Family friendly areas near the Gold Coast....

[scorpio]

OOPS...I posted this in the Brisbane section, but I think it should have been here...:o


We are a Tassie family thinking of relocating to sunny Qld later this year, early
Dec. at this stage. I know it seems like a long way off but we need to start planning now. We have 2 school age children aged 10 & 12 (they will have birthdays in Oct, 2006 so will be a year older come moving time.) Our eldest dd and her son, who will be 10mths old by Dec, will also be relocating with us.

We plan to rent a property to begin with,until we find our bearings. We realise the heat will take some getting used to but we have been told it can be cooler living nearer the coast than more inland, around Brisbane. Would this be true?

A few things we are wanting to know:

* What areas are the better ones to live in as a family?

* Are there any state schools we should avoid?

* Should we look at the Gold Coast areas or would suburban Brisbane be ok weather wise? I guess Im a little paranoid about the heat and if its going to be cooler near the sea then thats where I want to live.

*We have thought about Mermaid Waters, Burleigh Heads, Southport, Manly, places around those areas. Any we should avoid?

Have you relocated as a family? I would love to hear of others experiences regarding such a big move. We have no family in Qld at all, and a 20yo dd living in Sydney. Would we find it hard to meet other families do you think? My dh and myself will both be working fulltime although I would prefer part time if I could get it. Do you know of any good websites about families and relocation experiences?

Any info. about anything to do with the above would be much appreciated. Bubhub is great for getting young mums together but what about families with older kids, no babies, how do we get to meet up with others, are there any websites to cater for families in our situation?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[louiseward]

Hi there,

I have only recently moved here from England - so my weather change has been drastic, I have not been finding it too difficult to deal with - mind you it is Autumn.

I have found it to be a very friendly and very family orientated place, and although I have only been here for three weeks I have met some very nice and welcoming people. The Gold Coast is full of people who have moved to the area you very rarely meet someone who has lived here all of their lives, and so there are many people in the same position as you.

Good luck with your move, and let us know if you come here.

Louise

[leab]

Hi Scorpio

Here are my replies to some of your Q's

[/QUOTE]we have been told it can be cooler living nearer the coast than more inland, around Brisbane. Would this be true?.[/QUOTE]

Yep! And the further south on the GC the cooler. e.g you listed Burleigh Heads below, which I think is the coolest weatherwise.

[/QUOTE]A few things we are wanting to know:

* What areas are the better ones to live in as a family?.[/QUOTE]

Out of the 4 you listed below I would say Mermaid Waters as it is close to public transport, schools and the beach. It is further north than Burleigh, so more centrally located on the coast. Also I think you will find more family homes listed there, as opposed to units.


[/QUOTE]* Should we look at the Gold Coast areas or would suburban Brisbane be ok weather wise? I guess Im a little paranoid about the heat and if its going to be cooler near the sea then thats where I want to live..[/QUOTE]

It will be cooler near the sea. Also we get more rain, just have a look at our Dam:smiliedance: it is 100%, whereas Brisbane is down to 34%:(

Sorry I couldn't answer your other Q's

Leanne

[*Chels*]

hello
i might not be much help because im a young mum with a baby so dont know much about meeting older people or schools etc.just wanted to say that i moved to GC at the beginning of year from new zealand.yes,the heat was a shock but you get used to it!!i live in Southport and I love it,its so close to shops,malls,parks and the broadwater.also theres a couple of schools nearby.Burleigh is a nice area too.I think its best to have enough cash to live off for awhile coz my fiance found it quite hard to get work,and other people have said that too.
Dont stress bout not knowing people,its so easy to meet people!!You will make friends!!Good luck with getting everything sorted,I'm sure you will love the gold coast:yelclap:

[~angel~]

Hi,
I moved to the Goldcoast August last year, with 2 school aged children..
I asked around and found that Benowa/Ashmore state schools are fantastic, I looked up the Benowa state school on the net, and it sounds fantastic, however, we moved to Ashmore, and my children ended up going to Ashmore state school, which I find is an excellent school, and my 2, found friends and settled really well, besides the fact that the suburbs are a little more 'family orientated' instead of 'touristy'... Since being here, friends I have made that also had moved here from TAS, moved to Arundel, and their children go to the school there, and they love it there too...Im also sure there'd be a lot of other great areas too. Sorry I cant be of more help,
Take care,
Kelly

[scorpio]

Thank you all so very much for your replies, it really is helpful to read this information. I know many Tassie families have moved to QLD, some never return and others just cant handle the heat and head back down here.

