Playing ping-pong
 

Background, 2005-15 in Perth, got citizenship Aussie day 2008, we've all got passports.

We've been back 3 years now, ended up buying in rural Gloucestershire to be close to where I was working at the time and we are feeling utterly isolated. Long story short, the plan is to move back to Perth. We were in the northern burbs, 5 yrs Joondalup and 5 yrs Hocking,the plan will be to move SoR to get more for our money when we come back.

For anyone who has done the come, go then return thing, what are the gotchas?

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Spouseofscouse most recently who I'm sure will be along shortly.

I would just say, think carefully about your location; I am not a big fan of south of river once you get beyond places like Como or Applecross.

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Hi boom meringue (and carcajou :) )

My situation's a little different - I'm an Aussie, husband's a dual Brit/Aussie. He'd been in Australia for 25 years and had always planned to go back to the UK when he retired. We did that in 2015, but my husband couldn't settle so we returned to Australia in August 2018.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that property prices had fallen in the 3 years we were away, so selling our home in a 2015 seller's market and buying in a 2018 buyer's market was a financial boost.

Do you have a look at realestate.com.au regularly? You might be surprised at what you can afford north of the river, if that's where you'd rather be, although I've noticed prices creeping up during the time we've been back. I see you lived in Perth for 10 years so am assuming you're pretty familiar with areas both north and south of the river?

No huge 'gotchas' for us - in fact the most hassle we had was getting a telephone line, and that was a HUGE hassle. Newly built house, an absolute nightmare of a run-around from Telstra - took 4 months in the end, prior to which it was freeview telly and mobile wireless internet.

We were advised by our removalists that our shipping container would take 4 - 6 weeks to arrive, it took 12 weeks so that was a pain in the proverbial.

So really, it's just the same process as always applies setting up life in a new country - sort out housing, transport,tax, electoral roll, bank, Medicare, driver's licence, phone, internet. Schools and child care if applicable.

Happy to answer any specific questions you have if I can.

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Perth city is located on the Swan River and overlooks the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean, so water is the heart and soul of this city.
Pros:

• The weather is great
• The airport’s easy to get to
• It’s surrounded by awesome beaches
• The scenery is beautiful

Cons:

• It’s expensive
• It’s one of the most isolated cities in the world

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If you read the opening post, the OP lived in Perth for 10 years. Not sure why all your posts seem to consist of cut and pastes from websites, and don't address the questions being asked :confused:

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I guess one question would be - why did you leave? If you left because of dissatisfaction with something (job, city, etc) - what has been done to rectify or change that, so another "ping" or "pong" isn't in the offing a few years from now?

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Above post expresses it elegantly enough. Do look into the reasons to left WA after ten years, plus the desire to leave England after only three. You'll know moving continents is a mighty expensive business to undertake.

To my mind the northern suburbs you mentioned are somewhat remote. (lol) Just where in the southern suburbs would you reside? As mentioned the strip along the river to Freo is fine, (lived close to three years in Applecross) but inland certainly wouldn't be a consideration of mine. Very pricey to break into that area though.Each to their own of course.

House prices are supposed to be falling. I don't really notice too much difference around my area, but I believe different further out. You should check out prices in areas of interest. Even rent for a time. Check out if the area really suits. Real estate generally is in decline Australia wide, but more so in the bigger cities for now.

WA has had it somewhat hard since you left in 15. They attempt to talk up the market, but yet to spot the 'green shoots' the media likes to put a positive spin on, when talking economy. Saying that though,the city area has improved over your absence with the competition of various infrastructure.

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Never done the ping pong thing but just wanted to add that after some very lean years, the economy in WA is improving in leaps and bounds - 2019 is going to be a good year. I work in mining project engineering, so see whats coming up and we are expecting the next 3-4 years to be good - there is a shit ton of projects coming online. If mining construction is doing well, the whole economy will do well too.

Good luck.

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The last thing WA wants is another mining 'boom'. It inflates the economy and raises prices in most other sectors, even those with nothing to do with mining. The WA economy at the moment is not in good shape. Saying that the loss of population has slowed and migration has increased, but well down on boom time levels in 2012 and 13.(rentals have declined a bit but still plenty around) Qatar Airlines recently cancelled flights out of Perth and the Dubai flagged airline is reducing its daily two services from two to one. Folk not spending anything like before. Good thing more deals about.

What we need is some stability to our economy, which doesn't appear to be on the horizon.

