karawara88

Cold wet and windy in Perth so went and bought a car. !! decided on a cheap run around for now. Hyandai Elantra (2002) auto.

Anyway to let you know, we used SGIO (Perth) for car insurance, I only have two years no claims (UK) but they do it on your driving experience so 21 years driving with no accidents qualified me for 65% no claims. !! They wanted no proof of no claims.

They were also the cheapest at $409 fully comp with protected NCB, Agreed price, windscreen etc.

phoned a few others who wanted proof of NCB and quoted mental prices.

So its worth remembering SGIO for when you get here. Others may know cheaper better, but thats my info. for the day.

hamiltonnz

Thanks for that. We live in NZ and plan to go to Perth in 2003. Main reason for going is weather & lifestyle and I feel my kids will have better opportunities in Aus. Can you please tell me what your phone and power bills are approx per month. Also petrol prices over there . My main worry about the move is that of finding a job that will be able to support us and our 5 children. I spent a year in Perth in 1980 but I guess its changed alot since then. There seems to be alot of negative comment about Perth on this site. I spoke to a friend of mine who has been in perth for a year and he Loves it. How do you feel about Perth. I would appreciate an opinion even though you can only compare it to where you originally came from. Graham / Hamilton NZ

karawara88

Only been here just over a week so no idea about bills and stuff, petrol about 98c a litre.

Job situation here is bleak and its very backward compared to UK, but you just got to go with the flow.

hamiltonnz

What do you mean by "backward" I would appreciate you keeping in touch and would like to keep updated on your experiences if that is OK with you. Graham

jopaulss

Thats really good price we used RAC and i think they are a bit pricey , so will have to have a change to SGIO someone in the family mentioned them but then forgot all about them , went with what i thought we knew , not a good idea especially with running 2 cars , so thanks for that .
Joanne

karawara88

Never been to NZ but I guess its same as OZ. What I mean by backward is compared to UK, technology seems backward, cars are defo backward. They still have wind up windows. shopping seems stuck in early 80s although they do now open on Sundays. !! Now thats progress.

Its not a whinge just observation, I suppose because its all new its more noticeable but Perth seems to be hippyville. Surprised at the number of dropouts.

Dress sense, now I am not Mr. trendy but I do have an idea what goes with what. most of the Aussie women seem fat and frumpy and the in colours seem to be khaki, green and brown. !!

Driving is somthing else, no courtesy whatsoever, drive way to close, good news is taxi drivers are exatly the same as everywhere in the world, all drive by a different set of road rules. !

Irritations that are setting in are the "Hi how are you" if you reply terrible thanks, they will still say thats good. ! Although I do think the chick at Hungry Jacks and McDonalds fancys me, everytime I go she says see you later.

It does make a nice change when people let on and smile. Or could it be they cant believe some dipstick is walking around in a short sleeve shirt in winter.

Also television now thats backward, adverts are good though, and political correctness does not exist and thats much better. Good morning Australia is top, dont know the guy who presents but is really funny.

Vicky88

Think the host of GMA is Bert Newton. The guy is a legend in Australia, has been on the idiot box forever. Always has that same smiley look on his face no matter what he is talking about. He's a firm favourite with the granny-set.

salonit

Thanx for that ! V useful! any ideas which place best 4 hiring ( we are gonna be scouting over xmas!) 2003! ?

yafm

Listening to your posts about various items but particularly this one of road users I think Perth must be a different country to the rest of australia (as Florida is to the USA)

On our various visits to most of the states in australia we have found (except in the CENTRE of capital towns) the courtesy on the roads to be excellent. The australian habit of advising one of the distance before the next overtaking double lane makes it easy for the drivers to be patient and we have not come across any 'bad or impatient' habits en masse.

It used to be that there were two australian high commission houses in The Strand Australian House and Western Australian House - does that tell us something and has it not really changed????

We have visited Perth and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and NOT found any horrid habits on the road or elsewhere but then we did not find this behaviour anywhere in australia.

DianeOZ

We used SGIO also and didn't get asked for proof. How bizarre. WE use them for all our insurances and you get a discount.

As for bills, well we are not a very extrgavant family and I am Scottish by birth so therefore extremely tight!! These are monthly

Leccy $87
Petrol $260 (2 cars)
Phone $65 (not UK calls)
Gas $25
Car insurance $108 (2 cars)
House Ins $44
Water $50
rates $61
Car Rego $87 (2 cars)
Healthcare $44 (just dental & physio)

hope this helps
Diane

jayr

I haven't spotted any courtesy on the roads at all. What I do see is cars frequently driving less than one car length from the one in front at around 90Km/h, overuse of the outside lane (despite signs to the contrary), frequent pulling out of side roads without even looking (always cover your brake when you see someone) and little pulling over on expressways to let other drivers enter from sliproads leading to some cars stopping and waiting for a gap (!!!). Also, the courtesy flash of lights to let others in is not used here and is assumed to be aggressive.

welshpom

I've seen Bert a few times on GMA. His Telstra ads are funnier than his show. Does he drag his guests in off of the street ?, never heard of any of them.

jayr

I still find it annoying to spend at least as much on electricity and gas as I did in UK. Poorly insulated houses and pool pumps have a lot to answer for.

Kiwipaul

I find power here dirt cheap, costs me less than $1 per day for all heating (hot water), lighting and everything else electrical. Don't even have gas as it's just not worth the bother. No pool or a/c.

Ceri

Totally agree about the driving here.

The flash of lights to call people out, correct me if I'm wrong only seems to be used in Britain. In Sing and surrounding Asia flashing your lights meant only one thing - "Get out of my way... I'm coming through" ... here in Aus it means the same thing.... not so much used here as in Sing though. when I have tried to call people out here.. I've had to wave my hands like a loon... some of them look at you with a stupid, stunned mullet look... as if geeze "is that woman calling me out?".. sort of as if they have never seen politeness before.

The other thing which annoys me (besides the drivng bumper to bumper) is overtaking in the left lane... I hate having to overtake in the inside lane (which is illegal in Britain for obvious reasons) ... but you get people here who sit in the outside lane doing a slower speed than the left hand lane. Which incidentally is illegal on a motorway here - the laws were changed about two years ago.. over a certain road speed you must only use that right hand lane to overtake than get back in - try telling that to the road users though. It's not illegal here either to overtake in the left lane... I'll never get used to doing this... it seems all wrong to me. You think I would have got used to it by now (Sing was the same) but I haven't.

And my major gripe, last but not least... People who brake all the time. instead of taking their foot off the accelerator to adjust their speed. On the motorways that's all I see is bl**ding brake lights... then it starts a chain reaction by the other cars behind the offending car.

I have a theory about the bad driving here... it's Automatic car drivers. Aus has got a high ownership of Automatics ... people who can't pass their test in a manual.... geeze it's just a rudy gear stick!.. if you can't pass your test in a manual I honestly think that you should not be on the road. Also never travel around school closing time... bl**dy woman drivers! (I'm allowed to say that, you can't call me sexist..lol)

Cheers


P.S about the girl fancying you because she say's "see you later".... you've just made me really worry!.... Brisbane must be full of Lesbians... because I get the same thing.. lol. And Hubby gets it from the men cashiers... oooh, this country is so gay ( gay as in happy) lol :scared: