brits1

Hi, Public schools have "book lists" which are sent out to pupils before the start of the school year, the list included's all stationary requirements for the year your child is in from pens, pencils to calculators and books. You will also have to buy the school uniform which can only usually be bought from the school your child will attend, you can sometimes buy 2nd hand uniforms from the school, on top of the book list there will the "extra costs" and each school is different in regards to these charges. School meals are ordered and paid by your child each day and are sent to the classroom from the school kitchen just before lunch and depending on the school your child will usually sit in an undercover area (usually on the floor or mats), your child can take a packed lunch and again depending on the time of year you will have to have an ice pack inside the lunch box as the food will literally melt in the hot months. Depending on how many children you have at school it can work out to be expensive, we were lucky we had two boys and bless...our youngest usually had his older brother's "hand me down" uniforms, I shopped very thrifty (I am my fathers daughter lol) and would buy writing equipment etc in bulk and when on a special from K-Mart etc.

We travelled all over Australia (I did not visit the Northern Territories but my DH did). Perth is not a bad small city type of place but apart from the beaches for us there was not enough culture/history and after a few years we started to find it very "same ish" our favourite areas (and we moved around quite a lot at first lol) was near Freo especially East Fremantle and Adross, Applecross, we enjoyed being able to go down south to Mandurah and the esplanade at Rockingham for days out and for holidays to Margaret River and the south west but we also enjoyed being able to visit the hill areas around Perth, Roleystone, Mundaring for a change. I did enjoy visiting the other states and strange though it might sound we enjoyed Canberra maybe because the architecture was so different to the rest of Aus. We liked Queensland even though it was nice and green the humidity was more taxing than the dry heat of WA and to be honest by that time I think we all harboured a wanting to return to Europe, but we stayed in Aus/Perth for another 6 years. Its all a personnel choice but a lot of it nowadays depends on where the work is as without decent paid/regular work it can turn the dream into a nightmare. I do not shop at Primark, friends do though. Our boys were very young when we arrived in Aus but we were use to "doing" things together anyway, so for us it was not a problem. We made friends after a time from all over the globe and from all walks of life, I think it helped that by nature we are friendly and helpful and dare I say "nice" but I knew people who found it hard to make friends for one reason or another, everyone has a different tale to tell. Good luck