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There's no such thing as a mining boom (it's a media/political construct). We get a mining construction phase which consumes large amounts of labour, resources and capital, followed by a mining production phase which doesn't. Dutch disease (look up the meaning), aka two-speed economy, economic imbalance etc cannot be stopped and is inevitable in a free market economy - capital and labour will flow to the parts of the economy where they will get the highest return. You could try and control it with some kind of big brother socialist mumbo jumbo but it would ultimately fail. What will happen will happen. What can be done though is for government to properly manage the inevitable increase in income that they will receive - something that has not really happened in Western Australia and Australia as a whole. Successive governments have been guilty of this - Barnett, Carpenter, Gallop, Howard, Rudd, Gillard etc. It can easily be seen that the only resource rich country to successfully mange this has been Norway, all the others - UK, US, Canada, Australia etc have not. Lessons have not been learnt but unfortunately, we (as in all those other countries) are caught up in election cycles that do not consider the future

Personally, I'm looking forward to the next few years. It's time for the big candy again - it's been too long on povo wages. I'm now on the right side of the supply/demand equation, so it's all aboard the gravy train - choo, choo!

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Not managed the economy well during past booms , would be an understatement. Last ALP that attempted to rectify got a thrashing from miners, who made an example off, and fear of God put on any future challenges that miners should pay a fair tax. Lib's as usual cheered on the low return on state assets.

Good on the present ALP WA government naming and shaming BHP into coughing up (potentially) a share of avoided taxes. It looks like an agreement will be made behind closed doors, for a per cent of the amount owing, to save bad publicity. No Norway here where government ensured a viable return from corporates, then wisely invested for benefit of the nation.

Obviously vested interests, those set to gain will welcome a return to 'inflated' so called 'boom' conditions, but most do not work in mining and casino economics do little for the majority of the population. We remain overly expensive in most everything as a state firstly, and a country as a whole. Past resource boom opened the gates wide to greed and price gorging, something we, especially in The West, have yet to recover from. This remains a very expensive place to do business in, for tourists, for entertainment, for house purchase.

What is needed, is steady and sustainable growth, but afraid WA has always been the boom bust type scenario. Reading the cards suggests little is about to change in the future.

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The biggest gotcha, is that you might not feel like you will settle back in Australia either.
You might forever feel you don't belong in England and you don't belong in Australia.
I think this is common for many of us that have ping ponged. You miss the family and friends back in the UK, the convenience of things, but then if you are in the UK you miss the money, weather, ease of life in Australia.

I wonder if we are all doomed to be stuck in a limbo of not belonging anywhere.

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Some great answers, thanks, and some nonsense too. This place doesn't change much, does it?

We left to give our daughter the opportunity to know her grand parents and to have some family support. We found we didn't get the family support we expected and ended up with only 1 out of 4 grandparents alive and in the UK, we don't have any reason to stay. There were some other things that fed into the decision but those things have changed now.


This is definitely something we are worried about but I think the UK has become increasingly xenophobic while we have been away and we just don't like the lifestyle.

I work in IT, delivering organisational change and digital transformation projects. It would be good if we got back to Perth during the construction phase, as this is always a good time for project professionals.

We would end up a reasonable distance from the CBD, given our budget and desire for a decent size house, close to the beach and easily commutable to the city where all he work is. Current thought is safety bay/rocko/warnbro, given the prices, beach and close to down south. We also have friends down south, so would be fairly well set up.

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Again, the distortions caused by our mining construction phase followed by a production phase are inevitable and cannot be avoided. All we need is for government to think about and spend the inevitable fiscal boost wisely - and as Norway is the only country to have achieved this, I'm not holding my breath. These distortions generally benefit everyone, but admittedly, for a tiny minority, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Them's the breaks

A mining tax has genuine merit, but K Rudd's version - made up on the fly and without consultation - was pathetic and a joke. It's unfair to ask companies to invest many billions in mining projects (as they were at the time) in a known risk environment and then go and change these terms at the drop of a hat - that's the kind of shit that the Congo would do, not a 1st world, western country, but then it was a socialist government we had then and as they generally don't have a clue, kind of expected. If we do go for a real mining tax, income tax should be cut to make it revenue neutral - let our resources carry more of the burden rather than our people. That rock lobster loving idiot, McGowan has claimed that BHP owe $300m in unpaid royalties but that doesn't mean he's right. He usually talks a lot of shit, and this could just be another example of this. We'll see

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Hi, if you do decide the return to WA it's improved since you last lived there and that it all works out fine if you do return.
We lived south of the river not so far from the city we would not consider the areas you mentioned (unless it's for money/budget reasons), I know that's down to personal taste and preferences and no offence to anyone who lives in those areas, also after living back in the UK those areas just would not suit us. I would check you can gain good employment as by accounts from friends in WA it can be an expensive place to live. Good luck with everything.

