luis_be

Hi there,

Sorry for the cheeky title but the fact is that I have been reading many forums about Perth and it seems that everyone who moves there is married with children It seems indeed to be a great place to raise kids but that is not what we are worried most about.

We are a childless young(ish) couple living in London and planning to move there by the end of the year. I would love to hear the opinion about Perth from others in the same situation.

Definitely Perth sounds a bit boring when you don't have children to entertain you... Sydney or Melbourne seem to be much more lively cities, I wonder if we shouldn't move there instead. However the other aspects of Perth (weather, beaches, outdoors activities, quality of life etc) seem so great that made it our first choice.

Any comments/advice welcome!

Thanks,
Luis

bcworld

Wouldn't Sydney offer all these things as well though? If Perth is indeed 'a bit boring' I can't see how it would trump Sydney in the quality of life stakes.

I would highly recommend Melbourne, but I realise the weather & beaches criteria are contentious!

verystormy

We dont have children and moved to Sydney and then to Perth. I would say i didnt click with Perth for a long time and actually live south near Mandurah it is nice to visit the city but not a big fan of Perth itself, but have come to really appreciate WA. In my opinion if it is the big city - London type of experience you are looking for then forget Australia completly as even Sydney can seen a bit too laid back.

You say quality of life, but what is that?

Elmo2552

Hi there,
we live in Perth and have no kids. I dont see why everyone slags it off so much! We have a flat in the CBD which granted we do pay a lot of money for but thats our choice. I have a five minute walk to work in the morning and my other half lives opposite his office. I was always a city girl back home and just feel more comfortable here(although i have to admit i woke up at 5am last sunday, looked over to the freeway and there was not a single car! Weird or what??)
We go down to Swan River everyday to eat lunch, its so pretty down there, live 5mins from Kings Park, we eat out probably 3 or 4 times a week. We are 5 mins from the train station where we can be in some lovely suburbs within 20 mins.

Like i said our rent is very high and we are looking at other properties once our lease is up but I still think we made the right choice living in the city for our first six months until we find our feet and decide where we want to live

good luck, dont be put off Perth it has its plus points too!

irishbloo

Thats it.Im selling my two on ebay.

Lord_Farquar

That, my friend, is the million dollar question.

jimbo_d

I did, best thing I ever did, met my wife here

Amazulu

If I was single I would still move here - the quality of women here is amazing.

Lord_Farquar

Is that because they are all in bed by 6.30?

ozhappy981

We are a childless couple. We moved to Perth from Reading in Berkshire 2.5 years ago and we love it here.

I never understand why people call Perth "boring". We are neither sporty, nor outdoorsy people and find plenty to do and see.

The weather is absolutely fantastic and that really helps (in my view).

If you have any questions feel free to PM me.

verystormy

If luis_be thinks it is to be better off financially then care is needed as we all know!
If it is for better weather, then yes, but again be prepared for the shock we had of Perth winter.
If things like culture / arts and things like good places to eat. Well, if your idea of Mac D's is fine dinning you will be fine, but otherwise you might be disapointed

dave99

To answer the title question, yes. We have no kids and came to perth, after a year I had to move to adelaide for work but we were determined to come back as perth is just so much nicer.

Adelaide felt like a lot of english citys, it had that old world feel that perth doesnt have. Perth feels more shiny, new, and more what I imagined australian life to be like when I dreamed of coming out here years ago. After a year in adelaide we came back to perth and have been here for about 2 years now and are still liking it.

Personally I dont like living in a big city, I dont know if I could stand london, I prefer space, good roads, less traffic, beautiful beaches, lots of sunshine, nice people who like to relax more.
These are the things I came looking for in australia.
If you are looking for a big city just like london, why not stay in london?, if your looking for something different, possibly better (although thats a matter of opinion), then give perth a try. You can always go back if you dont like it

luis_be

Hi there,

First of all, thanks for the fantastic feedback! I have posted a similar question in other forums with no responses at all.

I am not looking for a “big city” to live in at all. I particularly don’t like London very much (too busy, crowds everywhere, awful traffic at any time or day of the week, public transport quite inefficient and always packed), yes there is a lot to see and do here but going out is almost a stressful experience for me. Said that I would not like to live in a place where everything closes at 5h30 and you cannot find a decent place to have a meal or a drink...

Quality of life can be different for each person, but for me it involves very basic things really. One is housing, at the moment we rent (which differently to many people I don’t mind) and I don’t mind either paying a reasonable rent as long as the property is good enough (spacious, bright, well kept) which is not always the case here. Another thing is transport. I like to be able to go to places whenever I like without standing in a packed carriage or sitting on traffic for hours. And last but not least the weather, we are very much into outdoors activities and the weather plays a major role in this. Though I have many times gone for walks when wet, it is so much nicer when the weather is fine! We also love to go to beaches and there are very fine beaches in England but obviously we have to be contented with going to Spain or Portugal once or twice a year to fully enjoy them. Of course, having a good (challenging, interesting, rewarding) job and salary are important too but that is not at the top of my list.

Regarding Perth v Sydney, Sydney sounds great too but what concerns me the most is the weather. In my “iGoogle” page I have both cities' weather reports and I have following them daily for the last few months. Perth is most of the time sunny and dry, while Sydney is much rainier and seems terribly humid. I don’t mind the heat but I can’t stand humidity (that horrible feeling that you need a shower just after having a shower). Weather is in the top 3 of my quality of life priorities so that is something I wouldn’t like to compromise. If anyone disagrees with this view of the Sydney weather please let me know.

Sydney also seems too big to me, to live centrally near everything can be expensive and if you live further afield commuting can be a problem (quality of life priority #2). Perth seems to me much “manageable” in that sense. You can live in a nice suburb not far from the CBD (say 30-40 min would be reasonable for me) and still be a 20min drive from a decent beach. Again, if anyone has a different view on this please let me know...

Cheers,
Luis

Alfresco

Maybe that's better than some of the responses you'll get here on BE.

Just kidding. The responses have been well balanced...so far!

Oh! and welcome to BE by the way.

louie

I don't like humidity either, I find it very draining. But in the two years we lived in Sydney (admittedly 20 years ago and who knows how much the weather has changed in that time), there can't have been more than a dozen times when I found it difficult to deal with. We're making plans to go back so it can't be that bad! But it does vary depending on where you are in the city, the further east (nearer the ocean) the better from that point of view. It can get very still and hot and sticky "out west". Can't speak for Perth weather, only ever spent a few days there.