Originally Posted by Carbery

We would love to sell you a winning ticket. Unfortunately the most used phrase spoken in our shop is ' not a winner '

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.