Brisbane Boring?????

[Sibella]

We live in the UK and up to now I haven't liked it one bit and wanted to move to Oz. But we are have a lovely british summer with sunlight until 9:00pm and green green grass and trees and not too hot just nice and Pimms and picnics, so I am having a few second thoughts.

Also I have been reading the laments of UK'ers who are either moving back to the UK or are misrable in Oz who complain about being very bored.

They say there is not much to do there except for going to the beach, mall, etc.

Do you guys agree??

Also they complain about having much worse pay than in the UK and worse quality of living as they are earning less, etc.

And where do you go on holiday after being spoiled with the whole of Europe on your doorstep?

Please motivate and inspire me!!

[Oryx]

We live in the UK and up to now I haven't liked it one bit and wanted to move to Oz. But we are have a lovely british summer with sunlight until 9:00pm and green green grass and trees and not too hot just nice and Pimms and picnics, so I am having a few second thoughts.

Also I have been reading the laments of UK'ers who are either moving back to the UK or are misrable in Oz who complain about being very bored.

They say there is not much to do there except for going to the beach, mall, etc.

Do you guys agree??

Also they complain about having much worse pay than in the UK and worse quality of living as they are earning less, etc.

And where do you go on holiday after being spoiled with the whole of Europe on your doorstep?

Please motivate and inspire me!!

What is it that you are looking for?

"Except going to the beach"? What do they define as going to the beach? have they heard about fishing, diving, boating, surfing, The Great Barrier Reef?

What is it that they do in the UK that they cannot do in Brisbane?

Where do you go on holiday? What about the rest of Australia. New Zealand, The South Pacific Islands, Singapore, the rest of Asia etc. Maybe not as close to Australia as Europe is to the UK but still within easy flying distance.

[Sibella]

Hiya,

This is not a serious topic, I was just wanting to find out what people in Brisbane do daily and at weekends, etc. I am at home with my children so my weekdays are normally driving kids around, visting the park, pool etc which I am sure is the same in Oz.

What we do over weekends -

For example, as the UK is small and everything close together - a day out for us could mean any one of the following within an hour's drive:

Visit a 1000 year old castle

Go to the beach (lacklustre as it is)

Take the train to London and go to museum / market / south bank / galleries / river / theatre ...

Go to a theme park

Picnic by a lake / river

Visit the zoo / aquarium / monkey world etc.

Holiday - anywhere in Europe really - we drove to France last year, planning Itally this year.

We are not really a beachy type of family - we like it on holiday but not so keen on being in the sun and heat that much.

But we do like the lifestyle part of Australia - it seems the house sizes and the looks of them are a bit more of what we were used to in South Africa.

[MannyT]

Hi Sibella

After living in Guildford (been there), you will think that you have arrived in heaven when you get to Brisbane/Queensland.

The Barrier Reef, Fraser Island, Whitsundays, Stradbroke Island, Gold Coast, Australian Zoo, Glass House mountains, Sunshine Coast (Noosa!!!! etc), Port Douglas etc etc.

This is gods own country.......... it doesn't get much better.

Enjoy!

Manny

Edited July 17, 2008 by MannyT

[Jordy]

I read thru some of the posts on the expat site. What struck me was the comments about Australia being so crappy and horrible and how they cant wait to get back to the UK. Then I read thru this site the exact opposite was said of how great Aus is and how wonderful it is and how they would never go back.

One can conclude one of two things here:

1. Either it is one of perspective in comparison to where u came from. ie South Africa with its crime, racism etc is so horrible that Aus is wonderful in comparision versus the UK is a nice place that Aus really isnt that much better than the UK or

2. The difference between the UK and Aus is too great to make the transition whereas South Africa and Aus share enough similarities to make it an easier transition.

What ever the reasons - the UK expat site moans and groans about Aus and the SAAus site sings its praises.

[Brissy Bessies]

What summer in the UK?? Ooooh, you're talking about the 2 week of humidity in August? If that's good enough to keep you going then good for you but, if you're into bringing your children up in the sunshine 365 days a year then I suggest you reconsider....

[Naarch]

Whether you enjoy a place or not usually simply depends on your own attitude towards it. It's a big change for everyone, but if you're openminded about the whole experience you should enjoy it regardless of the challenges it brings. I must sound like a bit of a hippie now...peace then!

[choog]

I read thru some of the posts on the expat site. What struck me was the comments about Australia being so crappy and horrible and how they cant wait to get back to the UK. Then I read thru this site the exact opposite was said of how great Aus is and how wonderful it is and how they would never go back.

One can conclude one of two things here:

1. Either it is one of perspective in comparison to where u came from. ie South Africa with its crime, racism etc is so horrible that Aus is wonderful in comparision versus the UK is a nice place that Aus really isnt that much better than the UK or

2. The difference between the UK and Aus is too great to make the transition whereas South Africa and Aus share enough similarities to make it an easier transition.

What ever the reasons - the UK expat site moans and groans about Aus and the SAAus site sings its praises.

I would of added a no 3. Whinging poms.

[sa2uk2oz]

We live in the UK and up to now I haven't liked it one bit and wanted to move to Oz. But we are have a lovely british summer with sunlight until 9:00pm and green green grass and trees and not too hot just nice and Pimms and picnics, so I am having a few second thoughts.

Also I have been reading the laments of UK'ers who are either moving back to the UK or are misrable in Oz who complain about being very bored.

They say there is not much to do there except for going to the beach, mall, etc.

Do you guys agree??

Also they complain about having much worse pay than in the UK and worse quality of living as they are earning less, etc.

And where do you go on holiday after being spoiled with the whole of Europe on your doorstep?

Please motivate and inspire me!!

We have lived in the UK and now in Australia. I hope you are not offended by my reply.. it's just what i read into your post..

For us, we didn't need anyone to motivate or inspire us to move here, as we came over to enjoy a similar lifestyle to what we had in South AFrica.

We are never bored here, find there is so much more to do on the weekends - camping, going to rugby,cricket matches, beach, braai's with friends..

theme parks... or just relaxing in the garden in the sun!!!

I think if you need inspiration to come and live here.. it probably isn't something you really want to do.

Good luck with your decision

[UK2AUS]

Hi Sibella

We are currently living in the UK and have been here for 10 years now. We had our PR visa approved in February of this year and went to Brisbane to validate our visas at the end of May. My following comments are ONLY on my observations for the short time that we were in Brisbane.

It's really quite simple there was NOTHING we didn't like about Brisbane. The Gold Coast was awesome and to put my feet on the warm sand after 10 years was a truly wonderful experience. The only negative we found was Quantas itself.

The visa process as I'm sure EVERYONE will agree is long, hard and expensive (as we used consultants). In a nut shell if the UK was as grand as some people make it out to be we really won't have wasted our money, caused ourselves undue stress and quite literally turned our lives upside down to make such a big move at this point in our lives.

The British summer. Sorry... Really what summer. The last good summer we've had here was a couple of years ago and yes it was brilliant but it only lasts a couple of months and then it's back to the cold. Last year we hardly had any summer. As a family we enjoy the outdoor life and being locked up in a house really isn't us. You see we don't do the whole pub thing nor do we holiday in Europe. In South Africa we never went on holidays outside of the country so moving to the UK (even with the rest of Europe on your door) really just doesn't appeal to us. About 8 years ago we decided to take our daughter to Disneyland Paris for a week and if that was anything to go by for the rest of Europe you can keep it. We didn't have a very pleasant experience. I know Spain and all the rest of it is only a short flight away and I'm sure it would be grand to holiday there but we don't want to just enjoy the good weather for a short period whilst on holiday when we can have it all the time.

We come from Durban in South Africa which has fab weather pretty much all year round as our winters are very mild in comparison to other parts of SA and I believe Brisbane is as good as.

Having said all this Sibella I've met very few born and bred British who don't have the same complaints as us and this isn't even our country. No given the choice then Australia is defnitely for us.

The UK is so very expensive that you are literally working to survive and make ends meet. We want to work to have a good life and Australia we are sure will provide that.

I can't see how Brisbane can be boring. We were run off our feet whilst we were over there and if you make things happen and make the effort to do things I really can't see how it can be boring. It is after all what each one of us makes of it.

Good luck Sibella with your decision. Ours was easy and we had and continue to have no doubt in our mind. Brisbane is going to be our new home.

Regards

Jenny

[Sibella]

I read thru some of the posts on the expat site. What struck me was the comments about Australia being so crappy and horrible and how they cant wait to get back to the UK. Then I read thru this site the exact opposite was said of how great Aus is and how wonderful it is and how they would never go back.

One can conclude one of two things here:

1. Either it is one of perspective in comparison to where u came from. ie South Africa with its crime, racism etc is so horrible that Aus is wonderful in comparision versus the UK is a nice place that Aus really isnt that much better than the UK or

2. The difference between the UK and Aus is too great to make the transition whereas South Africa and Aus share enough similarities to make it an easier transition.

What ever the reasons - the UK expat site moans and groans about Aus and the SAAus site sings its praises.

As Jordy says, that is exactly what I picked up!! On the british expats site 90% of them are extremely negative about their Australian experience (but then once they are back in the UK lots of them go back to Oz again!).

And here everyone raves about Australia.

