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Early Days ... Three and a half weeks in Brisbane
Well.... here we are in Brissy. Singapore airlines were great as ever! This time though, we booked into the transit lounge at Singapore airport – very reasonable and worth every penny!! We had hot and cold buffet food and a range of drinks, a nice lounge, newspapers, large tv screens and showers. In hindsight, we would have preferred a 5 hour stopover to make the most of these facilities. These lounges definitely beat trying to clean teeth and freshen up using wet-wipes in general toilet/wash areas – which we did last time!!
We're staying in a beautiful 2 bed Queenslander in Woolloongabba. We struggled to find a short-term furnished property and while this is not an area in which we would settle long-term (just personal preference as it is a little built-up) some streets have lovely properties and a friendly feel. We booked 4-6 weeks initially, though the landlord has been fab and very flexible about us needing the last two weeks. We found Stayz to be the best place to search for short-term lets, with property owners responding to us quickly. Hunting for longer-term unfurnished properties has been eventful … and many left me desperate to get out! I have to admit I was dreading the open-house viewings having read many people's experiences of them, but we had no problems. A handful of people usually turned up but the atmosphere was always relaxed. Mind you, I will be glad when we don't have to do this - they never look as good as they do on the internet. We soon learnt to use google street-maps and satellite views of the houses. We have now put in an application for a property (in Manly) and have another as a back-up. We'll hear back tomorrow so hopefully we can think about putting down roots. We opened an Oz bank account while still in the UK and this was a godsend. We picked up our bank cards on the first day here, which was a huge help when sorting Medicare and Australian driving licences. These have been helpful in providing ID for a range of things. The only thing we would probably have done differently, would be to have provided the bank with our initial temporary address, as some places have wanted a bank statement as proof of residency in Queensland. This is difficult to do though when you don't know the set-up/security of the place you are staying in. It delayed us a little with some things – but not enough to cause any real problems! OH sent his CV out a week ago (to agents recommended by an Australian friend and also to a few jobs advertised on Seek). One agent has set him up with his first interview tomorrow and he has had two tests for other jobs. While busy, things have been going well. We are all enjoying our new home and we are looking forward to settling in our new area as soon as we can! We have found many things to be just as we imagined – we had done loads of research which I reckon has prepared us well. Still can't used to having to go to the bottle-shops instead of buying the booze in the supermarket. Can't believe they've got drive-thru ones here – will def have to give them a go!!! There is so much to do outdoors – much of which is free. The free parking is great too – both at shopping centres and at beaches. People here have been so helpful and friendly and the weather – for winter – has been fab! Personally, I am still looking everywhere for spiders and crawlies – a fact which our Aussie neighbours think is hysterical!! They're trying to convince me that there aren't deadly creatures camping out on our balcony with the one intention of sinking their fangs into me …. But hey, a gal just cannot be too careful …. We know the adventure is just beginning and are keen to embrace the Australian way of life. Our son (9 years old) is having a ball – though that may have something to do with the fact that he hasn't started school yet – sure that might change when he does … |
Re: Early Days ... Three and a half weeks in Brisbane
So you got there in the end! What an adventure, sounds like everythings running smoothly for you. I will be exactly the same about the whole creepy crawlies thing! Thanks for the post by the way, will let you know how things go this end. Enjoy your new life.
Emma x |
Re: Early Days ... Three and a half weeks in Brisbane
Originally Posted by myrtle1
(Post 8726476)
Well.... here we are in Brissy. Singapore airlines were great as ever! This time though, we booked into the transit lounge at Singapore airport – very reasonable and worth every penny!! We had hot and cold buffet food and a range of drinks, a nice lounge, newspapers, large tv screens and showers. In hindsight, we would have preferred a 5 hour stopover to make the most of these facilities. These lounges definitely beat trying to clean teeth and freshen up using wet-wipes in general toilet/wash areas – which we did last time!!
