Moved from Auckland to Brisbane, but still confused whether it was the right decision, please help

Forums › Off topic › Moved from Auckland to Brisbane, but still confused whether it was the right decision, please help

jman123

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#312022 8-Mar-2024 22:24

Dear everyone, it is my first post.

I'm writing this sitting in a small house in Brisbane, Ipswich area. I lived in Henderson, Auckland, late 30s married and got a kid.

I moved to Brisbane in January 2024 from Auckland. After having lived in Auckland for more than 7 years, everything was such an easy thing. Cool and friendly people, nice weather although it is cold.

In Brisbane, the weather is putting some stress on me, plus the travel times between places is too long, in the hot sun it makes me so tired.

We had sold our home in Auckland :( unfortunately, and bought smaller one in Brisbane. Now started missing the weather etc in Auckland. We miss our large home with lots of spaces and decks and fruit trees.

I would like to hear if anyone had gone back to AKL after being in Brisbane, if anyone in similar situation, I would like to hear or have a discussion.

Groceries and daily expense are more or less similar here, cars are super expensive, rego is expensive, insurance is too expensive, school fee are expensive.

I am in a dilemma with this, and sad. Not sure what is the benefit if everything is expensive, or similar to that of NZ. Please help with some insights.

Not sure if it is me or something to change myself to adapt to the new life situation, or not sure if it is the "destination depression" or something, I have been devastated by how things have changed over past 2 months, everything was shipped from Auckland to Brisbane, sold out most of the personal items in Auckland for throwaway price, paid a huge amount for shipping but after started living here, feels like going back.

I wish to hear if at all if there is anything to correct this, or going back to AKL is the only option? I just did a property search and it is too hard to find a similar property which we sold. We miss our home in AKL :(

thanks everyone for your time.

Kind regards,
T

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#3204654 8-Mar-2024 22:56

takes at least 12 months to adjust

not saying what you need to do though

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gzt

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#3204657 8-Mar-2024 23:10

What are the reasons you chose Brisbane?

I don't know the place. I'd be looking at other cities and places in Australia.

The place has a huge variety of climates in different areas.

marpada

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#3204660 8-Mar-2024 23:27

I moved from Wellington to Brisbane recently with my family. I'm convinced moving here was the right thing to do for our family.

Housing situation in Australia big cities is a dumpster fire, specially in Brisbane, so if you have a place to call your own you can call yourself privileged. Probably the place you bought was half price 3 years ago, and the price will surely keep rising specially when interest rates drop so think about it as a promising investment. While prices might be similar to NZ, salaries here are significant higher and taxes lower. Brisbane summer might be tough, but it's lovely from March to October :)

I can't comment on the driving situation because the train works for me.

Wombat1

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#3204664 9-Mar-2024 01:23

Another immigrant from Wellington, as others have said it can take a while to adjust. 2 months, you still fresh off the boat! Interested to hear though why you have chosen to live in Ipswitch?

We questioned ourselves in the first few months too, but after being here a few years now none of us would go back. We miss family/friends, but very little else about NZ to be honest. Well maybe the Rugby Union which nobody really is interested in here.

Pros:

- Get a nice paycheck from the government every year for our tax, did not get this in NZ.
- Weather is great, sure it can get very hot and humid here for 3 months but I find it much nicer to try and cool down, instead of running heatpumps 9 months a year. Make sure you have a pool. Winter days are fabulous, In Wellington you could count the number of good days a year on one hand (well maybe a few more hands)
- Gold Coast and Sunshine Coasts are right on our doorstep, plus all the beautiful islands off the coast.
- Beautiful white beaches where you can swim all year round and the water is always over 20 degrees.
- brand new cars are cheaper
- We can salary sacrifice (structure your salary to put you into a lower tax bracket)
- Good quality private schools everywhere.
- Salaries are much better, My wife and I both both saw about a 20% increase each, also seem to get increases more often here than we did in NZ
- July we seeing nice big tax cuts.
- Electricity bills are nearly nothing when combined with solar in the Sunshine State, even when running the aircon during the hot humid days its easy for the solar on its own to be enough. In Wellington during winter our power bills were nearly $500 a month running 2 heat pumps.
- Condensation forms on the outside as hotter its outside. This is actually one of the first things I noticed when moving here. No damp windows inside the car or inside your house. Just found this funny so made the comment.
- Health care is really good.
- Rates bill is much lower
- Police don't take nonsense here.
- Lower interest rates.
- great restaurants
- Houses are cheaper and better built.