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I also work IT, high five fellow nerd :)
The good thing with IT is that even in a downturn or slump there is always plenty of IT work in Perth. Honestly a lot of the time tey are just grateful to find people who actually turn up for work everyday and don't call in sick all the time.
The moneys certainly better than the UK.
The one frustration though I found, while working in local government, was the inability to get projects delivered and the sheer slowness of everything. When you have people crying out for change to help them with their daily work but you're hamstrung by slow management who cannot make a decision it gets very frustrating. The last seven or so projects I have worked on in Perth have all been abandoned mid project due to management changing their minds. It gets very frustrating at the sheer level of disorganised chaos that goes on.
Although frustrating, when you have spent six months or a year working on something just ot see it dropped, you have to learn to be cool with it, to relax and accept thats just how they do things here.

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?
Qatar still has a daily A380 flight. EK has suspended (not cut) their daily B777-LR flight - and a daily A380 flight to SYD. Overall incoming international PAX numbers into PER have increased slightly, so this shows us that PAX are using airlines other than EK. Tim Clark said last year that the new daily QF PER-LHR B787 flight would have a negative effect on PAX numbers between the ME and PER. This flight is proving to be a runaway success for QF. ANA are starting a daily B787 service PER-NRT in September

Resource construction activity is ramping up - and will continue to do so for a few more years yet. Everyone in Australia (apart of course from the obvious few loser/jokers who will never get ahead - aka life's victims) will be a winner

House prices I don't give a shit about - they are what they are and the average punter has no control over them

Hope this helps

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Etihad will cease flights out of Perth. (not Qatar) Resource construction will unlikely be the big employment factor it was last 'boom' . No not everybody is a winner, far from it. The previous 'boom' raised prices to such an extent that a minority profited. Post boom we are left with inflated prices and stagnant income.
While you may not give a 'shit' about house prices, it remains a major drain on personal income resources in the nation and yes as is happening presently, punters can have an influence by not partaking in it, resulting in falling prices. Without government interference, market forces would long ago have 'corrected' inflated values.

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Sorry I've just got to pick up on this, Perth is one of the most isolated Capital cities, not 'cities'. There is a difference :-)
I lived in Perth, I didn't feel isolated. Isolated from what anyway?

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The isolation of Perth, does help create a specific mindset. Probably less noticeable today than a generation ago, thanks to increased diversity within the ever growing population. But it still remains and reflected for example in areas of profession. Perth is still small in many ways, people too often will know or know off a person in a work related area, at least in my experience, which can prove beneficial or indeed contrary. Never found this to such an extent previously, but likely depends what one does I suppose.

Isolation can induce a Perth centric attitude at the expense of new ideas, if an over keenness on conformity is insisted upon, which remains, but not perhaps to the degree once experienced as well.

Being isolated can create on the other hand allow some home grown creation , where Perth has produced some good bands and a definite signs that Perth is increasingly opening to the world are not hard to find.

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Everything!

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More winners than losers. There are always losers - some are basically just life's losers. Mining has been of such a massive benefit to Australia, you'd have to basically be a retard not to see it. It's all good

I rarely discuss house prices as it is pointless, none of us have any control over them and, like you, don't know what they are going to do. I'm annoyed with myself for getting involved. This is the last I will post on the topic

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You appear very happy to use terms such as losers. We are not, or shouldn't be at least living in a casino. where winners and losers will be found. The system is of course set up in such a way though that it can indeed be hard to determine it is not run along the lines of some giant casino.
Mining has made segments rich, certainly provided foreign share holders fat returns, sadly contributed to bringing down a government, as well, when they attempted to get a fairer share of the royalties. Not all good by a country mile.

AS for housing, one hardly needs to be an economist , just a reflective nature to understand the bind the housing market has got the nation into. .

