Emigration
to Australia
This little collection is a
combination of emails and notes I’ve written to friends or in reply to posts on
forums with regard to emigration - particularly with Brisbane in
mind. Our family emigrated here from England in Jan 2000. The page still needs structuring and editing
into some nice webpages but for the moment, here it all is in one long document
with headings. I originally created this webpage in 2001, and have put a few
updates in over the years.
If you’d like to be kept
update when this page changes, please send me an email. I've had many many
emails from people thanking me for putting this all up, some of whom we have
kept in contact and some who we have met and some who now live here... Thanks
for all your responses!.... I'm glad it has been of use... and yes... we still
love it here!.
Tim in Brisbane
Arrival time
Perhaps the
best time could perhaps be to arrive is the height of summer, so that your
children start the new year at the end of January along with all of the
other children– just time for your last Christmas and New Year back
home! You would of course arrive in very hot weather, but we found
it OK and our son found having a frozen water bottle with him at school (they
all have them at primary school) compensated for 30+ degrees in the
classroom. It’s such a big change of life that it probably perhaps it
doesn’t really matter when you join because you are bound to settle in and
catch up. I’d certainly aim for a couple of weeks off to get settled for
the kids before starting school. If your home/rental doesn't have aircon then
you may be in for a bit of a shock... but as long as one room has got it, you
should be ok. When we arrived, we didn't have aircon from week 3 to week 6 but
got along with fans just fine.
Of course if
you arrive between April and September, it's going to be cooler and your
children won't experience the incredible change of sitting in a classroom at 35
degrees, with their frozen water bottle sitting next to them on the desk. Don't
worry about the kids though... they seem to hardly notice the change and our 10
yr old son found the heat to be no problem when we arrived in the height of the
summer.
In the last 10
years more and more classrooms have got aircon, but it’s just the luck of the
draw. This year (2010) our oldest has
just gone into a classroom without aircon, but has had it for the last 3 years. However, it doesn’t seem to bother him – as
long as those fans are going you can be quite comfortable at 35 deg.
Humidity and Temperature
Humidity?. I
hear a number of people saying or asking if the climate in
You know when
it's a humid day when you step out of the car and your glasses instantly mist
up! The aircon has made the glasses
freezing cold so condensation forms straight away.
Not one to
like the cold much, (though I do like skiing), we enjoyed hot days in
Note that
above temparatures are the maximum - typically from around 2pm to 4pm, measured
in the shade. Step out into the sun and it's about 10 degrees hotter in the
Summer, and 4 degrees hotter in the winter. In a closed parked car, it can
quickly be 15-20 degrees hotter than the outside air temperature in the summer.
You get used to returning to an oven and driving off with the windows open, fan
blasting, to cool it down - then close the windows and let the aircon do it's work
after a few minutes. Can you do without aircon? Well yes, of course - we have
friends, both OZ and UK expats, without aircon in their cars and it doesn't
seem to be a problem; a friend's broke down and he didn't get around to having
it fixed for 2 months.... we feel you can survive heat more than you can
survive cold!
In spite of
what I heard, that I wouldn't have said Samford is any hotter than anywhere
else and haven't found the beach 40 mins away to be noticeably cooler. However,
I did discuss this with an Ozzy mate (an aircon specialist ) and he confirmed
that it is typically 2 degrees hotter here than say at Aspley just 11 miles
away (8 miles as the crow flies). Well in over 10 years we didn't notice… but
hey….is there really much difference between 34 and 36 ??! Of course, every
area has local temperature variations and elevated areas should get more breeze
(which more than compensates for an extra 2 deg). I've heard a number of
friends saying they had an early morning frost in winter in the village!, but
in 4 years I have never seen one with my lowest outside temperature reading for
the 10 years we’ve been here being 2.8.
Where to Stay in Brisbane if
visiting
House rentals
simply aren't usually available except for long term, usually requesting a year's
rental! Hotels in
I'd spend up
to a week on the Gold Coast at the Mercure Resort (not the Grand Mecure) or a
perhaps 5* hotel on Surfers Paradise (using wotif.com of course to get good rates
$100 a night room), which is good for children. Using the cheap deals on wotif,
you often don't get breakfast included, and at $25 a head it can really add up,
so it's much cheaper to take a stroll to a beachfront cafe and have all you can
eat breakfast for $9 each. While on the Gold Coast, you could go to one
or two theme parks -Dreamworld, Movieword, Seeworld, Wet&Wild..... and also
try and book an appartment in Noosa on the
Spiders and creepycrawlies
My wife was
petrified of spiders in England. Before we were married, a big spider in
her flat in Southampton meant she would scream, and up and leave to go to her
mum's, until I got there to deal with it. When living together, she still
hated any spider in the room and refused to go near letting out a huge scream,
and prefered to get out of the room - my son likewise. These were two big
obstacles to thinking about coming out here.
However, they
really have got used to it, I'd say after 4-6 monhs - and now casually observe
a big spider and allow me to deal with it without panic, which is an amazing
change! I'm sure most people don't like them, but the Huntsmans
aren't dangerous, though I expect they could bite but on the whole all the
creepy crawleys are more afraid of you and tend to stay out of your
way. It's when you go to bed and suddenly see a huge one on the wall that
gives you the creeps! Of course you are meant to shut the screen doors but the
weather is so nice that often you throw windows/doors open and forget about
them. So many times we've come upstairs to bed to find the verandah doors wide
open, at which point we do have a check of the curtains and other places for
creepy crawleys. But really in the first 2.5 years, it's only happened
about 6 times, and it generates a bit of excitement catching the
thing and killing it!. Yes of course they are not nice looking! and I'm sure
very few people actually like them...For the last 8 years my wife doesn’t even
flinch if a large spider is nearby. There's another spider here which is very
creepy looking - cabbage like and light green with a dome for a body. We've
only seen that 3 or 4 times and they are just as easy to catch.
One of the
things you'll notice when you go in the supermarket, as well as the huge
variety of chocolate, is the huge variety of bug sprays! Some barrier spray for
outside helps keep spiders and ants from crawling in, and any general spray
inside slows the spiders down until you can squash them. Those huntsman are
quite bulky... they don't just squash down to nothing... there's quite a bit
left! Once the thing is immobilised, I put toilet paper over it and then smash
it! When we moved in and first looked up at our verandahs, there were little
beige blobs all over it... looking like blobs of chewing gum! We learnt these
were spiders eggs..... and the easy answer... pressure spray... gets rid of
them real quick! It's just another thing to bear in mind when you are clearing
up outside! You can also spray the house, or get it sprayed professionally...
inside and out. Inside, someone comes and sprays cupboards, cracks
everything.... I'm not sure what they use. Outside, they spraw all around the
gutters, under the eaves, under the verandahs etc. It certainly seems to keep
it much clearer of spiders. I have done this myself using "Pidgeon's
Now Redbacks
are the poisonous spiders that you do get sometimes - and they don't look
scary because they are fairly small and thin - yet after a while, you
begin to feel casual about that too..... treating them really only as
significant as a wasp - ie something you avoid but just stay calm and deal with
it if you happen to see one. The main thing to watch for is perhaps look
under your outdoor furniture if you're about to move it. Spray under there too
once in a while... also in the corners of your garage or shed, they like going
there. A couple of years ago, we seemed to be getting quite a few redbacks in
the house, until we found the crack where they were and sprayed inside. We
didn't see any for over a year, then just last week we found one in the garage.
He's disappeared before we could get rid of him so I've left a can of bug spray
nearby, ready for him.
Once my wife
called on the mobile in fright, in our 4th month here, - saying a really fast
and absolutely massive spider had just run across the living room...she claimed
it was as big as a mouse- so I had to come back from my friend's house to find my
wife perched feet up on a chair....and we searched the edge of the living room
for it. I was quite edgy myself having heard the size... but it turned out that
it really was a mouse after all.
Quite
honestly, spiders are easy to deal with and you will find the fear eases up
fast...just spray them to slow them down, then squash them! and you really
won't find too many though it's amazing how far they can stretch a web across
two trees 20 metres apart.
We did have a
spider appear in the car just once as we were about to get back in... and it
started to rain. I had to run back to the supermarket and buy some spray.. then
come back and try and search under the seats. Quite a difficult job as they
know you're after them... but knowing it was in there, there was absoutely no
way we were about to drive anywhere! On that subject... it's a good idea not to
leave the car doors open at home.... and invitation for a snake to come in. Not
that it's likely, just something you don't do !
Now it's the
ants that are the real problem! They all bite... just stand still on the
barefoot for a while, and you could well get bitten. But a large black ant or a
green ant bites painfully and the pain is around 50% of a wasp sting in
intensity. If one gets stuck in your shoes it carries on biting and you soon
know about it ! But it doesn't stop you sitting down for a picnic... but
the moment an ant appears, brush it away quick! You can get "ant
sand" to sprinkle over your brick paths to get rid of them. If your child runs
up crying and obviously been bitten - get their teeshirt off and make sure
there aren't any more ants crawling around. When our daughter was 2 she was
bitten by quite a few for a couple of minutes, crying like mad, until we
realised they were still there and brushed them off!
If you are
actually right by trees - within metres of the property, then you might get
more creepycrawlies. Otherwise I don't think you get more in rural areas... in
fact funnily enough we've not seen a big spider (only the one redback) inside for
6 months. But they are all bigger than in the UK! – just have some spray handy.
Snakes – seen
a few – they are very timid and stay away from you – but don’t approach them
and you’ll be fine. My wife hasn’t seen one in 2.5 years. I saw a python
in the undergrowth – if I was in England I would have called the zoo! In
fact a snake did chase my friend on his tractor, but honestly encounters are so
few and far between or non existent that I wouldn’t worry about it. I hear that
some friends see a snake... it all depends on the vegetation around you.
