4 month update
Oct 26th 2008, 8:11 am
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Shropshire, UK
Posts: 86
4 month update
Hi all,
We arrived in Brisbane on a student visa, on the 17th June. Me, hubby, daughter 8 and son 2.
We stayed at sister-in-law's house for about a week and half while we looked for a rental. We looked at loads of rentals and finally found one that we liked and that was within our budget.
I would just like to mention that there was quite a lot of people at each viewing, which meant that it was quite hard to secure a rental. When we found the one we wanted we offered 6 months rent in advance to secure it for us. As none of us had rented previously we had no references and we had only just moved here so none of us had a job either, it didn't look too good on paper, so that's why we offered the advance.
The house is only about 5 mins away from where we were staying, so that made it easy for us when we moved in.
We found a school for our daughter straight away, which for the first two weeks she loved, then hated!
Once we had brought furniture and were settled in our rental, boredom started to set in. I would take my son to different parks and most of the time there would only be us there. I am really surprised that you don't see many kids about.
I started looking for a job as soon as hubby started tafe, which was the middle of June. I asked about jobs everywhere, they would say hand in your resume there are jobs going, then you would ring and they would say there is no jobs!
One bar that i asked about a job, gave me an on the spot interview and got me to fill in an application form and told me to bring my resume down to them later that day. One of the waitresses even came upto me and said, the manager really likes you, she said you were very nice, so the job looks promising. I waited and then rang 4 days later, i was told to ring back, the manager wasn't there so i was told to ring back again, this happened about 4 times when i finally asked is there actually any jobs there and was told we are not taking on. It is so frustrating! you would rather them just say they have no jobs than waste your time and resumes!
I finally got a job at Bunnings (after 3 interviews, 2 full days of training, an on line induction for 3 hours and numerous other computer training), although i got paid for the training, i just wanted to start work and meet some people and start interacting.
I have been working at Bunnings now for 5 weeks and i have met some lovely people who are really nice to work with.
I am a friendly and outgoing person, but have found the mums at my daughters school very ignorant. I don't want to go to their houses and drink tea but just a little Hi, or G'day or even a smile. I have never met so many miserable people in one place (The school).
We were origionally supposed to move to the Sunshine Coast, ut changed our minds because we wanted to be near to hubbys sister. We only really see her when she wants something. I think we should have followed our hearts and still gone to the Sunny Coast. We do go up there every other weekend and love it so much.
We are tied into our rental until the end of Jan. so we're gonna hopefully find somewhere up the Sunny Coast to live.
If any of you have any reccommendations where is good to move with 2 kids, then please don't hesitate to either pm me or post on this thread.
I have found shopping to be more expensive than in the UK, but if you shop around you can save some $$$.
I would also reccommend anyone who wants to buy a car, to take someone who knows a bit about cars with you, because since we've been here we've bought 3 and there has been something wrong with all of them. It will save you money in the long run.
Australia is a beautiful place and ther are lots of places to go and things to see, but it is a very big place and i think it's hard for people to find the right place to live straight away. So if you have either moved here or are about to and you don't really like it where you have settled, then try somewher else. That's what we're gonna do.
If any of you that are moving out here and have any questions, i will be more than happy to answer them.
Lisa
We arrived in Brisbane on a student visa, on the 17th June. Me, hubby, daughter 8 and son 2.
We stayed at sister-in-law's house for about a week and half while we looked for a rental. We looked at loads of rentals and finally found one that we liked and that was within our budget.
I would just like to mention that there was quite a lot of people at each viewing, which meant that it was quite hard to secure a rental. When we found the one we wanted we offered 6 months rent in advance to secure it for us. As none of us had rented previously we had no references and we had only just moved here so none of us had a job either, it didn't look too good on paper, so that's why we offered the advance.
The house is only about 5 mins away from where we were staying, so that made it easy for us when we moved in.
We found a school for our daughter straight away, which for the first two weeks she loved, then hated!
Once we had brought furniture and were settled in our rental, boredom started to set in. I would take my son to different parks and most of the time there would only be us there. I am really surprised that you don't see many kids about.
I started looking for a job as soon as hubby started tafe, which was the middle of June. I asked about jobs everywhere, they would say hand in your resume there are jobs going, then you would ring and they would say there is no jobs!
One bar that i asked about a job, gave me an on the spot interview and got me to fill in an application form and told me to bring my resume down to them later that day. One of the waitresses even came upto me and said, the manager really likes you, she said you were very nice, so the job looks promising. I waited and then rang 4 days later, i was told to ring back, the manager wasn't there so i was told to ring back again, this happened about 4 times when i finally asked is there actually any jobs there and was told we are not taking on. It is so frustrating! you would rather them just say they have no jobs than waste your time and resumes!