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Housing should be the least of your worries. Labor is about to run the country and in a shallow effort to socialise the country, first port of call will be to raise taxes, especially for companies and the wealthy. The effect of this will hit the poorer the hardest as companies cut cost by terminating staff and increase the cost of the products and services they sell. This will create inflation and that subsequently the wage rise the shallow have been crying out for. However the wage rise is well and truly behind inflation, the poorest get hit the hardest chasing the gap. Then the Liberals get voted back in an normality returns. Enjoy the upcoming ride.

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Have to agree, WA might be larger than some European countries but I personally felt enclosed....by the sameness of everything....it may have changed after the years I have been away, I know it's my own personnel preference and each to their own but the reality it's a long and expensive way from another city and other countries.....that's a fact.

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Just noticed this. My experience of Perth was limited to one year, in Claremont, in 1971. I used to buy "The Financial Review" and "The Australian" at the local newsagent every morning. One time they weren't there, and the agent said apologetically, "Sorry, but the overseas papers aren't in yet". Was he winding me up, or not? I'll never know...!

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It is just down to preference. I didn't feel isolated in Perth and others do. It purely depends on what you feel isolated from, thus I genuinely asked the question 'isolated from what'. I personally loved the white sand beaches, wide open spaces, wineries further down the State, Albany, walking around Kings Park, cycling along the coast, lovely cafes/restaurants on the beach, rollerblading around the Swan, taking my friend's kids to the great playparks, seeing movies under the stars, pre-dawn boat ride to see the penguins, day trips to Rotto, camping in Margaret River etc. etc. If I lived in a barren desert somewhere I would feel isolated from the things I mentioned above. But I didn't feel isolated as I was doing many of the things I loved in Perth.

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Agree - it's not isolated - it's BE, jawp mumbo jumbo. In the digital, jet age, isolation is a state of mind

Only boring people get bored

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Just have to disagree with your last quote, we did all of the above and more so many times and they are lovely things to do but for us it was like ground hog day after a few years of doing it. We got bored in WA because we had done everything we could do there, now I know everyone is different and what floats someone's boat might not for others ..I would not be so insulting to make a comment like yours.
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My comment was not insulting - disagree with it all you like but no insult was intended - or given. If I have something to say to someone on here, I will quote them, otherwise it's generic or non-targeted

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Overseas and intra state would have likely been much the same C 1971. A long way from the known world, beyond the picket fence of Perth and hinterland. Not being, outside of the truly eccentric, really important enough to have an interest in.

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Inflation is what the RBA wants, at least to a nominated extent of 3%. Shame housing was taken from the calculations some decades ago. It is more a case of can the nation afford more ill Liberal policy on the trot from the present band of conservatives attempting through all forms of fear creation and big spending tactics (shades of Howard attempting to buy their way back into popularity) The economy needs wage rises in order to increase the flow of money. People are not spending. The poorest have been already been dealt numerous blows. Ever growing inequality and a well developed conservative 'tea party' mind set of a winners and losers status has put paid to any sense of fair play.
Unless the party that now speaks for Big Business and ruling elite can drop their born to rule Tory pretentions and rediscover true Liberal politics, they will likely remain in the wilderness for a considerable period. The tide has turned. Best accept the change and be apart of the movement for change.

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Very easy to feel nostalgia for a place one no longer lives in of course. I do it myself from time to time. The concept of isolation goes beyond what you mention, which in time, do become a bit samey, but that is not the discussion here. isolation is a reality as a geographic feature. Just a quick glimpse on a map will confirm that. It is not necessary a 'doing thing' but more a way of looking at things that bring home the isolation. How and what people communicate. (for example) Interest in outside world. Acceptance of alien views and difference.

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You do have a concept that isolation and being bored are different?? Probably not. Allow me some enlightenment, at no cost. Digital age can exaggerate that if thought about clearly. Jet age? Removing oneself to another location does not rule out in any sense the argument in support or indeed against isolation. You sound confused. Boring is not the topic of discussion on this thread through.

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boom_meringue wish you all the best for your move. I still like Perth and would definitely live there again if we were staying in Australia. I still love to the things I mentioned and never felt isolated, it wasn't a 'gotcha' for me at all. I can only speak from my personal experience however so you may find it different. Enjoy the ride!

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Perth is simply too isolated. OK for a visit though

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Each to their own, I guess! I'd rather live in Perth than Canberra for instance :eek:

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Canberra is Bogan Bizarroland. OK for a visit though

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I quite enjoyed visuvisi Canberra, the architecture was different to other austaluAus states which made it "different" you can drive to the ski resorts..again different for us especially living as we were then in WA and your not that far from Victoria or NSW ...again each to their own.