Moving to Brisbane in August

whatif...

Hi, I'm quite excited to emmigrate to Brisbane this Summer and have been searching for threads on Boards to prepare myself.
I see there's lots of people moving to Sydney but not really that much about Brisbane on here so decided to start up a new thread & see if I could glean some advise for my specific and general needs

I'm going by myself (scary) but I've a friend living in Brissy that she said I could bunk with her till I get sorted. Only problem is that she may be in Ireland for the Summer and I'm sick of waiting to start my adventure so I'm just going to go as soon as I get the green light from the visa.

Firstly, flights - I was just going to book with Skyscanner & see what was the cheapest, no?

Once I get there I'm hoping to book into short term budget accomodation... will be difficult with my luggage... maybe an Air BnB?

Job: I'm a chartered accountant so travelling on an independent 189visa. I'm registered with Seek.au and have even spoken to recruiters already, who assure me (of course) that there'll be plenty of work that time of year. So hopefully the wait to my first pay cheque won't be disasterly long.
I'm hoping to pick a living location based on where I'm going to be working... stupid idea?
My friend's living near Cannon hill in the south but perhaps she may not be when I move over.
Are there particularly nice subarbs that are popular to commute?
Ideally I'd like to live and work in the city centre - this may not be realistic though? Close to the water too
I hear rent is quite expensive & you furnish the places yourself. I don't mind sharing with one or two other people. Infact it may be a good way to meet new people.

Btw, I'm a 32yo female.

Money situation. I'm not sure I'll have as much as I would like saved up before I move over.
How much will I need?
How do people access this money when they're in Oz? Set up an Oz bank a/c and wire it over from the Irish one?
These may be silly questions for ppl that have done this already but are there any pitfalls to watch out for - or specific banks over there that rob you blind for these simple transactions? Who's the best bank to deal with?

I've found a good Facebook group called 'Irish around Brisbane' that seems to be quite a good 'notice board' and general helpline for Irish people in the city

How much should I pack??? UUg this will be difficult. I'm not doing any travelling on the way - just heading straight to my destination & hopefully taking good time off work then to do a lot of travelling with my base in Brisbane.
It will be Ozzie Winter when I'm over there so I'll obviously bring some clothes to wrap up but I don't want to bring too much - then again - I hear the clothes are really expensive over there. Perhaps I should bring a lot of my office wardrobe with me so I don't have to buy more when I get there...

Ah look - I could go on for a year but these are my main queries. Very excited to get going and all (well most) advise greatly appreciated

Noo

Brisbane is a big town trying to be a city. If you have an accounting job with a big company you will most likely be in the CBD or generally close to it. Do not get hung up on living in the city, your money is better spent further out, and not even too far, public transport system is great. I used to walk to the city from our old place and from our new place its 10mins on the bus, or my bf cycles to work in the city. Both places are in the suburbs. Brisbane is not that big.

irishmover

Brisbane has a population of around 2m people. Hardly a big town!

As above its very affordable to live in compared to Sydney or Melbourne. You shouldn't have much trouble finding accommodation within a short distance to the city.

There's plenty to do and see in Brisbane/South East Queensland! From going north to sunshine/noosa to South to gold coast/Byron/ballina/Mt Tamborine. Heading over to moreton or straddie you'll be pushed to find a boring weekend..

In regards to clothes it's the biggest myth I seem to hear all the time from Irish people. My partner and sister have bought plenty of cheap clothes in the likes of cotton on, Kmart, big w and a bunch of individual market shops. You don't need to bring a huge amount of clothes but enough so you don't need to buy too much for a little while until you're settled and working a while. Brisbane will be in its cold spell durng the winter but it'll still sit around 14 at night and 23 during the day. I've been here a while so that's cold for me but for you it will feel like a warm summer in Ireland for atleast the first few weeks. Bring some warm clothes but plenty of summer clothes too. You should get through the majority of your first winter not feeling too cold.

I live in Murarrie. Which is right next to Cannon Hill. Nice quiet location and very easy access to the city. If you do end up there you'll be in a good cheap short commuter suburb so will work out great for you. There's generally plenty of share house accommodation you can move into but personally I'd recommend staying with someone you know or possibly Airbnb for the first few weeks so you can go and view rentals before diving in.

In regards to money I've used currencyfair for almost the entire time I've been here. Most people on here will vouch for it. You can setup an account from Ireland and transfer money here before you move. You'll save considerably compared to transferring directly through money grabbing banks!


That Facebook page you mentioned is quite good. If you're looking for accommodation you could ask the admins to put up a post for you. They do it all the time.


Best of luck!