We're staying in a beautiful 2 bed Queenslander in Woolloongabba. We struggled to find a short-term furnished property and while this is not an area in which we would settle long-term (just personal preference as it is a little built-up) some streets have lovely properties and a friendly feel. We booked 4-6 weeks initially, though the landlord has been fab and very flexible about us needing the last two weeks. We found Stayz to be the best place to search for short-term lets, with property owners responding to us quickly. Hunting for longer-term unfurnished properties has been eventful … and many left me desperate to get out! I have to admit I was dreading the open-house viewings having read many people's experiences of them, but we had no problems. A handful of people usually turned up but the atmosphere was always relaxed. Mind you, I will be glad when we don't have to do this - they never look as good as they do on the internet. We soon learnt to use google street-maps and satellite views of the houses. We have now put in an application for a property (in Manly) and have another as a back-up. We'll hear back tomorrow so hopefully we can think about putting down roots. We opened an Oz bank account while still in the UK and this was a godsend. We picked up our bank cards on the first day here, which was a huge help when sorting Medicare and Australian driving licences. These have been helpful in providing ID for a range of things. The only thing we would probably have done differently, would be to have provided the bank with our initial temporary address, as some places have wanted a bank statement as proof of residency in Queensland. This is difficult to do though when you don't know the set-up/security of the place you are staying in. It delayed us a little with some things – but not enough to cause any real problems! OH sent his CV out a week ago (to agents recommended by an Australian friend and also to a few jobs advertised on Seek). One agent has set him up with his first interview tomorrow and he has had two tests for other jobs. While busy, things have been going well. We are all enjoying our new home and we are looking forward to settling in our new area as soon as we can! We have found many things to be just as we imagined – we had done loads of research which I reckon has prepared us well. Still can't used to having to go to the bottle-shops instead of buying the booze in the supermarket. Can't believe they've got drive-thru ones here – will def have to give them a go!!! There is so much to do outdoors – much of which is free. The free parking is great too – both at shopping centres and at beaches. People here have been so helpful and friendly and the weather – for winter – has been fab! Personally, I am still looking everywhere for spiders and crawlies – a fact which our Aussie neighbours think is hysterical!! They're trying to convince me that there aren't deadly creatures camping out on our balcony with the one intention of sinking their fangs into me …. But hey, a gal just cannot be too careful …. We know the adventure is just beginning and are keen to embrace the Australian way of life. Our son (9 years old) is having a ball – though that may have something to do with the fact that he hasn't started school yet – sure that might change when he does … We will be moving to Brisbane in a few weeks from now - we are hoping to secure a rental fairly quickly. Your insights in to this above are interesting but could you give us a feel specifically for how competetive the rental market is? You say only a handful of people turned up to most open houses, but does it still turn in to a bit of a bun fight if the place is half decent?? thanks TTB |
Re: Early Days ... Three and a half weeks in Brisbane
Originally Posted by emma75
(Post 8729634)
So you got there in the end! What an adventure, sounds like everythings running smoothly for you. I will be exactly the same about the whole creepy crawlies thing! Thanks for the post by the way, will let you know how things go this end. Enjoy your new life.
Emma x Still have to pinch ourselves to believe we are actually here! Things have been topped off today too - OH has a job and we have now secured our rental! We are very happy peeps!! Keep believing - you WILL get here :thumbup: |
Re: Early Days ... Three and a half weeks in Brisbane
Great update! :thumbsup:
Gives us hope that the place is not as wacky as some would have us believe. :lol: |
Re: Early Days ... Three and a half weeks in Brisbane
Originally Posted by The three bears
(Post 8730288)
Hi,
We will be moving to Brisbane in a few weeks from now - we are hoping to secure a rental fairly quickly. Your insights in to this above are interesting but could you give us a feel specifically for how competetive the rental market is? You say only a handful of people turned up to most open houses, but does it still turn in to a bit of a bun fight if the place is half decent?? thanks TTB More than happy to help as much as I can! I know how hard it can be to set yourselves up in a new country so ask away. Regarding competition with the houses - in our situation, we didn't see too much of that. We sort of started looking in really nice areas that we loved, only to find that the properties in our price range looked a lot less appealing in real life - probably leaving few people keen to fight for them! The agent said that these areas were primarily owner-dwellings and few were put for rentals - and those that were usually came with a reason for doing so! Many were next to a very busy road, pylon or near loads of industrial units. Our budget was ok so we felt we could hold out for better than we were seeing. Then we found a house where we thought we'd get real competition as we fell in love with it ..... half a dozen people were looking around and it was fab! But as we left, the estate agent let slip that the lease would be an absolute max of 6 months - when we would have hoped for an extension. That particular house lasted 2 weeks on the market - have to say, not that many houses seemed to be snapped up too quickly that you would miss out if you were looking each day. Without knowing your situation, the one thing I would say is that if you are new to the country, you will have to consider the fact that you may regularly miss out where other applicants have proven Australian credit/rental/job records. We accepted that this might be the case and prepared ourselves to go on a charm-offensive and provide plenty of proof that we could afford the rent for 6 months. But ... both these scenarios applied to us and we have now found a gorgeous place - with no real issues re. competition. The agent told us that there were other people involved but the owner was happy with our financial ability to meet the rent and thought they would give us a leg-up on our adventure! We saw three properties in the end which we would be happy to live in and none of the agents felt our situation would have caused us issues. We did however, have to extend our search area and if you are able to do this, you have greater potential to get what you want. If I can help in any other way - feel free to pm me! Nice to payback a little of the help I have had shown to me :thumbup: Oops - forgot to say .... often the open houses are only on for 15 mins (that happened a lot). Not an issue though - just get yourselves there five mins before. |
Re: Early Days ... Three and a half weeks in Brisbane
Originally Posted by Alfresco
(Post 8731146)
Great update! :thumbsup:
Gives us hope that the place is not as wacky as some would have us believe. :lol: |
Re: Early Days ... Three and a half weeks in Brisbane
Great update Myrtle, hope it continues to go well for you :thumbsup:
|
Re: Early Days ... Three and a half weeks in Brisbane
Originally Posted by myrtle1
(Post 8726476)
Well.... here we are in Brissy. Singapore airlines were great as ever! This time though, we booked into the transit lounge at Singapore airport – very reasonable and worth every penny!! We had hot and cold buffet food and a range of drinks, a nice lounge, newspapers, large tv screens and showers. In hindsight, we would have preferred a 5 hour stopover to make the most of these facilities. These lounges definitely beat trying to clean teeth and freshen up using wet-wipes in general toilet/wash areas – which we did last time!!
