| Author/Date | Message | Action | Ls&Paul
16 Oct 2008
| With much excitement, amazement and a touch of fear - Here is my Rekkie. Let me begin by telling you how fast 'n furious our trip was - since our Sept school holidays in South Africa are only 10 days! For most part we just needed to validate our visa's and just take a peek at the country. We managed 8 flights in 12 days. Think the airways could give a special prize just for having squeezed in sooo many miles in such a short period of time?
25 Sept
Arrived in Sydney, didn't spend anytime in the city, but just the feel, size of the airport, and the demeanour of the people told you volumes. You had entered a huge bussling city.
25-28 Brisbane, South of the River to Gold Coast
Arrived in Brisbane - Quantus needed to keep our feet firmly on the ground by mislaying 1 of our only 2 suitcases. When I insisted back home on travelling light with the 4 of us, I didn't quite mean "that light"! We arranged and collected our hired vehcle which cost us $29 / day. (Alpha car hire) We also spoke very kindly to our Garmin - (since she was going to be our saving grace over the next few days). Oh! and also wispered to the children that (Enough was enough) as the close confinds on the aeroplane rides and the tired spirits made them rather fractious. We then proceeded to drive about 30 minutes out of Brisbane - west - to a new and developing suburb called Moggill. All the homes have that new square Tuscan look. This area has a lovely feel to it, not in the city centre yet just a short bus or train ride into town. The following few days we spent in Mt Gravatt slightly south of the river in an older, established part of the region - at Mt Gravatt Motel less than $100 per night for the 4 of us(and which had no star rating - which at first made us very nervous) but there was no need for alarm all was neat, clean and tidy.(We even got to spend some time with the Motel managers having a few VB's with them - local beer - Victoria Bitters) Each day we travelled to a different area, ie. Lone Pine Koala Park in Lone Pine on the Brisbane River with a Ferry to cross back and forth and through a few of the more central Brisbane suburbs ie. Jindalee, Fig Treet Pocket, etc These areas along the Brissie river are very serene and beautiful (I could picture myself here!) May need a few million more however since it is not the most reasonable of area's. (Location, Location, Location)
What you do notice is that in most of these suburbs you have homes along the river edge and homes two or three roads back off the river and after that it is acerage where there are small farms with horses and livestock. So maybe in time to come more folk will build homes here. I will tell you that many of the homes in the older more estabvlished areas of Brissie are the Wooden Queenslanders - I include a picture of one undergoing some renovations. Can not say I am wild about them! The streets are clean and although some things are not brand new, it all works. The transport system and roads all work timeously and properly. Everyone has a job to do and they are a friendly bunch of people. The amount of new road, bridge and rail building going on everywhere is sure proof of a country going forward and developing. Maybe creating a few more jobs for the Aussiemovers! Paul, went to an employment agency for interest and enquired re. jobs for electricians - before he could finish asking they were wanting to contact clients for interviews and prices per hour. So "sparkies" take heart there is work for you out there. We travelled down to Wynnum, Manly and Jacobs Well right down to the Gold Coast, Coomera. Wynnum and Manly felt good to all in the vehicle. (Which was a refreshing experience with two bored kids in the car! They truely made me understand the Shrek movie better - where Donkey annoyingly kept asking - "Are We There Yet?") Gold Coast is lovely with lots of people doing all the beach activities ie. Surfing, sailing, boating and kite surfing -do not forget the fishing! I do not think Paul passed up one opportunity to stop and ask a fisherman, "What do you catch here, and have you caught any today?" The Water World, Sea World and Movie World - (Known to everyone as The World's) they are fantastic (entrance fee of $64 per person) with our poor rand, dollar exchange it cost us R1500 just to go into one of the worlds - You can swim with the Dolphins and ride on some Death Defying Roller Coasters which were invented by people that were suffering from depression and did not want a long life. If the ride does not kill you, your heart will! If you choose to live here you will feel like you are permanently on holiday.
29-1 Townsville
You may need to look on your map for this one (it is below Cairns in the North). Well a lovely place with beautiful beaches that look like you are on a tropical island. The water is a beautiful light blue and it has a quaint little town. Which we were told by all - gets very hot and very humid. We had a tempreature of 29C at 7am in the morning, and it is only Spring! The boulevards are well used by the folk walking, again everything works and is clean and tidy. The downside here is that half of Australia's deadliest things live here! The months from Oct to March bathing is done in netted areas for those who are fool-hardy and determined enough to insist on swimming at sea. This is to stop the folk being stung by the deadly Box Jellyfish and some other nasty little individual known to the locals as the "Stinger" (it has a Strange Botanical name that nobody can pronounce). The deadliest snakes live in their neck of the woods and yes, when asking our friends that live here - "Have you seen any snakes?" The answer was "Oh! Yes". To add to this great Motily Crew of meanies are the Salties, these crocodiles you find at sea and in all the rivers and creeks. However, it was here that we got to see a Kangaroo in the wild alongside the road while driving to the Fish Farm - Yes Fishing - we could not resist an opportunity to fish!! Both Byron and Brittany caught 11 Barramundi each in a very short space of time. This really blew their hair back!!!
1-2 Brisbane North of the River
Back in Brissie again, was almost glad to be back, as it had the comfortable feeling of comming home. We stayed in Redcliffe in a beautiful new upmarket Motel (La Vida on Anzac) We travelled arround the north to Scarborough (It has the best fresh and cooked fish and chip market ever, at the Marina), to North Lakes right up to Bribie Island etc. Again closer to Brisbane is older more established areas and the newer homes and suburbs are in the new developing growth areas ie. North Lakes. There are many schools dotted around everywhere both North and South and many hospitals too serving the different areas. There is however very definately areas that are good to live in and others to avoid. You must chat to a local and ask them about a few of the areas you like before making any decisions as there are a few areas here and there that are not as good for you as some. The locals are very kind and friendly and are keen to advise you where not to stay! This is not a secret they do not share.
3 Perth
Arrived in Perth, and just drove through Perth a little to visit some friends. Can not tell you much, other that it is a tranquil and newer city than the East Coast. I am of course biased here about somethings, since some of the most awesome Aussiemove friends live here and we had a lovely 1 day with them.
In short I (Linda) feel drawn to South and Central Brisbane and Paul to the North of the River to Bribie Island. You will have to keep watching our Blog space to see who gets to stay where!
If fishing is the only criteria for a decision then we both win, as you can fish in the rivers, creeks and sea and there is a lot of all three here. |    
| AudreyS
16 Oct 2008
| Hey there,
Great report, it looks to me that you will not be moving to Perth then? Well, we will just have to visit you guys.
E-mail us and fill us in on what is happening on your side.
Great to see you back on the site.
Cheers,
Selwyn |    
| Tracy&John
26 Oct 2008
| Thanks for the report. I'll definitely catch up with your blog asap. We are heading to Brisbane (if the house ever sells) and it was heartwarming to hear sparky jobs are aplenty, because that's John's job.
We'll he heading out in Feb to validate, unless that illusive millionaire snaps up our home before then.
Thanks again.
Tracy |
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| | Photos (click for full size version - approx 35kb) | 
so many chocolates so little time! 
A Queenslander
Lone Pine Koala Park
Got it!
Manly Habour
Do It Yourself!
A mild one
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