Hi all,gone mad now 2 posts in such a few minutes.Anyway we will be in our new home in halls head on the 29th of decmber 2004.We have two children 14 and 10 and as schools dont start again till Febuary wondered if any one could help them make freinds .Is there perhaps any school activaties run over the holidays they could get involved in.

cheers for now Madhouse

Welcome to the forum!

Just wondering.....where is Hall's Head, I can't find it on the map?

Cheers.

Halls Head is in Mandurah South of Perth. The Site below will tell you about the region. A great place to live.

http://www.west-oz.com/Regions/Peel/...h/mandurah.asp

Hi there Keithy we too are looking to go to Halls Head we have second cousins there but we are still waiting for our meds etc.Probably won't be there until mid next year otherwise your kids could have made friends.
Though I would be interested to hear how you get on .
Good Luck maybe see you there some day.
Cheers Dreamaway

Ta very much!

Hi there, we lived in Halls Head for two years before moving recently to the other side of Mandurah. I hope you'll be very happy there, we were, but have moved to a property with acreage. We have three children, 9, 11 and 13. They soon made friends at school, but yours of course won't be going to school until February.

Go into Woolworths and pick up the freebie paper from the checkout called "The Parents Paper" (I think) which gives loads of info about places to go during the school holidays, mainly in Perth though, but many good ideas to keep the kids amused nevertheless.

Try and get down to Mandurah Foreshore on New Year's Eve. There are displays and activities for children and a good fireworks show. There are summer camps running all through the holidays, but I guess these need to be booked in advance and you'll be arriving too late to consider these.

Do your children (boys or girls?) like sport? You have Halls Head Recreation Centre on your doorstep and Mandurah Aquatic Centre nearby. Both places run children's sporting activities through the holidays, as well as child-care places for those parents working. The kids here seem to have a strong network of friends if they are the sporty type, everyone seems to belong to a soccer/basketball/netball club or whatever. Our children swim competitively and train with Mandurah Swimming Club, and our social circle has never been so wide. Our children have more swimming friends than school friends and we have some good social outings too. Half of the swimming coaches are Poms and we are usually introduced to the latest Pommie family joining!

Do you know which school your children are going to? Halls Head or Glencoe Primary? Halls Head Middle for the eldest? Because the catchment areas are more strict, you'll find the kids living in your street probably go to the same school as yours. Tell your children to cycle up and down the street on a nice day in the holidays, and see how many other kids are out and about, they can go up and introduce themselves and see how they get on. Our house in Halls Head was one of the few in our street which had a swimming pool (and it was heated!) - that seemed to be a magnet for the neighbourhood kids!

Being a tourist town, if you wander down to Mandurah Foreshore during the holidays, or any of the local beaches, you'll find heaps of other kids playing. There's plenty of chances to meet other kids, depends how shy yours are though. I like to walk my two dogs along the foreshore then sit and watch while the kids play on the equipment there. I usually end up chatting to someone who sits next to me, and the dogs (Beagles) seem to attract a lot of little children over (they can't help it if they're so cute ) I suspect your 10 year old will find it easier to make friends than your 14 year old. My teenage daughter is at that "awkward" age - too old for swings and slides, too young for going places by herself.

Lookout for your local papers too, Coastal Times on Wednesdays and Mandurah Mail on Thursdays for more info on what's going on in the area. Feel free to PM me if you've any questions! Good luck!

Jacqui
Thanks for taking the time to tell us all about Halls Head and Mandurah.
It sounds a super place to bring up young children.
Sounds as though there is loads happening for children which is exactly what we want.
Did your children all settle well?.
Are the schools in the area good?
Cheers Dreamaway

We are also hoping to go to Halls Head, my stepsister lives in Greenfields, my Mum and Dad are in Falcon all in Mandurah. We tend to be looking at properties Halls Head at the moment but are hoping to build our own.
We have had, meds done and are just sat here waiting to here something, we are going on 139 sponsered, and are hoping to be there as soon as possible. We have a 9,13 and 15yr old, so will be looking out for friends for them hoping to be their before they start back in Feb. House goes on market tomorrow. So there is a load of us going to the same place in the same boat. We will have to do a Halls Head meet.

Good luck everyone.

