a period of ' Due Diligence ' during which all invoices, tax returns, BAS statements of the vendor has to be made available to the purchasers accountant to verify the profits are as claimed - the period is usually 2 - 3 weeks. When we met our accountant we were shocked to hear that the figures did not add up and the claimed profit had been grossly overstated. With this information we made the decision to pull out of the sale. My advice to anybody looking to buy an existing business would be to insist on a 3 week period of Due Diligence written into any contract and hire a good accountant!
This episode left us starting to think if we had done the right thing in selling a thriving and profitable business in a nice part of Bournemouth and relocating to the other side of the world - we started reminiscing about the good times, friends & family and seriously thought about cutting our losses & returning to UK. After Easter we made the decision to have one last look for a business in an area we had not really considered - the Gold Coast. From the first time we drove there we realised that this was the place for us - the beaches are stunning, the infrastructure (roads, amenities etc) are excellent, and your money goes a lot further when looking at house prices (compared with Brisbane). Through an agent we were introduced to the owner of a Newsagency in early May and after some investigations into suitable schools & property in the area made an offer which was accepted. After a successful Due Diligence, lease negotiations, endless form filling and interviews with publishers of newspapers, a 4 day Golden Casket course, buying a house, getting our 15 year old girl into Merrimac High School, our 11 year old boy into Merrimac State school we finally took over Carrara Village News in the Coco's centre opposite Carrara Markets on 14th August.We now feel settled with a good work/life balance - we have most weekends off which was unheard of in our old lives our kids have been brilliant both love their schools - this week my daughter is on a weeks trip to Straddie! The Gold Coast suits us as we loved living close to the sea in Bournemouth - we are less than 5 minutes drive from beautiful beaches.
I have often used BE for information & advice in the last 3 years & liked especially reading updates from people once in Australia - my advice would be to people planning a move would be don't expect it to be like UK, it's not. It is more bureaucratic, higher taxed, and in our experience the cost of living is at best the same as UK. Given all this we all still feel a year in that we have made the right move and love our life on the Gold Coast.
My wife & I had owned a large Newsagency in Bournemouth for 18 years and although we had a relatively comfortable life we felt that our area was not getting any better, So in October 2003 we took the decision to apply for a business owner visa. We had not been to Aus before but decided to apply first, then make the validation trip to see if we liked it 'Down Under'. The visa was granted on 1st July 2004 (we used Go Matilda as agents - expensive, but worthwhile as the application process is complex) and we made our validation trip in August 04. We were very impressed & on our return immediately put our business & home on the market. It took 10 months for the sales to go through and a couple more months to tie up 'loose ends'.
We finally arrived at Brisbane on 4th October last year, checked into a motel close to the airport (Aerolodge, Kingsford Smith Drive). The next day we found an apartment in Newstead (Manhattan on Newstead) which had been recommended on this site - We can add to those recommendations,the apartments are clean, well positioned and have all the facilities needed.
John the manager, his wife Pauline and Bev who works in the office are very helpful.
We enrolled our kids in schools and they both started 10 days after we arrived - our daughter at Kedron High & our son at Kedron state school.They both coped very well with their new schools being welcomed by all the pupils and accepted immediately.
We started to look at different businesses around Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast and quickly developed a routine of dropping the kids at school, driving round different suburbs, looking at businesses, and seeing if the schools and housing were what we were looking for. In late November we were introduced to the owners of a business on the Sunshine Coast, saw the shop, liked the area and decided to make an offer to them. We were pleased when the vendors accepted our offer and ' went to contract 'for the purchase of the business. After signing the contract there is a period of ' Due Diligence ' during which all invoices, tax returns, BAS statements of the vendor has to be made available to the purchasers accountant to verify the profits are as claimed - the period is usually 2 - 3 weeks. When we met our accountant we were shocked to hear that the figures did not add up and the claimed profit had been grossly overstated. With this information we made the decision to pull out of the sale. My advice to anybody looking to buy an existing business would be to insist on a 3 week period of Due Diligence written into any contract and hire a good accountant!