My husband would be in Oxley initially as he is thinking of transferring from Tas Police to Qld Police and would need to be in Oxley for 16 weeks. He would then be posted to a station. We realise Oxley is nearer to Brisbane than the coast but as I said before, we feel the beach areas are more for us. We have lived near the beach all our lives, never inland, so we are used to being within walking distance to the sea.

I currently work at the University in Tas. and would probably look at similiar work at a Uni on the Gold Coast.......how many Uni's are there?

We have a few months to plan all this and its quite exciting. Its interesting to read that one of you have come from England to the Gold Coast!!!....and you are managing the weather ok. We were in England in early August last year, in Summer, and we found it to be quite cool weather wise for Summer!!!...and we live in Tassie!!! lol

There look to be quite a few houses for rent on the Gold Coast too, and they look really quite nice! We dont want to be in the touristy areas either. We would prefer a nice little suburb with close acess to the beach, where we could go bike riding and take walks along the beach and have bbqs....so we could do all that in Ashmore?

We would have one child in Primary school and one in High School. here is Tassie my 12yo dd is in first year high, Year 7. Would she be in first year high next year in Qld, or would she need to go into Year 9 as she would be 13? THats one thing that puzzles us a bit. Im not sure if its the age that dictates what year the kids will go into, or whether they will let them go into the grades they would have been in here in Tassie. Confusing I know!! lol

Anyway, anything else you would like to add would be much appreciated by our family...................thanks again :thumbsup:

[~angel~]

Hi, I think Ashmore is around 5-6kms away from Surfers Paradise! :o

[suemp]

as for the unis there is gritth uni at parkwood and logan uni (halfway between bris and gold coast). we have friends also from tassie and they have found the rise of living costs hard compared to tassie but if your husband has already got a job you should be right. ashmore is not walking distance to the beach. its quite busy traffic wise. i will prob offend some fellow gold coasters here but there is so little of the gold coast that is not touristy. whats not developed has plans for development. we live on hope island on the northern part of the gold coast and while most of hope island is redeveloped with resorts we live in the original section Boykambil. its only about 3 blocks and its so friendly and on the water. santa barbara is also nice. along the beach currumbinbeach is nice and burleigh heads. ive lived at mermaid beach and there are alot of young surfers etc also i have lived sorrento, expensive and in the middle of no where really (sorry anyone from these areas im sure ill cop some slack) and ive lived chevron island way too touristy. the last thing you need to see every day is night clubbers stumbling home every morning. up here kids start year 1 the year they turn 6 so your daughter would be in year 8 which is the start of high school up here (year 7 is part of primary school) my son goes to coomera school. its a smaller school, very close knit and excellent
good luck with your decisions. i moved up here 9 years ago, with 1 suitcase, 100 bucks to my name and no where to live and knew no one and im still here. as for the jobs, buy the weekend bulletin and wed bulletin best for job adverts.i have little skills and have never had a prob getting a job, not always the dream job ive longed for but ive always payed the bills

[Bloomingangels]

Have you moved yet?
I hope you have found a nice location, I don't often log in to this site, but was reading through, and read that someone had metioned you hardly meet anyone that was born here, Although I was born in nsw, I have lived here on the coast my whole life of 30 yrs, if you have any questions at all don't hesitate to ask. There is not a part of this beautiful place I don't know. I can tell you about schools to avoid etc, feel free to email me, and I hope you have settled into Qld.

[karalee]

Hi, I was born on the gold coast!!! Shocking I know. I have never lived anywhere else and probably never would. The best places to live by the beach is definately burleigh area, it is about 15 minutes away from Southport and about 10 minutes away from surfers. I actually grew up in ashmore and went to ashmore pirmary school. It is a fairly large school, but has a great name for itself. The area is very family, it has a bowling alley, bmx track, a botanical gardens and more. It does have two main roads running through it, but the residential streets are quiet. Ashmore is about 15 minutes from the beach. and 5 to 10 minutes to southport, depending on what part of southport you need. I live in Pacific Pines now which is further away from the beach again, but is the fastest growing area on the coast. It is also the "baby booming" area. So there are lots of schools, and parks and public swimming pools for use. In my opinion these are the best areas (including house prices) to live on the gold Coast. Anyway hope this helps.:smiliedance: