Dreamaway 10

Hi Everyone not been on this forum for a while.Feel as though we have been away for ages.
Went out with the family to Perth on the 28th Feb and returned on the 13th March.
Since coming back things have been very diificult due to the fact that I lost my father the day before we got home.He Had been ill for years but it still came as a real shock and now I have so many emotions and feelings going round in my mind with regard to our recent visit etc.
So as I have been looking at everyone elses reports for the last 18 months with excitement and feel it is my turn to share a few of our experiences of Perth with you all.
The flights over with Emirates were fine.
Our two children were amazing and really behaved themselves they both slept for a good 6 hours which really helped and there were films and games and stuff to keep them amused.
We stopped in the centre of Perth at the Saville Suites the hotel was excellent and the staff were very friendly.
First impressions of Perth were really good a really nice city very clean,good shops plenty of fab restuarants .
The free cat buses were an excellent way of getting round the city and the children thought they were great.
Everyone seemed very friendly and helpful and I thought this was refreshing to see, especially within a city.
We went to Barrack Street Jetty to the bell Tower then on the ferry to Perth Zoo .Had a great day.
Drove along the coast visited many beaches Scarborough,Trigg,Cottesloe,Mullaloo(our favourite) went to Hilary's Boat harbour and Mindarie Keys here I was a little dissapointed not quite as I imagined it to be Maybe I had bulit up my hopes to much.
Suburbs!,well we must have driven through that many Ocean Reef very nice lots of new build houses some very impressive,Duncraig seemed nice more established trees along the street etc.
Wembly Downs,Mount Pleasant,Subiaco all very nice suburbs but quite
expensive to buy..
One of my favourite places was Kings Park which I thought was lovely.
Met up with an expat from here Amanda who was very helpful we talked over a drink while the children enjoyed themselves on a really good play area.
As we had a lot to see and do we never really got to stay in one place long enough to suss it out properly.Visited the Perth Hills Kalamunda really nice village feel to it.

We headed off down to Mandurah and was shocked by the amount of building work going on they seem to be clearing away a lot of the natural bush to make way for huge housing estates although in time may be very nice same as here I suppose thats progress at least there is more space in Western Australia compared to England.
Went to visit our second cousins at Halls Head they were lovely and made us feel very welcome.
Mandurah was very nice although is going to be very big in the future so this put me off slightly.
Saw some really nice houses in this area ,and yes we could afford to buy them and be better off than in the UK but really need to look into schools etc in the area but did not get chance to do this.
Drove down to Bunbury and stopped with some friends for the night and headed off the next day to Margaret River.Called in to a winery and bought some excellent wine.
As we were driving further South it was much more rural and for me I preferred that ,lots of unspolit bush land.
Everywhere was very brown and dry as we visited at the end of the summer the locals told us that when the rain comes everything does turn green again.
Margaret River I thought was really nice and I felt as though I could really be happy there it had a nice feel to it.Again we only had a morning there which was just not long enough.
Went on the ferry to Freemantle and had a lovely day.
Thought Freemantle was very nice.
As we were staying in the centre of Perth we did a lot of driving around and clocked up many miles.
We drove past Kwinana and Rockingham and this seemed to be a main industrial area.Drove through Rockingham and did not think much to it to be honest.(just our opinion )
Had a great holiday thought Perth city was excellent not too sure about actually settling there probably as we did not spend enough time in one particular area.
Since coming home the whole thing has had to take a back seat for now and there are some hard decisions to be made.
Although lovely not too sure if Western Australia is for us we are thinking about Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast Area possibly as it is closer to everywhere on the East Coast for our childrens future but really confused and need to do loads more research.
It would be very interesting to hear if anyone else had been in a similar situation could offer any advise.
Hope I have not gone on too much and bored the pants off everyone.
We now have some time to reflect on everything and have not been called to invest the Bond as yet.

gobbyjock

Sorry to hear about your dad - will send you some karma - It doesn`t matter how ill they`ve been it`s still a kick in the teeth when they finally go.

Dreamaway 10

Thanks mate your karma is much appreciated.

timk

Sorry to hear your news.