Kids here in
Oz grow up knowing these things exist, so they take some natural precautions
that your kids might not. So keep warning them in the first year, such as
getting them to walk around, not shortcut through some bushy area with long
grass, and intentionally worrying them that there may be a snake there to allow
them to build their own defenses. Best idea is to stay away from long grass and
undergrowth... if it's on your property.... get that mower out!! If it's not
easy to mow, use a "whipper snipper" or "brushcutter"
(strimmer)!
The sound of
insects at night while it's hot (Sep-Apr), is amazing! Continuous jungle sounds
as if someone has put 360 degree surround speakers outside... except it's for
real! Also the birds have some very strange sounds too, all very distinctive.
Pop outside to throw something in the bin and hear some thudding around your
feet, which will make you jump at first - but then you'll find it's almost
certainly just the Cain toads which come out at night during the summer and
mostly stay out of the light. I still wonder where they all go during the day.
Some are massive and we've had a couple thud up against the patio doors once in
a while! Australians hate Cain toads and treat them as a pest and try to
introduce you to some nasty traditions such as hitting them with golf clubs.
I'm sure far more get squished just driving up and down the drive. They wither
away to a crispy shell very quickly in the sun!
In our third
year, having got used to just about everything creepy crawly that could be
thrown at us, we went to a friend’s house for afternoon BBQ. We had just been
for a walk at Mount Glorious and it had been a bit muddy up there, and I was
only wearing sandals. After some excitement with finding redbacks under their
furniture that they thought they'd got rid of the day before, we suddenly saw
the most disgusting slimy dark, fat worm like creature inching its way across
the patio. Someone stepped on it and red blood oozed all over the tiles. Where
the hell did that come everyone wondered? After looking around, I looked down
and saw a second one right there on my foot, between two toes. I couldn't
believe it, having driven for 20 minutes since ending the walk, both of them
must have been there all the time..... a leech ! It was having a wonderful meal
and we poured salt on its back and I think sprayed it too. Why me ???!! I
thought.... and subsequently squashed that one too creating even more blood
this time. The area itched for about 2 months! Well I understand that this
could equally well have happened in England in a damp area, but it goes down as
another Australian creepy crawly story for me!
There's
another creepy thing too which happened... which I hear could equally well have
happened in
Oh - there's some scary huge grasshoppers here too...gives you a huge fright
when one takes off right near you !
Of course, in
the winter, this all calms down … no insect sounds, no spiders, no snakes,
hardly even an ant – though we never seem to escape the magpies who come down
to scavenge for our chickens’ and dogs’ food.
Can’t get:
Readybreak
Weetabix -
similar product "Weet-bix" shaped as a rectangle, not rounded, is a
bit more coarse and doesn't soak hot milk quickly, which you want for babies.
Farleys rusks,
only teething rusks which don't turn to porridge.
Prawn cocktail
flavoured crisps or Skips
Melt in your
mouth snacks, only crunchy crisps not too good for one year olds. (though we
can find things similar to cheese puffs)
Robinsons
squash - only cordials or "orange drink"
Hazlenut
yoghurt. My favourite! The closest you can find is hazelnut and vanilla yoghurt
- 1 in a multipack of 6.
2 in 1 Pantene
shampoo/conditioner - separate bottles only
2 in 1
shampoos other makes, very thin on the ground.
large
independant baby shops such as Mothercare/Adams - ony baby sections in big
department stores.
Toothkind or
Light Rebena - only original.
PAMPERS
nappies - only Huggies which are good too - tried Snugglers which are 50% of
the price, but always leaves residue, jelly crystals yuk !
Calpol but
they do have other liquid paracetamol products
Strawberry
Sherbets - (Sherbet lemons very hard to find but are available) - we now have
our second 3kg jar sitting in the fridge which I brought back with us last time
we visited England.
Strawberry,
lemon or toffee bonbons – (except in a few specialist English shop at shocking
prices)
Sherbet pips.
Large Johnsons
baby bath - have to buy two small bottles instead.
Large packets of
burgers (max 4 ! or 6 lean, occasionally 20pack of cheaper brand)
Large packs of
frozen chips (750g or 1kg maximum !!!)
Sandwich
Spread (
Marmite used
to be on this list … it disappeared between 2001 to mid 2002, but thankfully it
came back – The UK imported product is called "Our Mate" !! in the
same recognisable bottle. There is an Australian product called Marmite from
Sanitarium, with a very different taste - ewwwwuuuugh !!!. The closest taste to
Bovril –
wasn’t available for ages after the mad cow scares but from late 2002 it has
resurfaced. Similar product is Kraft "Bonov"... but it's a
little gelatinous and if spread on toast doesn't look the same. Tried it...
tastes good, but the gooey consistency put me off , so best for making drinks I
guess. Just an aside - everyone does put Bovril on toast right ?... or was it
just our family??! It's always advertised as a drink, but bovril on hot
buttered toast always tasted great.
I saw an
article for people going the other way - leaving Australia and coming to London
and was intrigued to see that they too felt the "essential foods are
simply not available"... and noted the following:
"a decent hamburger with the lot" (You
mean beetroot!! An “Aussie” burger typically adds fried egg and beetroot along
with the salad – easy enough to knock up!)
Chiko rolls
Twisties – (Try Nik Naks - similar shapes and strong flavours)
Burger Rings – (there are burger flavour football crisps but I don't remember
the name)
Snakes Alive – (Hey! Starburst Rattlesnakes are the best, and Starburst (used
to be called 'Opal Fruits') are in
Redskins - try Fruit Salads or "Drumsticks" (chewy lollipops)
Cheezels - not the same shape but even better product I the
Freddo frogs - (yes they do have these in
Cherry Ripes - (yes they do!)
Violet Crumbles - yuk! True - not in the UK thankfully!
Paddle Pop ice creams - lots of similar ones like "mini milks"
Four'n Twenty Pies – (there are loads of pies ! Best from a fish and chip shop
- e.g. cornish pastie)
lamingtons
Fruit Tingles
Barbecue shapes
Golden Roughs
Lifesavers (like cough sweets – try fisherman’s friends)
All in all,
it’s clear there is far more choice in the supermarkets in
Friends
bringing food from overseas:
We have found
that Customs don't mind anything being brought over that is packaged food i.e.
marmite, UK Cadburys chocolate, Prawn Cocktail crisps etc. Make sure you tick
the box on your declaration form that you've got food and go through the red
channel, even if it was just sweets (lollies/confectionary/candy), left over
sandwich or powdered milk for a baby - they pulled us up on that!.... No "Welcome
to Australia, I see this is your first trip on your permanent Visa"... but
- "please fill the form in properly sir and declare that you have food if
you have got any food"! They were a lot nicer on a later return trip to Oz
in 2002 - but were XRaying every single bag and looking in particular for food
or other organic products. So just declare it - and don't worry about it
because they will almost certainly just let you keep it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you….If you have so
much as a polo in your pocket, go through the red channel !
Differences
Icecream
cornettos are sometimes called Drumsticks
Sweets are
called "lollies"
Lollies are
generally known as Chuppa Chupps
Smoked
Mackerel - hard to find - best place Woolworths!
Sausages – not
nearly as good as
Cod - hard to
find in supermarkets. Fishfingers (even Birdseye) and fillet pieces are other
white fish such as Hake.
Fish and Chips
- small portions - unlike traditional fish and chip shops in
Sausage on a
stick is a "Pluto Pup"
Cadburies
chocalate Much much more variety, slightly different
(more cocoa) taste which is down to the different compotion used to stop it
melting at 30 deg.
Lots of BYO
(Bring Your own) alchohol restaurants – even restaurants that are licenced
often allow BYO
Labour is
about $70 an hour for skilled carpenter/restoration. "Slashers"
(mowers) are also $70 an hour (from a professional company), but they do
provide their own rideon mower. I believe you can find them cheaper for down to
$25 an hour if you find a local tradesperson. A bobcat operator with his own
machine for doing landscaping is about $110 an hour.
In the Summer,
tons and tons of insects ! - incredible noise all night but you get used to it
quickly. Hundreds of Cain Toads come out on the lawns just out of the light. A
few go near the house and they all magically disappear in the morning. Watch
where you walk in the dark, especially between trees that are less than 15 feet
apart in case a spider has put a web across.
If you're
looking for a mobile service provider such as a chiropodist (called a
podiatrist), then look up "visiting" rather than “mobile”
Burgerking
tastes the same, but is called "Hungry Jacks". No Mushroom double
swiss or Big King ! Very salty fries. Free refills.
Chicken seems
to have more fat - whether roast, fillet pieces or kebab (KFC identical to
Kentucky Fried
Chicken (KFC) is here and the fillet or Zinger burgers are the same! No
variety meal deal (3 pieces + 2 hotwings as in the
Absolutely no
Alcohol in Supermarkets (though beer making kits are present) - actually
recently saw some "cooking" red and white wine.
There are
drive through Alcohol stores which are handy, so on your way back from the
supermarket, you can easily stock up on booze - chilled of course.
All soft drink
cans are 375ml rather than 335ml in the
Cheese not
scaled for strength (in
Petrol -
Premium is same as Super Unleaded - which is 98 octane. It's 4-6 cents per
litre more than standard unleaded - . In 2000 it's been as low as 69c and as
high as 89c.. It has been as high as $1.50,
but presently in 2010, it varies between $1.19 and $1.35 on a weekly
cycle. The price can change 3 or more
times a day and fluctuates around 13%.
Since 2004 news the prices haven’t jumped around so frequently but it
has become more difficult to know which day is cheap petrol day – it seems
rather random – with one servo at $1.19 and the other at $1.35, and the next day it’s the other way around.
Strimmer –
Called “Whippersnipper” or “Brushcutter”
Auction –
pronounced “Oction”
Corgettes –
called “Zucchini” like the Americans
Aubergine –
called Eggplant
Rego -
Registration document (used in official governement literature!)
Air - A car
"with air" means with air conditioning.
In computer
speak… cache is pronounced ‘caiche’ and router is pronounced ‘rowter’ !
