Those of you living in Brisbane some info please

[Belgianchocolates]

I've just applied for a job in Brisbane. I'm trying to find out more about the city and the surounding suburbs.
The ourbrisbane website is OK, but you've got to click on each suburb to see info about it and that's just taking sooo much time.
I wish I could just imput my info and it would come up with the best place to live. Due to our jobs that would be: somewhere not too far from both the centre and the port, with good schools, nice houses (preferable 4 bedrooms, but 3 would do for now) and not too crowded as that's what we're trying to escape.
Anyone on MN got an idea of a place that would tick all those boxes?

difficult as ive not been here long but it depends alot on what you want.. beyond what you said! Dh is working in the city but his next 'job' is port of Brisbane, he is a business analyst. He will drive there as it seems long winded on the train.. if at all possible? we live in the northern part of brisbane. Pine rivers but are looking at moving more west to Esk, as propert on acreage is cheaper. DH currenetly commutes 1 hour a day door to door. and esk will make it 1.5 hours door to door, depending where we are. schools vary alot depends if you want public or private.
we have a four bed house, new built with a decent garden but it does cost $360 a week, so not cheap. but good school, small village close enough to a westfields etc.
so i guess do you a want a good garden? do you want to be close to the city. now we are vaguely looking at areas to buy we have drawn a big chunk around a map and said we can look here...

chloeb2002 you are not far from me if you are in Pine Rivers. I am just over the 'border'.

Belgianchocolates I think the North side is the nicest in Bris. Most suburbs are nice..some have not so nice areas but nothing like the UK in terms of gangs or violence or such.

Deception Bay and Caboolture iteself (not shire) are not very nice on north side. Insider information (my dh works in the justice/corrective services area) says these suburbs have a high density of ex offenders

Inala, Goodna, Redbank Plains and those areas are not so nice on the south side. They are all in close vicinity to the prisons on the southside.

Personally I would look at the suburbs closes to CBD....look at house prices and work your way out until you see what you can afford. The schools are quite good in all areas and shopping centres are everywhere.

Thank you both for the info. I'd heard that the north side was the best place to look. The problem is that with the dc's coming along you kind of want to be sure about the area and school before you move, because you don't want to start them in 1 school and then decide that actually you want to live in another suburb and end up moving then to another school after 6 months or so. Anyway, I'll keep looking from this end of the world and hopefully we'll have a better idea of where to go by the time we get there, which is probably at least another year away.

If your suburbs are quite close together and within travelling distance you wouldn't have to move them schools.

We don't have to 'apply' for schools over here...we just choose the one we want our dc to go to. If a school gets more kids they get an extra teacher and extra classrooms if needed.

Some schools are starting to enforce a catchment area but not many.

I grew up on the Northside, but now live in a Southern Bayside suburb and have been converted
We are about a 7min drive to the Bay, 30min train trip to the CBD (24km) & close to the Gateway.
I looked at Northlakes soon after we arrived, as we were tempted by the new homes and affordability, but the public transport/commuting put me off. Both the M1 and train system here are stretched already and doesn't look like improving in the forseeable future. Having had a 50mile commute each way in the UK, we were both loathe to travel more than half an hour to work.
Mymama is right, we picked the area we wanted to live in, rented for 12mths and then bought last Oct, in a neighbouring suburb, so the move hasn't affected dd1's school. It can make the initial decision a bit stressful though - good luck

How did you go about choosing the school you wanted your lo's to go to from here? I've tried via the internet, just a quick look, and it seems very difficult, sooo many schools, soo many areas.
Thanks for the replies btw.

Probably the first thing to decide is if you want to go through the state system (govt schools) or a religious school (eg catholic, independent etc). Each school in the area you are looking at should have a website, should narrow it down a bit. I would email the schools you are interested in, find out about enrolment, catchment areas, anything you can't find out on the website.
Have you looked at these websites?
www.bne.catholic.edu.au/asp/index.asp
or education.qld.gov.au/parents/choosing.html
www.aisq.qld.edu.au/Home.aspx?element=1&category=1
Hope this helps

Thank you very much Scully. Those websites are great. I think I already looked at the last website. We're actually catholic. Is it the same in Oz, like here with catholic schools? I mean that are they also generally good schools with a good reputation?
I had my job interview yesterday and I think basically they want me to come over a.s.a.p., however by soon to be DH doesn't want to go without him having secured a job and the port of Brisbane has told them that they wont be recruiting until 09. That's putting me in a bit of a difficult situation. I'll have to see if I can postpone my arrival. I just wished he could have it all sorted NOW. I don't want to wait!

What does your dh do? dh & I both have port related jobs. It's the 3rd largest port in Australia and currently the fastest growing, with more terminals currently being built.
I actually had dd1 enrolled and ready to start at a catholic school in Surrey, but then our house sold and we moved back here. They are generally smaller schools, with good reputations and the focus on religion being an important part of the curriculum. dd1 goes to a catholic school and we've been very happy with it. I went through the catholic system in Brisbane, primary and high schools so knew what to expect, and although dh isn't catholic or particularly religious, he's also been very happy with where we are sending her. Fees are also reasonable as well, hers are about $1900 a year, with maybe an extra $50 through the year for excursions and $90 for books/stationery.
Where would your job be based?

Hi Scully, My DH is a pilot (you know taking ships in and out of port). At the moment he's working for the port of London, although our family home is in the Midlands, meaning a long commute for him. If we en up staying in the UK then we'll all move to Kent.
I'll be working for the Mater Mothers Hospital (I'm a midwife). They've as good as offered me the job. They do know that I want to start when the summer hols start, so my dc's can start school at the beginning of a school year, which I think is better for them.
My dc go to a catholic school here at the mo. It's not a fee paying school though. We're very happy with the level of education of the school and expect to find a similar level in catholic schools all over the world!

Eastern/Southern or Bayside suburbs would be the most convenient for you then, the Mater is on the inner south side of the Brisbane River, with the city centre on the north side. From our house it takes 20min to drive, on a good run, to drive to the Mater, longer if there are delays (dd2 had surgery there last year so have done the trip once or twice
Catholic schools here have the lowest fees of the independent schools, some schools near us charge a term what we pay a year
We moved back here in Oct 06, gave us enough to time to get settled, dh to find a job, buy a car, rent a house and have our container delivered, before Xmas. dd1 started school at the end of Jan 07 so I also had to find a school once we had decided on a suburb, enrol her, organise uniforms etc. We were glad we hadn't arrived any later, or else it all could have got a bit rushed.

Thanks for the tips on when to move and where to live. We'll have to have a good look at that side of Brisbane. Hope your dd has recovered well from the surgery and that it wasn't anything too serious .
Considering you work at the port: have you got any idea how easy it would be for my dh to find a job. He doesn't want to go without one you see and if he doesn't I'll have to either turn down my job offer or try and postpone my start date. Obviously something I don't want to do, because I am desparate for a change in life, lifestyle and weather .

BelgiumChocolates - congrats on the job. I was desperate to apply to the Mater as well, but can't convince DH to emigrate . A m/w I used to work with has emigrated to Brisbane - she works further west (not sure where, but she works in a different time zone)!!! She loves it out there.

Does he/can he do anything other than be a pilot, until one of those positions came up? Timing it so both of you had jobs to come to would be tricky, but you do, at least dh could then not have to rush into anything. There are major labour shortages in so many areas out here right now.
dd2 needed eye surgery, I'm back up there again this week as she needs another checkup

Well, he only want to do pilots work as he thinks it wont look good on his CV otherwise and then he certainly wont get in. Gosh it's all so complicated. Maybe I should just leave him behind and move on my own with the DC's. I'm sure he'd soon follow if i did that
Stripey, must be quite a bit further west to be in a different timezone I think. Did you apply as a MW? What's it like for your colleague down there? I hear lots of mw's say that they love working out there, but they don't tend to go into too much detail about why!

There's only one time zone in Qld, but 5 different time zones in Australia during summer.
2 of the nurses at my gp are English, have been out here a few years and love it, lifestyle decision I think for most people who move, it was for us, although for me I was moving back after 11yrs.
You and dh will both get in just on your job offer though, won't you? Your dh doesn't need a career-relelvant job offer as well? Just can't see many pilot's positions coming up on regular basis.

Belgian - one of my mates is flying out today to see her for a few weeks so will have to get more info when she comes back.

It is as a m/w that I was going to apply and my friend works as a m/w. She enjoys the work - she says that the number of women that she is expected to look after is less than here, so she is less stressed and gives better care. She gets 2 proper breaks per shift . Some stuff she says sounds a bit odd - a lot of the m/ws where she works can't do VEs so they come and ask her to VE their women.

She loves the whole lifestyle that her boys are on the beach surfing after school, that the place seems less crowded and stressed than UK.

Stripey, Do you ever go on SMS, because I'm having a bit of a deja vu there. Someone on there said exactly the same thing about VE's. It is strange though isn't it not be be able to do VE's and still managing to qualify. You'd never be able to do that here.
The only thing I'm a bit worried about at the mater is the C/S rate: 38% in the public hospital and 50% in private ! But I tell you now, it wont be amongst my women! 2 breaks per shift must be heaven. I'm on a pn ward at the mo: 23 beds and on an early we have 4mw, which isn't bad, but for a late and night, that's covered by only 2mw's and if we're lucky 1 mca. No chance for a break there, let alone 2! Especially if there's a few bf primips on there too.

Ha ha, I was thinking this morning I was having deja vu and then found the thread on SMS that (I guess you) started about Mater.

Yes it would have been me talking about VEs on there before.

Now that's a bit of a coincidence. Both of us being on both sms and mn! Although I do tend to mustly lurk on sms and read what everyone has to say and then think what a bad mw I am...

Its a small world. There's a few SMSers on here. I'm sure you're not a bad m/w.

Well, that epidural thread going made me think I was...

Why? The thread about if women should get one if they ask...

Yep, cause I think pain IS an indication for one. I am from a country where epidural is the only form of pain relief though (in most western european countries it is). Doesn't mean that I go out phoning anaesthetists all the time though, I actually hate them as they create sooooo much trouble and paper work too. But anyway, this is a sms discussion and has nothing to do with Brisbane whatsoever

Well I think they have a higher epidural rate in Australia. I've heard that midwifery is a bit more like obstetric nursing in some units. Although they are trying to move away from that.