This episode left us starting to think if we had done the right thing in selling a thriving and profitable business in a nice part of Bournemouth and relocating to the other side of the world - we started reminiscing about the good times, friends & family and seriously thought about cutting our losses & returning to UK. After Easter we made the decision to have one last look for a business in an area we had not really considered - the Gold Coast. From the first time we drove there we realised that this was the place for us - the beaches are stunning, the infrastructure (roads, amenities etc) are excellent, and your money goes a lot further when looking at house prices (compared with Brisbane). Through an agent we were introduced to the owner of a Newsagency in early May and after some investigations into suitable schools & property in the area made an offer which was accepted. After a successful Due Diligence, lease negotiations, endless form filling and interviews with publishers of newspapers, a 4 day Golden Casket course, buying a house, getting our 15 year old girl into Merrimac High School, our 11 year old boy into Merrimac State school we finally took over Carrara Village News in the Coco's centre opposite Carrara Markets on 14th August.We now feel settled with a good work/life balance - we have most weekends off which was unheard of in our old lives our kids have been brilliant both love their schools - this week my daughter is on a weeks trip to Straddie! The Gold Coast suits us as we loved living close to the sea in Bournemouth - we are less than 5 minutes drive from beautiful beaches.
I have often used BE for information & advice in the last 3 years & liked especially reading updates from people once in Australia - my advice would be to people planning a move would be don't expect it to be like UK, it's not. It is more bureaucratic, higher taxed, and in our experience the cost of living is at best the same as UK. Given all this we all still feel a year in that we have made the right move and love our life on the Gold Coast.
Oct 18th 2006, 11:24 am
#2
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2003
Location: Jacobs Ridge, Gold Coast
Posts: 1,140
Re: A year in SE Queensland
Originally Posted by Carbery
After over 2 years of reading posts on British Expats which we have found as an invaluable mine of information (especially before our move), and the first anniversary of our arrival at BNE we would like to share our 'roller coaster' of experiences over the last 12 months.
My wife & I had owned a large Newsagency in Bournemouth for 18 years and although we had a relatively comfortable life we felt that our area was not getting any better, So in October 2003 we took the decision to apply for a business owner visa. We had not been to Aus before but decided to apply first, then make the validation trip to see if we liked it 'Down Under'. The visa was granted on 1st July 2004 (we used Go Matilda as agents - expensive, but worthwhile as the application process is complex) and we made our validation trip in August 04. We were very impressed & on our return immediately put our business & home on the market. It took 10 months for the sales to go through and a couple more months to tie up 'loose ends'.
We finally arrived at Brisbane on 4th October last year, checked into a motel close to the airport (Aerolodge, Kingsford Smith Drive). The next day we found an apartment in Newstead (Manhattan on Newstead) which had been recommended on this site - We can add to those recommendations,the apartments are clean, well positioned and have all the facilities needed.
John the manager, his wife Pauline and Bev who works in the office are very helpful.
We enrolled our kids in schools and they both started 10 days after we arrived - our daughter at Kedron High & our son at Kedron state school.They both coped very well with their new schools being welcomed by all the pupils and accepted immediately.
We started to look at different businesses around Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast and quickly developed a routine of dropping the kids at school, driving round different suburbs, looking at businesses, and seeing if the schools and housing were what we were looking for. In late November we were introduced to the owners of a business on the Sunshine Coast, saw the shop, liked the area and decided to make an offer to them. We were pleased when the vendors accepted our offer and ' went to contract 'for the purchase of the business. After signing the contract there is a period of ' Due Diligence ' during which all invoices, tax returns, BAS statements of the vendor has to be made available to the purchasers accountant to verify the profits are as claimed - the period is usually 2 - 3 weeks. When we met our accountant we were shocked to hear that the figures did not add up and the claimed profit had been grossly overstated. With this information we made the decision to pull out of the sale. My advice to anybody looking to buy an existing business would be to insist on a 3 week period of Due Diligence written into any contract and hire a good accountant!