Shopping
When we
arrived in 2000, it was a pleasant surprise to find you could use “EFTPOS” in
the supermarket – using the debit card with a PIN, and even market stalls often
had portable terminals. The UK didn’t get this until a few years later. Every bank card has different accounts on it…
whenever you pay you have to select from “Cheque, Savings or Credit”. Back then you could only do a PIN for cheque
and savings, but had to sign for credit card.
The UK then leapt ahead by introducing chip and PIN, but a couple of years later we have also been
able to use a PIN for credit (though as
of 2010, it is still optional).
They sometimes
check your bags when you leave certain stores, particularly if you do not exit
via the checkout. They even want to open the baby bag at the bottom of the
pram. Signs say that a condition of entering the store is that you present your
bags for inspection when you exit!!! Most don’t bother, but some do as a matter
of protocol.
Plastic bags –
it’s great that they pack the backs for you in supermarkets; however it never
ceases to amaze me how many you get! A typical large shop will result in about
30 plastic bags. Usually only 3 or 4 items are put in a bag, and frequently
only a single item ! At first it seems wasteful, but in fact they
are very thin and do break easily, and also suddenly you find you can use them
in the small kitchen bin under the sink, for scraping plates into before they
go in the bin etc etc…. and are able to use them liberally without ever running
out. They’re making a fuss now like they did in the UK about conservation and
possibly charging for bags – or giving a 10c refund if you bring your own
shopping bag…. yet still they put hardly anything in the plastic bags!
I originally
noted that prices were rarely shown as per kg, so price comparison is difficult
– but like the UK, they have finally introduced this.
Mother (and
fathers)/Babies rooms in big shopping centres - with microwave, arm chairs,
changing stations, childrens toilets etc - very good facility!
Water/Sewerage
Most houses on
acreage, outside of the suburbs have "Biocycles" or similar system -
large cylindrical tanks dug into the ground, with a full automatic mechanical
and chemical system, that takes all house sewerage and turns it into clean
water, which spays the grass/plants. An incredible system and you don’t have to
do anything – just pay $60 per quarter for a chap to maintain it. Really useful
in winter because while the rest of the grass goes brown, by moving the pipe
around you can keep a large area green. I understand that rules are ever
changing, and in many circumstances now you must have the drainage buried
rather than spraying out somewhere.
In fact,
sewerage appears not to be available outside of suburban areas, although mains
water (called “town water”) can be. If your area doesn't have town water, then
you use tanks which collects and filters rain water from your roof – quite
common too in some acreage areas. If you have a biocycle, then be careful of
what goes down the sink - on the whole it's easy, but you are advised to
minimise the amount of washing up liquid, bleach used etc. Don't put oil down
the sink - dispose of into a plastic bag and then into the bin. We do the
same for gravy and anything else that we might have previously washed down the
sink.
Washing Machine
Washing - Some
Ozzys have a thing about cold water washing (clothes) and claim it's more
efficient, cheaper and just as good, and they mostly have top loaders. Well we
tried it and found it fails to get anything out, so warm water washing is for
us. Front loaders are available, often fancily referred to as "European
appliances" [these are now becoming much more popular]. We did go for a
modern top loader as they have larger loads and have the flexibility of adding
clothes during the cycle. We didn’t like the idea of the agitator in some
of them – a stalk in the centre of the machine that rotates backwards and
forwards as we felt it could stretch clothes.. however some modern machines
have no agitator and use a combination of waterjets and waterfalls !
Dryers bought
here can be normally mounted so that the controls are on the bottom rather than
the top - sometimes by turning the machine upside down, and taking off the
control panel and moving it. This allows it to be mounted on the wall above the
washing machine, and still let you reach the controls. This is necessary if you
have a top loading washing machine, because there has to be room above the
washing machine to open the lid, so your dryer has to mounted that much higher.
Gas/Electric
I’m not sure
which is more commonly used here for cooking. If you’re on acreage, normally
only electricity is available. However this is no barrier to having gas,
because it’s quite normal to have one or two large gas cylinders out the back
for cooking and/or heating. The company come and replenish the gas for you so
it’s really no hassle. When we build a house we will definitely have gas,
though I have seen some nice combination wide cooker hob that is the size of a
6 burner, which has with 4 gas burners at the corners, a central wide gas
burner for long dishes, and also a halogen plate too.
The hot water
tank is usually situated outside! There's a system here like the UK's
"Economy 7"..... called Tarrif 31 or Tarif 33. Normal electricy is on
tarrif 11 at 11.5c per kW hour. Your hot water doesn't need to be on 24hours,
so most people have it connected to Tarrif 33 available about 8 hours p day
(overnight) at 5c per kW hour. If you find you don't get enough hot water, you
might switch to Tarrif 31 (available about 19 hours p day) at 7c per kW hour -
but if you do, expect your hot water costs to go up by 30% ..Note that most hot
water circuits aren't on a timer..... they just use the thermostat. I have seen
some houses with hot water timers, and these are fitted in the circuit breaker
cabinet with a tiny display and small buttons - and fit in the same space as a
trip switch. If you use an electric pool heater or heatpump, you would probably
have this connected to Tarrif 33.
The devices
that use Tarrif 31 or Tarrif 33 must be connected through a different circuit,
because there's a separate meter to measure your use of each tarrif. Of course
you may have solar hot water, in which case the electricy is only used to top
up.
Buying House
Buying a house
- in
Banking:
Loads more
cash machines - in the garage, in the supermarket which is very handy. You
can't view transaction on these though, but it is handy that your balance is always
printed after withdrawing cash, and reflects the correct balance, not at close
of business yesterday.
The usual
everyday account should be a statement savings account, plus a cheque account
if you still use such things [I’m not sure if this is still the case, but when
I had a cheque account in 2000, a small tax is payable on money put in the
cheque account, so typically you would only transfer money here that is
necessary to cover any cheques you've written]. A term deposit account
with as little as 24 hours notice but pays sensible interest is useful for
larger balances, plus a Direct Investment account allowing you to buy and sell
shares). Transferring between the accounts can be achieved through
internet or telephone banking although transfer from a term deposit account
requires a phonecall to your personal banker. Typically, on a 24 hour
notice account I've found that even if you ring at
Telephone
banking and internet banking is the norm. Writing a cheque to pay someone using
a different bank results in an inter-bank charge. So use internet banking
to transfer the money to their account which lets you set up their details –
known as “direct credit”. Also many large institutions have
"BPAY" which lets you pay a bill using telephone or internet banking
by specifying the BPAY code and your reference numbers. Bankers Drafts
(called “Bank cheques”) will cost $7.5
Post
Your mailbox
is at the end of your drive, not in your door. You can of course pay for a PO
Box for $70 a year, which could be useful if you think you are going to
move as you don’t have to advise too many people of your change of
address….. also useful to prevent your mailbox from filling up when you are
away.
Bins
Emptied once a
week - twice up north. Two wheelie bins are the norm – one (green lid) for
usual stuff and one (yellow lid) for recyclable material (glass, paper,
cardboard,plastic all mixed together). Placed at the end of your
drive rather than up by your property. Emptied once every other week for the
recycle bin. For the recycle bin, you put in carboard, cans, plastic, paper -
all mixed up.
Electricity
The same
as the
Be
warned though, in the
By the way,
there are electrical sockets in bathrooms here !! so it's a luxury to be able
to have a hair dryer in the bathroom. Be careful though !
TV/Video
TVs - I had
heard a number of stories as to whether or not it was worth bring your TVs or
Videos, and whether or not they would work. Here's the accurate picture
: If your TV is a multisystem TV, it will probably work – it should
specifically support “PAL B/G” in addition to the
I wouldn’t
advise bringing an older CRT tube telly any more… it’s not going to have that
much life left in it. I still have a 32 inch Grundig from 1996 which is going
strong, but it has a few issues and I suspect it won’t last much longer. My 26inch from 1989 has died a death! It’s all plasmas and LCDs these days.
If you are
brining an older TV, remember without PAG B/G, it’s not going to work here on
our TV channels and nor will your
You might
still want to bring your old video recorder in order to play tapes – just don’t
expect to be able to record tv. Older video games, playstations etc will work
fine on an OZ TV if it is connected by video and audio cables and using the AV channel.
If you have an older video came that still uses the aerial, then it will only
work on a UK TV. However, you might be able to get the optional AV cable for it
– then you can connect to a new Ozzy TV.
PAL I, used in
the
PAL G is 625
lines UHF but with a different audio frequency. Most channels in Oz are PAL G.
PAL B is
625 lines, VHF with the same audio frequency as PAL G. If you move
to an area in OZ like
DVD Player
DVD - All DVD
players are connected by video cables, not RF. Therefore an Australian one will
successfully connect to a UK TV and vica versa.
However, when
DVDs were developed, the world was split up into 6 regions and a normal player
will only play a disc from the same region. (There are in fact two more regions
- 7 which is reserved and 8 for international venues such as cruise ships and
planes.)
If you already
have DVD discs bought in the
The region
coding was imposed by
No doubt you
will want to get around this problem so that all your discs will play and the
answer is to make sure you buy a player that is "Code Free",
"Region select / auto select" or "All regions". .
Most retail
stores will sell players that are fixed to that country's region. In the
past, the answer was to get the player modified for about £60-£100...or to use
a specialist mail order outlet thta supplied code free players. It's easier
now...because a large amount of players, while apparently set to a fixed
region, can be made multi-region by pressing a few secret buttons on the
remote…… search for the model number of your DVD player and the words “region
free” on the internet! The very cheapest players with strange sounding names
from Hong Kong or
What about
your PC's DVD Drive. Anyone who has tried to play DVDs from different regions
in a PC, whether you use PowerDVD, WinDVD or whatever else, will probably have
seen a box pop up saying Your DVD Player is set to region 2, This disc is
Region 1....You have X remaining changes. When you get a new drive, you only
have 5 changes in total, and whatever you set it to last is permanent. This
extremely annoying situation is particularly annoying to people who move
countries and find their compter/laptop is stuck on the wrong region !
The easiest
way to play movies from different regions is to just buy another drive for
about $25 and fit it inside your machine.