So I am confused as I had lots of South Africa (never been outside of SA until the day we moved to the UK!) and a little bit of Europe.

I think I am probably just getting used to England now and as I am a taurus I just want to stay where I am (what!!! Move again!!)

But it was great just driving our car on the ferry and then driving off the other side and being in France, sitting on a beach (in France), eating breton pancakes and drinking cider in Concarneau (in France), walking by the river in Quimper (in France!), visiting Mont St. Michel (in France), buying groceries and asking for instructions but nobody understands you because - guess what - you're in France!!

Sorry but it was just soooo exciting as never in my life in South Africa did I dream of travelling to Europe and here we are - two little children in tow but travel we will!!

So that's why I am hesitant, because I still want to see so many places and I know its better to make the move to Oz now while our kids are still small, but...

[Alrae Goodall]

Hi

Perhpas all the happy Brits do not belong to the forum - my husband works with about three guys who have moved from the UK and all very happy with Brisbane.

Clearly everyone's needs do differ and it is not always easy to determine exactly what they are.

For me personally grey skies vs sunny skies is a huge factor. Not so for everyone.

Had an interesting chat with an Australian who had spent three years in Birmingham and now returned to Brisbane. His comments were that he LOVED the UK.

Cold, did not bother him, they rugged up and got out and about.

Public transport was superior and he personally just loved the historical feel. The oldest building in Aus is ... well, no comparison to UK and Europe.

And of course, there are many places to visit from Aus, but No, you cannot just take the ferry over to Europe!

In conclusion, he did add that they were there on a contract and he did have to acknowledge that if he had been paying for accomodation etc, life would have been more stressful.

Just a few more points of view to help you decide what it is you looking for.

Regards Alrae

[Retha_hhr]

If you do not like th eheat, maybe look at Tasmania. But do your visa, get the PR, validate it and then finish your travels in Europe if that is what you want to do. Then when done, move to Aus before your PR expires. This is also an option.

Regards,

Retha

[sa2uk2oz]

Hi Sibella

we too enjoyed the proximity of the UK to Europe, and spent holidays in

Greece, Cyprus, Canary Islands, Spain, France etc..as well as regular trips back to SA each year.

however, we felt that the time between each holiday was spent waiting for the next, and

we were wishing our lives away to some degree.

Since being here almost a year now, we enjoy each day, haven't got any yearnings to go on holiday

as the weather here on the gold coast is like being on holiday all year round.

I think you seriously need to consider why you would want to live in Australia from a personal point

of view, as everyone has different reasons for coming to live here. I also feel we fit in more over here

than we did in the UK? any other people feel that way?

Good luck.. and if you do decide to come the gold coast is a great place to raise a family.

[Sam]

We spoke to a Pom friend who recently went back to UK after a few yrs in Aus. Before his trip he frequently whined about Telstra, the television programs (lack of BBC quality), the heat, the train system not being on time... and after his trip he whined about the lack of variety cafe foods, pubs being the only social activity at night, smog of London... If you've adopted this whinging spirit then you'll probably do the same thing over here. Who knows, you'll have to come and see for yourselves.

[CandyGirl]

Hi Sibella,

Just wanted to briefly outline our experience in answer to your question...

We have just returned to Twickenham after living on the Gold Coast for over a year. We went out on a 457 with a 2 year old and 4 month old in tow. Thought we had closed the door on UK and was soooo excited to have a 5 year dream realised. We were pretty happy in the GC mostly and only had a few bouts of homesickness for the UK (we had lived there for 10 years previously). There were a few things we missed about UK but it turned out they were mostly in our heads and things that change as you change iykwim? For example our pallets had changed and food that we thought we missed/craved will no longer tastes like we remember it. Guess you know what I mean after leaving SA to go to UK. Oz is as close to SA as it gets - but it is also very different from SA - one just has to be prepared for that and embrace it. I could have done that more last year!

We had to return to the UK as my husbands company all but collapsed. He chose to leave rather than go down with the sinking ship. If we had more than a months warning we could have found another 457 visa sponsor. However, we were unable to find one in such a short timeframe. Also Freespirit were unable to issue these visas (although they said they were able to help) due to the change in govt - they were waiting for Kevin Rudd to approve something or other...

I would give anything to get back on a plane this minute and go back to living in Brisbane/Gold Coast - it was the happiest I have been in the last 11 years! I knew after being back for less than a week that we had taken the wrong turnoff! This grey sky business here in the UK just does not lift my spirits. We will return to Brisbane one day and then will be very happy to firmly lock the door on the UK behind us!

Sorry, I dont really seem to explained why Brisbane is NOT boring. Only to say that its a wonderful place to raise a happy family and have exposure to some vitamin D which is sorely lacking here in UK.

Good luck! :0)