Which place?

[my2boyz]

Hi all:wave:

DH has got another year left in our current location (albury) and then he does his on the job training and finishes his trade.

The current places they have told us to consider are Townsville, Brisbane, Sydney and Darwin.
We have no faimly again at any of those places. Which is starting to get me down,not much I can do about it though.Its just so nice having family around sometimes
And to help with the kids:yes:

So,getting back to the point of my thread:o
Which place would you choose, have you been there before etc etc.

Thanks for any replies
Em

[MilkOnTap]

Heyya Em!

We are based in Sydney, and although living near the beach is good it doesn't compare with Brisbane! I grew up on the Sunshine Coast so yes, I'm biased. But you will find that the people in QLD are different to those in NSW... So far living here none of our neighbours have bothered to introduce themselves to us - and we are living in a defence estate!!

If it were us, we would be putting down Brisbane as number 1, Townsville number 2, Sydney number 3 and Darwin number 4...

Good luck with this decision! I know they're hard decisions to make...

[sharvs]

We are posted to Brisbane at the moment, our first posting was Townsville. Townsville was nice but i wouldnt like to live back there now as a parent. It is very much a party location. Brisbane is the best posting we have had so far (we were in Singleton NSW prior).

[ConcernedParent]

Hey Em,

We have been to all 4 places. We had family in Brisbane and Sydney but not in Townsville or Darwin.
I guess what you want from a posting will influence your preference. Do you want to work or stay at home. Will you be accessing childcare? Are you someone who likes to be out and about?
There is plenty of work in Brisbane, Sydney and Darwin. In Darwin the wages are the highest by far and you can negotiate your terms such as working hours etc. In Brisbane and Sydney there is always others who want your job so you can be at a disadvantage unless your skills are strong. I found getting work in Townsville difficult.
I have found the bigger cities to be less friendly. In Sydney we did not know our neighbours and it was harder to make friends. People are a lot more suspicious of new people. This is less so in Brisbane. Townsville is quite friendly and in Darwin people are very laid back and friendly.
Childcare is an issue in Sydney - if you are in the inner city you will need to be on a waiting list for at least 2 years. It is not as bad as in the suburbs but the costs are higher in Sydney of all 4 cities. Brisbane childcare is easier to get and is a little less expensive. Townsville can be difficult and you might have to look around. In Darwin childcare is a little easier again, depending on where you go, and is only a little cheaper than Bris and Tsv. You can expect to pay up to or around $375pw in Sydney, $270pw in Bris, $240pw in Townsville and $220pw in Darwin. This is before CCB.
If you are going to use childcare you might want to think about the Defence Childcare Program. We get priority of access under this program and are supposed to get a place anywhere in Australia. This doesn't always work and the quality varies greatly between centres. If you want consistency in quality then you might try the Community Childcare Centres. They are in every state. I now use Community Childcare rather than the Defence program. I find the Community Centres to deliver a better service overall. One thing the Community Centres have on the Defence Centres is that they offer transport to and from pre-school. We don't get that from the Defence Centres up here - they say their contract is to deliver childcare only, not a taxi-service. There are a lot of Defence parents at my centre too, (and there are vacancies at the Defence Centres down the road), so consider this one very wisely.

If you like to go out and about then you will find plenty to do in Sydney and Brisbane. Townsville has grown a lot and has some large shopping centres as well as family friendly areas such as parks and gardens. There is not too much happening 100km from town but Airlie Beach and Cairns are less than 5 hrs away if you would like to take a long weekend trip. Darwin seems as if there is not a lot to do at first. There are not so many shopping centres but there is plenty to see and do if you like to get out and sightsee. It is also quite a culturally diverse place. During the dry season, it is quite cool and we have a lot of festivals and things happening. Just about everywhere is family friendly. You can meet people anywhere and before long your time will be spent socialising with your new friends.

If I had to put in a preference, then I would put Darwin 1, (and I NEVER wanted to come here); Brisbane 2, Townsville 3; Sydney 4.

Best of luck with your decision making.:)

[sam's mum]

My first husband was with Customs and we got moved from Cairns to Darwin in 1999.

I loved Darwin but get someone still living there to confirm if the info is still current.

They are so welcoming to kids everywhere. In the dry season there are free concerts and rides and stuff every month. There used to be musicians, merry go round and mini car type things for the little kids and abseiling out of trees and such for the bigger ones.

On the school holidays every day in a different local park there would be activities on for the kids.

The markets are great, especially the fresh food ones.

The only draw back was being so far away from family. Airfares were more expensive to get home than they were from Cairns, and we only got our free airfare once per year.

[my2boyz]

Thanks so much for the fantastic replies. You have all been very helpful. I suppose at one point I was weighing up Brissy or Darwin. Sydney, been there,done that! lol, Didnt really like the traffic and the people (well the ones around us were not all that friendly).
Townsville, I am not too keen about.

Darwin - my main concern is the heat. I am shocking once it gets over about 30 degrees, we are all very pale, and burn easy, so thats my number one concern and perhaps finding schools etc.