I finally got a job at Bunnings (after 3 interviews, 2 full days of training, an on line induction for 3 hours and numerous other computer training), although i got paid for the training, i just wanted to start work and meet some people and start interacting.
I have been working at Bunnings now for 5 weeks and i have met some lovely people who are really nice to work with.
I am a friendly and outgoing person, but have found the mums at my daughters school very ignorant. I don't want to go to their houses and drink tea but just a little Hi, or G'day or even a smile. I have never met so many miserable people in one place (The school).
We were origionally supposed to move to the Sunshine Coast, ut changed our minds because we wanted to be near to hubbys sister. We only really see her when she wants something. I think we should have followed our hearts and still gone to the Sunny Coast. We do go up there every other weekend and love it so much.
We are tied into our rental until the end of Jan. so we're gonna hopefully find somewhere up the Sunny Coast to live.
If any of you have any reccommendations where is good to move with 2 kids, then please don't hesitate to either pm me or post on this thread.
I have found shopping to be more expensive than in the UK, but if you shop around you can save some $$$.
I would also reccommend anyone who wants to buy a car, to take someone who knows a bit about cars with you, because since we've been here we've bought 3 and there has been something wrong with all of them. It will save you money in the long run.
Australia is a beautiful place and ther are lots of places to go and things to see, but it is a very big place and i think it's hard for people to find the right place to live straight away. So if you have either moved here or are about to and you don't really like it where you have settled, then try somewher else. That's what we're gonna do.
If any of you that are moving out here and have any questions, i will be more than happy to answer them.
Lisa
Oct 26th 2008, 8:51 am
#2
Account Closed
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,693
Re: 4 month update
[/QUOTE]
All spot on that for people of thinking of coming here that.
All spot on that for people of thinking of coming here that.
Nov 27th 2008, 11:07 pm
#3
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2007
Location: Gold Coast
Posts: 659
Re: 4 month update
Hi all,
We arrived in Brisbane on a student visa, on the 17th June. Me, hubby, daughter 8 and son 2.
We stayed at sister-in-law's house for about a week and half while we looked for a rental. We looked at loads of rentals and finally found one that we liked and that was within our budget.
I would just like to mention that there was quite a lot of people at each viewing, which meant that it was quite hard to secure a rental. When we found the one we wanted we offered 6 months rent in advance to secure it for us. As none of us had rented previously we had no references and we had only just moved here so none of us had a job either, it didn't look too good on paper, so that's why we offered the advance.
The house is only about 5 mins away from where we were staying, so that made it easy for us when we moved in.
We found a school for our daughter straight away, which for the first two weeks she loved, then hated!
Once we had brought furniture and were settled in our rental, boredom started to set in. I would take my son to different parks and most of the time there would only be us there. I am really surprised that you don't see many kids about.
I started looking for a job as soon as hubby started tafe, which was the middle of June. I asked about jobs everywhere, they would say hand in your resume there are jobs going, then you would ring and they would say there is no jobs!
One bar that i asked about a job, gave me an on the spot interview and got me to fill in an application form and told me to bring my resume down to them later that day. One of the waitresses even came upto me and said, the manager really likes you, she said you were very nice, so the job looks promising. I waited and then rang 4 days later, i was told to ring back, the manager wasn't there so i was told to ring back again, this happened about 4 times when i finally asked is there actually any jobs there and was told we are not taking on. It is so frustrating! you would rather them just say they have no jobs than waste your time and resumes!
I finally got a job at Bunnings (after 3 interviews, 2 full days of training, an on line induction for 3 hours and numerous other computer training), although i got paid for the training, i just wanted to start work and meet some people and start interacting.
I have been working at Bunnings now for 5 weeks and i have met some lovely people who are really nice to work with.
I am a friendly and outgoing person, but have found the mums at my daughters school very ignorant. I don't want to go to their houses and drink tea but just a little Hi, or G'day or even a smile. I have never met so many miserable people in one place (The school).
We were origionally supposed to move to the Sunshine Coast, ut changed our minds because we wanted to be near to hubbys sister. We only really see her when she wants something. I think we should have followed our hearts and still gone to the Sunny Coast. We do go up there every other weekend and love it so much.
We are tied into our rental until the end of Jan. so we're gonna hopefully find somewhere up the Sunny Coast to live.
If any of you have any reccommendations where is good to move with 2 kids, then please don't hesitate to either pm me or post on this thread.
I have found shopping to be more expensive than in the UK, but if you shop around you can save some $$$.
I would also reccommend anyone who wants to buy a car, to take someone who knows a bit about cars with you, because since we've been here we've bought 3 and there has been something wrong with all of them. It will save you money in the long run.
Australia is a beautiful place and ther are lots of places to go and things to see, but it is a very big place and i think it's hard for people to find the right place to live straight away. So if you have either moved here or are about to and you don't really like it where you have settled, then try somewher else. That's what we're gonna do.
If any of you that are moving out here and have any questions, i will be more than happy to answer them.
Lisa
We arrived in Brisbane on a student visa, on the 17th June. Me, hubby, daughter 8 and son 2.
We stayed at sister-in-law's house for about a week and half while we looked for a rental. We looked at loads of rentals and finally found one that we liked and that was within our budget.
I would just like to mention that there was quite a lot of people at each viewing, which meant that it was quite hard to secure a rental. When we found the one we wanted we offered 6 months rent in advance to secure it for us. As none of us had rented previously we had no references and we had only just moved here so none of us had a job either, it didn't look too good on paper, so that's why we offered the advance.
The house is only about 5 mins away from where we were staying, so that made it easy for us when we moved in.
We found a school for our daughter straight away, which for the first two weeks she loved, then hated!
Once we had brought furniture and were settled in our rental, boredom started to set in. I would take my son to different parks and most of the time there would only be us there. I am really surprised that you don't see many kids about.
I started looking for a job as soon as hubby started tafe, which was the middle of June. I asked about jobs everywhere, they would say hand in your resume there are jobs going, then you would ring and they would say there is no jobs!
One bar that i asked about a job, gave me an on the spot interview and got me to fill in an application form and told me to bring my resume down to them later that day. One of the waitresses even came upto me and said, the manager really likes you, she said you were very nice, so the job looks promising. I waited and then rang 4 days later, i was told to ring back, the manager wasn't there so i was told to ring back again, this happened about 4 times when i finally asked is there actually any jobs there and was told we are not taking on. It is so frustrating! you would rather them just say they have no jobs than waste your time and resumes!
I finally got a job at Bunnings (after 3 interviews, 2 full days of training, an on line induction for 3 hours and numerous other computer training), although i got paid for the training, i just wanted to start work and meet some people and start interacting.
I have been working at Bunnings now for 5 weeks and i have met some lovely people who are really nice to work with.
I am a friendly and outgoing person, but have found the mums at my daughters school very ignorant. I don't want to go to their houses and drink tea but just a little Hi, or G'day or even a smile. I have never met so many miserable people in one place (The school).
We were origionally supposed to move to the Sunshine Coast, ut changed our minds because we wanted to be near to hubbys sister. We only really see her when she wants something. I think we should have followed our hearts and still gone to the Sunny Coast. We do go up there every other weekend and love it so much.
We are tied into our rental until the end of Jan. so we're gonna hopefully find somewhere up the Sunny Coast to live.
If any of you have any reccommendations where is good to move with 2 kids, then please don't hesitate to either pm me or post on this thread.
I have found shopping to be more expensive than in the UK, but if you shop around you can save some $$$.
I would also reccommend anyone who wants to buy a car, to take someone who knows a bit about cars with you, because since we've been here we've bought 3 and there has been something wrong with all of them. It will save you money in the long run.
Australia is a beautiful place and ther are lots of places to go and things to see, but it is a very big place and i think it's hard for people to find the right place to live straight away. So if you have either moved here or are about to and you don't really like it where you have settled, then try somewher else. That's what we're gonna do.
If any of you that are moving out here and have any questions, i will be more than happy to answer them.
Lisa
Very honest of you. .good luck with everything and thanks for sharing your experiences!!
Howz hubbie doing with his course? Has he finished yet for the hols?
Cheers
Mandy
Nov 27th 2008, 11:18 pm
#4
A roo in my top paddock!
Joined: Apr 2006
Location: On the Goldie....beautiful Queensland.
Posts: 233
Re: 4 month update
Just want to say i agree totally.
We have been on the GC for 6 months now and although i have met some lovely friends through work i have also met some horrors!!
I think before you get here you expect every Australain you meet to be inviting you over for barbecues and it just isnt like that.They are a fairly hard breed to break in to these Aussies!
I too am a very friendly kind of person but havent yet spoken to anyone at my sons school.People just seem to ignore you.I give them a wide smile and they look at me as though i am totally mad!
Anyway,i ll keep battling on.
Its just not always as you expect it will be.
We have been on the GC for 6 months now and although i have met some lovely friends through work i have also met some horrors!!
I think before you get here you expect every Australain you meet to be inviting you over for barbecues and it just isnt like that.They are a fairly hard breed to break in to these Aussies!
I too am a very friendly kind of person but havent yet spoken to anyone at my sons school.People just seem to ignore you.I give them a wide smile and they look at me as though i am totally mad!
Anyway,i ll keep battling on.
Its just not always as you expect it will be.
Nov 28th 2008, 11:29 am
#5
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2007
Location: Essex - Now on the Sunshine Coast
Posts: 212
Re: 4 month update
Hi Lisa,
I've sent you a pm.
We love living up here and Brisbane is only an hour away to visit hubbys sister.
My brother lives in Brisbane and its not that far to visit.
Kate
I've sent you a pm.
We love living up here and Brisbane is only an hour away to visit hubbys sister.
My brother lives in Brisbane and its not that far to visit.
Kate
Nov 28th 2008, 12:35 pm
#6
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Shropshire, UK
Posts: 86
Re: 4 month update
Yeah, hubby's doing well on his course and he enjoys it and has a good crack with the lads at the tafe. He's just started his holidays and works at a cabinet making firm. They've taken him on so that he can work 20 hours per week during term time and unlimited hours during holidays. He loves it there! last Friday his boss bought them all beer! how good is that. I am quite surprised how much he is liking it to be honest, because he loved working outdoors and being on site doing building and construction. Seems he's taken to it like a duck to water, so i'm really chuffed.
Lisa x
Nov 28th 2008, 12:47 pm
#7
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Shropshire, UK
Posts: 86
Re: 4 month update
Just want to say i agree totally.
We have been on the GC for 6 months now and although i have met some lovely friends through work i have also met some horrors!!
I think before you get here you expect every Australain you meet to be inviting you over for barbecues and it just isnt like that.They are a fairly hard breed to break in to these Aussies!
I too am a very friendly kind of person but havent yet spoken to anyone at my sons school.People just seem to ignore you.I give them a wide smile and they look at me as though i am totally mad!
Anyway,i ll keep battling on.
Its just not always as you expect it will be.
We have been on the GC for 6 months now and although i have met some lovely friends through work i have also met some horrors!!
I think before you get here you expect every Australain you meet to be inviting you over for barbecues and it just isnt like that.They are a fairly hard breed to break in to these Aussies!
I too am a very friendly kind of person but havent yet spoken to anyone at my sons school.People just seem to ignore you.I give them a wide smile and they look at me as though i am totally mad!
Anyway,i ll keep battling on.
Its just not always as you expect it will be.
Just thought i'd tell you, since i wrote this, most of the parents at the school have started talking to me and even cracking a smile. Don't you think, as soon as you say something like that, the opposite always happens!!!!
I think if you let them know that them know you're not bothered whether they speak to you or not, in the end they cave in. I think it's also because we're foreigners, they make you wait for everything.
Things are just starting to get good for us now, so we're getting along fine. Hope the school grumps decide to crack a smile and give you a break. Don't let them put you off. Lisa.
Nov 28th 2008, 7:44 pm
#8
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2007
Location: Gold Coast
Posts: 659
Re: 4 month update
Good to hear the positives chick!!
Sounds like the same kinda story as hubbie. . his boss is pretty good too. A beer in the fridge at the end of the day n if they stay on for a few hours he goes out n buys them all dinner!! Pretty good. . .though a few more $$ per hour would be great!!!
Take care n all the best to you!!
Mandy
Sounds like the same kinda story as hubbie. . his boss is pretty good too. A beer in the fridge at the end of the day n if they stay on for a few hours he goes out n buys them all dinner!! Pretty good. . .though a few more $$ per hour would be great!!!
Take care n all the best to you!!
Mandy
Nov 29th 2008, 10:38 am
#9
A roo in my top paddock!
Joined: Apr 2006
Location: On the Goldie....beautiful Queensland.
Posts: 233
Re: 4 month update
Just thought i'd tell you, since i wrote this, most of the parents at the school have started talking to me and even cracking a smile. Don't you think, as soon as you say something like that, the opposite always happens!!!!
I think if you let them know that them know you're not bothered whether they speak to you or not, in the end they cave in. I think it's also because we're foreigners, they make you wait for everything.
Things are just starting to get good for us now, so we're getting along fine. Hope the school grumps decide to crack a smile and give you a break. Don't let them put you off. Lisa.
I think if you let them know that them know you're not bothered whether they speak to you or not, in the end they cave in. I think it's also because we're foreigners, they make you wait for everything.
Things are just starting to get good for us now, so we're getting along fine. Hope the school grumps decide to crack a smile and give you a break. Don't let them put you off. Lisa.