Cons

- Tolls and vehicle registration costs, though I don't mind the tolls too much because the road infrastructure here is excellent.
- Broadband, if you want hyper fibre or anything like that you going to pay a lot for it. 1000/50 fibre is actually more than enough, get outside and enjoy Queensland.
- The Aussies, LOL Love them or hate them, I do find them far more enthusiastic to get ahead and do well in life.
- Public transport can be difficult, but this can be seen as a pro or a con depending where you live. Excellent public transport though in many places, Light Rail in the Gold Coast, but some places left out and are far from the railway stations.
- Used cars are more expensive, but thats because we dont have all the cheap imports. Dont want them either.
- Beer/wine more expensive

I may be a bit biased now as we absolutely love living in QLD

Interesting cost of living comparison:
Cost of Living Comparison Between Auckland, New Zealand And Brisbane, Australia (numbeo.com)

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#3204665 9-Mar-2024 02:11

Hi @jman123.

I'm similar to you - I've been in Brisbane for about a year (from West Auckland). One of my old team members + managers were really keen for me to see the light and move over. They were keen for me to go to Sydney but when they described it as a combo of New York and Auckland... wasn't too keen.

I visited Gold coast + Brisbane and enjoyed it, ended up getting a gig shortly afterwards. Weather did take a bit getting used to, although wearing shorts + tshirts year around has some benefits. One of my former team members lives around here so its cool to catch up every fortnight or so.

In terms of the expenses:

* Regos - I've got a petrol car over here, its more than NZ (~$1000 vs $300) although fuel is cheaper. You do need to shop around as there is a huge variance in fuel pricing eg. $1.70 to $2.20 for 91 (petrolspy is useful). I didn't buy secondhand but found new car pricing very similar to NZ's (and only slightly above secondhand pricing in some cases).
* Power & Insurance - always pays to shop around. A lot of the comparsion sites eg. 'Compare the market' or real estate agent moving services are very commission focused and you might get a worse deal. Sites like Finder or even the government power comparison site.
* School fees. Both of my kids go to state schools - the eldest costs around $400 whilst the youngest is slightly less. Are the kids going to religious or private schooling (they're very similar to Auckland pricing eg. ACG)?
* Internet. Considerably more than NZ and slower. Does pay to shop around but for decent broadband you'll probably pay around $100 per month, you'll pay a lot less on 5G.
* Mobile. A lot cheaper than NZ, although myself + family are heavy users. End up paying similar to NZ but with over a 1TB of data + better international calling conditions.
* Shopping - food pricing seem to be similar although we leverage Costco, Woolies, Freshco and occasionally the weekend markets.
* Renting - very similar to Auckland. We are looking to buy but taking our time to avoid over purchasing. Our housing goals are slightly different - lower maintenance etc. Aircon is a must.
* Banking - shop around.
* Relocating - the advice we got from friends was not to ship a lot of stuff across, cheaper to just bring personal belongings and buy new furniture etc.

Workwise - its been interesting... been working as a dayraider which has its share of challenges (eg. 2 weeks notice, no stat pay etc) however is a significant uplift compared to what I was pulling in NZ.

Going back to NZ - even though its a relatively short flight, it comes with a lot more logistics challenges... eg. visiting folks on the east coast takes a lot of time, effort + money.
I've found it 50/50 - particularly when going back to our old house... quite a lot of memories, although traffic + fort supermarkets remind me why we made the call.

I can relate to your feelings - for me the challenges have been more social (eg.visiting friends across the ditch is difficult + QLD's timezone during NZDT is quite cruel for calling) than economic.

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#3204716 9-Mar-2024 06:29

IME it takes 12 months to feel comfortable living in a new city and 24 months to recover financially from the move.

When you first I’ve everything is hard. It’s like starting a new life. You don’t know what you don’t know and you need help with absolutely everything. After a year you get used to the rhythms of your new home and it gets considerably easier.