OR, buy a program called AnyDVD
which allows any region disc to be played in your player, as well as the
ability to back up your DVD to your computer or media centre’s hard disc.
For older
drives manufacturued up to 1999, you could download a copy of DVD Genie from www.inmatrix.com to circumvent the region problem
(These older drives use a region protection system called "RPC1". )
For DVD drives
bought from 2000 onwards (including all DVD burners), the region protection
system is called "RPC2". If you really don’t want to buy another
drive, or don’t want to buy AnyDVD, then you can modify your drive and then use
DVD Genie (see how to flash your dvd drive)
. I haven’t done it this way for years!
Films are as
plentiful as in the UK here, DVDs are cheaper out here by the way and are as
plentiful as in the UK... best prices are usually at Kmart at between $32 and
$39 - get Kmart on a 15% storewide discount day and you're in for some
particularly good bargains ! www.ezydvd.com.au
are a good source too.
To find out
more about modified players in the UK, read mags like T3, What Video, Home
Cinema Magazine.
Telephones
UK Telephones
- They work but you will need to swap a few wires around in the telephone lead
- get one of those adaptors from US to UK with a short wire between - then cut
the wire and swap a couple of cables around. It's quite easy but I'm sure you
are not allow to connect such modified cables to Telstra's network. so this is
for educatonal purposes only.
On most
Some houses in
Australia have the international connector, so the lead you buy would have the
same on both ends.
Some have an
Australian telephone socket, so the lead would need to be an Australian to
International lead.
If you can't
disconnect the lead, you'll need a convertor (RJ11 to RJ12 adaptor). I haven't
found these anywhere in
So - if you're using this type of cable (Australian to International) :
Open it up and
you should see this
Now pull out
the metal pins on the green/yellow pair and swap them around so that the one
that was in green is now in the yellow, and vica versa. This is necessary so
that the wires themselves can now be swapped, and still be able to fit against
the moulded plastic in between them. Do the same to the black and red pair so
that they are also swapped. The picture below shows the black and red
successfully swapped, and the green and yellow about to be swapped.
You should now
have yellow, green then black,red
If however you don't have the above type of cable, and instead will be plugging
an RJ12 plug (shown below), into the wall then do this instead:
In these
diagrams, the LEFT hand side of the picture is the side that connects to the
telephone line. The RIGHT hand side connects to the UK telephone.
Cut the cable
and on each end that you cut, strip the outer insulation to reveal the 4 wires
For the part of
the cable that is plugged into the wall, look carefully at the RJ12 plug at the
colours of the wires. In the example above, my colours were Red, Blue, Green,
White. Determine the outer two colours - in my case Red and White. Fold these
two wires back so they are not used, and strip the two remaining wires so they
can be connected to the other half of the cable.
For the other
half of the cable that is plugged into the phone (or modem/fax), you will be
doing the opposite. In my case I folded back red and white on one half, so I
needed to fold back blue and green on this half, and strip the red and white
ready for connection..
To decide
which colour gets connected to which, look again at the RJ12 plug. The wires
are next to each other... so as my colours were Red Blue Green White, I needed
to connect Red to Blue, and Green to White.
To connect the
wires, you could just twist them, but it's better to solder. If you don't have
a soldering iron, try Dick Smith or Jcar Electronics -$20. To get a good joint,
heat up the wire, then apply the solder rather than melting the solder first
and trying to paint it on!
Finally - I
recommend you don't make any changes to any wiring that is part of the house,
or could possibly have Australian equipment plugged into it. Only modify the
leads that directly connect to a UK telephone.
Now use
insulating tape around each wire separately, and then wrap insulating tape
around the whole thing. Make sure nothing is plugged in until the soldering is
insulated – There’s about 20v in those lines and you don’t want to short out
your telephone line and have to call out the telephone company !
Needless to
say, I'm sure these modifications are not allowed and nor is the
BTW …. After
this mod, the
Home Wireless
phones - Using a DECT digital mobile phone from the UK, I found these work fine
in here after doing the above modification - it rings successfully too ! Note –
a 1999 Philips DECT phone needed the above modification but a newer Philips set
purchased in 2002 worked without modification. With a large house, I
recommend 3 or 4 handsets Note that Ebay have some great multi handset deals in
the
Note - you may
find some strange behaviour when using a
Poor internet
connection .. some older wireless phones (not DECT) can upset modems that use
the same phone line.... so before blaming the telephone company for constant
failed or dropped connections, try unplugging your wireless phone from the wall
and see if the internet connection now works reliably. I didn't believe this
solution until I tried it!
Wireless
devices -
Do UK Walkie
talkies, DECT phones, Wireless Networking etc work in OZ ?
Yes of course!
!
DECT phones
have international approval so no problem there.
Wireless
network devices are no problem.
2.4GHz
transmission devices are all fine too.
There can be
legal issues for other devices regarding the frequency, but they will still
work
Radio control
models do have different frequencies and since you don’t want your
helicopter/plan to fall out of the sky when a park ranger switches on his
radio, you should look into changing the crystal for your
receiver/transmitter.
Other shorter
range radio control toys may well be using a non permitted frequency, but
unlikely to cause a problem
Video
transmitters for transmitting your video signal around the house…. Well unless
it is a 2.4GHz model, they were illegal in the
Mobile
phone
What about
bringing a
YUP – they
usually work fine. Remember you’ll need a
Info
Biocycle /
Biotech (0411) 440777 $240 a year
Acreage -
Rideon, strimmer, hedge trimmer, chainsaw - or pay $60 an hour or thereabouts
Large hardware
Bretts / Bunnings
Most things -
amazing variety, from KMart, also Target & Big W. Pick 'n Pay Hypermarkets
good combination of supermarket in one half and general products &
garden/tools in the other half.
A combination
of homebase and higher spec hardware : Glenfords, Trade Tools.
Hi spec
technical : Some Harvey Normans have more than others - good home
theatre areas with a fairly good range including some top end equipment. Try
Aspley. Also Videopro at Chermside. Also Myer Centres particularly at
Chermside or the Queen St Mall.
Electronic
components: Dick Smith, or JCar Electronics.
Mail order DVD
: www.ezydvd.com.au - can be cheaper in Kmart.
Internet Provider –
Cheaper ISPs
are iinet, TPG, iPrimus, IHug Dodo.
I have had
several internet providers since I’ve been here… (Dingoblue and Onetel Rest In
Peace)… I switched away from New-tel (previously named WorldXchange)
because I kept having disconnection and performance problems, had Ihug for over
2 years , Telstra (too expensive) and TPG.
I’ve never had to change my email as I use hotmail or my own domain
name. I’d recommend you never use the email address provided to you by the ISP
– it just makes it more difficult to switch away from them later for a better
deal!
Broadband:
Same issue as
Another
problem facing customers is the dreaded "pair gains" system that
telephone providers installed (known as a "RIM"), in order to get
more phone lines out of their equipment. These not only typically limit your
internet connection to 28-31k rather than up to 56k that you would hope for,
but also are incompatible with ADSL. However, two possible solutions exist...
since November 2003 Telstra will accept a "transposition request" and
search for an alternate route so that, if available, they can transfer your
phone line off a pair gain system and on to a normal piece of copper cabling.
Unfortunately, there's little chance of transposition requests being
successful. The other, less publicised solution, is that there is now a
solution to allow customers on a RIM to actually get ADSL - which requires the
installation of a gadget called a "minimux" in the green telephone
box in your road.
Telephone
Provider
The
conventional choice is Telstra, like choosing British Telecom in England. If
your entire service is through Telstra you could be paying more than you need
to. You can choose to get your local calls, and your national calls from
different providers and use Telstra for both, one of these, or not at all.
Telstra have got better recently, and I think for local calls they could
be the best deal.
Local Calls :
(This is who you will pay your line rental to, and who you deal with for
arranging other services or dealing with line problems. )
Long Distance
: (includes National and International calls and Mobiles. )
Whether
changing the local or long distance service, you don't need to cancel with your
previous provider.... just ring up a new provider and go through their
application process, and you will be converted over to them. Remember that it
can take a couple of weeks before the switch actually takes place. Until that
time, calls will continue to go with your original telephone company. The new
long distance provider is known as the "preselected" provider. Until
the switch has been made, you can still use the new long distance provider by
dialling their 4 digit override code ... so don't forget to ask for it if they
forget to tell you. After a few weeks, you should no longer need to dial this
code. You could choose not to change long distance provider, but access a
different one by always using their override code; however you don't get their
cheapest rates by using this method.
You may find
it more convenient to use the same company for both local and long distance
services, simply to have it all on one bill. I find that IHug’s service for
both local and long distance calls to be good. There’s a useful site at www.phonechoice.com.au
Local
Calls
Much as I
dislike Telstra for their total inflexibility to new migrants for having a
mobile phone contract, I think their local call packages "Homeline
plus" and “Homeline Advance” are good deals. The other See http://www.bigpond.com/Home/Pricingplans/
for Telstra pricing.
Personally I
got Telstra to install my line in our new house to make it quicker... then I
immediately changed over !
Long
distance calls
(includes
national, mobile and international)
I really
recommend that you select a different Long distance provider than just using
Telstra. If you wish, most long distance providers can also handle the local
calls (which are still in reality provided by Telstra), and you may find this
convenient in order to have just one bill. There is no rental portion
paid to the long distance provider - that only goes to the local call provider.
International
calls
If you dial an
international number, it is charged by your Long distance provider. If you used
Telstra, a call to England is about 38c per minute. Telstra have some silly
half hour deals which are useless because you are unlikely to risk paying for a
full half hour only to find out the answer machine answers the other end! Most
other long distance providers charge 16c to 21c per minute.
However, I
recommend you use an “Aussie Phonecard” card for the best rates internationally
- just 2c per minute to
If you want to
make international calls from an Aussie mobile, with mobile calls to
WARNING - When
calling International Mobiles or
Mobiles
TPG - $13 a
month gets $150 worth of calls – good for the kids.
Also look at
Virgin and Vodafone for some really cheap plans.
Your mobile
from the
Number
Portability
From September
2001 in Australia, it has been possible to keep your existing number when
moving from one telephone company to another. You don’t even need to tell your
existing company you are leaving them – just call the new company to sign up
and make sure you tell them you want to keep your existing number. Do make sure
that you are “out of contract” on your present phone or you will probably have
penalties to pay. Don’t cancel the existing telephone service, even if you are
coming close to the end of the month and will have to pay another month’s fee.
If you cancel, you will not be able to bring your number to the new company.
Note that if you speak to your previous mobile phone company, they should agree
to reducing the final bill if you the phone is transferred part way during the
last month.
UK Phone
number
Want to keep a
On arrival - essential firsts!:
Get rental/loan car
PO Box (if you are planning on having one, get it early on so you don’t have to
use your temporary accommodation as an address)
Arrange long term house rental / purchase,
Register at Tax office for Tax file numbers,
Register with Medicare,
If you have children, register with Centrelink for family allowance straight
away. Phone them on day 1 so payments will start from then – you can go there
with your passports, id etc and your tax file number next week.
Bank account – you may already have deposit account set up from
Select Doctor/Medical Centre (you don't have to register until you use them.
You can ask
get Mobile phone – You might have to put down a deposit because when you arrive
you have no credit history – some companies are tougher than others! When we
arrived, Telstra said no way – Vodafone did it with $200 deposit which I go
back after a year.
Buy the drivers handbook and start learning! You have 3 months from being
resident to take the written driving test. (Practical driving test is no longer
required for many countries including
Suncream, and if hot, drink, drink and more drink.
Insulated Waterbottle & lunchboxes for children
Lottery
Ausiie
phonecard card from garage or newsagent for cheapest calls to
Telephone line and local calls – Look out for bundled deals – ones which
include a certain number of phone calls are the best. Telstra - "Homeline plus" for over
57 local calls a month - we find we make 90-140 calls – also consider Homeline
Advance which adds $6 to the line rental but drops local calls to 15c.
Internet ISP – TPG, IINet, IPrimum, Dodo.
NOTE – if you need to be calling your UK bank, insurance companies etc once
you’ve arrived in
“Flyby” loyalty card from Kmart and Coles - register straight away so you clock
up points straight away. Use the temporary card provided until plastic card
arrives.
Before going mad in Kmart, note they sometimes have a storewide sale - 15% off
all prices - absolutely everything, about 4 times a year. Watch out for it.
Sometimes certain sections may have 20% or 25% off, - even 50% off say on
children's clothing.
Playgroup - there's bound to be one or more in your suburb - ask around
Schools - sign up, buy uniform/books
Get some Insect Spray ! and if you want, Insect Repellant for the evening.
Australian electric plugs – (meant to use an electrician)
Shut screen doors as it gets dark to stop creepy crawlies coming in
Weeds - control of them straight away ! Things grow fast here unless it’s
winter!
Australian
Web search engine
www.Google.com.au also lets you get results from Australian sites only.
Try www.sensis.au - succeeds in bringing up
more Australian specific results - rememember to change from The World to
Family Restaurants
Samford pub
(fantastic renovations done in 2003... good pub for familes)
The Gap Tavern
Ahhhrgh - no
TGI Friday! Try :
Hogs Breath Cafe
Lone Star
Sizzler restaurants. (a bit like Harvester in UK)
Hard Rock Café on the Gold Coast
Here in
Samford, we are 30-35 mins from Redcliffe on the
About Samford
We chose Samford by talking to people who knew the areas and by a process of
elimination of the other acreage areas. Just one drive around Samford Downs
made me say "this is it". The only other area I found like it
was down in Brookfield, for some very strange reason the land blocks there are
at least $100k more, yet there is no central village - just a roundabout with a
few shops on it! ..The houses are all individual as in Samford Downs, but
something about it isn't quite as smart - perhaps it's that people mow their
lawn frontages more often in Samford.... I don't really know!
We wanted an area where we would have quite a few neighbours, although it is
still a minute or two's walk to reach them walking down our drive to the end of
the cul de sac and up one of the neighbours' drives, and in particular we
wanted somewhere where our son could ride his bike and make friends
Now we do have friends here (going to playgroup with our younger two made that
easy for us but still takes a number of months) we think we wouldn't mind
in the future being in a more secluded area, hence 5 acre properties where they
are further apart from each other and more private. Personally, we don't have a
particular affinity to water, though yes of course it would be handy to be
closer to beach, but I wouldn't give up our elevated mountain views for
anything, while others are happy with 1/5th acre plot and neighbours looking
into their gardens in order to achieve prestigious waterfront property!
What’s nice about Samford is that you have definitely left the suburbs,
yet there's a village with a good sized supermarket and an number of other
facilities, and even more exciting (saving a 15 min journey elsewhere) - a
chinese and an Indian that opened mid 2000!
[and now a Thai!] It's a smart
area and you are also very close to
Schools
Regarding
schools, the moment you get here the children will be put back about 6 months,
because the school year starts in January. The state primary is excellent we
believe - we've been very pleased with it having made the jump from a private
school in England to state school here - all part of our big change of life -
it certainly helped our son have local friends. I think it is true that they
are much more relaxed than schools in
Houses/Acreage
Dependant on the amount of money available to buy or rent a house, you
may be able to have an acreage property. There are good areas, and there are
outstanding areas! To some people their ideal home would be waterfront property
- but waterfront property has a typical block size of 800sq metres, (around
1/5th acre), or at best a double block 2/5ths acre. Waterfront properties are
in the places mentioned before - but don't forget the Gold Coast, such as
Runaway bay area. To others, upmarket areas as close to the city as possible is
what is their ideal property - and
Advantages of Acreage Living
While trying
to persuade a friend to move here rather than
Able to have a large house
Able to have pool without taking up garden
Able to have triple or larger garage
Able to have large driveway for cars
Flexibility to extend even larger without having to consider moving – perhaps
second house for parents, teenager’s sanctuary, large shed, games rooms etc
Room for verandahs and large patios
A typical drive to shops, nearby shopping centres ("malls") etc is
likely to take you on quiet country roads with great views
Able to walk / play around entire house without feeling house is adjacent
Able to have interesting areas, walks, hideaways, isolated spots in the garden
Good for entertaining many people
Dogs and cats have freedom to roam in their own space (legally not allowed off
your property)
Can have chickens without taking over garden
Room for Vegetable patch /Orchard
It’s wonderful watching kids run around in a large space
Can have kids playthings, swings, trampoline, climbing etc without clutter
Less feeling of being trapped inside if there’s bad weather
Able to entertain even if bad weather
Unlikely to be overlooked by many neighbours if at all
Feeling of spaciousness
Feeling of permanence; it can’t be taken away, unlike in urban areas where it
can continue to be developed and views can disappear
Everyone else is also on acreage so view all around house is of greenery with
just a few houses rather than lots of houses with some landscaping
No parking problems, no cars parked on road so smarter appearance for whole
area
Able to have
elevated views, mountain views
Much better
feeling of value and achievement – substantially more land for your money
House can be
set back from road giving improved security, feeling of seclusion
Can fence /
gate to provide security
Able to have
nice gardens as well as lots of lawn
Room for “dam”
(small lake)
Able to do
substantial landscaping to make interesting outside features
Trees ! Makes
your garden or front/back yard interesting!
Able to have
many fruit trees
Feeling of
safety / safer area as less people live
Quiet local
roads roads, safe for kids to ride bikes, encouraging outdoor activities /
staying or getting fit
Older kids have
room for motorbikes, quad bikes etc
Have
neighbours who also enjoy similar amount of space
When we emigrated from
the UK, we looked for areas that we would consider you'd get more for your
money - and initially we looked at 1/2 acre to an acre as being ideal and ended
up getting a 2 acre property; now we feel that for our next house (which we
hope to build), 5 acres would be absolutely ideal - room to add fruit trees
here, garden there, pool, allow the house to be set well back from the road yet
still have large front and back gardens, room for extension in the future and
still have large expanse of playing area, but not too large to manage. (I used
to absolutely hate gardening by the way in the
Acreage areas are likely to give you between 1 acre and 5 acres and the areas
we found were: Pullenvale, Bridgeman Downs, Samford Valley, Kenmore Hills,
Brookfield but we rejected the other areas for various reasons such as no
village/shops nearby, less polished, over expensive, further away from city, no
views etc, as one place stands out as the ultimate area which is the Samford
Valley. It's just 30mins from the city centre - has a great village with good
facilities - 30 mins to the city, 40 mins to the Sunshine coast (Redcliffe/Scarborough),
45 -60 mins to the Gold coast, and has a number of areas including Samford
Downs with mountain views and a very polished appearance.
Size of Acreage
Note that 5
acres doesn't cost much more than 2 though you may have to go a bit further
out.... and the moment you see someone's house with 5 acres, you appreciate the
extra flexibility and spaciousness. Maybe not now, but in the future you may
want to add this and that, an area of trees, an orchard, a tennis court, an
extension and it would be lovely to think you have that flexibility without
having to move yet again. On 2 acres, particularly if not a
level site (and few are!) you might put the house towards the edge of the
property with a driveway .... but with 5 acres you can put it in the middle and
have a nice large space all around you. If other properties nearby are also 5
acres, you have excellent separation, yet still have neighbours. I live in an
area where the properties are 2-3 acres and while most houses have separation all
around, some including mine have a close neighbour, though masked (almost) by a
line of trees. A lot of areas in the
The negative
side of larger acreage - apart taking longer to mow - is that you could be
further away from a village, and children might be less inclined to ride to the
village on their bike, it will cost a little more to maintain. Larger
house almost certainly means loads of lights meaning bigger electricity bill.
Also sharing lifts for school /football /youth club might be more awkward than
in a more concentrated area - .... ! However once a large acreage estate
is established, you are in a community all of its own hopefully with nearby
friends.
Consider the
issues that accompany steep blocks. The cost per acre is less, but the building
costs and future extensions will be more. Inevitably a cut and fill
operation is required to create a level area – resulting in a bank behind the
house and a bank in front, which in turn will have water runoff issues. The
steeper the original land and the wider the house, will result in higher bank /
cliff-like front. Foundations for the house will be steeper, access, drainage
problems behind the house – subsequent landscaping for gardens all present
extra complications and cost, with less usable land for recreation, pool,
patios, extensions, shed etc. Mountain top blocks afford the best views,
and often provide the largest amounts of land – perhaps 10 – 40 acres, but even
with landscaping taken into account you may only achieve a half to one acre of
useable land.
Maintenance
Obviously
there is work to be done on acreage, mainly mowing, but also preventing vines
and "lantana" from growing near the fenceline, and preventing or
pulling weeds. Once it's under control, just mowing, some strimming, and
occasionally spraying is all that's needed.... oh and if you have hedges, obviously
some hedge trimming. Trees will shed the odd branch particularly during a
storm, so a small chain saw is good too...
So the
essentials which you’d need to budget for are:
Sprayer /weedkiller (8l carry around is probably OK - 15l backpacks are
available but cause back ache!)
Hedge trimmer (good to get one with rotating handle)
Whippersnipper (strimmer/brush cutter)
Small Chainsaw (less essential but trees drop branches in storms and need
trimming beyond the capability of the hedge trimmer)
Blower/Vaccuum (not essential, occasionally useful )
Pressure Washer (keep those patios clean!) and make sure you get a powerful one
!
A ride-on
mower
A catcher for
the rideon mower (optional, I don’t have one – you can just spray the cut grass
out to the side and it disappears into the grass)
And of course large wheelbarrow
General tools
In
Land and
Building Prices
Samford has
cheaper land prices (and thus also property prices) than many other acreage
areas, yet we think has the best appearance with the best facilities; . Having now
visited these other areas on several occasions out of interest, we think
Samford and the surrounding area was still the right choice. All the acreage
houses I have seen are very individual. For a nice 2500 sq foot house on an
acre it will probably be $800k (was $350k in 2002). Move up to $1.1m and you
get something very large and with the wow! factor. Move to $1.5m+ and you have
prestige 5500+sq foot property with excellent location and also intercoms,
central vacuum, aircon, landscaped gardens, but will be hard to find (unless
you build!). There are a few larger properties some on larger parcels of land
such 30 acres in the $1.5m to $2.5m category, but take a long time to sell.
You can build
fantastic properties too. Typical land price for 3-5 acres at
present (2010) is $500k-$600k (2004 was $350k, $220k in 2002);
Building costs
are $1200 per sq metre for a good specification low set house, $1500 per sq
metre for luxury non standard fittings with ducted aircon.... or down to $755
per sq metre for a fully specced project home (which is where a building
company have a fixed set of available house designs that they will build for
you on your land, and in some areas have show houses for you to look around,
and a limited range of options), or 600
per sq metre for project home with basic options.
An insurance
assessor told me that they use a figure of $2000 per sq metre for luxury houses
when assessing the total insured value (though that does include allowance for
patios, landscaping, driveway, intercom, duncted aircon, central vacuum,
granite kitchen bar, oversize windows, luxury tap/showers etc) Not sure if it
also included a pool!
The total
space ‘under roof’ of a house is often quoted in ‘squares’.
1000 sq foot = 93sq metres = 10 "squares"
So – a large 60 “square” home (6000 sq foot/ 558 sq m) home on 5 acres within 10 mins of the village should cost $1.5m. Such a home in England, with mountain views and 30 mins from a city, would have to be about £2.5m , perhaps simply not possible to find.
When we
arrived in 2000, with prices at a third of this and an exchange rate of 2.5, it
really did seem incredible to get such a huge house for relatively low amount
of £s. Of course, anyone with some good equity in their existing UK property
will be in a good position to choose something very nice over here.
There are
still wonderful land blocks being sold and it's quite normal to buy the land
and have a house built. I'd recommend first renting or buying, allowing a
considerable amount of time to design your dream home to try and avoid mistakes
and regrets. If you can, of course buy the land as soon as possible to secure
it, and some people have a large “Ozzie Barn” structure built as their
garage/storage area, and have it converted for living in – perhaps with an
upstairs mezzanine level… saves paying someone else rent, and leaves you with
guest/teenage retreat accommodation.
Sometimes people get permission to subdivide their land if it's big enough, but
sometimes its costly to comply with the regulations such as having to build a
bridge over a low lying flood area, even though you may presently be using that
area yourself to drive up to your property. Typically, subdivision is allowed
if the resultant plots are 5 acres or more. Recently in Samford, some smaller blocks
right down in the village have been developed. People find it strange that this
has been allowed while the whole character of
In some areas,
you are allowed to build more than one house on your land. I am certain you are
not allowed to sell separately, so the usual purpose is for parents / relatives
to live beside you. I have seen a number of houses for sale with extra living
quarters. It clearly adds cost when building and makes selling more complicated
as you are seeking purchases with specific requirements. If you are
building, then when designing layout of your house and the extra residence, you
might consider potential future modifications to allow the property to be converted
to a single dwelling with more rooms.
About the Samford area
Samford Valley
comprises Samford Village, Samford Downs, Highvale, Camp
Samford Downs
– Drive past
Highvale.
Drive up past Samford downs and the area is called Highvale, all the way up to
the foot of
Camp
Cedar
Creek/Closeburn - Drive out beyond Samford village, not west up Mount Glorious
Road, through Highvale towards Mount Glorious to get to Samford Downs, but
instead through the Samford High St, north out towards Dayboro. Just 5
minutes out you turn left down
Samsonvale -
.... Further past Cedar Creek, about 10-15 mins out of the village is
Samsonvale. 5 acres plots available and nicely spaced out.
Dayboro. You
can go quite a lot further past Samsonvale and reach the village of Dayboro;
it's a good 25 mins from Samford meaning 55 mins from the city... a quiet
olde-worlde village which is experiencing huge growth due to acreage areas
becoming available. It really is a long way out, but then again, perhaps that's
the whole point!
Bunya is an
area between Eatons Hill and Ferny Hills - there is acreage there and I have
seen one or two smaller estates in there. I haven't really seen much of Bunya
but I believe there is shopping complex somewhere there as opposed to a
village.
Other areas a
reasonable distance from Samford to the northwest are Yugar, Draper, Bunya,
Clear Mountain, Cashmere, Warner and Eatons Hill - before reach the densely
populated suburbs again (Albany Creek).
Mt Glorious
& Nebo. Travelling west from the village takes you past Samford Downs,
through Highvale and then winding up the mountain road to reach either Mount
Glorious on the right, or for a longer trek, turn left and reach Mount Nebo.
To decide on
the areas you like you really need to drive around these areas and decide if
want to live amongst a collection of large houses on 1-3 acres, or prefer more
isolated pockets of acreage, perhaps in a cul de sac, with various types of
housing. There will always be nice areas in each location. The areas
outside of Samford may have more land but may be more isolated which can mean
less access to friends for your children without plenty of car journeys.
Maps
When I
originally heard about Samford, it frustrated me when I just couldn't see it
anywhere on a map of
Since we moved
here I've found some other maps : Try looking at Multimap
but the best map is at whereis.com.au
as it clearly shows which areas are built up and which are rural.
This map shows
Samford and surrounding areas; Dayboro is off the map to the north.
The following
map shows Samford Village in relation to the centre of Brisbane... Samford is
top right... the city is bottom left, north of the river.
Airconditioning
Re aircon -
it's amazing how few houses have it, even though we only use it ourselves when
it's around 34 degrees or over, or when the air is unusually still at lower
temps. It's even more amazing how
Pools
Building a
pool - It's probably going to be outdoor ! Even with the wonderful
Pools are
charged by their perimeter - all the prices below are "installed"
prices. NOTE - These are 2000 prices.. probably more now.. when I find someone
that has recently built a pool I will amend the prices.
a rectangular
10x5m is 30 linear metres and would cost $28k including pump, filter everything
you need.
Add $1100 for a nice colour smooth "quartzon" concrete interior
instead of the rought white pebbledash.
Add $1100 for a spa area with jets (not separate spa but a nook within the
pool)...
Add $380 per light (including installtion)- suggest 2 or 3...
Say $550 for a cleaner, $3000 for in floor cleaning (guess)
$2000 - 4500+ for fence ($85 per metre installed). or $10k for
all glass fence ($200 per metre) (or do some glass, some aluminium).
$1100 for double row of colour waterline tiles.
$5000 for Terracotta paving around pool but get a separate builder to do
this for half,
$800-$1200 for automatic acid/chlorine delivery for fresh water pool
instead of salt water pool.
$1000 for Pool cover & roller, adding 3-6 degrees to pool temp and
helps keep the temp overnight, good for this time of year.
$5500 Solar or gas heating, or $8k for Heatpump heating (incredibly
only 1/4cost to run than gas, based on aircon heat exchange technology, so can
keep pool heated consistently, good for 11months of the year)
Electrical
work $300+.
Could hit rock adding $1-2k but I've not heard of that myself in the Samford
area.
$200 topsoil, $300 bobcat work and $100 for grass seed to sort out the
mess afterwads.
So it all adds
up if you want the optional extras! Just like aircon, it seems that most people
don't heat their pools, which seems a waste of the excellent weather! Once the
temp drops below 27 degrees people tend not to go in and at mid April a
pool in the sun, uncovered, sits at 24 degrees and falling. For a few months
during summer, the pool, uncovered, sits at 30-31 degrees. A fence is
compulsory, and since 2003, you must also display a resuscitation sign.
Restaurants
The newly refurbished pub
in Samford is fantastic… family friendly, three bars, play area, garden, good
food etc
If you fancy a 40 min trek
north of Samford past Dayboro, then I can definitely recommend Munchkins up at
Mount Mee .
Make sure you get a copy of
“The Entertainment Book”. It has
vouchers throughout, and gives a great idea of every restaurant in all
categories
Exchange Rate and Transferring Funds
Try to watch
it and it will frustrate the hell out of you. The moment you thought you got a
good deal, a better one is just around the corner. The moment you wait, it
starts going against you! It’s best to just be happy with what you got
and think yourself lucky it could have been a lot worse. We got 2.52 – 5
years earlier our friends got 1.80 having watched it drop to 2.20 and waited
hoping it would recover. After we arrived, the rate steadily went up to 2.90
and even as far as 3.00. Presently about 2.70. So you see, +/- 0.10
is little to worry about. We did well when selling our house in the
But play the
waiting game further and house prices could crash, or the exchange rate go
against you. Whether you are waiting for house prices to rise or exchange
rates to improve, consider that you might be gambling and it could go either
way – you need to weigh it up again the possibility of gaining an extra year
here in the sun!
To make it
easy to transfer funds, either use a Forex service (I recommend OzForex.com),
or perhaps set up an account with Commonwealth bank in London. Commbank set up
a deposit account for you in
Grant of PR
When the visa
is granted, they give you up to a year to enter
I’ve just
heard that you now have to do the medicals before submitting the application,
whereas when we applied in 1999, they asked you to go for medicals after
receiving the application, and this was a good indication that everything else
was accepted and your grant of PR was now dependant only upon the outcome of
the medicals. Someone mentioned that the medicals were “valid” for 2 years
rather than 1 – can anyone confirm this?
Our application was put on hold after we did our medicals, because our daughter
was yet to be born... so she had her medical when she was 10 days old! Knowing
that we were already accepted while the application was on hold, the final
outcome was dependant on the health of our new baby ! We did consider doing our
own medicals again too in order to extend our latest arrival date, but decided
against and arrived here within 4 months of receiving the visas.
Sydney or Brisbane
We emigrated
to
We left the
Rainstorms are much more interesting - very heavy but not cold - and larger
homes with verandahs means you can still have doors open and go outside.
Child Benefit
When you
arrive, you are probably not working straight way, and this benefit (called
Family Tax Benefit Part A) is paid regardless of your assets. While not
working, with 3 children, the payment is $456 per fortnight ! I suggest you
telephone them on the very day you arrive to lodge your intention to claim the
benefit, and arrange an appointment to bring in your id etc during the week.
Once you are earning, you can earn up to $29857 without affecting it. Then it
starts reducing the benefit by 30c for every $ over, until you reach the base
rate whatever that is. Once you're earning over $80,665 for one child, (87235
for 2 and 93805 for 3) then the payment stops altogether.
Homesickness
Well my wife
was homesick for about 3 months – maybe 4. She felt it particularly after we
moved into the home we had purchased, I think because there it felt more secure
and stable, and thus more final. You really have to tell yourself that
you are free.. nothing to stop you selling and going back. Stay in contact with
family though email, letters, cards, phone (just 2c per minute with an Aussie
phonecard), and that also you now have a pleasant and interesting place for
your family to come on holiday to. Personally I wasn’t homesick, nor my
son. Of course I occasionally yearn for being back home to see my family and to
go down to an English pub with my friends! It was recommended to
me, and I agree, that it’s best to wait at least a year or even two before
reviewing your circumstances, allowing plenty of time to really settle in and
get used to your new life. I’ve heard of people who gave up and moved back to
Clickiness/Snobbery
Someone once
suggested that there was more "clickiness" in
Pensions / Financial Advice
You could sort
out pension and everything once you're here. I understand life is a lot simpler
if you get everything transferred over here. In Australia you are taxed on your
world wide income, so you really don’t want to start getting taxed on the
growth of your UK pension. Apparently, you get 6 months before the growth is
taxable here. Pension companies typically make it awkward to transfer and can
make it initially look impossible but it usually can be done. You really
don’t want to have your existing
Bring the furniture?
We would
recommend bringing everything you can - simply because it means not having to
pay so much for all the replacements all at once. If there's another year or
two's use out of something before you would have sold or dumped it while in the
UK, you may as well get that use out of it here. We were considering leaving
beds, some cabinets, some older sofas etc.. but are glad we brought them with
us as they are still used. You may well get a bigger house in
On the whole
once you re paying for a container, getting the removal company to pop in that
table/cabinet/sofa etc that you can't really decide if you want to bring or
not, is really not going to make much differece to the cost - so just bring it
! Of course, if you are just reaching the point of filling up a 20 foot
container and having to move to a 40ft, or beyond, then you have to judge that
extra cost and whether ditching one or two items would make more financial
sense.
Houserental
When you first
arrive, planning on where you will stay is very difficult, particularly if you
have children because no doubt you would prefer not to have to put them in to a
new school, then move schools again when you find another area. You might
spend a few weeks searching for an area when you arrive before they go into a
school, or you might do lots of homework before you arrive, looking at various
web info and talking to people. Our own homework led us to Samford, since
we were biased towards acreage rather than city or waterfront properties, and
I'm pleased to say that over 2 years later we are still happy that we made the
right choice and think that Samford Downs in particular is wonderful. We took
even more of a risk and bought our house in our 3rd week of
arriving, completely against the plan of renting for a year to make sure we
were happy.
There is so
much to do when leaving, and timing is a challenge - selling the house, the
cars etc, packing/removals/flights etc, that also trying to arrange rental the
other end can be difficult. In fact it's more difficult than you think
because in my experience,
1) there were
hardly any house rentals available in acreage areas (all shown on the websites
were out of date when I rang!),
2) people
don't want to rent their house out until they and the agent have met you,
3) almost all
house rentals are rented unfurnished which doesn't suit someone emigrating
awaiting the arrival of their belongings 7-8 weeks later!
4) you have no
idea how long you want it for and most people want to rent their house out long
term – i.e. a year.
We tried for a
couple of months to find something in advance of arrival in
Note that
there are rental companies who will rent entire furniture packages, crockery,
kitchen utensils,TV, bedding etc etc, which could be a useful approach if
renting an unfurnished property. Of course the cost/quality varies between
companies... I've heard of PABS (www.pabs.com.au) but I'm sure an internet
search would reveal other companies. If you do manage to rent an unfurnished
house, if the owners are just moving out and planning to put their contents
into storage themselves, you may be able to persuade them nicely to leave some
basics for your use. We were offered that when we arrived in
Houseswap
Would anyone
from the Southampton area thinking about emigrating to Brisbane, Australia - or
just visiting - be interested in a houseswap ?
We are in the best state (
Short Term Rental
We could also
be persuaded to rent out for 1-2 weeks, (involving upheaval of the family to go
and find a hotel somewhere). Although long term rental is very reasonable here,
short term rental simply isn’t available – I’ve never seen it. Of course, any
3/4/5 bed house would suit a family on arrival though you are really stuck with
B&B, motels or hotels normally – but if you want immediate home comforts in
a large home with aircon / pool and fantastic view, for around the cost of 2
hotel rooms but for much nicer surroundings in Samford, (and of course much
larger too!) then please get in contact! We’ll also give you any advice you
want and make sure that some essentials are ready for your arrival, so if you
are interested please see http://brisbanehome.hotshopping.com.au.
Leaving
Assets/Property in the UK
You
can bring any and all your assets into
Personally I
think by selling and bringing your money over here, you will have more
flexibility - and be able to buy a house and thus settle down quicker. Once
here and working, there's nothing to stop you buying an investment property and
renting it out - much easier to control when you are here rather than trying to
manage it remotely. Of course prices and go up in the
Citizenship
Once you've
been here for 2 years you can become a citizen, which gives various privileges
and responsibilities. It's quite possible to live here and never become a
citizen, but if you've come here for a new life, why not embrace it and get an
Ozzy passport and be allowed to vote? [Oops.. I forgot to go and vote this year
(feb 04) and 6 months later I have just received a $35 fine for forgetting!!!]
After filling out the application form that you receive by ringing the
immigration centre (one for each adult) you are asked in for an interview. If
you live in a rural area they send you off to a desginated post office such as
in
Once you are a
citizen, you can't leave or enter
Also, you are
expected to be able to answer the following two questions:
What are your
responsibilities as a citizen?
and What are
your privileges as a citizen?
oh... and they
help you with the answers too if you have forgotten them !
The answers
are, as lifted from the Australian goverments immigration website in April
2002:
As an
Australian citizen, you will be required to:
Obey the laws
and fulfil your duties as an Australian citizen
Enrol on the
Electoral register and vote at federal, state, territory and local government
elections and referendums
Serve on a
jury, if called on
Defend
As an
Australian citizen, you will benefit from entitlement, under Australian law, to
the same rights as Australian citizens:
The right as a
voter to help elect
The right to
apply for appointment to any public office or to nominate for election as a
member of parliament
The right to
apply for an Australian passport and to leave and re-enter
The right to
claim protection from Australian diplomatic representatives while overseas
Eligibility to
apply to enlist in the defence forces and for government jobs for which
Australian citizenship is required
The right to
register any child under 18 years of age, born to you overseas as an Australian
citizen by descent
TV
Programmes
Even if you
have time off when you come over, I bet you will watch less television! So much
to do outside, places to see, lovely weather etc ! However, for those who want
to know what is on – here’s a summary.
An amazing
number of
Quite a few
However, you
won't get Eastenders which I find surprising - nor Coronation St. Old reruns of
Eastenders are on satellite/cable.