We're staying in a beautiful 2 bed Queenslander in Woolloongabba. We struggled to find a short-term furnished property and while this is not an area in which we would settle long-term (just personal preference as it is a little built-up) some streets have lovely properties and a friendly feel. We booked 4-6 weeks initially, though the landlord has been fab and very flexible about us needing the last two weeks. We found Stayz to be the best place to search for short-term lets, with property owners responding to us quickly. Hunting for longer-term unfurnished properties has been eventful … and many left me desperate to get out! I have to admit I was dreading the open-house viewings having read many people's experiences of them, but we had no problems. A handful of people usually turned up but the atmosphere was always relaxed. Mind you, I will be glad when we don't have to do this - they never look as good as they do on the internet. We soon learnt to use google street-maps and satellite views of the houses. We have now put in an application for a property (in Manly) and have another as a back-up. We'll hear back tomorrow so hopefully we can think about putting down roots. We opened an Oz bank account while still in the UK and this was a godsend. We picked up our bank cards on the first day here, which was a huge help when sorting Medicare and Australian driving licences. These have been helpful in providing ID for a range of things. The only thing we would probably have done differently, would be to have provided the bank with our initial temporary address, as some places have wanted a bank statement as proof of residency in Queensland. This is difficult to do though when you don't know the set-up/security of the place you are staying in. It delayed us a little with some things – but not enough to cause any real problems! OH sent his CV out a week ago (to agents recommended by an Australian friend and also to a few jobs advertised on Seek). One agent has set him up with his first interview tomorrow and he has had two tests for other jobs. While busy, things have been going well. We are all enjoying our new home and we are looking forward to settling in our new area as soon as we can! We have found many things to be just as we imagined – we had done loads of research which I reckon has prepared us well. Still can't used to having to go to the bottle-shops instead of buying the booze in the supermarket. Can't believe they've got drive-thru ones here – will def have to give them a go!!! There is so much to do outdoors – much of which is free. The free parking is great too – both at shopping centres and at beaches. People here have been so helpful and friendly and the weather – for winter – has been fab! Personally, I am still looking everywhere for spiders and crawlies – a fact which our Aussie neighbours think is hysterical!! They're trying to convince me that there aren't deadly creatures camping out on our balcony with the one intention of sinking their fangs into me …. But hey, a gal just cannot be too careful …. We know the adventure is just beginning and are keen to embrace the Australian way of life. Our son (9 years old) is having a ball – though that may have something to do with the fact that he hasn't started school yet – sure that might change when he does … |
Re: Early Days ... Three and a half weeks in Brisbane
Originally Posted by myrtle1
(Post 8731191)
Look forward to meeting you out here :thumbup: We were relieved by the job offer - OH went with an agent here (which worried us after reading a few scare stories of late) but the interview went well and we are off and running now :thumbsup: The only downside .... the company wanted him to start tomorrow :eek: He haggled and ended up holding out for Monday - but bang goes his extended "holiday" :rofl:
That's what I'm worried about. But I know I'll have to send CV as soon as possible. I really want my holiday. Congrats nonetheless! That's great news. :thumbup: |
Re: Early Days ... Three and a half weeks in Brisbane
Originally Posted by LouiseR
(Post 8731235)
Great update! Hope everything continues to go well but you might want to rethink that phrase before saying that infornt of Aussies! :rofl:
|
Re: Early Days ... Three and a half weeks in Brisbane
Originally Posted by myrtle1
(Post 8731114)
Hi Emma
Still have to pinch ourselves to believe we are actually here! Things have been topped off today too - OH has a job and we have now secured our rental! We are very happy peeps!! Keep believing - you WILL get here :thumbup: Yippeee!! Congratulations on the job and house!! Amazing to have done this within three and a half weeks. Will PM you with any updates when we have any news. :thumbsup: p.s. great update xxx |
Re: Early Days ... Three and a half weeks in Brisbane
Originally Posted by myrtle1
(Post 8731114)
Hi Emma
Still have to pinch ourselves to believe we are actually here! Things have been topped off today too - OH has a job and we have now secured our rental! We are very happy peeps!! Keep believing - you WILL get here :thumbup: |
Re: Early Days ... Three and a half weeks in Brisbane
Originally Posted by LouiseR
(Post 8731235)
Great update! Hope everything continues to go well but you might want to rethink that phrase before saying that infornt of Aussies! :rofl:
|
Re: Early Days ... Three and a half weeks in Brisbane
Originally Posted by Bermudashorts
(Post 8732997)
Really? I think I might have said that too recently. No idea what it could mean. :o
Originally Posted by Bermudashorts
(Post 8732992)
Congratulations, that is great news. :thumbup:
You'll probably hear it loads now you know, a few utes have Wanna Root In My Ute stickers :lol:. I've also said I'm rooting for the other team, oh how everyone laughed! |
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