Hi again,
Jacqui many thanks for your wondefull reply and I think my wife will probabaly pm you sometime and when we arrive.I have a job starting on the 8th of January so she will want to chat I expect.The job is 40 k plus a car and phone hope this will give us a fairly good start,We have never left the town were in or even been on a plane before haha.

speak soon
thanks again
keithy

Hi Keithy and family

We are also going to Halls Head hopefully,around the 27th Nov. We have 3 children 17, 14 and 6. So all being well we could see you there, do you have a house already? Are you renting or buying straight away?

Lindsey

Halls Head is probably the best known suburb of Mandurah, it certainly seems to be a popular place for new arrivals to settle, whether from the UK or those moving away from Perth itself. Word seems to be, if you don't know where you want to live in Mandurah, you can't go wrong with Halls Head. If you decide some months later you might prefer a different suburb, Halls Head properties are pretty well sought-after, so moving on won't be a hassle. This suburb has the advantage of having all those facilities you need on a daily basis, ie shops, schools, doctors, dentists, vets, recreation centre, etc without having to go into Mandurah. And several beaches to choose from!

Avoid if you can the suburbs closer to the centre of Mandurah, the trouble hotspots seem to be certain areas of Greenfields and Coodanup. There are some very nice houses and people living there I'm sure, but when you don't know an area and you have an estate agent keen to get rid of a property, beware they don't steer you into a "rough" area. Our Halls Head property is currently on the market - it has 4 large bedrooms, 1 with ensuite, study, lounge and dining room, huge kitchen with adjoining 2nd lounge and games room, enclosed patio with fernery and fish pond, lawns front and back, solar-heated pool with enclosed and open patio areas for entertaining, outside shower and changing cubicle, massive workshop for the handy man or boat, lots of palm trees and native plants and the lawns are looked after by a gardener. Asking price $329,000. Email me if you'd like any photos. The house was repainted throughout two years ago, and I will arrange for it to be cleaned thoroughly before the new owners move in. The house is empty just waiting for a new family! If I can sell it privately I will, the estate agents charge way too much commission over here, so you'll excuse me for plugging it here

As to children's activities, the one thing our kids miss is decent play equipment. You'll find there are lots of little swings and slides type playgrounds dotted about in all the housing areas and near the beaches and a bigger one on the Foreshore. Nothing big though, like we were used to in our home town in the UK. They soon get bored. There is a Fun Factory here but it's very small (similar to Charlie Chalk's), good for the littlies though. I guess though the weather is so much better, that at least they can play outside more, just cycling around on their bikes, or building sandcastles at the beach. We do have a cinema, bowling alley, theatre and various other places to go, but you'll find it's all on a much smaller scale. Even up in Perth, everywhere is small compared to London, say. There is a new Aquatic Centre near Rockingham which some of our new friends here raved about so much, that we just had to go there. It has a flume, rapid water ride and so on, but I have to say we were disappointed! It was tiny, compared to say Coral Reef at Bracknell, or the pools at Butlins.

Another good source of information (apart from me ha ha ) would be the Tourist Info Centre in Mandurah. Some good brochures to flick through on the Peel area and further afield. Spend some time doing the touristy things when you first get here, and enjoy the place before you start work and school.

Hi Guys,
Mandurah Migrants have a house in halls head which is fully equipted etc.
Dont take too much notice of the prices as they are negotiable.
Check it out on
www.mandurahmigrant.com.au

Hi Lindsey
Yes we are renting for the first 12 months then we will buy somewhere.We are renting right next door to a freind and they currently are storeing all our stuff.They got the keys today and luckily for us are moveing all our stuff in and are gonna stock the fridge ready for when we arrive
As I have to start my job on the 8th of Jan I have set everything up from here been a nightmare of faxes and phone calls but all is now done.Hopefully contact you when we arrive the wife is gonna be doing the rounds I think with coffee mornings or what ever the aussies do.We will be hunting around for a boat before the house as that is our passion and a main reason for going to Mandurah as the sea is where we live in the UK weather permitting.I am looking for a Bertram flybridge if anyone has one.
cheers for now
keith

Where in Uk are you Keith, we're in South Devon and boats are my hubands and sons passion too.


Lindsey