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!

Bordy

Nothing against Perth BUT what makes you think its a better quality of life than Melbourne?

bal56

If it has any relevance - I'm 40.

bal56

Bordy - blimey that was fast!
I guess the image of the beach life, the smaller population etc.
How does Melbourne compare on this scale?

Bordy

Loads of beaches, probably less windy. Bigger population but doesn't give the feel of an overly busy city like Sydney does. ( Sorry Sydney)
Loads of Sports, theatres, restauarants from every culture imaginable. Best shopping in Australia I'm told.
Definetly cooler in Winter but thats not to bad either.

bal56

Is cost of living similar on average?

Bordy

I'd say house prices are probably higher in Melbourne but so will your salary be & chances of work in IT.
Not that Perth is bad, its a good bit smaller but a beautiful city to.

Ozger

Sounds like a similar situation to us. I'm 40, work in IT, only 3 kids though, British, but moved here (Melbourne) after 4 years in the US...... my advice is, go where the work is, you'll need the money!

bal56

Ozger, that's our favoured option right now. We have some friends in Perth, but making the relocation as stable as possible has got to be paramount.

Ozger

My wife has family in Adelaide (they sponsored us), which would be the ideal place for us to settle I think, but the lack of suitable jobs there means we're staying here for a while.

We have been struggling a bit without a support network of family/friends so in that respect, going where there is someone you know would be the easiest way to get settled here, but ultimately we had to go where ther work was.

It also comes down to the upheaval for the kids. Even though we've only been here 4 months, the kids (13,11 and 8) have made some good friends and I think it would just be just too cruel to move them to another school/city/state so soon.....and hard on our finances to have to kit them all out in new uniforms with new books etc etc....very expensive!

bal56

Yep, my sister in law (our sponsor) is in Brisbane, but we're not considering it due to reduced job prospects and greater sweatiness!

youcanlaugh

The thing that concerns me about Melbourne is the weather, although that is the reason that a lot of Brits move there, as the weather is closer to British weather than Perth. When we went there a few years back, it was October (Spring) but to be quite honest, most British Spring days are warmer. "4 seasons in a day" as they say. Even watching the repeats of "new life down under" a few nights ago had me smiling as the Melbourne crew were huddled in their garage or under umbrellas on several occasions.

Sounds like I'm knocking Melbourne which I'm not. It's horses for courses. If you can't handle the heat, then Melbourne would be the choice. If you want more of an outdoor lifestyle, then I would opt for Perth.

(Hope my comments don't upset anyone. They're not meant to)

Ozger

Yup. Coming from a predictable weather situation in Idaho ("fancy a picnic a week saturday....let me check the weather forecast....it's going to be sunny.....ok then!") to Melbourne where you can't plan anything that's affected by the weather, was quite a shock.

Sunny and clear skies in the morning has often lead to clouds and rain in the afternoon.

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.

guyguy2003

Perth is beautiful, extremely clean, beautiful beaches very close to the city, easy to drive, and way cheaper. People are also very friendly. its less multicultural, but you have most things melbourne have in terms of food.
Melbourne is big, grey sometimes, full of graffiti and litter, the closest beaches to the city are FULL of litter (the filthiest I have seen in the world and i have been to places, my friend and I went to elwood beach and not only that the sand was full of litter he almost stepped on broken glass). The Victorian police however is corrupt.
However melbourne has its charm, and people are nicer than in Sydney. you have great food and shopping is the best in Oz. Perth is laking apparantly in that term.
Melbourne is also very close to everything else, sydney is close.
btw, if you want to go to a big city where everything is happening AND which is beautiful then Sydney is the place, however it is very expensive.
THe best bet is Brisbane, great weather, seems very clean and beautiful, cheaper than melbourne and sydney, and has great beaches in the one hour proximity, close to sydney (relatively offcourse ) and the southbank area with the artificial beach is beautiful.