This episode left us starting to think if we had done the right thing in selling a thriving and profitable business in a nice part of Bournemouth and relocating to the other side of the world - we started reminiscing about the good times, friends & family and seriously thought about cutting our losses & returning to UK. After Easter we made the decision to have one last look for a business in an area we had not really considered - the Gold Coast. From the first time we drove there we realised that this was the place for us - the beaches are stunning, the infrastructure (roads, amenities etc) are excellent, and your money goes a lot further when looking at house prices (compared with Brisbane). Through an agent we were introduced to the owner of a Newsagency in early May and after some investigations into suitable schools & property in the area made an offer which was accepted. After a successful Due Diligence, lease negotiations, endless form filling and interviews with publishers of newspapers, a 4 day Golden Casket course, buying a house, getting our 15 year old girl into Merrimac High School, our 11 year old boy into Merrimac State school we finally took over Carrara Village News in the Coco's centre opposite Carrara Markets on 14th August.We now feel settled with a good work/life balance - we have most weekends off which was unheard of in our old lives our kids have been brilliant both love their schools - this week my daughter is on a weeks trip to Straddie! The Gold Coast suits us as we loved living close to the sea in Bournemouth - we are less than 5 minutes drive from beautiful beaches.
I have often used BE for information & advice in the last 3 years & liked especially reading updates from people once in Australia - my advice would be to people planning a move would be don't expect it to be like UK, it's not. It is more bureaucratic, higher taxed, and in our experience the cost of living is at best the same as UK. Given all this we all still feel a year in that we have made the right move and love our life on the Gold Coast.
My wife & I had owned a large Newsagency in Bournemouth for 18 years and although we had a relatively comfortable life we felt that our area was not getting any better, So in October 2003 we took the decision to apply for a business owner visa. We had not been to Aus before but decided to apply first, then make the validation trip to see if we liked it 'Down Under'. The visa was granted on 1st July 2004 (we used Go Matilda as agents - expensive, but worthwhile as the application process is complex) and we made our validation trip in August 04. We were very impressed & on our return immediately put our business & home on the market. It took 10 months for the sales to go through and a couple more months to tie up 'loose ends'.
We finally arrived at Brisbane on 4th October last year, checked into a motel close to the airport (Aerolodge, Kingsford Smith Drive). The next day we found an apartment in Newstead (Manhattan on Newstead) which had been recommended on this site - We can add to those recommendations,the apartments are clean, well positioned and have all the facilities needed.
John the manager, his wife Pauline and Bev who works in the office are very helpful.
We enrolled our kids in schools and they both started 10 days after we arrived - our daughter at Kedron High & our son at Kedron state school.They both coped very well with their new schools being welcomed by all the pupils and accepted immediately.
We started to look at different businesses around Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast and quickly developed a routine of dropping the kids at school, driving round different suburbs, looking at businesses, and seeing if the schools and housing were what we were looking for. In late November we were introduced to the owners of a business on the Sunshine Coast, saw the shop, liked the area and decided to make an offer to them. We were pleased when the vendors accepted our offer and ' went to contract 'for the purchase of the business. After signing the contract there is a period of ' Due Diligence ' during which all invoices, tax returns, BAS statements of the vendor has to be made available to the purchasers accountant to verify the profits are as claimed - the period is usually 2 - 3 weeks. When we met our accountant we were shocked to hear that the figures did not add up and the claimed profit had been grossly overstated. With this information we made the decision to pull out of the sale. My advice to anybody looking to buy an existing business would be to insist on a 3 week period of Due Diligence written into any contract and hire a good accountant!
