Brisbane proper, suburb OR ?...a somewhat clueless couple seeking a retirement spot?

I live in Brisbane.

Depending on what kind of suburb you want, there are many nice suburbs here. But whatever it is, avoid the city proper (or they call is the Central Business District CBD). Overrated.

My personal suggestion is:

- New Farm - a new trendy area, with lots of cafes and restaurants, nice little shops, and very convinient place to go to the city with bus.

- Hamilton, the local has this conception that Hamilton is the place for the rich, well, maybe given the number of mansions and well 'palaces' in this area. But if you are lucky, you can find reasonable apartments (which are not few) with reasonable price. If you are even luckier, you can get apartment with excellent river view (Hamilton suburb is just right alongside the Brisbane river, and quite a stunning view). You should pass this suburn on your way from the airport to the city. Kingsford Smith Drive is the main drive, lots of traffic. The strip of airport hotels are just right on this street as well. Nice strip of restaurants and cafes, and some little shoppping. Occassionall, horse racing since it is so near to the Ascot racecourse. ONce a year, eveyrbody dress up to the nine for the legendary Ascott day.

City ferry and busses to the city.

- Bulimba, what cn I say, cute littel suburb. Again, excellent grocery and restaurants, plus cinemas. Near city ferry, and frequent busses to the city.

- Other good suburbs that I know:

south bank, ascott, clayfield, hendra, toowong, st. lucia, spring hill, newstead, south brisbane, kangaroo point, indooroopilly.

Those suburbs are generally around 20 minutes bus to the city or even shorter if you drive.

If you are willing to stay a bit further out, try sunnybank, broke fields, sinnamon park, yeronga, .

You can normally rent an apartment, but the standard agreement is minimum 6 months lease, with 4 weeks rent deposit that you can get back if you leave the apartment in good condition.

If you want to stay only 3 months, it might be a bit hard to get a lease. But nevertheless, try realestate agent, they might help. (Btw, most of hte rental here is done with real estate agent, which means that you have to be quite thick face with entry-condition report or they will take advantage of you when you leave). The rental in brisbae, for a better quality apartment, say 2 bedroom, is, well, for the suburbs I suggest, prepare to pay on average 200 or more per week (Australian dollar). You might get cheaper than that, but well, quality might be a bit 'off'.

Hamilton, Bulimba and New Farm tend to be a bit more expensive.

Shoppign in Australia is, sigh, quite a challenging experience. Forget 9am to 9pm or later shoppoing mall. Things close by 5.

In teh city, late night shopping is only on Friday, and in the suburb, Thursday. Btw, late night shopping means,until 8 or 9 pm only. Limited hypermarket, KMart and BigW are about the only two hypermarket, but they are not hypermarket like Carrefour or Costco or Wallmart. Myer, Target and David Jones are the famous department store, with famous price (especially Myer and David Jones). I have heard complaints that it is so much cheaper to shop in US than in Aaustralia.

I don' tknow much about Melbourne, but I know that shopping, it is MUCH better than Brisbane, and they have lots more different restaurants than Brisbane. Brisbane is growing, and it is considered city, but if you are used to New York or even big metropolitan asian cities, Brisbane is almost a town. But Melbourne is definitely a big city.

Public transport in both cities are excellent.

Just to help you go further, try this website:

- www.realestate.com.au, you can find the available apartments to rent, the price per week and the suburbs.

- www.ourbrisbane.com, about what is happening in brisbane, and there is a link to explain about different suburbs in brisbane.

Australia is a great place, brisbane and melbourne are just excellent cities. Both cities have great friendly people (thank God you rule out Sydney for it is where the most stuck-up people in australia are - not all of course).

Personally, I think the lifestyle is brisbane is cheaper (the queensland governemtns subsidies the gasoline, so it is cheaper than other states). People are more laid back, but it is changing now with thousands of people coming to live in queensland every month. Weather wise, Brisbane is mild, winter is around 10 to 23 celcius (50 to 75 F), but summer is quite hot, 22 to 35 (72 to around mid 90s). Melbourne has nice four-season climate, but HARDLY goes to freezing. Have you ever looked into tasmania? The weather almost like Melbourne, but they have the most relaxed, friendly, laidback, and most beautiful natural sceneries that I have ever seen in australia. I always thought that Tasmania is a perfect retirement place.

Ok, I only visited part of Queensland for less than a week, but I loved the place we stayed - Mooloolaba on the SUNSHINE Coast. That is about an hour to the North of Brisbane, as opposed to the more famous and busier Gold Coast to the South of the City.

I would be quite happy to retire there - there are plenty of restaurants there, the beaches are great, and there are other nice places (like Noosa) not too far away.

We also had a day at Steve (Crikey!) Irwin's Australia Zoo, which is a cracking place to spend a day.

Oh yeah, we hired a big comfortable apartment in the centre of the town for quite a reasonable rate, but I wouldn't know about 3 months.

Excellent report SimpleGuy.

I've been to Brisbane only a few times so I don't know it well. I live in Melbourne and I know that if I was retiring I'd certainly be looking to Brisbane instead of Melbourne simply because of the milder climate.

You need to think about how you want to spend your retirement years. If you like getting out every day, walking in the sunshine, enjoy the beach etc then Brisbane (or Gold/Sunshine Coast) is the place to be. You'll also be with a lot of other 'older' people so I'd imagine there would be lots of company for you.

Check out some of the Retirement Villages around (google them). They seem to be nice places to live for older people and they have some good facilities (e.g. Nurse on site, Day trips etc).

An hour north of Brisbane is the Sunshine Coast, the fastest growing retirement region of Australia, I go to University here and it seems as everything is set up for the over 60s population. Its beautiful, always warm but never too hot, lots of social clubs, activities, classes and facilities for retirees.

My parents are 58 now and looking at where to retire in Australia, theyve chosen Tasmania for its peacefulness, tranquility and beaty. The Sunshine Coast is too busy for them, so its a personal decision as to what youre looking for.... good luck :)

Those inner city suburbs are very over priced to live in and buy real estate. And the quality of the housing leaves a lot to be desired. I'd live further out.

just north of brisbane is a seaside town of redcliffe. inexpensive housing,fantastic seaside cafes, good shopping[aldi super store opening soon] schools ,public transport, great people, idyllic lifestyle.you can do no better in sth east qld

Brisbane is a lively mondern city, with earthing you could possibly want. my sister lives there and i visit often.a place to die for best airline Singapore airlines