South Africans in Brisbane

[dewey]

Hi Again

We have decided that Brisbane is where we want to be! I need to know if there are other South Africans there and how they have found it to be?

We have 3 young children and are looking at living in the Ipswich area! Have you idea's on schools, parks, pools etc for me?

Thanks

Joanne

[kaz101]

Hi Joanne,

I don't live in Brisbane but they may have a local skilled migrant group there. We have one locally in SE South Australia and I've met several South Africans there.

Regards,
Karen

[dewey]

Thanks Karen
Hope they see my post! Got a few questions for them! I am glad we have eventually decided on a region to settle in! Now just to get the paperwork done!

[bleez]

I do live in Brisbane, but am not South African :-(

but there are heaps of South Africans here (well, it seems that way!!)... and lots of Sudanese too :-)

So, I dont think you will need to look too far to find some.

This may sound like a funny thing to say.. but, pop in to your local Flight Centre store in SA. Flight Centre's head office is based in Brisbane, and I know many of their SA staff transfer here, and in the reverse, many Aussies transfer to SA. So, you are very likely to find an Aussie, or some one who has lived here working for them - and you can book tickets at the same time!!

Just a suggestion :-)

[BARBS1]

Hi Joanne, have an old school friend that has been there over 20 yrs. She is in Capalaba and if not too busy, might be able to answer some questions for you. Her name is Judy - PM me and I'll give you her email address. Good Luck PS Tell her Barbara Chaikin gave you her name.

[Barrow]

Hi,

I am South African (came to Aus via UK) and living and working in Brisbane, Don’t know too much about Ipswich though. There are loads of Safas living in Brisbane and the Gold Cost see africaclub dot org dot au I generally try to equate towns here to those in SA to try to give friends and family an idea of what a place is like here. not sure where you are in SA but I would say Ipswich is like Petermaritzburg ...inland not far enough to be rural not close enough to the cost to be coastal. Small city.

I am not sure why you have chosen Ipswich but its that far that it’s not really Brisbane.

My sons play rugby for their school and have played against a school called Ipswich grammar that seems to be a good school. As with anywhere the quality of the schools depend on what you are looking for. There are good private schools in most areas good state schools in the good areas and the usual not so good in the less desirable areas. But you will find a school to suite your requirements and your pocket. The private schools of course are a bit more difficult to get into they don’t have entrance exams here but applications on a first come first served basis. People put their kids’ names down for the popular schools when the kids are born. In any event the applications for high school (year 8) close about two years before. We missed this cut off for my eldest son and tried 9 other schools before we could find one that had a cancelation and only one space we are still trying to get the other son in for next year.

cheers
barrow

[Ancilla]

Originally Posted by dewey

Hi Again

We have decided that Brisbane is where we want to be! I need to know if there are other South Africans there and how they have found it to be?

We have 3 young children and are looking at living in the Ipswich area! Have you idea's on schools, parks, pools etc for me?

Thanks

Joanne

Hi Joanne,

I am in Pretoria - South Africa, and am interested in your thread. Why did you choose Brisbane? I will also check to see if you have had any other threads. Have you started your application yet? We feel that Sydney or Melbourne would not be a bad option.

We are on the verge of starting our application - just flipping expensive and that is one of the big issues holding us back? If you have started your application - with who?

Regards, Cilla.

[dewey]

Originally Posted by Ancilla

Hi Joanne,

I am in Pretoria - South Africa, and am interested in your thread. Why did you choose Brisbane? I will also check to see if you have had any other threads. Have you started your application yet? We feel that Sydney or Melbourne would not be a bad option.

We are on the verge of starting our application - just flipping expensive and that is one of the big issues holding us back? If you have started your application - with who?

Regards, Cilla.

Hi Cilla

We decided on Brisbane because of the weather and it seems like a nice city to live in. The weather is apparently much the same as Durban, so to escape the JHB winter weather we thought that would suit us best! We have friends in Sydney and it seems to be a rather busy and expensive city to live in. Rental properties in Sydney also seem hard to come by. Melbourne, No offence to any Melbourne people, can get pretty cold and we didn't want to have 4seasons in a day!

We have done our IELTS and sent off my application to AMNC and QNC for registration as a Nursing Sister in Australia. The agents are pretty expensive but we felt that it was better to use one instead of trying to do it ourselves, we are using Ray from Migrate2Oz in Bedfordview. We also have been looking through other forums, you can PM me for the info.

Regards

Joanne