This episode left us starting to think if we had done the right thing in selling a thriving and profitable business in a nice part of Bournemouth and relocating to the other side of the world - we started reminiscing about the good times, friends & family and seriously thought about cutting our losses & returning to UK. After Easter we made the decision to have one last look for a business in an area we had not really considered - the Gold Coast. From the first time we drove there we realised that this was the place for us - the beaches are stunning, the infrastructure (roads, amenities etc) are excellent, and your money goes a lot further when looking at house prices (compared with Brisbane). Through an agent we were introduced to the owner of a Newsagency in early May and after some investigations into suitable schools & property in the area made an offer which was accepted. After a successful Due Diligence, lease negotiations, endless form filling and interviews with publishers of newspapers, a 4 day Golden Casket course, buying a house, getting our 15 year old girl into Merrimac High School, our 11 year old boy into Merrimac State school we finally took over Carrara Village News in the Coco's centre opposite Carrara Markets on 14th August.We now feel settled with a good work/life balance - we have most weekends off which was unheard of in our old lives our kids have been brilliant both love their schools - this week my daughter is on a weeks trip to Straddie! The Gold Coast suits us as we loved living close to the sea in Bournemouth - we are less than 5 minutes drive from beautiful beaches.
I have often used BE for information & advice in the last 3 years & liked especially reading updates from people once in Australia - my advice would be to people planning a move would be don't expect it to be like UK, it's not. It is more bureaucratic, higher taxed, and in our experience the cost of living is at best the same as UK. Given all this we all still feel a year in that we have made the right move and love our life on the Gold Coast.
Oct 18th 2006, 11:33 am
#3
happy to be here!
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: Ellenbrook, WA
Posts: 2,732
Re: A year in SE Queensland
Good post!
Glad you got there in the end!
Good luck,
Tracey
Glad you got there in the end!
Good luck,
Tracey
Oct 18th 2006, 1:04 pm
#4
Crazy Cat Lady
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 65,493
Re: A year in SE Queensland
Lovely post. Will have to come and visit you. Any chance you could ensure either a winning lotto ticket or a decent prize on a scratchie - I'll give you commission 
Oct 18th 2006, 1:59 pm
#5
Gone Senile Member
Joined: Sep 2001
Location: Sydney
Posts: 3,014
Re: A year in SE Queensland
Originally Posted by Carbery
I have often used BE for information & advice in the last 3 years & liked especially reading updates from people once in Australia - my advice would be to people planning a move would be don't expect it to be like UK, it's not. It is more bureaucratic, higher taxed, and in our experience the cost of living is at best the same as UK. Given all this we all still feel a year in that we have made the right move and love our life on the Gold Coast.
You should now offer more in the information stakes on this site, I am sure there are plenty of people dying to quiz you on all your choices.
My question for starters....you open at weekends or shut? What visa did you come over on? How do you go about putting managers in for weekends? Have your bought a house as well as business? If you came on a business visa how are going to fulfill the having the turnover and staff at the end of the four years?
Ok Ok I am very nosy......but would love to hear more.
Cheers
Oct 18th 2006, 4:47 pm
#6
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2006
Location: Gold Coast
Posts: 25,277
Re: A year in SE Queensland
Lovely to hear how settled you all are and how much you're enjoying life 
we'll be out near you next year (fingers crossed 
) so will have to pop in and say Hi
we'll be out near you next year (fingers crossed ) so will have to pop in and say Hi
Oct 18th 2006, 6:43 pm
#7
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2006
Location: The Gold Coast! Ohhh yeah!!!
Posts: 181
Re: A year in SE Queensland
Hi,
Thanks for taking the time to write that very interesting post. It was great to hear you're enjoying life there and it sounds like things are going well for you. Wishing you continued good luck with your new life and business. We'll be out on the Gold Coast in January!
