Visa - check, Job - probably check, Deicsion to move - need help to take plunge.

[Guest Bren_BC]

Hello people of Townsville and area,

My family (spouse and daughters 17,11 & 8) applied for a migration visa to Australia some time ago, and it was granted and we all made the trip to QLD to activate it... yah! That was just over a year ago, and we stayed in Brisbane for a few weeks - which we all thought was great. Only I have been to Townsville for work and I like the idea of being part of a smaller community. We have never moved from our current city in Canada, since having a family, and wonder how hard it will be to find the right schools, neighbourhoods, dance studios and friends that welcome us. Jobs should not be tooooo much of a problem, as one of us works in mining (me) and has connections in the industry although Brisbane does have far more engineering positions advertised. We plan to buy and home and hope to stay at least a few years, if not more. My older daughter may go out of state for uni. The thing that put some doubts in our mind about Brisbane was the difficulty in finding opening at the private schools for Year 5 and 7, even for Jan 2015 entrance. We filed applications at several and still have not hear word of acceptance for both (I would NOT want to split my younger two up at this stage - since they are quite close). Can someone give an idea which schools are desirable (can be Catholic or Christian - as we are followers of the faith and girls are baptised, but not too denomination fussed). Also, almost as important as schools is the dance studio - one is looking to trained in ballet (RAD Gr. 6 and beyond), the other competes in highland and the older (17) still does Tap - mixed bag - is there a studio that is recommend - "the best one"?

No worries about the heat and humidity at least for me, since I was raised on coast of Natal, South Africa - pretty sticky there and I miss it. Are other people who arrive new to the area finding work, settling happily and what are the things to watch out for? Is it recommended to come at the start of a new year (late Jan. ) or leave timing based only job search alone. Would you trust house shopping over the online real estate websites. We plan to list our house in the coming months. Okay, I shall not make this any longer... what we need is assurance that Townsville would work for us.