Thinking of a recce trip to Oz - where would we stay?

[redshoes]

We are mulling over emigrating to Oz. We are thinking of having a holiday there to have a look see (Brisbane or Adelaide)...where would be the place to look for accommodation? Is there something similar to Travelodge out there?? We would be there for a few weeks, with at least 2 children. Does anybody have any views on Brisbane/Adelaide also?

live in brissy - love it.

You could do a few days in Brisbane - here is a couple of places friends and relies have stayed:

here

here

both are in the city and so can walk and explore brisbane central.

you could then go to either sunshine or gold coast - we love the sunny coast - only cause it is closer...

here

or

here

then you could go west to Toowoomba or just to areas on gold coast hinterland

toowoomba

gold coast hinterland

you could also go to fraser island - fabulous!!

here

hope that helps.

Get a serviced apartment with 2 children - you will save a fortune in food and get to sleep in your own room.

Even if a place looks too expensive email them and say how long you want to stay. I just got a very generous discount in Melbourne for staying only 4 nights.

the sunshine coast ones were apartments - think rydges south bank might be the same. We had apartments in the two on the sunshine coast.

the others have huge lists of accommodation.

I live in Adelaide, but only been here for 7 months. I love it.

It depends on what lifestyle you are after. If you are after nightlife/social scenes then Adelaide barely has any. Which suits us, but not all people.

Don't really know a great deal at the mo to be honest.

Official Tourism Site

Will try & find some more info.

check out a website quickbeds.com.au they give you prices and looksey on whats on offer all over the country as well as www.jasons.com/australia/

if you wanna check out the local market for property this is the best website to go to and they have holiday rentals as well.

we love brisbane because of its all year weather even tho we live way further north. I reckon its the best australian city out of all of them still country like not too overcrowded and pretty metro at the same time.

www.realestate.com.au

Hey thanks - great links/ideas. Thanks Eidsvold.
Sandcastles, nightlife not an issue, but I like there to be a certain buzz/busy-ness in a town - is Adelaide like that? And what's it like in winter?

Sunshinestarr, thanks for that link - I do need to research property prices as that is a big factor in emigrating (along with the weather!)

Hmmm - I need to know some suburbs to check out property prices. Anyone know some 'nice' suburbs in Adelaide/Brisbane???

i grew up in the northside of brisbane I prefer that side of town as oppose to the southside.

Areas I recommend in Brisbane and it depends what your after see I'm a country girl at heart and I hate the hustle of the city so I like the outta suburbs.

I love Redcliffe, Sandgate, Bribie Island, Banksia Beach these are all coastal suburbs near the beach in the north and have lots of activities for families.

Griffin, Mango Hill, Murrumba Downs, North Lakes, Bracken Ridge most of these are new estates with reasonable rent.

Most suburbs are within distance to major shopping centres, schools, public transport.

To the western suburbs you have nice areas like Albany Creek, Samford (more out in the country suburbs), McDowall, Everton Hills, Eaton Hills, Bridgeman Downs, Aspley,

My parents lived in the inner city suburbs for years and only recently moved if you like the inner city life with streets lined with alfresco dining, minutes away from the city access to trains, buses, ferry, race track, Brisbane River then I'd recommend Ascot, Hamilton, New Farm. On the otherside of the river right opposite you have Bulimba, Hawthorne, Morningside obviously because you are closer to the city the more expensive rent and property is.

maybe others could recommend some of the nicer suburbs on the southside. My sil grew up on the coastal southside she's very bias to those suburbs such as Wynumm, Redland Bay, in summer it can be very humid everytime i've visited her there's always been a nice breeze. However she avoids suburbs on that side of town for high crime rates such as Woodridge, Inala, Logan, Kingston, Beenleigh sorry if to offend if you live in these areas.

We were advised to avoid the northern suburbs of Adelaide, which was fine as dh's family is in the south anyway.

Wouldn't know about the night time in Adelaide at all, sorry, not something we have done yet.

Winter is lovely, not cold like our winter, we managed without coats at some points.

Will type more when i have a bit of time, we are just of out!

live on the northside and grew up on thenorth west - can agree with what sunshinestarr has said about those.

Just to let you know - water = expensive unfortunately.

I grew up on the north side of Brisbane, my dad still lives there so I'm over there visiting regularly. Most suburbs of Brisbane are ok, I would agree with the ones SunshineStarr mentioned to avoid though. We've settled in a Southern Bayside suburb, &love living near the water. You get a breeze even when it is stinking hot
Anything with a water view is expensive, like any city. We're just under a 10min drive to the Esplanade and we're renting a 3bed house for $300/wk, which is managable with 2 children and 1 salary. I'm a complete convert to this area, having grown up no where near it, has such a nice feel to it, being near the water and there are always loads of people out doing stuff on or near the Bay each weekend. And we're 10min to the Gateway, which makes getting to the Northside, or up or down the coast very easy.
www.domain.com.au is also useful website and when still in the UK, I started subscribing to Queensland Property and Lifestyle, a real estate magazine, which was really helpful in getting some local knowledge, as it had been so long since I had lived here.

