Hi All,
If there our any people out there who are migrating to Oz, especially the Queensland region, we would love to hear from you & if you live within roughly 25 miles of us (we are based near Spalding in Lincolnshire) maybe we could arrange to meet up for a drink & chat about the trials & tribulations of the migration process & also about 'our' new lifes down under 8)

Even if your just seriously considering migrating & have not made the initial step yet, you are also welcome.

Trev & Jamie

 

Just thought I would say hi! What point are you at? We moved over here 3 months ago from Stamford to Brisbane. So almost the same journey as you! Small world!?!?!?! Hayley x

 

Wow an actual Brissie newbee!

Well hi there Haley,
Firstly let me apologises for my delay in replying, it's just been one of those 'hectic' periods, usually i/we reply to messages very promtly.
May i say it is fab to make contact with someone who has recently moved to Brisbane & someone from our side of the UK, as so many on this site seem to be living in Scotland (very odd
So please tell me, how are you both finding life in Brisbane? Do you have family or friends out there?
Are you renting property at the moment, or have you decided to buy?
Which suburb are you living in at the moment Hayley? please tell us how you rate it.

As for us Hayley, well this morning we were advised that we have a case officer
So hopefully within the next month we will be granted our visa's 8) great timing as today is my birthday!

I do hope to hear from you shortly Hayley (if you can drag yourself of the beach of course) & promise to reply much quicker next time around ok :wink:

All the very best

Trev & Jamie

 

Dear Trev and Jamie,

Have just found this site and was amazed to find somebody from this area that is thinking of making the move. We are based in Boston and we have already got our visas but are waiting for our son to do his GCSE's before moving out. Also we have been trying for the last year or so to sell our house and we finally seem to have a buyer (fingers crossed). I notice your message was several months ago so am not sure if you have had your visas granted and have already gone, but would love to hear from you.

We don't know a lot about Brisbane because we were originally going to Perth but have decided that we can't afford to buy a property there, also I think the weather will suit me better in Brisbane.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Tracey, Kevin and Ryan Smith

 

Hi there Tracey & Co,

It is nice to find people so close to our location, that our making the same move as ourselves. 8)

We are in the final stage of our visa application & should receive the 'green light' on our visa's within the next month

We are planning to fly out on holiday to Brisbane around mid May '07 & 'activate' our visa's.
Then hopefully we can make our permanent move to Queensland within the following 12 months.

We have been out to Oz before, spending a few weeks in both Brisbane/Gold coast & Sydney, but we have decided on Brisbane/Queensland as we loved the climate & pace of life there, lots to enjoy, see & do.

Have you decided on where to live in or around Brissie, when your arrive Tracey?

Hope to hear from you soon

Best wishes

Trev & Jamie

 

Hi Jamie and Trev,

We've never been to Brisbane before so don't have any ideas about where to locate, but we had planned on going on a reccie to Adelaide and then on to Brisbane at the end of June beginning of July when Ryan finishes his GSCEs. But now we have (hopefully sold the house) we are in a bit of a dither about whether to just go straight to Brisbane at the end of June and sort out where to settle when we get there. Would be useful to know what areas you thought were good. We had originally decided on Perth and had a reccie there last year and activated our visas then. But after seeing the price of property and how it was going up we knew that we wouldn't be able to afford a property there, seeing as Boston is having a property slump (it has taken us 2 years to get this close to selling our house). We only really started looking at Brisbane a few weeks ago after watching the TV programme Wanted Down Under and thought it looked like a lovely place.

What made you decide on Brisbane?

Great to hear from you.

The Smiths

 

