Hi all,
I have used this site a couple of times but have not introduced myself. I am Kate 37, a mental health nurse married to Stefan 36, who works in IT. We have 2 girls aged 6 and 3. We are hoping to move to Brisbane this year but are still awaiting visas (due any day), and have to sell our house to enable us to go, so having to keep our fingers crossed that things will pick up a bit in the property market!
I would love to hear from anyone who is at a similar stage to us in the whole process, or anyone else who would like to say hello! It is very encouraging to hear other people actually getting out there and starting their new lives. It really keeps me going when I'm feeling sooooo desperately frustrated with the whole waiting thing!
Good luck to everyone with your own journeys
Kate

 

Hi Kate,
Would like to say hello to you.We are afamily of 3 myself Karen, OH Jimmy(metal fabricator), our son Ryan who is 10.. We have got our visa'a and flying out on 17th April. It really is frustating waiting on your visa
but selling your house is worse.

Good luck on getting your visa soon
Karen

 

Hi Karen, thanks for that. How exciting for you to be going so soon! How does it feel? Are you a nervous wreck? (I know I will be)
Good luck with all the prep. Let me know how it goes.
Kate

 

Hi Kate,
I am a nervous wreck. Getting to the stage wondering if you are doing the right thing.
Ryan would go away now if he could at least that is a woory of my mind that he is happy to go .
Busy decluttering the house it's amazing the rubbish you collect over the years. Removals are coming on 25th March then we are going to stay with my mum and dad until we go.
Keep in touch and maybe we could all meet up in BRisbane when you get there.
Karen

 

Hi karen,
Yes that would be great, I only hope we are not too long in following you. I have got my heart set on going in September but the house has to go first. We have already got rid of mountains of stuff knowing we are not taking it with us.
My eldest is excited too but at 6 she hasn't got a clue about time scales, and we seem to have been planning this forever!
Will let you know if we get any news
Kate

 

welcome to Brits in Brisbane guys ,,the visa process is stressful ,we did it 2 years ago ,have been here just over a year and love everything Brisbane has thrown at us,,good luck with everything
Cal x

 

Brisbane Bound too

Hi Kate

Just wanted to say we are in a similar situation, we are: myself Sharon (38), hubby, Paul (39) and son Nathan (20 months). We are currently about to start the de-clutter process before we put our house on the market in April...trust us to pick a year to sell when house prices are dropping and it is taking longer to sell...another headache I just don't need!
We are looking to re-locate in towards the end of August/Sep time as I have already have a job in accountancy recruitment and so we are getting sponsored by the 457 route. We were out in Brisbane for the whole of November so I could do interviews & we could go and look at some potential areas to live, we even went to check out a couple of nurseries for the wee man to see what the quality and cost was like, as although I will be working 4 days per wk we will still need childcare for the other days.
Before we went out for the rekkie I did have reservations if we were doing the right thing by taking our son half way across the world and away from all our family and friends and support network but after seeing the way of life that most families seem to enjoy over there, I know we are ultimately doing the right thing by giving him a better start in life. Over there the children obviously play outside more and most seem to be involved in sport in some form or another, they also seem to eat healthier - I saw more kids tucking into fruit and freshly squeezed smoothies etc - unfortunately over here it is usually cold/dark/wet or all of the above so our kids have little options but to watch DVD’s or play on their computers.
I know we will get homesick and lonely at times but that where Brits in Brisbane come in – at least if we get to meet other ex-pats they will be able to empathise with you when you feel like that and can give you the required kick up the bum you need to remember why you emigrated in the 1st place!
I’m looking at it as a new opportunity, a fresh start and a chance to meet new people and hopefully make great, new friends that we can have a good laugh with…I think if they can understand my Yorkshire accent and my hubby’s Scottish accent than at least we’ll be half way there! …I’ve just thought what an odd family we’ll be seeing as our son will probably end up having an Aussie accent!!
Worst case scenario, in the back of mind I think if Australia turns out to not be all we hoped than we can always come back, this will always be here but if you don’t do it now, you’ll always regret it and when I have my mid life crisis at 50 I don’t want to think I wonder what it would have been like….

 

Hi Sharon,
Nice to hear from you. We have more in common than you know - my husband is Scottish too. He is from Glasgow but has been here (Shropshire) for 11 years now. He spent a year in Oz way back before we met and said he did have a few problems with the Ozzies understanding him! His sister has lived in Brisbane for about 14 years and now has a totally Ozzie accent, she doesn't sound remotely Scottish. I can't ever imagine that would happen to my OH though! I reckon the kids will pick it up in a week!
We have no news regarding our progress - very dull. No viewers for the house and no visa arrived. Also My OH is waiting to hear from an Australian contact regarding a job, but no news there either. I'm still aiming for September though if at all possible. I don't want to have to see another British winter just yet (though haven't ruled out the possibility that we might want to come back at some stage).
Keep in touch, let me know how things are progressing with you guys. It sounds as though you will be out there first so will be able to dish out advice when we are ready!
Kate

 

Hi Cal, thanks for the encouragement. It's always good to hear from people who have moved successfully. Can't wait to be out there!
Kate

 

hi there - dawn here - we have been here since jan on a 457 visa for 4 years with hubbys job - we live in manly and feel very homesick at the moment but hope it will get better - we have a 2 year old son and i find meeting new people hard but trying to get to as many clubs etc with charlie as i can - where in brisbane are you regards dawn

 

Hi Cal,

Thanks for the welcome. Iam nervous and excited coming over to Brisbane.
Hope we love it as much as you do. Hoefully we wil make it to any of the meets that get organised in the near future.

