sudzs

Hi all! I'm brand new and this is my first post!

My husband has landed a job in WA and has a 457 visa so we will be heading over there within the next 5 or 6 weeks.

The job is around 250 km east of Perth with a small population, 3,500 I think and we'll be living there. I get the impression most posters on here live in cities but can anyone give me advice on what life might be like so far from the city? Will I go insane??

Any tips or advice greatly appreciated!

Genevieve

Hi sudz What's the town you'll be in?

sudzs

Hi genevieve! Thanks for the quick reply.

It will most probably be Merredin.... I've been googling like mad and it seems very small. Do you know it at all?

koalakim

Hi

I've been through there but......can't tell you what it was like as it was a few years ago now on the way to Kal. We did that trip on a Sunday and all I can remember is that nothing much was open on the way. We stopped at Northam and Southern Cross but we did go through lots of little towns on the way.

3.5k pop is probably quite big for some of those outback towns! We went through some which were literally one or two houses.

Hopefully it will be a nice community.

KK

jothefw

Hi Sudz,

Congrats on the job and lifestyle change! You're correct, a lot of Expats move to the cities/coasts and it's hard to find out what life is like away from the metropolitan areas!

We live in rural SA, 330 kms from Adelaide and our locals towns population is 1500 and 3200 (that's 50 kms away from us). We like it. We've made lots of friends within the community but we're country folk from UK so I guess it depends on what you're doing now?

If you're working on the outskirts of London and clubbing every weekend - it might be a bit of change However if you're into sports or craft or motorbikes or lots of other things, you will probably be fine! We joined loads of clubs when we first moved over, great way to meet people and whilst we're not massive attendees now (kids stuff instead) we're still very glad we got out and about!

(And due to quieter roads I think nothing of "popping" to Adelaide for the day, yes it's 7 hrs driving in a day but I don't feel frazzled when I get home, well no more so than when I used to fight with the masses in Milton Keynes )

Fluid36

You will be living in a small town in WA, it will be much as you expect. Whether or not you will go insane is debatable. Most likely you will just adapt and get on with it like everyone else, enjoying things that you can not find in the city and vice versa. No big deal.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Looks like the classic dust bowl in the middle of nowhere on Google maps. What's the job out there that offers a 457?

Bix

Dustingman?

Maybe farming.

HelenTD

Like Koalakim, I've also only stopped briefly in Merredin, years ago, on the way from Kalgoorlie to Perth. Merredin is 260 km east from Perth, about halfway between Perth and Kalgoorlie and it would probably be one of the better country towns (more like a village in UK terms) in WA, as far as country towns go in WA. The town has set up an impressive website http://www.merredin.com/merredin/Home.htm. It's basically in an area known as the wheatbelt and also the sheepbelt. Shire of Merredin website: http://www.merredin.wa.gov.au/about.

Unusually for a WA country town, Merredin is well-served by public transport: 2 train links, the Prospector (Perth-Kalgoorlie) and the MerredinLink (Perth-Merredin), the journey is about 3.5 hours, might be 6 days a week, although I read somewhere that it's daily, so you can easily escape to Perth for a break (beach, shopping, etc, etc):
https://www.transwa.wa.gov.au/LinkCl...language=en-AU
https://www.transwa.wa.gov.au/LinkCl...language=en-AU
TransWA website: http://www.transwa.wa.gov.au/

Are you into arts, crafts, the great outdoors, sports? If not, now might be the time to stock up on books and supplies to bring over with you. There might well be opportunities for you to work, as there are 53 jobs advertised on www.seek.com.au in the Northam-Merredin region. There are often opportunities to volunteer which really helps to fit in with the local community.

Condor of Bermuda

My suggestions, for what it's worth...

You will enjoy a small town. Get to know the people there. Learn about the history etc of the area.

Explore. Get a camper and a 4wd and get out and about.

http://www.westernaustralia.com/au/P...Australia.aspx

There are excellent picnic sites at a lot of granite outcrops. Springtime will be fantastic with the abundance of wildflowers.

You may find my blog of some interest:
http://farcanal.blogspot.com/

Country WA can be fantastic if you embrace the isolation.

EvannTel

We were out there a few weeks ago visiting a friend who was working on a farm at nearby Muntagin. It is remote and they are doing it tough out here due to drought.
The town itself ad most essentials but little else.
It's a tough life on the land out there and luxuries a remote thought. It's very different and in any ways extraordinary.
No one can really answer how you will get on but good luck.

Australia_bound?

We live 18 hours from Perth, population around 1500, not much here but lots of community events to get involved in. Shame I don't have the camping & fishing bug.
Would say get involved with whatevers going on or work long hours to pass the time

sudzs

Thanks everyone for the helpful posts!

I'll definately check out all those links.


...and I can't remember when I was last in a club so won't be missing out on that!

I see there's a pool there which I'll definately use a couple of times a week and hopefully have a bit of space to grow some veg.

Thanks again!

POW148

Hi Sudzs,

I know this town very well. My younger brother has lived there for the past 12 years and I have visited him often.

Merredin gets very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter. As with most country towns, come midday on a saturday the place becomes a ghost town as all shops close. There are several pubs in the town best described as "wipe your feet on the way out" type of place. There is one Taxi and one chinese restaurant. There is a high drug culture with the younger generation.

The crime rate is quite high but I wont go into the ethnic reasons for that. You will find out soon enough and then be able to make your own informed decisions.

The train service to Perth runs daily. This train service has to be booked in advance and is totally unreliable. It does run but the timings are not so good.

House rentals are expensive and in short supply. This will only get worse as there are a lot of wind farms being built in the general area and the construction workers need accomodation.

I personally wouldnt live there in a fit but my brother appears to like living there.

Hope this helps

Barney

sudzs

Hi Barney. Thanks (I think!) for all that info. I don't like the sound of it at all now to be honest. :-(

I was looking online for somewhere to rent and I did think the few places I could find did seem very expensive. I would have thought it would have been a lot cheaper than the city.

I don't suppose you or your brother could recommend another town nearby we could consider?? What's Rruce Rock like? How long is the drive from there to Merredin?

Do you happen to know anything about where exactly the new power station is being built... how far is it from Merredin?

Thanks again!