Dorothy

On $120k you won't be living a rather lavish lifestyle with big house with pool, etc.

During peak hours you're looking at 1.5 hours driving or 2 hours on public transit each way. And trust me, you don't want to take the Midland line trains unless you have to.

northernbird

It is 51km and unless you are working shift work and travelling off-peak it isn't a journey I would want to do at rush hour. I wouldn't want to hazard a guess at timings.

nandnor

why not get a place that is close to work to leverage extra spare time off that.. worth more than having a pristine neighbourhood or best prices, no?

Dorothy

The old man has to do it sometimes and he says from our house to Midland is 1.5 hours at rush hour.

broxikid74

I take it then from the information on here, that like most major cities, the nearer you are to the city centre, the more expensive accomodation is?

Dorothy

Not necessarily. Gosnells is pretty close to the city but cheap. For a reason. Iluka is not so close to the city but expensive.

broxikid74

Hi Dorothy, ive blundered lol
It would be £120k which would be roughly $180k.

Would this make any significant difference?

paulandcelia

A point to add is rush hour starts about 5.45am and goes on till about 10am on the major roads north and south.

I leave the house at 5.30 and it'll take me about 1hr to get to work, 40mins on a saturday morning with no traffic.

smidsy

Only if you consider a 50% increase in wage to be significant ?

Dorothy

I think it gets earlier all the time. When I was working at Graylands I could leave home at 7 and be at work in 45 minutes. Now I work at RPH and taking the train at 6:15 I can see traffic jams starting at Ocean Reef at that time of day.
What he said. ^

irishbloo

I jump on at Warwick at 6.30 and its busy then.Takes me a half hour to get to Northbridge.

smidsy

Adelaide is the cheapest major city in Australia. Which is why health care profs & education profs prefer to live there. As the wage is almost the same all over Aus, but Adelaide is lower cost of living, therefore, its like getting a higher wage. Hope that makes sense ??

The downside is its higher unemployment(in Aus context, which only means like 5%, so not major), but if your guaranteed a job(like a Nurse), its a good option. A little quiet, but no quieter than Perth, in my opinion. Personally, its a place to end your career & retire. I came to Perth to make loadsa dosh on the mining(lol, honestly thats why, silly me!)

Melbourne, the cost of living will be roughly on par with Perth, but I believe wages will be a little lower(mining pushed up wages in Perth). However, if Melbourne had Perth's weather, in my opinion it would be the best city in the entire world. But instead, its a great city, with sh1tty weather, that bugs you after a while. The weather is wet & changeable & too hot in Summer(Perth gets too hot also, but not nearly as wet). I read somewhere that there are more wet days in Melbourne than London. For me, one of my reasons to go to Aus, was for better weather, and therefore a more "outside" lifestyle.

For similar rent money, you get more in Melbourne. Ie. exceptional public transport, sports events, cultural events, fashion events, Melbourne Cup, little villages in most suburbs with great food & coffee etc.(not like the northside here, passed Subiaco its miles and miles of houses & shopping malls, which is why we live in East Victoria Park, its got a little village, or coffee strip, as the say). All these happen in Melbourne, and the city shuts down for most of them, with "Sickies" being understood during these times. Try finding a civil servant during Melbourne Cup week. We tried, and failed !

You should grab a six pack some evening, and sit down and read this...

http://www.livingin-australia.com/

And my blog, which I wrote while travelling the east coast. Although I hadnt been in Western Australia at the time of writing.

Blg here... http://www.alanpeters.blogspot.com.a...e9033cf329b99c

In saying that, If we leave Perth, although I cant stand the weather, we will most likely go to Melbourne. If I dont have a job by the time our lease runs out in August, im gone.

Also, have you considered Brisbane ?? I like it,, some dont, but the traffic is horrendous, when they finally finish the road upgrades, it will be a consideration for us.

smidsy

Also, Keefo, a significant important factor... must you be within easy commuting distance of the CBD ??

If not, you could look at Rockingham, Mandurah, Bunbury, Yanchep or maybe south of Fremantle(nice place)?

Keefo

Cheers Smidsy

How long did you do mining for and did you need any experience. My parents friends who live in Rockingham tried getting us out there few years back and said I would get a mining job easy but it would have meant nights away from my wife. Also I read last weekend over here that the mining boom is operated mainly by computers/machines.

I have visited Brisbane and it was nice.

What else do you do if you didn't do mining (your occupation)

Do you think I would get work in Perth as a CAD draughtsman, no specific field.
I am torn between Perth/Adelaide but after what you said I may have to get my rocking chair out to live there. I am not really into painting the town red anymore though so the quieter life might suit us and after what you said with my wife been a teacher it may benefit us living in Adelaide.

Keefo

Enjoyed your blog Smidsy, will settle down with my wife one night and read the other link.

Is crime in OZ as bad as England in your opinion. This is one reason why we originally wanted to move to NZ but doubt we cn afford it there.