Thanks for sharing your experience on your trip.

All the best
Tim

kiwichild

Sorry to hear about your dad. Always a difficult time when these things happen.
You have explored Perth and a bit of the southwest. The tourist thing that most do. However, being a tourist in a place and living there are two very different realities.

As far as WA and Queensland go, I'd prefer Qsld. But the climate in either may be very unsettling for you (at least for first few years or so).

Personally if I was you, looking to move to OZ, I'd maybe look at melbourne or sydney or canberra way. You can still get to the beaches, loads of things to do and see, more work opportunities.

My favourite capital city I have been to here is Adelaide. It's lovely, loads of character, laidback, friendly locals, and beaches too! Some housing in Perth may be cheaper (prices creeping up all the time) but thats about the only real advantage I would think you would find here.

Dreamaway 10

We were okay with the weather whilst in Perth.
Realise that it can get very humid in Brisbane though and that could be draining but I think whatever we would get used to it.
Would you say that Queensland is much greener and more rural out of the cities.?
We have found that housing is more expensive but is there more chance of finding work?.My husbands trade is a butcher and I have done all sorts of stuff from cabin attendent to reception work etc.

kiwichild

I would think more jobs in melb or sydney due to the population size. I would think anyone with a trade should get work ok. I'll give you a link to a national govt employment website so you can check out opportunities, facts and trends:

http://jobsearch.gov.au/default.aspx...e=0&TextOnly=0

Good Luck

kiwichild

Queensland is a state and most of it (except for along the coast and inland a bit) would be brown, dusty, hot and humid (similar to most of WA)

More greener would be NSW, Victoria, Sth Australia, ACT and Tasmania

kiwichild

I wrote that wrong. All of Qsld is hot n humid during warmer months.Some is sub-tropical and rest is tropical BUT inland qsld is dry and dusty.

Hope that sorts that out.

Dreamaway 10

Thanks for your replies kiwichild

kiwichild

You're quite welcome

Bix

If I remember right you were once considering coming here to Cairns as well but don't fret if you are not sure about Perth either.

Keep researching until you find something that you feel comfortable with.

Remember it may be some hassle but once here there is nothing stopping you moving within Aus.

JackTheLad

Thats the most contradictory advice I've read in a long time.

Adelaide. Its a great place, but it gets to over 40 degrees in summer. So you recommend them avoiding Perth and Brisbane to go there to avoid being 'unsettled' by the weather?

So looks like you narrowed it down to Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra, Brisbane, or Hobart.

I think you could have saved yourself alot of typing and just said, don't go to Perth

Cheers,
JTL

I'm not advocating anwhere by the way, just that you post alot without saying very much.

No offence

Dreamaway 10

You remember well my friend.
We are still looking at these areas just wondering if the sunshine coast would be more up our street.
Basically looking for a good area to bring the children up .Work is obviously important.As we live in a large village now it would probably suit us better to live somewhere quieter and smaller but at the same time be able to go for trips along the coast etcwould be great(.Don't want much do we.)
We have even thought about taking our chances and coming to Brisbane and renting but cannot hang about too long as we have one child at School.
Cairns really does look lovely but not too sure how we would go on with the work situation.Having said that we are not fussed we will do anything.
Help do I sound confused?

jad n rich

Got to agree with you theres some very odd advice being given on climates lately.

Victoria, NSW adelaide can be extremely BROWN, a horrible grey dusty brown at that, Ive seen drought in all of them, the brown in Perth and QLD
SA is called the desert, much of three states is just that, Perth and adelaide will get brown everywhere after the dry summers.

The place someone just described as brown is probably the greenest part of australia for much of the year! because its rain comes in the hot season, so the brown is avoided instead its very green. Thats queensland which is not TROPICAL all over, thats up north, SE QLd where most people live is only sub tropical with most of the rain falling in 2 months which is the hot muggy bit.

Brisbane and surrounds are not hot all year its only late march and last night we had doonas or duvets on the beds. The majority of the population lives along the coastline and its extremely green and lush. Go out west for brown but whos going there?, queensland also suffers less bushfires than the southern states, because we get the rain when its hot.