Brisbane - not sure if I would like the full on lifestyle of the city again. Im not partial to driving in the traffic, just not a confident driver. Also have lived up at the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast as a teen and I hated the way alot of people were so competitive about trivial things - ie tans/brands etc. My friend lives up there and she swears its just the same!

So, thats my thoughts at the moment.

could anyone please tell me, just exactly what to expect from the Darwin weather?

Cheers
Em

Oh and thanks again

[sam's mum]

For most of the year it is beautiful.

During the hot season it feels like you are walking through water.

Everywhere is airconditioned though. The schools are really good.

My daughter is very very fair and we didn't have any trouble with burning.

[ConcernedParent]

Hi Em,

Darwin weather is pretty humid Nov/Dec and then the rains come end of Dec/Jan. The wet season sees humid mornings but lovely cool afternoons with spectacular storms. Once the storm comes, the wind comes and blows away all the heat. The nights are decent but then it starts to get humid again in the morning.

How you deal with it - Well, they get aircond allowance in their pay up here. That is to help with the extra costs of electricity. So you can go into your house and switch on any one of your 5 or so airconditioners and make it as comfortable as you like. When it is kids sleeptime, put them to bed and turn on the aircond in their rooms. They will sleep as per normal and will be quite confortable. After some time, you do start to get used to the humidity and need the aircond less and less.
You can go shopping, to the movies, out to lunch or playgroup. Everywhere you go is airconditioned. You can also go swimming at the base. The bases are equipped with pools to handle the exodus of familes in the heat, including toddler pools. Familes are welcome too.
If you have fair skin, pools have shadecloth on them and you slip, slop, slap. All schools and playgroups have sunsmart policies and have sunscreen provided by NT Gov. I have fair skin, (red hair and blue eyes), and have coped very well.

Getting back to your original question, the only other thing you might need to think about in terms of location is deployability. Townsville and Darwin are areas of high rotation and high deployability, so you might find yourself on your own while your spouse is deployed. There is a really good partners support group up here and the VVCS, (Vietnam Vets Counselling Service), runs some great programs for partners of those who are or have been deployed. I am not sure what deployment is like in Sydney or Brisbane. When my husband was in there he was dealing more with training than ops.

Best of luck, I hope you get the posting you want, Murphy's Law, can see you getting the thing you are least prepared for and least want - LOL.

[my2boyz]

Hi,

wow these replies are great. thanks so much.
just wanted to ask what the accomodation (DHA houses) are like in Darwin, are they on base as such or in a normal civi suburb?

Thanks again

[ConcernedParent]

Accomodation in Darwin has really improved over the years. Friends of ours who were here 6 years ago lived in a different standard of housing than we do now.
If you look at something in Darwin itself you will probably get older style houses. On the bases the houses are mainly highset. We live out of town, (about 20 minutes) in Palmerston in the suburb of Gunn. Our house was 4yo when we moved in and is in a brand new Delfin estate. We have parks and lakeside walking tracks about 5 minutes from home. Everything is manicured and is really beautiful and green. Our friends from Darwin have commented about how they are really surprised at how nice it is out here.
DHA is building a new estate in Tiwi, which is north Darwin area. This will probably be much the same as ours. I don't think any of the houses are completed there yet.
We went for Palmerston as it is out of town. We have a couple of smaller shopping malls here, (about 3 minutes drive), which meet all our needs.
If we want anything else, or want a day out, we travel into Darwin where there is a bigger centre, Casuarina, which has everything you would find in a centre in a Westfield, except for Myer. There are also the city suburbs which are good for dining out or a shopping trip, There is also the City Mall and the Mitchell Centre which are in the city precinct.
I guess you have to remember that Darwin is actually quite small. The population is around 80,000. I think we do OK given our size.

[Olismum]

Hi, we are in Townsville for the 2nd time. We've been based in Brissy, Sydney, Wodonga & Adelaide and we absolutely love Townsville. We've had no problems with childcare. There are 3 child care centres in Townsville which have priority access for defence children. We rang last week and enquired about vacancies and were told that all 3 could take our daughter for up to 3 days a week. It's been so simple and easy to come by and our daughter started that afternoon. The only problem i've ever had up here is that there is only 1 Kmart & Big W so if something is on sale you need to get their early, lol. We love it up here though and everyone is so friendly. The whole town is very defence orientated and you can get a discount, just about everywhere, lol. I run a support group for ADF families up here and on the net and have found this to be one of the most sought after postings. Good Luck with your decision.

[my2boyz]

Well DH has been getting a heads up at work about postings and apparently Darwin and Townsville have the best work up there for his area (electrical engineer) so we have decided to go to

DARWIN....it will be good, I am just worried about the heat, I tend to get headaches etc in the heat. Thats the only downfall.

Was wondering for those who have been to Darwin, what happens with tolls and moving. Did you drive or plane it up there? I am still stumped about this one.
Apparently this posting location is pretty much certain too, so we can start to look into the area alot better.

Thanks for all your replies :yelclap: