Best place to live in Brisbane

[caleb2003]

Hey looking for some advice on where to settle when I arrive in Bris in 2 months or so.

Need to know from people where they think the best places for young families are around Bris, sunshine Coast etc, need places with good schools (primary).

I am coming from the UK (please don't hold that against me!) but researching areas on the britishexpats sites is a bit fruitless as they generally want to form brit communities (mostly in Bayside) and I'm not interested in that, just want to know from people that know the areas for years.

We have got some distant rellies in Coolum Beach so we'll have a look there but it seems a little remote at least on the map!!

Forgive me for intruding the trading chat but its kinda important to me

Thanks for any constructive info.

 

[Mouse]

Re: best place to live Brisbane

Hi there,

How old are your kids? I live on acreage at Sheldon in the Redlands and think this is the best place

I love it because we are surrounded by trees, clean air, good friendly neighbours (who actually talk to us), and have an almost non existant crime rate here.

The only downside is for them to socialise, unless there are other kids in your street, you will need to drive them to friends places etc.

cheers
Mouse

 

[caleb2003]

Re: best place to live Brisbane

hi, they will be 2 and 5 in Jan.

The crimefree aspect is a good point as we are moving from a relatively crime free village (although its had its fair share of wife killing murders for some bizarre reason,,, Not mine though.. yet!!) so wouldn't really wish for a place where iron bars on the windows are needed

We did come across some nice looking places in Mt Cotton which sems to be in redlands bit not sure how the schools are
ta

 

[aobed]

Re: best place to live Brisbane

Hi there,

There are many great places to live in Queensland. The sunshine coast would be fantastic, however finding work (particularly in the professional arena) can be difficult. I work in I.T. and the Brisbane market itself is quite small in comparision to Melbourne / Sydney. But you can't knock it from the perspective of lifestyle.

 

[alankew]

Re: best place to live Brisbane

Caleb we have been here for 4 1/2 years and it truly is the lucky country.Personally i think friends who are ex pats is a good thing however its also good to have Aussie friends.If you have some areas in mind post them up and ask peoples opinions.When you move be prepared to travel unless you move into a planned estate(North Lakes,Springfield Lakes etc)These estates are like mini towns(North Lakes is going to have 20000 people living there but has shops,schools,swimming pool,BBQs,parks on your doorstep-we dont live there but i can see the attraction).Dont be seduced by the sunshine-I was a telephone engineer in Wolves and the most rundown estates looked ok when the sun was shining.We live in Cashmere on a new estate and although we love it it is about 7kms to the nearest shops-bit of a walk for a paper-not like in your village!Doesnt sound a lot but you need to use your car all the time and although petrol is relatively cheap($1 ish)you will find yourself converting to pounds all the time and thinking how cheap things are which can be a quick way of blowing your money.If you have a job,ask people at work there opinions of areas-doesnt sound as though you are working as you mentioned Brisbane,Coolum etc-bit of a commute from one area to another.Kawana Waters is supposed to be nice(Sunshine Coast).My pet dislike is the traffic cops,they never caution you,always a fine.We have 7 tickets between us in the time we have been here-drove for 20 years in England with only 1 ticket!Any more info just ask,Good Luck.Alan

 

[Mouse]

Re: best place to live Brisbane

At 2 and 5 your kids would love it out here.

Mt Cotton is 5 mins from here. I'm not sure if they all have town water and cable internet there though, also I think the school is only a small one. I'm also not sure on how good the bus services are out there.

A benefit of Mt Cotton is that it could be the next area around here to be developed, so you might be able to make a profit on property values. Though, as always do your own research that's just my thinking.

cheers
Mouse

 

[caleb2003]

Re: best place to live Brisbane

Tx for the comments up to now.
As regards area, I'm looking to break free from working for others and start a business or 2 so am a little undecided on area but ideally would like to be commutable to brisbane cbd if I need to fall back on my telecoms skills.

Personally I don't want to go near the big esates as I've seen similar developments in England albeit on a smaller scale now have a fair few social problems with bored teenagers etc. Prefer to be a little bit out of it as we are now but your right 7km to the shops is a bit of a jog!
Areas I've heard about up now include the bayside areas in the south, as mentioned Mt Cotton (although if theres no broadband then thats out, good tip on the properies though!!)
Manly
Further north, Redcliffe (who have been very helpful sending business literature), Deception Bay, Albany Creek.

Any other suggestions would be great.

Many thanks

 

[caleb2003]

Re: best place to live Brisbane

Personally i think friends who are ex pats is a good thing however its also good to have Aussie friends.

I agree and would welcome friends who are expats or from wherever but I can't say I agree with those that create little britain communities, I just hope its not gone as far as some areas in Spain which are full of english fry up Cafes, alright for some but not for us.

 

[spottygoose]

Re: best place to live Brisbane

The Sunshine Coast would be a great place to live and raise kids, would depend what line of work you are in. Some commute to brisbane - there is a train from Landsborough soon to be extended i believe but I wouldn't want to travel so far.

In bris. i recommend the inner and outer west suburbs - toowong, graceville, chelmer or if you prefer acreage pullenvale, brookfield - these areas can be more expensive but coming from pommy land will be like winning lottery once you convert those pounds.

 

[spottygoose]

Re: best place to live Brisbane

I agree and would welcome friends who are expats or from wherever but I can't say I agree with those that create little britain communities, I just hope its not gone as far as some areas in Spain which are full of english fry up Cafes, alright for some but not for us.

"Little Britain" communities could be scary - no Vicky Pollards wanted!!!!

 

[caleb2003]

Re: best place to live Brisbane

"Little Britain" communities could be scary - no Vicky Pollards wanted!!!!

Some people on britexpats sites are reporting its already started in Perth where theres a fair few chav (UK)yobs hanging round shops, nice slice of British culture for you!!

 

[son of baglimit]

Re: best place to live Brisbane

is this an oxymoron ?

 

[anon]

Re: best place to live Brisbane

Caleb, I'd recommend that you have a good look at the Bayside suburb of Cleveland, which a century or so back was almost chosen to be Queensland's capital. Right on Moreton Bay, clean and green. Lots of flowering trees at the moment, though the drought has not been kind to them. Mostly individual housing with not too many blocks of units. Peaceful and not known to be affected by much crime. Good rail to CBD taking about 50 minutes. A good 80 kpm dual carriageway to outskirts of old Brisbane. 30 k from Cleveland to CBD. Lots of shopping malls and wife tells me there are lots of schools. Two good hospitals. There is a fair bit of light industry at Capalaba which is about 6k west of Cleveland on the way to Brisbane.

My wife has a web site (allagraphics.omaroo.net) where you will be able to get some views of the district and of some wildlife.

anon

 

[caleb2003]

Re: best place to live Brisbane

Caleb, I'd recommend that you have a good look at the Bayside suburb of Cleveland, which a century or so back was almost chosen to be Queensland's capital. Right on Moreton Bay, clean and green. Lots of flowering trees at the moment, though the drought has not been kind to them. Mostly individual housing with not too many blocks of units. Peaceful and not known to be affected by much crime. Good rail to CBD taking about 50 minutes. A good 80 kpm dual carriageway to outskirts of old Brisbane. 30 k from Cleveland to CBD. Lots of shopping malls and wife tells me there are lots of schools. Two good hospitals. There is a fair bit of light industry at Capalaba which is about 6k west of Cleveland on the way to Brisbane.

My wife has a web site (allagraphics.omaroo.net) where you will be able to get some views of the district and of some wildlife.

anon

Thanks for that, some of the pictures your wife has got on that site are outstanding, I hope for my photography to get near that someday!!