We approached our move overseas as an adventure. We didn’t leave New Zealand to have the same life we did at home, we moved to get ahead. That really helped us as it made differences from home exciting rather than dispiriting.

Without being unkind you need to get your head space right and find a way to take pleasure in your new home. Laugh at the stupidity and enjoy the stuff that is better. You moved for a reason and focus on that. If you get your attitude right everything else will fall into place.

Get out there and seek out people. Find clubs to join, invite colleagues to coffee, the pub or to dinner. The sooner you make connections the happier you’ll become. You’ll get knock backs but just move on and try again. It’s exhausting but really rewarding.

jman123

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#3204742 9-Mar-2024 11:46

Thank you for the reply. The main reason was the climate in Auckland, and the partner's job as a nurse ( was a tough one in Auckland ).

I found the cost of daily living is on the rise, for example, a kilo of Kiwi fruit was 6 NZD , and all of a sudden it is $10 NZD and then now it is $16NZD etc.

But now I know why many people still don't move from AKL to Brisbane.... sad I wish I did a proper homework before deciding to move.

gzt: What are the reasons you chose Brisbane?

I don't know the place. I'd be looking at other cities and places in Australia.

The place has a huge variety of climates in different areas.

jman123

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#3204755 9-Mar-2024 11:59

Thanks mate for the response, I can some how relate this. I moved here for the family too.

Yes the house we bought was half the price some 3.5 years ago, true that prices are going up.

marpada:

I moved from Wellington to Brisbane recently with my family. I'm convinced moving here was the right thing to do for our family.

Housing situation in Australia big cities is a dumpster fire, specially in Brisbane, so if you have a place to call your own you can call yourself privileged. Probably the place you bought was half price 3 years ago, and the price will surely keep rising specially when interest rates drop so think about it as a promising investment. While prices might be similar to NZ, salaries here are significant higher and taxes lower. Brisbane summer might be tough, but it's lovely from March to October :)

I can't comment on the driving situation because the train works for me.

Wombat1

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#3204757 9-Mar-2024 12:12

jman123:

But now I know why many people still don't move from AKL to Brisbane.... sad I wish I did a proper homework before deciding to move.

How does your family feel about the move? I would have a very hard time convincing the wife and kids to move back.

jman123

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#3204759 9-Mar-2024 12:13

Thank you so much everyone for the thoughtfully crafted replies, it definitely helps to read those as I did not know some of the points before. I feel slightly relived after reading all of them, I will reply to all the posts.

Are there any places in Brisbane that looks similar to any NZ landscape? sorry this may sound a bit funny, but I am trying to find some consolation by seeing some scenic places. I find the places here bit dry, and miss the greeneries now so much.

Wombat1

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#3204766 9-Mar-2024 12:37

jman123:

Are there any places in Brisbane that looks similar to any NZ landscape? sorry this may sound a bit funny, but I am trying to find some consolation by seeing some scenic places. I find the places here bit dry, and miss the greeneries now so much.

I'm starting to think you just trolling.

Did you actually visit brisbane before you sold up your house and moved here? If you trying to create a little NZ for yourself here it is not going to work. Brisbane is very green in summer. Best way forward is to leave NZ behind and embrace the new. Brisbane has a different beauty to its landscape and you will not find the rolling green hills with sheep anywhere around here.

jman123

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#3204775 9-Mar-2024 13:11

Thanks for the detailed reply.

It is in fact Spring Mountain, in Ipswich region.

I wanted to live in CBD but no choice , too expensive housing there. So had to move to Spring Mountain. Wife works as a nurse in a CBD hospital, she travels for almost an hour to reach the work place wherewas it is was a few minutes of drive in Auckland.

When I visited Brisbane, I visited just the CBD only and some nearby suburbs like Sunny Bank.

Seems like I have no choice other than continuing in Brisbane. I have to find out myself whatever it makes me happy in this new environment. Very hard... sigh!! no more moving to any places in life again.

Wombat1:

Another immigrant from Wellington, as others have said it can take a while to adjust. 2 months, you still fresh off the boat! Interested to hear though why you have chosen to live in Ipswitch?

We questioned ourselves in the first few months too, but after being here a few years now none of us would go back. We miss family/friends, but very little else about NZ to be honest. Well maybe the Rugby Union which nobody really is interested in here.

Pros:

- Get a nice paycheck from the government every year for our tax, did not get this in NZ.
- Weather is great, sure it can get very hot and humid here for 3 months but I find it much nicer to try and cool down, instead of running heatpumps 9 months a year. Make sure you have a pool. Winter days are fabulous, In Wellington you could count the number of good days a year on one hand (well maybe a few more hands)
- Gold Coast and Sunshine Coasts are right on our doorstep, plus all the beautiful islands off the coast.
- Beautiful white beaches where you can swim all year round and the water is always over 20 degrees.
- brand new cars are cheaper
- We can salary sacrifice (structure your salary to put you into a lower tax bracket)
- Good quality private schools everywhere.
- Salaries are much better, My wife and I both both saw about a 20% increase each, also seem to get increases more often here than we did in NZ
- July we seeing nice big tax cuts.
- Electricity bills are nearly nothing when combined with solar in the Sunshine State, even when running the aircon during the hot humid days its easy for the solar on its own to be enough. In Wellington during winter our power bills were nearly $500 a month running 2 heat pumps.
- Condensation forms on the outside as hotter its outside. This is actually one of the first things I noticed when moving here. No damp windows inside the car or inside your house. Just found this funny so made the comment.
- Health care is really good.
- Rates bill is much lower
- Police don't take nonsense here.
- Lower interest rates.
- great restaurants
- Houses are cheaper and better built.

Cons

- Tolls and vehicle registration costs, though I don't mind the tolls too much because the road infrastructure here is excellent.
- Broadband, if you want hyper fibre or anything like that you going to pay a lot for it. 1000/50 fibre is actually more than enough, get outside and enjoy Queensland.
- The Aussies, LOL Love them or hate them, I do find them far more enthusiastic to get ahead and do well in life.
- Public transport can be difficult, but this can be seen as a pro or a con depending where you live. Excellent public transport though in many places, Light Rail in the Gold Coast, but some places left out and are far from the railway stations.
- Used cars are more expensive, but thats because we dont have all the cheap imports. Dont want them either.
- Beer/wine more expensive

I may be a bit biased now as we absolutely love living in QLD

Interesting cost of living comparison:
Cost of Living Comparison Between Auckland, New Zealand And Brisbane, Australia (numbeo.com)

jman123

25 posts

Geek

#3204777 9-Mar-2024 13:20

I am not trolling, why do I have to do that now being in this situation?

I visited Perth and did not like it.

I visited Brisbane CBD and stayed in a hotel in CBD and visited Sunnybank or some similar suburbs.

I asked about some scenic places just because I love those, and it was one of my main reasons I moved to NZ years ago.

I am not trying to create little NZ here. Thanks.

Wombat1:

jman123:

Are there any places in Brisbane that looks similar to any NZ landscape? sorry this may sound a bit funny, but I am trying to find some consolation by seeing some scenic places. I find the places here bit dry, and miss the greeneries now so much.

I'm starting to think you just trolling.

Did you actually visit brisbane before you sold up your house and moved here? If you trying to create a little NZ for yourself here it is not going to work. Brisbane is very green in summer. Best way forward is to leave NZ behind and embrace the new. Brisbane has a different beauty to its landscape and you will not find the rolling green hills with sheep anywhere around here.

jman123

25 posts

Geek

#3204778 9-Mar-2024 13:32

Family seems to like the place, they say "It was your decision to come here and we are not going back anywhere".

Kids like the school.

Wombat1:

jman123:

But now I know why many people still don't move from AKL to Brisbane.... sad I wish I did a proper homework before deciding to move.

How does your family feel about the move? I would have a very hard time convincing the wife and kids to move back.

Wombat1

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#3204781 9-Mar-2024 13:41

jman123:

Family seems to like the place, they say "It was your decision to come here and we are not going back anywhere".

Kids like the school.

Thats all that matter IMO, the main reason we came here was for the kids.

Apologies for my trolling comment, I just thought it was very odd for somebody to sell up and move here without doing proper research first.

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