Schools, Childcare and Working while living on Russell or Macleay Island
which school is better (I know each school has good and bad but I like to hear it first hand experiences)
also wanting to keep my part time job on the mainland if possible, although Im not sure it would be worth it with the added costs involved to actually get to work?!
what do people do to find long term car parks when all the car parks are taken with 5 year wait lists like I keep reading do you all quit your jobs or what?
also, are there any mothers groups or anything to make new friends with people like myself or would I be the only single parent living there? Lol
1 Comment
My son is long grown, so I can't help as to which state school is best, Macleay or Russell but as no one else has answered I will endeavor to help. I am aware of one child who was getting bullied at Macleay, he now attends a private school in the Redlands on the mainland. I am sure many kids have gone through the system at either Russell or Macleay and turned out ok. I do know of a couple of people who grew up on the islands and have become respectable and hard working real estate agents.
Parking on mainland at ferry terminal: the council have just bought a farm and developed a new car park for the ferry terminal users, it is a walk away though, across the creek and a new footbridge has been installed, so maybe a 5 - 10 min walk away, also parking in private yards is available, but at a price though. Public transport is right at the ferry terminal, that is what we use when we go to the mainland. You just have to allow extra time to get around, be organized, or when doing your calculations, dependent on where you work, it may just not be possible to take public transport. It would take, calculated at peak times, approx 2 hours, including ferry ride from Russell to get to Brisbane CBD via p/transport OR 1hr 30m approx to get to Carindale by p/transport or 1hr 30 min in the other direction to travel to Logan Hyperdome at Loganholme, so not the quickest way to go! A car drive to Brisbane CBD would take approx 1hr anyway, and you would have to pay for parking and petrol? so everyone has to decide what is best for themselves
Social: There are families and other single people on the islands, I am sure there would be mother groups or coffee catch-ups for other mothers of school age children close by
You have to be flexible if you live on any of the islands