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Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

Old Jan 14th 2005, 10:18 am
  #16  
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Default Re: Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

Originally Posted by youcanlaugh
You don't know how happy I am that someone has backed me on this. I was expecting to be flamed by all the Melbournites.

Not at all, we are all sitting here freezing our butts off for past week in Melbourne.
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Old Jan 14th 2005, 10:23 am
  #17  
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Default Re: Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

I find that trying to figure out what to wear here is difficult. Should I take a coat to work? Looks cloudy and ominous.....yes, better had. 5pm, that's me walking through the CBD in swealtering heat carrying my coat. The opposite has happened too...blazing sunshine in the am....no need for a coat...peeing down when I'm waiting for me bus at the end of the day!
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Old Jan 14th 2005, 10:27 am
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Default Re: Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

Originally Posted by Bordy
Not at all, we are all sitting here freezing our butts off for past week in Melbourne.
I don't know if this thread has helped the originator, but it's made me feel a lot better about not including Melbourne on my shortlist. I'm choosing between Sydney and Perth.

Sydney reminded me of a hot London, so I am tending towards Perth at the moment. Probably 75 Perth/25. I found Perth probably the most relaxing of all the places I visited. Almost reminded me of the 1950s (well, 1950s films that I've seen anyway).

With 3 kids (4, 2, 0) it's a close call. Probably more for them to do when they get older in Sydney, but more familiy oriented in Perth. decisions decisions...
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Old Jan 14th 2005, 10:27 am
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Default Re: Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

Originally Posted by youcanlaugh
You don't know how happy I am that someone has backed me on this. I was expecting to be flamed by all the Melbournites.
Why should we flame you. We live here . We know how bad it can be
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Old Jan 14th 2005, 10:33 am
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Default Re: Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

Originally Posted by HUP
Why should we flame you. We live here . We know how bad it can be
If you want to live in a place that reminds you of the 50's, go to Perth, it looks like a picture from the 50's - Brown and out of colours.. Even tho I actually like canberra.

Melbourne gave me a great career opportunity, but I would never live here if I could help it. I didn't like London for its litterbugs, and I definatly didn't come here for dirty beaches. I came for clean ones. And sunshine.

Sydney doesn't feel exactly like London, its more like a New York meet London vibe sort of place.. only with beautiful beaches and sunshine. Some people there are also very 'american' in their aggresivness, only in Sydney did I ever had to argue about a place in a resturant, or saw a bus driver shout at a tourist.. It feels much more of a big city than Melbourne in that respect, sadly for Sydney.

I don't know about Adelaide, I wonder if anyone can tell us abit about Adelaide and Tassie.
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Old Jan 14th 2005, 11:04 am
  #21  
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Default Re: Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

Yes it is helping youcanlaugh.
All information is good information!
Perth looks best for what we want best lifestyle-wise and Melbourne for a job!
Maybe my original option 3 is best.
It seems crazy to make a lifestyle driven move to the other side of the globe and then to compromise for a job in a British-style climate with British-style beaches (or am I being harsh?).
There must be others who've tried Perth and had to move elsewhere for a job?
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Old Jan 14th 2005, 11:25 am
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Default Re: Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

[QUOTE=bal56]
Originally Posted by bal56
Yes it is helping youcanlaugh.
It seems crazy to make a lifestyle driven move to the other side of the globe and then to compromise for a job in a British-style climate with British-style beaches (or am I being harsh?).
Glad it's helping. You seem to share my Philosophy in that If I am moving that far, I have to be sure of the reason, and my personal reason is an improved lifestyle for my family and I. If that means that you want to be able to have a much more active outside life (beach trips, BBQs etc) then certainly Perth sounds like the solution.

I would have thought that Perth is the best place for anything to do with logistics

Also, job markets are strange. Let's face it, even on jobserve in the UK, you can wait weeks before you actually find the perfect job, but they do come along if you can be a little patient, and it's always a "I'm glad I waited" sigh when you find it.

I'm in IT, more on the programming side of things, so I am trying to grab a few ears around my current contracts to see if there is any chance of remote working. That way I would also benefit from the pound/dollar. It's got to be worth a try.
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Old Jan 14th 2005, 11:32 am
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Default Re: Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

Originally Posted by bal56
a British-style climate with British-style beaches (or am I being harsh?).
?
Not harsh, maybe misguided. The beaches are far from british, not a kiss me quick hat, ice cream van or 500 people in the same square inch of sand as yourself. Also the weeks weather we've just had would make you stay away from the beach if you value your skin staying on, mid to high 30s everyday. A week of it has been enough for me as the kids won't go out untill 7pm cos its to hot. Perth can be like that for weeks at a time, it just depends how much/ what you can do in the summer heat.

(hevs, signed on as HUP)
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Old Jan 14th 2005, 12:07 pm
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Default Re: Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

Are you in the same part of Melbourne as bordy hevs ... I thought this week had been cold?
The heat is however a valid point. We had this with the Miami experience - too darn hot in the middle of the day in summer to go out.
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Old Jan 14th 2005, 12:13 pm
  #25  
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Default Re: Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

Originally Posted by bal56
Are you in the same part of Melbourne as bordy hevs ... I thought this week had been cold?
The heat is however a valid point. We had this with the Miami experience - too darn hot in the middle of the day in summer to go out.
Fairly near (Some might say to near ).

