Gayle and Ross

Hi Guys

Looking for some advice. We are looking to move to Australia & are in the process of applying for our visa through Go Matilda.

We are a young couple in our early 30's with no kids who like to socialise and go out for meals and a few drinks. Is Perth the city for us????? The OH has stayed in the city centre for a few weeks and found it really quiet. This was a few years ago though when he was travelling.

The OH is a draughtsman in the oil and gas industry, is Perth the main place for work in this field or can you get jobs on the east coast e.g Victoria.

Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated

Bermudashorts

Some people are restricted by job opportunities, Mr BS realised that he would only get work in Sydney in his niche occupation. Sydney was definitely not where we would have picked but we saw that we had no choice and now I can't imagine being anywhere else really.

So my advice is that you cannot ignore where the opportunities are because finding work is such a major part of having a successful migration.

Still, I would hesitate over Perth too, of course there are plenty of singles and couples without children living there happily, but it always seemed like an area more suited to families to me. (We are also a couple no kids). If you think that there are also opportunities in Victoria, I would personally be exploring that further first.

eddie007

Dont know about job opportunities, but for a couple in their early thirties, no kids who want to go out and socialise I'm not sure I'd recommend perth if you can get a job elsewhere... If that makes any sense....

If its where the job is, then there are plenty of nice "vibrant" places to live, depending on budget... If you are DINKIES (double income no kids) then you'll probably ne in a better financial position to be able to enjoy perths expensive social scene.... Freo springs to mind as a place I'd live if I were child free...

Those of us with 4 kids tend to do a lot of free stuff and back yard entertaining....

renth

Perth is the place to be for the oil and gas industry.

Centre of Perth is dead, cool areas are: Freo, Subiaco, Leederville, Mount Lawley I think even Northbridge is sorting itself out, well, claims to be anyway.

fish.01

Brisbane is also ramping up a huge oil and gas industry at the moment if you want another option...

nicolac34

We are under 30, no kids and live in Subiaco in Perth.

It is a family place if you look further north or south, but there are plenty of people here without the children!

Subiaco is great for bars and restaurants and only last night we went out for a meal in the City and it was plenty lively enough, people spilling out onto the street from all the bars down Hay St and Murray St so I wouldn't call it 'dead' at all!

Perth (or WA in general) is a bit slow, and quite behind the times (Sunday shopping anyone?!) but once you get used to it you start to enjoy it for what it does have. We never have a free weekend as we always have something planned, so when people tell me there's nothing to do here - I just say well you haven't looked hard enough!

verystormy

For your industry it is Perth. QLD is increasing its oil and gas, but most of the professional work is being done in Perth.

We are a couple early 40's in Perth with no children and find it fine. It wouldn't have been my choice 20 years ago, but now it is fine. Good selection of restaurants and bars and things.

thepenguins

Perth is a lovely and beautiful place and we stayed there for about 3 months about 2 years ago. We are in our late 30s with no kids and live in Sydney.
Again it comes down to what you are looking for and most importantly on where you can get work.

We felt it was more suitable for families and reminded us of London about 15-20 yrs ago. Like nicolac34 states is a bit slow and it really depends if you want to have a more 24 hr city available or not. We lived in Subiaco when we stayed in Perth and really liked it as this had great restaurants, bars and had more going on all the time. If you do settle in Perth, I recommend staying there.
All the best with your exciting adventure and move to Oz!

fish.01

Many reports over here in Brisbane of a lot of the new and existing office towers being supported by a huge influx of oil and gas company professionals. As a very rough guide seek.com.au already shows 2,262 jobs with "gas" in the title in Brisbane vs 3910 in Perth so it does seem to be ramping up as an alternative worth considering if they want a bigger city. As a comparison the much larger cities of Sydney/Mel have about 700 jobs listed each.

Kenzi

+1

jimbo_d

Actually if you really want to go for the O&G market you'll find most of the work in the NW Australia is being done in London and Houston. Perth's hydrocarbons market has taken a big downturn in recent years for detailed design work which is what he'd be looking for, although there's still a fairly large market. Brisbane has quite a few large gas rigs being designed so there's plenty of work for a draftee.

northernbird

I would echo what everyone else says. Mr NB is a draughtsman turned administrator and has had 7 years of work in Perth and is currently working up in Malaysia on the Chevron job. Do you know anyone in Perth, it is very much a case of knowing someone my husband has found and even if you have 1 person in a company it can help. The O&G community is relatively small really and if you have worked in London/Aberdeen or Houston there is bound to be someone you know here.

Gayle and Ross

Thanks very much everyone!! Good tips!! Sounds like the kind of lifestyle we want is there in Perth if we look for it. We are from Aberdeen so have a few contacts over there. Thanks again, may have a few more questions down the line

northernbird

My husband has been in oil and gas for 23 years so any questions just ask.

Beaverstate

He must be awfully slippery.