Extended Stay in Australia

David · Joined: 04 Apr 2004 Posts: 162

My wife and I are thinking of planning a trip for an extended stay in Australia. I was wondering where a good place to live would be. My friend Linda says the Gold Coast, just below Brisbane in Wonderful. There are beautiful flowers and beaches and birds. She says she doubts I could find a job there, but I don't think I'll need one. She says Eairley was where she stayed to go to Whitsunday Islands, ans she was impressed with the campgrounds and restaurants there.

Any other advice you might offer for an extended stay in Australia?

effisk · Joined: 04 Jun 2004 Posts: 5 Location: online

David wrote: My wife and I are thinking of planning a trip for an extended stay in Australia. I was wondering where a good place to live would be. My friend Linda says the Gold Coast, just below Brisbane in Wonderful. There are beautiful flowers and beaches and birds. She says she doubts I could find a job there, but I don't think I'll need one. She says Eairley was where she stayed to go to Whitsunday Islands, ans she was impressed with the campgrounds and restaurants there.

Any other advice you might offer for an extended stay in Australia? I'd rather stay on the Sunshine Coast than the Gold Coast. The GC is too busy, too much like a city to me. The Sc is more relaxed, more like towns spread along the coast.
And the west coast is nice too, especially south western WA, around margaret river...

johnnywalker · Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 8 Location: Sydney, Australia

Hi David

I guess it depends on what you like and what you intend to do while here. Also, how long do you intend to stay? I'm from Sydney but it's like any big city. However, getting work might not be so difficult. Also, each State has it's own appeal. There's beautiful beaches all down the East Coast of Australia and flora and fauna are in abundance in all States. Hard to recommend any one place to you though.
I'll have to get back to you on that. Busy with work but will either reply again or otherwise PM you.
BTW, when are you intending on coming over?

David · Joined: 04 Apr 2004 Posts: 162

Quote: BTW, when are you intending on coming over?
I'm not really sure exactly, but I hope with the next 2 years. I also need to work out getting my cats admitted into the country without an extended quarantine period.

Laura · Joined: 16 May 2004 Posts: 446 Location: San Francisco

It's a minimum 30-day quarantine for pets arriving into Australia from the USA. See

Guide to importing cats and dogs from approved countries

(this and other such pages found by putting

importing pets into Australia

into Google.) I recently researched this for New Zealand and decided that, if I were to move there for a significant period of time, I'd chance shipping my younger cat but not my older one who is 14 1/2. The plane trip from the West Coast of the US alone is scheduled at 12 hours and 45 minutes. The animals need to have specific vaccinations and worming treatments both before departure and after arrival during the quarantine period. I decided it would be way too hard on my older cat, she's such a grandma and the stress of all that could kill her. Instead, I'd take her to my mother's or my mother-in-law's to live. My younger cat is only 2 1/2, and very robust, so that's another story.

squirrel · Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Posts: 74 Location: Bucharest, Romania

yes, moving can be very stressful for pets... a friend of mine moved his cats to Romania by plane (from England)... when they arrived, the cats were scared sh$tless... :( it took them 2 weeks to calm down!

David · Joined: 04 Apr 2004 Posts: 162

Maybe there is a way to take the cats by boat. If we are going to be there for a while, we'll likely want to bring a lot of belongings. Maybe we can get more on the boat that way too. Is there such a thing as shipping yourself, your stuff, and your pets on a ship?

on_way_to_fame · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Posts: 15

Quote: I'd rather stay on the Sunshine Coast than the Gold Coast. The GC is too busy, too much like a city to me. The Sc is more relaxed, more like towns spread along the coast.
And the west coast is nice too, especially south western WA, around margaret river...

I guess it really depends, on what you are looking for. If you want moe of a quiet relaxing time, then a quieter coast like sunshine coast might be an option, whereas, if you want a buzy city, then sydny is great, so is lembourne, i think gold coast can be somewhere in between these two options, if you want to balance it out :D

Krystals · Joined: 27 Feb 2005 Posts: 11 Location: Australia

Hi david

The Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast are pretty nice, but if you are planning an extended stay and think you might consider taking the big drive from Queensland, through NSW and straight down the coast to Melbourne, where I live.

It takes about three to four days, but longer if you really want to stop and enjoy the different places along the way. You can stop at places like the Hawksberry River and Hire a House Boat for a few days, or Bondi and take in the beautiful ocean breeze and the sun.

Then you have two choices, you can keep going along the coast and stop at a little place called Eden (yes it exsists...lol), or you can travel inland and come down through Albury, a great little shopping town.

If you do go inland, you just have to make sure you go to Beechworth and go to the Bakery in the center of town. It is the known to be the best Bakery in Australia and I use to go there when ever we visited my Grandma. Yummm, the cakes are delicious.