G'day to the Smiths,

Good to hear from you Tracey.
So you haven't had the pleasure of seeing Brisbane for yourselves, as of yet.
Well i can tell you that we decided on Brissie/Queensland over Sydney/New South Wales, at the end of our holiday/reccie a few years ago, due to the cost of property, pace of life & climate, additionally to this you have the Gold Coast & Sunshine Coast within easy reach, with tons of stuff to do & see, Cairns & the Great Barrier Reef a short flight away, along with the gorgeous Whitsunday Islands.
At the end of the day, it depends on what Region/city suits your requirements best.
Perth is a fast developing region, but to isolated for us, Adelaide & Melbourne's climates are to similar to the UK's, no thanks!, Sydney's expensive property & cost of living, so hence Brisbane.
There is no such thing as the perfect place to live, but for us Brisbane ticks a lot of boxes!
As far as recommending areas to live in, well we are planning to activate our visas in May, with our holiday/reccie, we will be talking to estate agents & viewing suburbs as part of pre-migration information gathering exercise, so we can feed back to you in more detail then, meantime i have put some useful links on this site for property & general Brisbane info, so take a look at them as well ok.
If you do decide to move to Oz at the end of June, then it would be best to rent for the first 3 to 6 months until you have a handle on things.
We somehow missed the programme you mentioned 'wanted down under' when was this on? & what channel ? hope you can remember.
We hope that all goes well with your house sale guys & hope to hear from you soon.

Best wishes

Trev & Jamie

 

Hi Trevor and Jamie,

The programme Wanted Down Under was a daytime show on BBC1 for 4 weeks a couple of weeks ago. It was a bit simplistic at times and didn't always tell you much more than you knew already. The format was a bit repetative, but it was interesting to see areas you hadn't already seen such as for us Brisbane and Adelaide. My husband has noticed this week that it is being repeated in the real early morning ie 3 am ish on BBC 1. It is on tonight/morning (Sunday) and for the rest of the week so you could set the video if you wanted to catch it.

Are you going out on the skills visa or one of the other types? What line of work are you in? Kevin is a chef and so has got in on that skills basis. I work as a admin/secretary in a doctors surgery so hopefully I won't find it too hard to find something as well.

If you ever wanted to meet up to tell us some more about your experiences in Brisbane we would be pleased to meet you as you are not too far away.

Tracey

 

Hi there Tracey,

Nice to hear from you again

Thank you for the info on the TV programme, we will try to catch a repeat at some point, or visit the BBC website.

We are applying via the skilled visa route (136a), as i have the required experience in a trade, namely Air Conditioning & Refrigeration.
Jamie has many years of management/accounts experience, although her 'passion' is for legal work.
So i am sure, like yourself, she will find work fairly quickly.

With Kevin being a Chef, i am sure he'd find work very quickly as when we visited Oz before, the papers were always advertizing jobs for occupations such as Chefs,Hairdressers & Trades people.

Any further news on your house sale?

I also think it would be nice to meet up & have a chat, after all you may decide to make Brisbane/Queensland your new home, like ourselves 8)
When is the best time to meet up for you guys? during the week or weekends? Let us know & we can organise something Tracey.

We hope to hear from you soon ok

Best wishes

Trev & Jamie

 

Hi Trev and Jamie,

Still not sure what is happening with the house, but we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Weekends are probably better for us, although as it isn't far an evening would be okay as well. Would really like to hear first hand your thoughts on Brisbane.

Any news on your visa application, how is it going?

Best wishes

Tracey

 

Smell the surf

Hi Tracey,

Weekends are good for us to.
Maybe we could organise something for a saturday afternoon or evening, in the next few weeks, just let us know your availability ok.

You are welcome to come through & visit us, or we can all meet somewhere else, if that is better for you.

I am sure we have a lot of things to chat about & hopefully are visa's will be through by the time we meet up!

Best Wishes

Trev & Jamie

 

Hi Trev and Jamie,

Sorry not too have got back to you sooner, but have had an exciting week Have finally heard that the people that were interested in our house do want it, but they want to be in within 6 weeks :?: That is going to take some doing as we need to find somewhere to rent for a short let

Anyway back to the job in hand of arranging a meeting. We are happy to come to Spalding because it is easier for us to get to Spalding than for you getting into Boston as I don't know if you've heard the traffic situation is appalling at the moment. We are available next weekend or the weekend after, anything after that might be difficult if we are trying to get packed. I don't know how we give out personal details so we can contact you direct.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Tracey and Kevin

 

Bricks & Mortar

Hi Tracey & Co,

Good to hear from you

It's great news on your house sale guys & having to move out in a short space of time puts some pressure on you, but you will get there. :wink:

So Boston's roads are still as bad as i remember them then! :evil: , no prob's then you are welcome to come visit us. We actually stay in Whaplode, do you no it at all :?:

I think that sunday 25th (march) would be best, or saturday 24th, if either fits in with you guys.
Sometime around 1 to 2 pm :?:

I'll confirm this with my other half & then i will supply you with a contact number, later today or tomorrow morning,just text or call to let me now you have it ok.