Thanks, some brilliant tips there. Eidsvold - you say water is expensive - is it a worry? That with global warming it will disappear or something drastic?! I mean, over here we are all worried about disappearing under water, is that the Oz equivalent???

no I meant buying real estate near water...

doh!

I grew up on the southside rochdale/springwood, there are nice places further south past benleigh - jimbooma way to the gold coast hinterland. Closer to the city on the southside nice suburbs are:
Tarrigindi,Annerly, Holland Park, Mount Gravatt, Wishart,Sunnybank, Rochedale, Springwood then vering towards bayside - chandler, cannon hill, morningside. Or to the west - Toowong, St Lucia, Indooroopilly, Sherwood and further out to Sinnimon Park, Mount omonney

I cannot do links yet so check out www.livingin-australia.com/brisbane AND
www.ourbrisbane.com/living/suburbs

It will give you an idea of how spread out Brisbane is. It is all centred around the river and the city centre - Queen Street/botanical Gardens so the suburbs are NORTH, EAST, SOUTH, WEST from this point there are major motorways/roads that splinter out from here. So you have the pacific highway going south to the gold coast then onto sydney/melbourne etc the Gateway bypasses the city to go north to the sunshinecoast and northern suburbs - boondal-glasshouse mountians Australia Zoo etc

I think there are great schools in QLD. you can choose from state schools, independent private p-12 schools or traditional private schools.

I agree with sunshinestarr there are suburbs that have high social/economical deprevation issues.

My parents now live bayside wellington point I agree with scully the bay breeze is worth paying extra for. Brisbane is like a big country town not too over populated I always thought it was funny that you could bump into someone you know. So unlike the UK. But is rising fast in amenities/shops/cafe lifestyle. If you have a car you can go anywhere 2 hours to sunshine coast 1 hour to gold coast 40 min to the city. I personally like inner city but I need that water/city buzz I like the fact you can catch the citycat across the water to town. I have lived at Coorpooroo and Hawthorne not too bad me thinks so why am I still in the UK?????? DOH!

There are lots of places that do selfcatering accomodation. Im sure your travel agent would be able to source that for you. check out www.freedomaustralia.co.uk for self catering

I would recommend staying a few days in the city easy access to amenities then spend some time either up the coast or down on the gold coast. All the big theme parks are on the gold coast - dreamworld, seaworld, movieworld.

sorry for the long post I hope that helps. Enjoy BrisVegas.

Oh and on the water thing there are restrictions because of the drought. and it is very humid!!!!! even when the temp is not so high. I'm sure Eidsvold will back me up on that one.

Wow thanks sunshinefairy. I will do some serious map-sttudying tonight. Is the humidity really bad, then? How long for (not all year round?)?

Hi more humid in summer months. When are you thinking of going?

In the next few months for a visit - but we are looking to go permanently, so need to factor in humid weather when deciding! So, say 3 months very humid and the rest of the year not? or a bit??

Dec - not too bad - january and feb are traditionally the hottest humid months...

had a couple of humid weeks a week or so ago - hated it as I am 30 odd weeks pregnant - not good. A lot of homes have air conditioning now - our playroom/rumpus area is lovely and cool.

Just remembered another website that might be useful www.whereis.com.au
when I was in the UK looking at real estate websites and I couldn't remember where a suburb was, I would find a listing that had a street address, and then look it up on this website. The first map gives you a detailed map of the street and surround streets, but if you use the map zoom slider you can bring up what the neighbouring suburbs are, useful when you don't have a street directory handy.
Also, the show place option drop down menu lets you see where the closest railway stations, schools, etc are to your chosen address.
As for the humidity, your first summer here will be tough (like our first UK winter was ) but you do acclimatise and everywhere is airconditioned (shopping centres, public transport) which makes it easier.

scully, thank you so much. I am getting a bit bogged down in suburbs! I like the sound of your Southern Bayside - 10 mins to Esplanade - and as a native you must be quite discerning - but at the risk of seeming outstandingly thick, I can't figure which suburbs are 'Southern Bayside'. I'll try the new link, thanks

Hmmm, pondering whether being too hot/humid better than being cold/grey...

Being humid definitely better than being cold/grey Especially with kids, I found it such an effort leaving the house in the middle of a UK winter, with dd1 3.5 and a newborn. The TV is on less as well, as she wants to be outside playing cricket or riding her bike or swimming.
Southern Bayside probably comes up as Eastern suburbs on a search, anywhere near Wynnum, Manly, Capalaba, Wakerley, Gumdale, Carindale, Tingalpa. On www.realestate.com.au, click on Qld, then search by map option, then Brisbane, then South East option. Good way to see what suburbs make up each direction