Hi Rigo & Karla,

I live in Brisbane and have friends who live in Salisbury. In terms of schools, the state school system in Queensland (Brisbane is the capital of Queensland) is excellent. However, you will find that resources at state schools differ between suburbs, i.e. the schools in wealthier suburbs tend to be better resourced because local families can afford to donate more to the schools. Primary schools generally extend from Prep through to Grade 7. Highschools then run from Grade 8 to Grade 12. However, in the private system, some schools have now introduced a 'middle school', which confuses things a bit. If you are interested in private schools, a lot of the private schools in Brisbane are single sex (all boys or all girls). However, there is an excellent co-educational (boys and girls) private school in Indooroopilly called St Peters Lutheran College. I know that they have a middle school. It is expensive though (approx $9000 a year). In contrast, a state school will only cost you a couple of hundred dollars a year. A lot of people send their children to a state school to year 7, then switch to a private school. My children attend Indooroopilly State School and we are VERY happy with this. Indooroopilly is a lovely suburb and you could easily commute to work at Salisbury (you would be driving in the opposite direction to most of the traffic). However, it is more expensive to rent or buy in Indooroopilly. Some nice suburbs near Salisbury include Greenslopes, Yeronga, Annerley, Dutton Park (all of these are closer to the CBD, so you would be driving against the traffic during peak hour, which is good).

Salisbury is not a particularly wealthy area, although there are now a lot of houses being renovated there because it has traditionally been quite affordable. Unfortunately, housing prices have boomed in Brisbane in recent years, so it is difficult to buy anything for under $300,000. The best way to look at real estate prices is in the area is via a website called "realestate" (can't put the whole link yet so you might need to google "realestate australia" ).

The great thing about Salisbury is that it is on the train line. The public transport system in Brisbane is not great (it's clean and affordable, but the services are not as regular as they should be). Having said that, to be walking distance to a train station really opens up the city to you. I would consider looking at suburbs along the same train line as Salisbury - google "translink Brisbane".

I hope this helps.

Grubster