9 Week Update! - Gold Coast
 

Hi everyone,
Well since I usually enjoy reading other peoples updates I thought I'd stick a quick one on here for everyone else.
We left the UK on January 20th and arrived in Brisbane on the 21st. We stayed up in Newstead at the Manhattan on Newstead Apartments and can highly recommend them to anyone. The location was lovely and the apartments too. We loved seeing Brisbane, first time we'd been there and it's a beautiful city.
We weren't actually staying there long sadly, we were off travelling whilst we were waiting on the dog coming out of quarantine and our house being built. We headed to Melbourne first, drove the whole way as we'd arranged to have a car ready for us when we got here. Got a great deal on it by buying online, lots of companies competing for our business. Ended up with a tricked out Kia Sportage and absolutely love it. Anyway, spend a week in Melbourne, seems like a nice place, but very much like many other cities I've visited. We then went to Sydney for a week and again, enjoyed that but just like a lot of big cities. We stayed in Kings Cross and be warned that when you arrive late on a Friday night that place can seem much more scary than it actually is. Enjoyed doing all the sightseeing there and then picked the dog up from quarantine and she was absolutely fine thank god! We then drove up to Coffs Harbour for the night and then back up to Brisbane.
We were spending a month at a place called the Jacaranda Lodge. Highly recommended as the accommodation was nice and the people were lovely. If anyone is looking for short term accommodation and wants their number let me know. We were staying there until our house was finished and thankfully it finished on time. Yes, our house was built to schedule, perhaps even a little earlier. Took only 9 weeks to complete. We couldn't believe it! Anyway, during this time, I applied for one job I saw online, went along for an interview and got it! Again, totally amazed as it's a job I love doing and have enjoyed since day one. We've just moved into our house at the weekend and this week is going to be spent getting all our furniture and deliveries.
Since coming to Australia, I can honestly say there's only a few things I miss about the UK. The main one is family of course and other than that, decent Chinese and Indian food! When I say decent, I guess I mean Scottish style Chinese and Indian. Other than that I am not homesick at all. I TOTALLY love it here and can't believe what a beautiful and amazing place it is. The people are all fantastic and are so nice and helpful. We have already made some friends here and find that nothing is too much trouble. Living on the Gold Coast feels like living in Paradise. It is a gorgeous place and for anyone worried about making the big move just do it. You won't regret it.
Ok better get going. Finished work for the day and heading home to build IKEA furniture!

Re: 9 Week Update! - Gold Coast
 

very nice update.
where on the coast are u going?
oh and theres a meet on the 28th of april:)

Re: 9 Week Update! - Gold Coast
 

Good post, hope to end up there ourselves sometime this year :thumbup: Keep on enjoying...................

Lynn xx

Re: 9 Week Update! - Gold Coast
 

Hi
Sounds like you're having a ball glad it's working out for you. Where abouts is Jacaranda lodge & what sort of rent were you paying? Were hoping to move to Gold Coast within the year (which seems like a lifetime away!) & whenever I get the wobblies I just log on to this site & read all the fab stories & I know were doin the right thing. Did you buy land/house before you went out there or did you wait until you arrived as it all seems pretty quick! Enjoy building your furniture hope you dont build it upside down now your down under ha ha ! Sorry that was awful!
Lainey.:lol:

Re: 9 Week Update! - Gold Coast
 

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the replies.
We bought our house and land from the UK. We're really happy with where we chose, which is Pimpama, near Coomera. It's central to everything and Surfers and Brisbane are both not that far away.
The Jacaranda Lodge is in Springwood, about 10-15 mins south of Brisbane CBD. It was $580 a week and you have a pool and so on. The people are lovely. Only thing is there's no cooker in there! It's just a fridge and mini kitchen. We used a microwave that we'd bought for the house anyway and it was an excuse to get take out most of the time.
The meet up sounds good. My parents will be over visiting from the UK at this time so we'll see if we can all make it.
Any other questions just let me know!
Tracy

Re: 9 Week Update! - Gold Coast
 

Glad your settling in well,we've been here 7 weeks and its brilliant!
So good i even applied for a couple of jobs today!

Sounds Great Soapy,its my birthday on the 27th! :thumbsup:
Started stripping our Julies shop today,its now time for a chineese,i'll inform all if its up to Glasgow standards. :lol:

Re: 9 Week Update! - Gold Coast
 

About time you changed your profile location then, doesnt sound like you'll be back in Glasgow in the near future!:) :thumbsup:

Re: 9 Week Update! - Gold Coast
 

:thumbup: i love posts like this, we too are heading to the goldcoast and we cant wait, goodluck for the future and hope you do an up-date before we go in Jan 08,
sarahlou

Re: 9 Week Update! - Gold Coast
 

good idea, bring them along, its always a good night:)

Re: 9 Week Update! - Gold Coast
 

Great to hear everythings working out for you :D

How brave are you buying your house and land before you got here :eek:

Keep enjoying it ;)

Re: 9 Week Update! - Gold Coast
 

Good to read a really positive post after reading other peoples negative on's about jobs , your post has put me on a high again. We are moving over to the sunshine coast in 5months so at the moment its a real rollercoaster of emotions, always good to hear good responses and such a good one:thumbup: after only 9 weeks well done guys.

Re: 9 Week Update! - Gold Coast
 

Hi your post made us get even more excited about our soon to be dream realisation. Which website did you go through for you house and land package? We are interested in doing it but wanna go by recommendation?

Dondotone

Re: 9 Week Update! - Gold Coast
 

Great update. Glad everything is working out for you.

Re: 9 Week Update! - Gold Coast
 

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the lovely responses. I have updated my location in the profile now lol. Doh. Completely forgot about that one!

As for the house builders we used, it was a company called ABI Asset Building. They have a display home in Pimpama and one in Coomera. The guys there were outstanding and yesterday the company owner showed up at our house with a big gift bag for us to say thanks for trusting them to build our house! It was excellent. Their website is http://www.assetbuilding.com.au/ and we bought the house through Brett Welland, a real estate agent with Harcourts Coomera. Brilliant guy who we now consider a friend.

I honestly think it's amazing out here, the one thing that annoys me is the internet speed which I mentioned in another post. Still, I've signed up for Dodo at an ok speed so hopefully will get that. Waiting to hear back from them.

For everyone who is waiting to come out here, I know how stressful it can be and we were both sad at leaving people behind too, but just go for it. You can always go home if you don't like it.

Oh and Brido, how was that Chinese? LOL

xxx

Re: 9 Week Update! - Gold Coast
 

Hiya!!! We like the look of Coomera Springs on the net, do you know what it's like?