Wow guy's......Seems one or two people got a little heated under the collar, I think my questions weren't meant to cause such heated exchanges.....please calm your skin down.

We'd actually heard the cricket bat incident on the news over here in the UK and comments from one or two of you guy's stated that this sort of thing goes on everywhere.....you wanna be in the UK right now.....we have kids torturing other kids, rapists using facebook to stalk their victims and thats on top of the regular Friday night muggings, robberies and burglaries. You wanna count yourselves very, very lucky that you live where you do, the UK is shot to sh*t and ther's gonna be no-one to save it (like no-one wants to).

Good point about the TV and DVD's etc.....I'd heard from another ex-pat website that most leccy stuff doesn't run with the same ampage/wattage so I'd have to buy an adapter. My TV's almost new so I'd like to keep it, besides it's the only thing I have from my last marriage that worked..!!

I've already done the essentials and been in touch with a cycle club and have researched info on schools, childminders and transportation links.

Many thanks too for the invaluable info on the decent suburbs and advice on where to rent. Plan was to rent for a while and then try and buy (again advice would be useful).

I have my second interview for the job tomorrow morning at 7am, so if all goes pair shaped this might be a mute email......but....if all goes well Yipppeeeeeee

Remember guy's your the lucky ones....stay loose

Ian

Two Rocks is a area worth looking at.

I assume you never look at any Aussie news websites?

In Melbourne on the Herald Sun website we get this picture on the front page almost every day:

Rubbish. People have been saying this about the UK since as long as I remember - and it's not true. UK has the same social problems as the UK (and most other western countries) - some worse, some not as bad.

Come for the pull of Australia and not the push of the UK.

Whilst I'm happy people living there seem to like it I reckon it would be like living on Mars, but with beaches and aborigines. You couldn't pay me to live there.

It's so isolated, miles from anywhere, surrounded by desert, one of the windiest places on earth (great if you are a windsurfer).

Why on earth they are building a cruise ship harbour there is beyond me, what are the people going to look at when they disembark? the lobster factory??

At least in Perth you are close to the hills, Margaret River and all the forests, in Gero it's just outback, for thousands of kilometers.

I'd think very carefully if I were you, I reckon your Mrs will get "cabin fever" and you'll be on the plane back to Blighty within 6 months.

On the bright side, at least your job offer isn't in Meekatharra, Newman or Carnarvon - that would be worse.

I agree. Albany gets cruise liners as well, but you can understand why as there is loads fo stuff to do within, say, 50-100kms.

No one's got remotely het up or heated

This is Australia. A first world country, just like Britain and the US etc. The exact same crap happens here and if you think you're coming to somewhere where it doesn't happen you're going to be very very disappointed.

The UK is not shot to anything. It's a damned impressive country and always will be. The attitude should be that you come for the experience and the adventure, not because you believe the UK is finished.

All electrical goods will work. All that needs doing is changing the plugs. For the time being though, I suggest you bring some 4 or 6 plug extension leads with you then you just have to change the one plug.

I think the main problem people have with the cricket bat killing isn't that it occurred - shit happens everywhere but that it happened on Xmas day and the perpetrator only got a slap on the wrist.

I'm a Pommie living in Gero.

The cricket bat incident happened over 2 years ago which was really sad but hardly evidence of high crime rates.

Gero is brilliant - one of the sunniest places in Australia, safe, no traffic, relaxed way of life with things like fishing and watersports available along with a general outdoor lifestyle.

We have significantly improved our quality of life in many ways since moving to Gero.

Well the interview went pretty much as planned, good in most aspects and a little nervous in others. Get to know next week whether the company will sponsor me.

Thanks again for the further comments and in particular the one's which don't necessarily criticise Geraldton too much. I have to say that despite the wind and surrounding desert it still sounds very much like a place I would want my kids to be brought up and for me and my wife to kick our slippers under the table.

I'll take the point of the suburbs and check out rentals in those areas, many, many thanks for those....and I'll check out details of mortgages once my application is processed.

What I would like to clarify though is that I am coming out there for the right reasons. Some of you have questioned my ethics for the move, what I will say is some of the reasons for the migration are selfish (work based) but mostly its to give my family a better quality of life and a better chance for life opportunities and schooling.
I'm sat here in my office with 15 colleagues staring down the barrel of a 3mth redundancy period we are currently 1mth into, I have sleepless nights trying to think of measures I can adopt that will save these families from the dole....and yes I know governments are the same the world over, but over here they all sing from the same hymn sheet and are out to sell the natives down the river whilst they bend over backwards to be politically correct and pour good money after bad to fund 'citizens' willing to stay at home and watch Opra all day smoking joints.
The Oz government is stronger in many ways, always has been. It say's what it likes/thinks and I think it was 'Howard' who said "if you don't like it you can leave"....he came in for a huge amount of critisism, but he also said what a lot were thinking (and what lot of Brits would want our own PM to say). Hense the reasoning behind the latest Oz visa re-shuffles. I'm too old and cynical to know any different and to convert and I also know that my comments will provoke a response from you guy's.....but hey, your not here.

As a father I want the very best for my family and looking at my options which are somewhat limited, my best option is Australia. Besides, they want me...and they are willing to pay me for the priviledge.

Sorry to disappoint, but you seem to be yet another victim of a hoax viral email describing something that didn't actually happen:

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/howard-muslim-speech.shtml

Rest assured there are plenty of people in Australia who also don't understand the need for the levels of immigration the country has.

As for being made redunant you have my sympathies, it happens here too, happened to me within the past 18 months & many other people I know.

Good luck.

The Australian government is going to pay you to move to Australia?

Damn, emigrating here has changed, I wish the Australian government had paid me to move here.

I would take the posts that 'criticise' it Geraldton ( or anywhere ) very seriously. Renth in particular explains the downsides of these places well.

Maybe its hard to explain, but the average English wifes 'dream' move is probably not a lot of the harsh remote place names that occasionally pop up on this forum.

You seem quite sensitve to Social issues and Crime, IME a good reason not to move to some of the more remote bits of Australia. Aus Cities have all of these problems and in some remote places they are worse.

Take the good and the bad and whatever you do read some OZ news, all the same crime as the UK gets, loads of real sick violent crime stuff of late.

Going to remote australia requires very realistic expectations, some will love it many wont.

Well said, why do people only want to hear good things, never the bad?

Geraldton is hardly remote, its a large town which according to current forecasts population will grow to around 1million in the next few years!
This is due to the the new industry and port being built, hence influx of workers and families arriving.
So we will have a surge of people and facilities, Geraldton will be a very different place in the future.

Current news is that we are getting a multi-million $ business and retail park being built near Wooree. Also more shops at the existing shopping centres eg Big W is earmarked to move in soon.

I personally dont like the sound of it growing to city size, as I like living rural.
So for me Geraldton is growing too rapidly, however it does have its bonus like better facilities and upgrading of tourist areas.

Gems