Look forward to meeting you very soon

Best wishes

Trev & Jamie x

 

Hi Jamie and Trev,

It's all go here, there is stuff everywhere while we try to sort out what we're car booting, what we're taking and what we're dumping!

Anyway Saturday 24th would be great, although could make Sunday if that is better for you, but would really like to keep Sundays free for carbooting.

Hope this fits in with you. We are quite happy to come to Whaplode as long as you give us some directions or your postcode so we can look it up on multimap :?:

Tracey and Kevin

 

Anyone else going from Lincolnshire

Hi
We have just been reading through all your messages to each other and would like to say hello
We are in very early stages of applying for a skilled visa and are also seriously considering Brisbane. Are in Boston, could meet up for chat and a drink sometime, also have friends (2 other couples) in Boston at same stage of emigrating to Adelaide, could make it a bar-b-que to get in practice for when we all get out there!!!!
Hope to hear from you all soon!
Sarah and Neil 8) 8)

 

Abandon ship, abandon ship!, lol.

Hi Sarah & Neil,

It appears that Lincolnshire is giving Scotland a run for it's money, as everybody seems to be leaving from these to places! :lol:

It is nice to hear from you & i hope we can all benifit from the sharing of info & thoughts, that we share on here. :shock:

It sounds like a good plan to hold a 'Barbie', for those couples who are also migrating to Oz, the weather is improving, so maybe we can do something ? 8)

Feel free to drop us a line guys & maybe we can meet up for a chat, somewhere along the line.

Trev & Jamie

 

Details

Hi Tracey,

I have PM'd you with our details, hopefully you receive them ok, if not let me know ok.

You can reach me via - iceman407@btinternet.com also.

TTFN

Trev & Jamie x

 

Hi Trev & Jamie

Thanks for reply, its nice to know there are other people around us heading in the direction of Brisbane, our friends are all going to Adelaide! We are still unsure where to go as we like Adelaide but there are a lot more jobs for Neil in Brisbane, our only concern is he's a welder and the temperatures may get a little hot!!! (Although the properties do tend to come with pools in Brisbane more than they do in Adelaide which will keep the 2 children happy)

It will be great to share info and discuss any questions with you all. We have only just started looking into Brisbane so have read through all the other mails in the forum on areas where to live etc.

Speak to you soon

Sarah and Neil

 

Hi Sarah and Neil

I can't believe how many people from Boston are thinking of going to oz. One of my son's classmates went in February.

We have also thought about Adelaide and are going on a rekkie to Adelaide and then on to Brisbane at the end of June when our son finishes his GCSEs. We have also looked at Perth which we really liked, but Boston house prices don't match up with Perth house prices We are now in a bit of a quandry as we have been trying to sell our house for the past 2 years and when we booked our flights for June we hadn't had a sniff of a buyer. Of course now we have got a buyer we don't know whether to go for good and make Brisbane our final location or come back and make the decision and then go for good then :?

We would love to get together for a BBQ one of my favourite pass times But a drink would be good too

Are you actually in Boston or in one of the villages? We are just before you get to Wyberton.

Good to hear from you.

Tracey and Kevin 8)

 

Hi Tracey and Kevin

It would be great to meet up for a drink, have a chat about oz. We are so undecided about where to go as well, Perth looks fab but far too pricey, Adelaide nice and laid back but we are concerned about lack of employment and then theres Brisbane, only concerns there are the extreme weather conditions in the summer!!! HELP!! its nice to know we not the only ones who don't know where to go! Think if we where in the position you are we'd just go and hope for the best, easy to say though when we have only just started the application process and reality not hit home yet! :lol: :lol: :? :lol:

How long did it take to get your visas through? Did you use an agent, we have used Go Matilda, seem ok so far!

We live just outside Fishtoft, probably take about 3 hours to get to Wyberton at moment with the traffic problems! :x Did you meet up with the other couple, will be great to have others in same situation to talk to. :?:

Is your son looking forward to Oz, we have 2 girls, aged 6 & 3 who can't wait to go but don't really understand!

Sort a date for a drink soon :lol: 8) :lol:

Sarah and Neil