Take care
Tracy and Angela
Thanks for taking the time to write that very interesting post. It was great to hear you're enjoying life there and it sounds like things are going well for you. Wishing you continued good luck with your new life and business. We'll be out on the Gold Coast in January!
Take care
Tracy and Angela
Oct 18th 2006, 8:25 pm
#8
egghead4+becky
Joined: Jul 2006
Location: was newport now sunny Bundy
Posts: 797
Re: A year in SE Queensland
Originally Posted by moneypen20
Lovely post. Will have to come and visit you. Any chance you could ensure either a winning lotto ticket or a decent prize on a scratchie - I'll give you commission
bec and egg
Oct 18th 2006, 9:10 pm
#9
Timelord
Joined: May 2006
Location: Lost in space...
Posts: 2,834
Re: A year in SE Queensland
Originally Posted by Carbery
After over 2 years of reading posts on British Expats...
Oct 18th 2006, 9:12 pm
#10
visa holder
Joined: Jan 2006
Location: Thornlands, Bayside
Posts: 1,964
Re: A year in SE Queensland
Enjoyed your post, glad youve settled well. All the best for the future.
Joex
Joex
Oct 19th 2006, 6:50 am
#11
Crazy Cat Lady
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 65,493
Re: A year in SE Queensland
Originally Posted by egghead4
just out of curiosity, where on the gold coast are you?
bec and egg
bec and egg
Last edited by moneypenny20; Nov 17th 2009 at 8:49 am.
Oct 19th 2006, 9:29 am
#12
Decreased member
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: Pere Lachaise Cemetary, plot 666
Posts: 1,381
Re: A year in SE Queensland
Originally Posted by Sandra
First Post at this stage? Lovely to hear your story and like the fact all is going well with your venture - you sound like sensible business people.
You should now offer more in the information stakes on this site, I am sure there are plenty of people dying to quiz you on all your choices.
My question for starters....you open at weekends or shut? What visa did you come over on? How do you go about putting managers in for weekends? Have your bought a house as well as business? If you came on a business visa how are going to fulfill the having the turnover and staff at the end of the four years?
Ok Ok I am very nosy......but would love to hear more.
Cheers
You should now offer more in the information stakes on this site, I am sure there are plenty of people dying to quiz you on all your choices.
My question for starters....you open at weekends or shut? What visa did you come over on? How do you go about putting managers in for weekends? Have your bought a house as well as business? If you came on a business visa how are going to fulfill the having the turnover and staff at the end of the four years?
Ok Ok I am very nosy......but would love to hear more.
Cheers
We are open at weekends - opposite our centre there is Carrara Markets which is a huge flea - market type of event which is open every Sat/Sun. They attract thousands of people every weekend for everything from cheap clothing, 'Antiques', bric-a-brac, also fruit & veg. We have 2 stalls which sell papers in the markets. In the shop at weekends we have a manager who works both days - we were lucky to get him through word of mouth. I think one of the problems will be getting more reliable,trustworthy staff but we will have to cross that bridge later.
We came on a business owner visa subclass 160 which basically requires us to have a certain turnover,employ 2 full time or equivalent workers and show that we have paid our taxes etc. The turnover figure is no problem at all, we already employ 3 people (all part time) & are looking to increase hours or get another part timer.
On the house question - we decided the best use for our money would be to buy our house for cash, leaving enough for a substantial investment in the business topped up by a business loan secured on our house. This way the loan repayments came out of the business & therefore were a justified business expense bringing the profits down therefore attracting less tax. If we had brought the business for cash & brought the house on a mortgage our repayments would have been out of our income from the business which we would have had to pay tax on first (I hope this makes sense).
Oct 19th 2006, 10:05 am
#13
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2005
Location: Poole, Dorset
Posts: 1,217
Re: A year in SE Queensland
Great post. Glad you have settled well.