No its been hot most of the week. Had a few spots of rain tonight but they have disappeared.

The thing I like about VIC weather is you can have a run of stinking hot days and then it'll drop 10 to 15 degrees and boy do you appreciate it. Summer hasn't kicked in in a big way yet then again we were up in Sydney for new year and it was pretty lack lustre there too.

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Old Jan 14th 2005, 12:13 pm
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Default Re: Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

Well i was born in blacktown nsw but left when i was 3 (with perants help lol) and moved to the uk and have never been back wife has never been there we age going to perth in april with plans not to come back the wife has been told she can apply for here visa in oz so that is what we will do (made easier by the fact i am a ozzi by birth with a ozzie passport thank god) so we are just packing up and going for it no kids no mogage just us and our stuff what have we got to lose and perth is where we want to go all i have heard is good thing about it and it is alot cheaper than sydney that is for sure.We have closed all our bank acounts no credit cards only cash we sent a email to a hotel in perth to ask how we could book with none of these and we got a nice email back saying it was all booked and we could settel up when we were there i have traviled all over the uk scotland wales and irland and have alwayes had to put a deposit down some way or another that just sums up oz to me willing to give you a chance what ever you situation so perth it is sorry if i went a bit of track lol
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Old Jan 14th 2005, 12:57 pm
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Default Re: Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

There is no contest......Perth every time.

I spent a year over in Oz a while back and fell in love with Perth. Because the city is so remote....the locals have a perfect outlook on life...."lets make the best of it".

OK, the sun does shine there a lot more than you are used to but surely thats one of the reasons you are leaving these shores.

Find a place to buy on Scarborough Beach and you'll keep pinching yourself.
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Old Jan 14th 2005, 1:32 pm
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Default Re: Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

Bordy,
I migrated to Oz, first Melbourne and then Perth. We stayed a few years and returned to UK. We had 1 young child with us when we migrated and a second child within a few months of landing in Oz.

We did months of research before we came, had plenty of cash saved up and jobs we moved straight into ( health care workers) - we still had problems settling.

Despite what you think you know, the truth is Australia is expensive , there are hidden costs and there is personal taste that nobody can show you, you have to suck it for taste for yourself.

In view of the size of your family and your lack of funds - it is obvious you are not prepared for any mistake and the result will impact on you all in a big way.

Do not expect a few lines on a website to carry you to the best decision.

You have to "get your ducks in a row" way before your family arrive. I suggest you find the money to come over by yourself, do a comparison study between the two cities for yourself, open bank accounts, rent property, get schools sorted and a job. The process will take 1 -2 months.

Once the family arrives - there will be culture clash, heat adjustment, government red tape, missing home and adapting to a new home to contend with.

We had moved from UK to Germany, we had also lived in the middle east for years prior to migrating to Oz, we had no idea how difficult the first few months as "new australians" was to be.

Odaat.
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Old Jan 14th 2005, 1:40 pm
  #29  
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Default Re: Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

On a personal opinion we struggled very much to get jobs in Perth but I think it would be 'easier' in It than what we were looking at. Great city etc but we found the people very inward looking. I'd tried the East coast.




Originally Posted by bal56
Help!
Time ticks on ... we've got visas, need to be in Oz by early May, have sold the house but don't know where to settle.. We need to book tickets, ship furniture soon, so need to decide.

The problem, not enough money for validation trip for family of seven.
Kids are 11 down to 3, I'm likely to be the sole bread winner for a while (Logistics IT).

What we want from Oz is primarily quality of lifestyle (outdoor!) for us and the kids with as good an education for the little uns as possible.

(We've lived in Miami before so know the pitfalls of international migration).

I've been applying for jobs on Seek / Jobnet / Jobserve for a while and have established contact with a few interested recruitment agents (Melbourne, Perth and Sydney) but have not managed to progress beyond there. The split by city in terms of vacancies in my line of work are Melbourne 60%, Sydney 25%, Perth 15%.

We both fancy Perth for quality of life, but can't afford to mess around too long without me finding a job.

Which of these options sounds best?

1. Travel out and spend a couple of weeks in both Perth and Melbourne then decide (whilst talking to recruitment agents at the same time). (In this scenario what do we do about shipping furniture?).

2. Go initially for Melbourne for ease of getting a job and proximity to other cities (and better educational prospects??) and evaluate move to Perth later (possibly transfer with same employer).

3. Go initially to Perth for quality of life, and move to Melbourne if I can't get a job in a few months.

Thanks in advance for any help!
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Old Jan 14th 2005, 2:05 pm
  #30  
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Default Re: Melbourne or Perth - Can anyone help us decide?

odaat - my visiting first is a good idea, but probably not an option as time is short (and I'm on a three month notice period). In any case I'm not confident that I could make a decision for both myself and my wife regarding overall quality of life (although I could assess the job market first hand).
I certainly don't intend to make our decision on the back of this thread, it's just a effort to gather more useful information and opinions to assist us with making our minds up.
Out of interest, what were the key drivers of your various moves?
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