Calling all ex Brits over in Brisbane!

Me and my partner are looking to move to Brisbane in the New Year. The poor English weather and equally miserable economy being two of the main reasons. Im looking for some help to a few questions which i appreciate may have been answered elsewhere but i can be quite specific in what we are looking for.

A bit about us; I am 25 and my partner is 27. I am looking at jobs in Construction with a salary of circa $100k/yr and she is an Occupational Therapist (not sure about salaries though). We live in Liverpool city centre at the moment but dont really make the most of it (we dont go to gigs, meals out often enough to justify the location but do enjoy having the shops within a 10 minute walk and train). We have no children or pets but do have a car which we intend to leave garaged in the UK with family. I am English, she is Northern Irish (and yes, it gets worse when she has a drink!). So:

1. Where is a nice place to live? Either looking at a city apartment or a house on the nice suburbs within commutable distance of Brisbane centre. Likely cost?
2. What are clothes/food/rates like over there? Comparable to the UK? UK x 2?
3. Are the Australians as friendly as people say they are?
4. What are you experiences so far? Apart from leaving family and friends in the UK, what are the most difficult things to deal with?
5. What is the lifestyle like? I currently leave the house at 6.30am, travel 1.5hrs to work, leave at 5pm, get home at 6.30pm (on a regular day). Do you start early, finish early in QLD? Generally speaking we want to be able to enjoy ourselves during the week (beach, walks... me play golf!)
6. Are there any unexpected financial or lifestyle surprises to be expected when we get over there?

Thanks for your help guys!


George.

 

G'day,

I think that the city is a fantastic place. New, young, vibrant with everything close to hand and yet the countryside and coast are so near. When we moved, we rented in Woolloongabba for 6 months before deciding on settling in Cleveland. Loved it there; the South Bank on our doorstep and the CBD not just a short busride away but also walkable. It's a very easy place to get to grips with. Places in and around the city to consider would be Paddington, New Farm, Newstead, West End, Kangaroo Point. Each has it's own flavour. For example West End is very bohemian and a bit avant garde, whilst Kangaroo Point has a lot of high rise apartment blocks and the Storey Bridge hotel if you like live music on a Sunday arvo. A popular meeting place for poms is the Pig & Whistle in Eagle St. And if you like your sports, the Suncorp Stadium is just brilliant (soccer, rugby league and union), not forgetting the 'Gabba (AFL and cricket).

As for renting, generally the majority of places will not come furnished. However, in and around the city there are more furnished apartments. $500-$600 pw is a reasonable average, but it's horses for courses and may depend on how deep your pockets are! You will not pay council rates/tax and the rent will include an allowance for water. Parking is extremely expensive, especially in the CBD. Overall, things are laid back and very freindly and casual. The working day starts early with breakfast meetings in coffeeshops from 07:00; a lot of business is done over a coffee or light lunch.

Hope this helps

 

Hi George,

We have been here in brissy since the end of July. It took a little bit of getting used to but i definitely think this was the best decision for us.
My partner was offered a job and 6 weeks later we were here in Brisbane with 2 suitcases each, living in a hotel and not knowing anyone. There were times in the first couple of weeks that i wanted to get on the next plane home, but after you get over the initial shock and homesickness, you realise that Brisbane is a fab place to live.

In response to your questions:
1: we live in Kangaroo Point - its quite quiet, but we are so close to eagle street and transport links are fab...Ashley can get to his work within 20 mins door to door. We looked at New Farm, Tenerife, Bulimba, Paddington etc which all seemed nice, but the views in our apartment sold Kangaroo Point to us!
2: When we first got here we spent every minute comparing costs to the UK...It was a shock. Things seem much more expensive here when you are living off UK money, but as soon as you start getting paid in $ it makes the transition easier... Food seems to be like buying everything not on offer. for example 4 fresh chicken breast are $10.90 = roughly 6quid. Some things are really expensive and some reasonable, but the quality of the food here is much better than in the UK. Clothes....hmmm! So far I've not been impressed with the clothing offering...they do seem expensive compared to UK and not that great. in my experience they seem to be designer and expensive or really cheap not great quality. i am sure that there is a middle ground but i am yet to find it! However, Next, Topshop, Asos (i think) and a few others all ship to Oz! ;o)
3: In my experience, Aussies are very helpful and polite but i wouldn't say overly friendly, in a 'lets go get a drink/find out more about you/become friends kinda way... I have done a bit of temping work since i have been here and people aren't really interested in what you do, why you are here etc, but that could be because i was a temp?! a few people that i have met have had similar experiences....but we have all been in temp jobs. My partner has made some Aussie friends in his work tho....i guess there is no general rule.
4: We got here on a saturday and Ash started work on the monday... As i didn't have work i found it very hard for the first few weeks. We were living in a hotel, i didn't know anyone, sightseeing isn't fun on your own etc, and i missed my friends and family. However, once i'd found us an apartment i started to feel better about thing. Someone told me about Pommes in Oz and Living in Queensland and i signed up and was reassured that there were young (ish) couples in the same situation (at first i felt like everything was geared around young families and we have no children). Once we started meeting people (mostly britts)brisbane started to feel more like home. I do still miss my friends and family heaps, but with Skype, whatsapp msg, Facebook etc its so easy to keep in touch....even if you have to get up/stay up late to chat etc! ;O)
5: We have found that people work hard during the week....Ashley leaves around 7.30am and gets home between 5-6pm. The city is manic during the week but on the weekend the city is fairly quiet... There seem to be quiet a few perks to working in Brisbane too...the company i temped for provided morning tea every wednesday (half hour of tea, coffee, cakes and savouries) and afternoon drinks on a friday (all paid for by the company)!! Where in the UK would you be looked after like that? )
6: No real surprises to mention...It took a while to get used to the cost of things out here, but other than that i would say that Brisbane is a very homely city. There is so much to do close by too, which makes weekends fun.

Hope this is helpful? If you would like any more info, drop me a line....

kerri x