Oct 19th 2006, 10:20 am
#14
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 130
Re: A year in SE Queensland
Originally Posted by Carbery
After over 2 years of reading posts on British Expats which we have found as an invaluable mine of information (especially before our move), and the first anniversary of our arrival at BNE we would like to share our 'roller coaster' of experiences over the last 12 months.
My wife & I had owned a large Newsagency in Bournemouth for 18 years and although we had a relatively comfortable life we felt that our area was not getting any better, So in October 2003 we took the decision to apply for a business owner visa. We had not been to Aus before but decided to apply first, then make the validation trip to see if we liked it 'Down Under'. The visa was granted on 1st July 2004 (we used Go Matilda as agents - expensive, but worthwhile as the application process is complex) and we made our validation trip in August 04. We were very impressed & on our return immediately put our business & home on the market. It took 10 months for the sales to go through and a couple more months to tie up 'loose ends'.
We finally arrived at Brisbane on 4th October last year, checked into a motel close to the airport (Aerolodge, Kingsford Smith Drive). The next day we found an apartment in Newstead (Manhattan on Newstead) which had been recommended on this site - We can add to those recommendations,the apartments are clean, well positioned and have all the facilities needed.
John the manager, his wife Pauline and Bev who works in the office are very helpful.
We enrolled our kids in schools and they both started 10 days after we arrived - our daughter at Kedron High & our son at Kedron state school.They both coped very well with their new schools being welcomed by all the pupils and accepted immediately.
We started to look at different businesses around Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast and quickly developed a routine of dropping the kids at school, driving round different suburbs, looking at businesses, and seeing if the schools and housing were what we were looking for. In late November we were introduced to the owners of a business on the Sunshine Coast, saw the shop, liked the area and decided to make an offer to them. We were pleased when the vendors accepted our offer and ' went to contract 'for the purchase of the business. After signing the contract there is a period of ' Due Diligence ' during which all invoices, tax returns, BAS statements of the vendor has to be made available to the purchasers accountant to verify the profits are as claimed - the period is usually 2 - 3 weeks. When we met our accountant we were shocked to hear that the figures did not add up and the claimed profit had been grossly overstated. With this information we made the decision to pull out of the sale. My advice to anybody looking to buy an existing business would be to insist on a 3 week period of Due Diligence written into any contract and hire a good accountant!
This episode left us starting to think if we had done the right thing in selling a thriving and profitable business in a nice part of Bournemouth and relocating to the other side of the world - we started reminiscing about the good times, friends & family and seriously thought about cutting our losses & returning to UK. After Easter we made the decision to have one last look for a business in an area we had not really considered - the Gold Coast. From the first time we drove there we realised that this was the place for us - the beaches are stunning, the infrastructure (roads, amenities etc) are excellent, and your money goes a lot further when looking at house prices (compared with Brisbane). Through an agent we were introduced to the owner of a Newsagency in early May and after some investigations into suitable schools & property in the area made an offer which was accepted. After a successful Due Diligence, lease negotiations, endless form filling and interviews with publishers of newspapers, a 4 day Golden Casket course, buying a house, getting our 15 year old girl into Merrimac High School, our 11 year old boy into Merrimac State school we finally took over Carrara Village News in the Coco's centre opposite Carrara Markets on 14th August.We now feel settled with a good work/life balance - we have most weekends off which was unheard of in our old lives our kids have been brilliant both love their schools - this week my daughter is on a weeks trip to Straddie! The Gold Coast suits us as we loved living close to the sea in Bournemouth - we are less than 5 minutes drive from beautiful beaches.
I have often used BE for information & advice in the last 3 years & liked especially reading updates from people once in Australia - my advice would be to people planning a move would be don't expect it to be like UK, it's not. It is more bureaucratic, higher taxed, and in our experience the cost of living is at best the same as UK. Given all this we all still feel a year in that we have made the right move and love our life on the Gold Coast.
