So does missing the almost blinding irony of people's posts.

I think you missed the irony in mine.

Whatever; none are Arcadian however.

Unimaginative lot by the sound of them.

Quoted from: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org


But if things are read in full... http://www.britzinoz.com/info/skin-c...-australia.htm

In the sense of an 'imaginary idyllic paradise' the entire country is Arcadian.

An idyllic rural, bucolic or rustic life; a metropolitan life idyllic or not is not Arcadian.

Hi again

Thanks for that.

Mine are only 4 and 1 so I am wondering about playgroups and activities etc for them. I am not a going out person either and am easily pleased. We are just worried that we'll have to downgrade a lot on 1 income so I am trying to think about things that don't cost too much to entertain the kids (like going to the beach).

Have you made many friends yet?

Thanks, D_C

Hi DC, I'm also a mum in Perth and both my kids were born here. Yes, there are negatives issues for many of us living in Perth, but there's one stage of your life when it's a good place to be: a family with young children. There are lots of parks (small and big) and playgrounds in most suburbs, plus larger regional parks, such as Kings Park and Whiteman Park. Some parks have sealed tracks around them, good for pushing prams and kids learning to ride bikes. There's also public access to the river, including the richest suburbs, plus the coastline. Some river locations and beaches have playgrounds and cafes nearby. All this is free (views and playgrounds, not the coffee). There is also lots of free entertainment for kids, usually organised by local councils, especially in the school holidays. Even the rich make sandwiches and snacks and take to the park for picnics and a play, so that saves money too.

There are also numerous indoor play centres that are reasonably priced, plus swimming pools. These locations are VERY popular in hot weather, when it's too hot to play outside, or during a wet winter week.

There are community playgroups for pre-school children, which don't cost too much, lasting for about 2 hours, just enough time to get your hair cut in peace, or exercise/whatever if it's a group led by a teacher, but you have to stay if it's a mum-run group (another way to make friends). As we don't have family here and I was studying, my kids went to a community-based childcare centre for about 1 day a week, reasonable cost with the govt rebate.

Making friends - you will find posts on BE about how hard it is for some people to build a network in Perth. I think it would be easier if you live in a suburb where others from your ethnic group live: plenty of places like this in Perth for the British. Sometimes it takes a bit of luck meeting like-minded people and a website like this can help.

State schools are cheap (perhaps you get what you pay for), but a lot of locals send their kids to local state schools and invest in private high schools. About a third of WA kids go to non-govt schools. If you stay in the state system, you're less likely to be hit with expensive school excursions until a couple of years into high school, or not at all (no slipping across to France on a school trip if you live in Perth!). But schools we can discuss at another time ...

Yep... I only get on here about every 6 months....

I'm glad I came across this thread as I too had been pretty concerned this week to the amount of people posting on here who are having a bad time and coming back to the UK. I have been on a real downer and questioning our decision to emigrate. Now I've read some positive comments its kinda put a bit more balance into place. We leave the UK in 7 weeks and I had convinced myself this last week from reading posts on here that we are heading for a slippery slope of misery by emigrating. Just hope and prey it works out.

Most people who immigrate to OZ like the place and don't want to go back to the UK and most of those people don't constantly post on expat forums. l think someone here had the stats that of 110,000 brits who immigrated to OZ in the past 5 years only 11,000 went home, so anyone thats says most who immigrate have a bad time and go home is totally wrong.

Totally agree with what you say. Happy people tend not to post 1,000 times a day cos they are too busy making the most out of life here.... Forums like this show a very biased sample of those who have moved here IMO

P.S. Prepare for someone to come along v fast and quote you lots and lots of stats

I have roughly 2000 posts so at your rate of 1000 posts a day by 'unhappy' people, I have had two unhappy days out of roughly 5840 days. Not bad odds really.

99.9% of said posts are mindless bollocks I know.

Wrong

It is much higher than that

http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publica...ate_june07.pdf