From
From Oz
for kids: Bananas
in Pajamas,
From OZ
for us: Who
wants to be a Millionaire, Country Practice reruns, Neighbours, Popstars, The
Mole, Groundforce, Homes and gardens, All Saints (good hospital drama), Harry's
Practice, Always Greener
From UK
for kids:
Treasure, Thomas Tank Engine, Sheep, Fireman Sam, The Hoobs, Maisy Mouse, Bob
the Builder, Teletubbies, George and Martha, George Shrinks, Kipper, Tweenies,
Oscar Charlie, We don't eat the neighbours, Beatrix Potter, Angelina Ballerina,
Madeline, Buses, Brum, Merlin, Wombles, Connie the Cow
From the
UK for us Cold
Feet, A Touch of Frost, Animal Hospital, Monarch of the Glen, Heartbeat,
Absolutely Fabulous, The Bill
From the
From the
USA for older
Recess, Judging Amy, Stargate, JAG, Dark Angel, Alias (my favorite!), Boston
Public (recommended), , The Practice, ER, Friends, Enterprise, Everybody loves
Raymond, Chicago Hope, Crossing Jordan, Third Watch, Jerry Springer, Ricky
Lake, The Late show
Using an
Agent
We didn't use
an agent and just filled in the forms ourselves, so I can't advise whether you
should use one I'm afraid. If your skills are in demand and you have the
points, I can't really see how an agent can improve your chances... most of the
work has to be done by you anyway - like getting all the references, police
check, finding all those certificates, medicals, listing job history and
presenting effectively a 1 page CV etc etc. Sure there will be some questions
on what is meant by certain questions, but that advice can be gained on the
forums like www.britishexpats.co.uk/forums
… certainly I’d advise as much effort as possible in pulling together your
history, your references, accounting for time between jobs, letters of
commendation, other evidence of your time at University/Polytechnic in addition
to just the degree certificate, and in putting all together in a nice neat set
of dividers or folders, within one presentation folder. The process and
requirements do change ... so make sure you find out exactly what is needed. I
think if you don't appear to have enough points, agents will be good at helping
you and in determining what the best category of visa you should apply for.
Shipping your possessions
Definitely hang around when the packers are there... you need to keep a real
good eye on things to make sure stupid things aren't getting packed, or that
things that you want to keep to the last day don't get packed straight away. No
matter who you give these instructions to, one of the other packers will do
something else! Sometimes we were asked the same questions several times by 4
different people.... e.g. are these curtains going? What about this bed? A lot
of patience is called for!
We had our whole fridge wrapped up with all the contents inside it.... luckily
we realised before it was too late. They left an entire drawer in the kitchen
with cutlery and utensils etc... which had to be sent in a separate box and
arrived 2 weeks later. Even as they were about to shut and seal the door of the
container, we found a hammock and a toy that they had not discovered... it seemed
that in the last hour they were somewhat rushing, and that is the most
important time for you to ensure everything is packed. Even then we didn't
notice until too late that they left the wedding dress and we couldn't get that
into the extra box that we had requested. All of these problems occured with us
being there to oversee... I daren't think what would have happened and what
surprises we would have found when it was delivered the other end had we not
done that!
When the
packing starts, you really know you're about to move.. the house is turned
upside down, and I wouldn't say it's the easiest of times.. It's also your
final time to work out what can be taken to the dump, and whether your baggage
for the airport will be overweight and have it packed for shipping instead. We
were lucky..... after everything was packed and the container had gone, we
realised our baggage was 15 kilos too much and because we hadn't actually put
everything into suitcases and our trunk yet, we didn't realise that it wouldn't
actually fit!!! I then found some items in the garage that were worth taking
and squeezed them in too. (Hint.... clean out the garage the week before so
it's easy to find things!) Luckily, because of the items the packers had left,
we were able to squeeze these extra items into the box that the company
collected after we had departed.
BTW - when our posessions arrived in Brisbane, the company this end
(Grace Removals) didn't live up to their end of the deal..... it was meant to
be a full pack/unpack service... but the unpacking consisted of the boxes being
brought into the house for us to unpack. Every item of furniture was unwrapped
and positioned, so the heavy work was sorted out, but the number of boxes we
had to unpack was staggering. It was clear they were rushing it and making sure
it was over and done with in one day. It was a Friday I believe, and since we
obviously wanted our belongings asap, we were content to have the boxes and
unpack ourselves though it was a mammoth task. Since it took 3/4 days to pack,
I would have thought it was obvious that at least 3 days should be allocated
for unpacking if you have paid for that service. I really did expect them back
on the Monday to continue to assist unpacking, but they didn't play ball. The
UK company (Excess International Removals) talked about possible compensation,
but nothing happened.
When Grace Removals brought our final item in - the piano -
it was lowered to the floor and its weight was put down on the tiles rather
than the carpet that was right beside it. A piece of gravel had been brought in
and the weight caused a massive scratch which required a french polisher. The
removal man was on that side and I'm sure that he saw the damage he had just
caused, but I was standing on the other side. I didn't notice until they were
driving away ... The insurance excess was £300 and the cost was about £120 I
believe, so I ended up having to pay that. Worse....after the french polisher
did his job..... my 23 month old son liked his work so much that he mimicked it
by getting some fine sandpaper from the garage and rubbing down an area of
about a square foot on both sides of the piano! To this day, it still has these
huge scuff marks !
We unpacked most things straight away, but some boxes took
a couple of weeks, and when we finally gave up we put about 20 boxes (toys,junk
etc) into the guest bedroom and kept the door shut! They remained there for 6
months until my sister came to visit..... so it was like Christmas when we
finally unpacked them and sorted it all out.
We spent £5500 on the full pack/unpack service for a 40
foot high top container. They had estimated 220 boxes but I think it worked out
at something like 350, though it did all manage to fit in. It is possible to
get a container delivered a few days before leaving and pack yourself which our
friends did at the end of December and works out a lot cheaper. Of course you'd
have to organise getting boxes, wrapping paper and perhaps employing some
labour to help with heavy furniture. I think in hindsight, depsite the extreme
amount of work, I would take the DIY route if I did it again, I expect that
employing some labour would be sensible but you'd need to get the boxes and
wrapping paper and still work out a lot cheaper. When our friend's furtniture
arrived this end, the delivery guys did help to unpack.
Mowing
April 2004 - We’ve just had a saga with our ride on mower, which has been
broken since the end of last October. We really should have had it fixed
sooner, but since the same fault occurred two years before, we knew that this
time we were in for buying a whole new transmission. We had been led to believe
that the gearbox for John Deere mowers are sealed units and that no parts are
available. That’s the official line from John Deere world wide and mower shops
instead send parts away for machine polishing; however you can’t get away with
that trick twice because too much metal has been removed and the faces no
longer fit together with a perfect seal. I was hoping there was another
solution but I really don’t know why I didn’t act sooner, especially
considering that the grass grows fast during the summer and you really need to
mow every week. The 2 acreas of manicured lawn became unruly and turned into a
meadow…. We had it mowed by a contractor a couple of times up to Christmas and
also whipper snipped (strimmed) where it was growing faster, then mowed again
at the end of February…. However, it has been chaotic and it was disheartening
to see the formerly lovely lawn start to let the place down. Occasionally our
mower would work and give 5-10 minutes of use before it wouldn’t move again, so
we were able to mow some small areas. In March I started researching on the
net, and found that parts were indeed available in America from the gearbox
manufacturer. I ordered them and had them posted here for a quarter of the
price of the whole gearbox. After having to wait for a replacement my son and I
got the gearbox off the mower, a friend came over to fit the new parts + new
oil, we fitted the gearbox back on, and at last it is up and running. Because
the grass was sow long, we first mowed the whole lawn with the deck lifted up,
so that it could comfortably mow the long grass….we had a lot of raking to do !
but at last it looks great.
The great news here is that
for John Deere mower purchasers… when you are told parts are not available and
the gearbox is a non serviceable unit….all is not lost. Simply get on the net
and import them.. or send me an email !
Normal mowing - you really
don't need a "catcher".. just eject the grass out to the side with
the safety flap lifted up and the grass speads out and disappears into the
lawn. We normally set the deck height to 50cm, perhaps 60. If you leave the
mowing too long - say two weeks or more... you may have too much grass left on
the lawn which doesn't disappear, and then gets trodden over the house when
it's wet. The following mow should sort it out.
Mowing pattern... I was
taught to do one clockwise trip against the fence with the safety flap down..
then another clockwise... then on the third lap go anticlockwise with the
safety flap up to spread the three laps worth of grass out evenly. Then repeat
: 2 clockwise with flap down, 1 anticlockwise with flap up to spread. However,
4 years on and we are using a new strategy which seems easier..... do the first
clockwise trip up against the fence, but then do every other lap anticlockwise
with the flap up.... it gives the mower less work to do because it never has to
disperse lumps of previously cut grass resulting in a cleaner cut and leaves no
messy piles of grass.
Winter mowing - Hardly any
mowing is required... however it will still grow well in any area that stays
wet... particularly where your biocycle pipe is positioned (make sure you move
it around so it doesn't drench one area)... During winter, there is always a
drought. The grass everywhere loses its colour and turns brown. If you mowed it
short, it will turn browner, so the last mow of summer should be 60cm. It will
still grow slowly, but don't mow unless it really needs it... this is the trick
to retaining as much colour as possible. If you mow areas that have grown
higher than the surroundings, then set the deck to 90cm, so that it blends in
with the rest of the lawn - it won't look like it's been mown, but it will look
green and neat.
Costs of
living?
When you first
emigrate, it may take quite some time to find work... probably a good idea to
ensure you have enough to handle 4 months off... perhaps another month for
emergencies.
House rental about
$400 - $500 per week in our area... some larger properties about $650 - $750 pw.
You'll probably be asked for 4 weeks deposit ("bond").
Remember you
will want to buy a vehicle or two - cars seem to be cheaper here than England.
Larger houses
tend to have lots of lights and have larger electricity bills! Normal house
$180 -250 per quarter... but ranging right up to $800 - $1100 per quarter if
keep lights on, use aircon, pool heating etc
School
gear/uniform/trips say $250 per pupil per child.
Shopping -
2/3rds of uk prices, but sometimes considerably more. Sweets are definitely
more expensive.. the Mars bar usually costing $2.00 though once in a blue moon
you get the $1 specials though these days the specials are usually $1.30.
Advertising :
I recommend Personal Trading Post for classified advertising, which appeared
to provide a vastly better response than Courier Mail or Queensland Trading
Post. For internet classifieds, try www.Ebay.com.au though note that Personal
Trading Post ads do appear on their website on www.personaltradingpost.com.au
Still to add :
Photos of
Samford and Surrounding areas + Brisbane City
Let me know
what would be useful!
