Moving to mid/north Queensland
Discussion
My friend is trying to convince me to join him in the airle beach area. He's been living there for about 18months, we both are dentists who went through university together.
I'm big into my water sports and know this part of aus is good for this, especially sailing. I only vaguely remember this area from when I was backpacking about 5 years ago,
I've always been concerned about aus as I have heard lots of stories of people finding it too expensive to live well, or is this just the likes of Sydney and Perth.
I would love to be able to live somewhere with great weather and general focus on being outside/active, I fell in love with NZ for this reason!
Work is supposed to be very good out there and does have half the professional red tape that we currently are bombarded with in the uk.
Any thoughts on this area of Australia and the move would be welcome!
Apologies for the typo's ahead, I have a glitchy auto-correcting ipad!
I'm big into my water sports and know this part of aus is good for this, especially sailing. I only vaguely remember this area from when I was backpacking about 5 years ago,
I've always been concerned about aus as I have heard lots of stories of people finding it too expensive to live well, or is this just the likes of Sydney and Perth.
I would love to be able to live somewhere with great weather and general focus on being outside/active, I fell in love with NZ for this reason!
Work is supposed to be very good out there and does have half the professional red tape that we currently are bombarded with in the uk.
Any thoughts on this area of Australia and the move would be welcome!
Apologies for the typo's ahead, I have a glitchy auto-correcting ipad!
Hi Paul, I may help a little. In passing, dentistry is considered a licence to print money in Oz. I don't think you would find cost of living a problem.
I lived in the area for 10 years, mostly involved in the marine tourist industry, but also in Island resorts. I drifted in there after 8 years sailing around the Pacific islands in my yacht & stayed, so you can guess I quite liked it.
Yes the weather is great for about 7 months, with almost constant south east trade winds & sun, nights high/mid teens & days mid twenties C. Summer is hot, sticky & wet, but OK if you're not being blown away by a cyclone. Just kidding about cyclones. I had 5 of them in 10 years, but none that caused any real damage. They aren't all monsters.
That suit you only pull out for weddings & funerals will grow mildew, if not aired regularly, & living in air conditioning.
MacKay, about 100 Kilometers to the south is a big mining town these days, & a small amount of the fly in fly out workforce has found Airlie Beach, but basically it is a sugar & tourist area. Both are boom or bust industries, so some other businesses struggle at times.
In Oz we have to pay our own dentist costs, but still, I have never heard of a dentist going bankrupt. Housing is not crazy prices, [check out realeatate.com.au], & there is pretty low cost housing in surrounding villages you Poms would consider within commuting distance.
There are 72 islands in the Whitsunday group, & many more just a little further afield. Plenty of places where you will not see another soul for days, & plenty of hopping resorts. Take your choice.
There is moderate coral diving around the islands all year, & some brilliant stuff only accessible when that SE trade drops for a while or in summer, when northerlies can prevail. About 30/40 miles out there are dozens of reefs, with excellent overnight anchorages within lagoons, & brilliant diving. The reefs only brake surface on the largest spring tides, so anchoring in these lagoons can take some getting used to, with nothing insight, but they do work.
I have done hundreds of day trips to the reef, & over a hundred overnight, & up to a week or more trips with tourists. They were always blown away by the coral & the experience, even when weather limited what we could show them.
It has the advantage that within a few years you are considered a local, as there is a constant change of people. This is so different to other places where you are still a new chum" after 20 years.
If you get sick of a south seas atmosphere you may not like it, I only saw a symphony orchestra once visit MacKay, but if you only need the trappings of the big city for a holiday, I reckon you'll love it, at least for a decade or so.
I lived in the area for 10 years, mostly involved in the marine tourist industry, but also in Island resorts. I drifted in there after 8 years sailing around the Pacific islands in my yacht & stayed, so you can guess I quite liked it.
Yes the weather is great for about 7 months, with almost constant south east trade winds & sun, nights high/mid teens & days mid twenties C. Summer is hot, sticky & wet, but OK if you're not being blown away by a cyclone. Just kidding about cyclones. I had 5 of them in 10 years, but none that caused any real damage. They aren't all monsters.
That suit you only pull out for weddings & funerals will grow mildew, if not aired regularly, & living in air conditioning.
MacKay, about 100 Kilometers to the south is a big mining town these days, & a small amount of the fly in fly out workforce has found Airlie Beach, but basically it is a sugar & tourist area. Both are boom or bust industries, so some other businesses struggle at times.
In Oz we have to pay our own dentist costs, but still, I have never heard of a dentist going bankrupt. Housing is not crazy prices, [check out realeatate.com.au], & there is pretty low cost housing in surrounding villages you Poms would consider within commuting distance.
There are 72 islands in the Whitsunday group, & many more just a little further afield. Plenty of places where you will not see another soul for days, & plenty of hopping resorts. Take your choice.
There is moderate coral diving around the islands all year, & some brilliant stuff only accessible when that SE trade drops for a while or in summer, when northerlies can prevail. About 30/40 miles out there are dozens of reefs, with excellent overnight anchorages within lagoons, & brilliant diving. The reefs only brake surface on the largest spring tides, so anchoring in these lagoons can take some getting used to, with nothing insight, but they do work.
I have done hundreds of day trips to the reef, & over a hundred overnight, & up to a week or more trips with tourists. They were always blown away by the coral & the experience, even when weather limited what we could show them.
It has the advantage that within a few years you are considered a local, as there is a constant change of people. This is so different to other places where you are still a new chum" after 20 years.
If you get sick of a south seas atmosphere you may not like it, I only saw a symphony orchestra once visit MacKay, but if you only need the trappings of the big city for a holiday, I reckon you'll love it, at least for a decade or so.
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