Karen.

 

Hi Smithsinoz,
Unfortunately we are not there yet, still in Shropshire. Don't think we will be in Brisbane before September, by which time you will be well settled and have loads of mates I'm sure! However if you still have room for more it would be lovely to meet with you then.
Kate

 

Hi Kaz, I know you go soon, just wanted to wish you all the best and hope everything goes ok and you settle in quickly...don't forget to keep in contact with us that are still playing the waiting game!

 

Hi Sharon,

Thanks for the message. Life is a bit hectic at the moment, have moved into my mum and dads now and cleaning our own house so it is ready for monday when the new owners move in.

Good luck to everyone that is still waiting for their visa.
Also hello to everyone that has joined recently, sorry i havent replied just a busy.

ps will send you an e-mail later on Sharon.

Karen:biggrin::biggrin:

 

Me too

Hi Kate
I'm also a Mental Health Nurse and moving to Brisbane in May sometime. Like you, I am also waiting for my visa but I decided to rent my house to prevent further delays.
Which part in Brisbane are you going to work in and live?

 

Hi Mags,
Not too sure yet but i have a sister in law in Hawthorne, which is nice. Mind you I think it is an expensive suburb so we will have to wait and see.
Have you done much research into MH nursing over there? From what I can tell they are a little bit behind the times, but that doesn't put me off as I'm ready for a change from the NHS.
Unfortunately we still have no visa and have not sold the house, so we don't have a definite date for going yet.
Where abouts are you going?

 

Hi Kate
Thanks for the reply. I've got a job in Strathpine as a Unit Manager (which is what I am now) so I was lucky as they usually only want staff nurses. It's a private hospital owned by Healthscope but the salary is the same as here so I'm expecting a better standard of living!
I'm still waiting on my visa- they took the money for it on the 10th March and will be renting my house out so I'm good to go. I'm supposed to work a 12 week notice here which I've started and which "officially" ends at the end of May but will go before if the visa arrives.
I've done tonnes of homework on this move and feel well prepared. I've already enrolled my 10 year old daughter in school and spoken to the Head. I've opened a bank account with ANZ as its easier to do from over here and a new mobile sim pack so I'm good to go when I get there to ring letting agents!Try Google earth if you haven't already as it gives you great close-up satelite pics!
I intend to rent in Bracken Ridge on the North East side of Brisbane (about 17 km from the CBD) as I didn't fancy leaving the Brisbane suburbs for the "shires".
I've had some nursing experience when I worked in Adelaide 13 years ago and yes they are behind which is quite refreshing in our field and much less P.C.!! Where abouts do you work over here and in what speciality? I'm in forensics in a medium secure unit but will be working in a general open acute ward over there.

 

Brisbane

Hi there
Just wanted to say hello to all of you that are hoping to come out. We arrived on 31 Dec 2007 and have settled in pretty quickly. I've met a good mix of Aussies and Brits through school, my husband works in an office, most of his colleagues are Aussie. He had a good laugh today with his Aussie colleagues by going in to work wearing his kilt! You'll find them very friendly, I'm sure.

If any of you want to ask questions about life in Brisbane, fire away. We bought a house pretty quickly, having researched areas before we came out. We spoke to as many people as poss in the area (Mango Hill) and decided that we would be happy here. Now we are in our house, and have a phoneline and broadband, it makes life seem more 'normal' again.

We're loving life out here, once we have finally unpacked we will be out there every weekend possible discovering the area. There's so much to do, it's a beautiful place, we are happy with the school, my husband now has a permanent job, so it's all coming together.

:smile: It's a great life out here, this area in particular has all you need so a simple life. Good luck with your journey!
Susie.

 

Hi Mags,
I work as a CPN team manager for older people in the UK and have been in community for 10 years now. I don't know how easy it will be to get a CPN job in Oz but I'm willing to try anything for a change at the moment. I've been advised that it will be easier for me to get temporary contracts to begin with, which I don't mind. I am quite happy to working as a staff nurse even though I have been a sister for 8 years now. I think I am a community nurse at heart though so would't last long in in-patients! Where is the unit where you will be working, is it in the city centre?
It sounds as though you will be getting there much sooner than me, so I would be really interested to hear your first impressions. The being less PC thing seems really strange when you are not used to it - I can't remember the last time I heard our doctors being referred to as psycho-geriatricians (we were told it was not PC when I was training almost 20 years ago) but in Oz it is perfectly acceptable. Still, I am not slating Oz nursing, as from all I have read so far, I think overall they are providing a better service than we are sadly able to do in the ailing NHS.
Kate

 

Hi susie,
Thanks for that. I will probably have more questions nearer the time but at the moment nothing is happening regarding our visa or our house sale. I really hope we will be joining you in sunny Brisbane before our next long, dark winter comes around....