My wife & I had owned a large Newsagency in Bournemouth for 18 years and although we had a relatively comfortable life we felt that our area was not getting any better, So in October 2003 we took the decision to apply for a business owner visa. We had not been to Aus before but decided to apply first, then make the validation trip to see if we liked it 'Down Under'. The visa was granted on 1st July 2004 (we used Go Matilda as agents - expensive, but worthwhile as the application process is complex) and we made our validation trip in August 04. We were very impressed & on our return immediately put our business & home on the market. It took 10 months for the sales to go through and a couple more months to tie up 'loose ends'.
We finally arrived at Brisbane on 4th October last year, checked into a motel close to the airport (Aerolodge, Kingsford Smith Drive). The next day we found an apartment in Newstead (Manhattan on Newstead) which had been recommended on this site - We can add to those recommendations,the apartments are clean, well positioned and have all the facilities needed.
John the manager, his wife Pauline and Bev who works in the office are very helpful.
We enrolled our kids in schools and they both started 10 days after we arrived - our daughter at Kedron High & our son at Kedron state school.They both coped very well with their new schools being welcomed by all the pupils and accepted immediately.
We started to look at different businesses around Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast and quickly developed a routine of dropping the kids at school, driving round different suburbs, looking at businesses, and seeing if the schools and housing were what we were looking for. In late November we were introduced to the owners of a business on the Sunshine Coast, saw the shop, liked the area and decided to make an offer to them. We were pleased when the vendors accepted our offer and ' went to contract 'for the purchase of the business. After signing the contract there is a period of ' Due Diligence ' during which all invoices, tax returns, BAS statements of the vendor has to be made available to the purchasers accountant to verify the profits are as claimed - the period is usually 2 - 3 weeks. When we met our accountant we were shocked to hear that the figures did not add up and the claimed profit had been grossly overstated. With this information we made the decision to pull out of the sale. My advice to anybody looking to buy an existing business would be to insist on a 3 week period of Due Diligence written into any contract and hire a good accountant!
This episode left us starting to think if we had done the right thing in selling a thriving and profitable business in a nice part of Bournemouth and relocating to the other side of the world - we started reminiscing about the good times, friends & family and seriously thought about cutting our losses & returning to UK. After Easter we made the decision to have one last look for a business in an area we had not really considered - the Gold Coast. From the first time we drove there we realised that this was the place for us - the beaches are stunning, the infrastructure (roads, amenities etc) are excellent, and your money goes a lot further when looking at house prices (compared with Brisbane). Through an agent we were introduced to the owner of a Newsagency in early May and after some investigations into suitable schools & property in the area made an offer which was accepted. After a successful Due Diligence, lease negotiations, endless form filling and interviews with publishers of newspapers, a 4 day Golden Casket course, buying a house, getting our 15 year old girl into Merrimac High School, our 11 year old boy into Merrimac State school we finally took over Carrara Village News in the Coco's centre opposite Carrara Markets on 14th August.We now feel settled with a good work/life balance - we have most weekends off which was unheard of in our old lives our kids have been brilliant both love their schools - this week my daughter is on a weeks trip to Straddie! The Gold Coast suits us as we loved living close to the sea in Bournemouth - we are less than 5 minutes drive from beautiful beaches.
I have often used BE for information & advice in the last 3 years & liked especially reading updates from people once in Australia - my advice would be to people planning a move would be don't expect it to be like UK, it's not. It is more bureaucratic, higher taxed, and in our experience the cost of living is at best the same as UK. Given all this we all still feel a year in that we have made the right move and love our life on the Gold Coast.
Best of luck with both the business and your family's new life on the GC, hope to be there some day soon !
Oct 19th 2006, 10:53 am
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Re: A year in SE Queensland
Originally Posted by moneypen20
Lovely post. Will have to come and visit you. Any chance you could ensure either a winning lotto ticket or a decent prize on a scratchie - I'll give you commission
We would love to sell you a winning ticket. Unfortunately the most used phrase spoken in our shop is ' not a winner '