marcwales

Hello to all.
Currently I live in the UK, and have heard on numerous occassions about engineering jobs in the Perth area. I have spent the last few months doing my sums on moving to Ontario, Canada, but the cost of living there has shot up in the last few years (car insurance especially). I never thought I'd say it, but the UK no longer looks like rip off britain!!
However, the weather does drive me crazy (especially living in Wales!!).

Can anyone tell me about the engineering prospects out there please? i know there is quite a lot of mining etc which is fly in - fly out due to the remoteness of the mines. I also inderstand that vehicle manufacturing tends to be based more on the eastern side, but that is also on the decline.

There are millions of threads on here regarding cost of living, but I couldn't find on that actually presented figures. I did this for Ontario and it was extremely helpful.

Therefore, could some of you let me know what you pay, generally, for things like utilities (water, gas, electric), petrol, car and house insurance, council tax, TV Licence?, car MOT? (the boring day to day living things!!).

If I came I would be looking to live in a nice quiet family suburb with good schools etc. Generally , what most average families want. Are second hand cars expensive? EG, how much for a 5yr old, low mileage good condition family car like a large Ford (Mondeo/Taurus), or small SUV like a Nissan Qashqai (Rogue?).

Thanks for your help, I look forward to discussing these points with some of you soon.

PS we are hoping to come over in May, if any of you know of any decent cheap accomodation please let me know (2 adults, 2 kids).
Thanks again......

Kiwikaye

Hi, can't help with Perth living costs, but just wanted to say welcome to the Aussie forum and I'm sure someone will be along soon with some info for you. We've only lived in Melbourne. There for 13 years and then the last 2 1/2 in NZ. We're looking at going back to Melbourne this year though.

Dorothy

What visa are you coming on in May? And do you actually qualify for a visa to live in Australia? No sense in looking at day to day costs if you can't live here.

Start at www.immi.gov.au

And honestly, we're considering going back to Southern Ontario (where we're from) because the cost of living is so much less there. We could buy the same house we live in here which is worth about $525k in Australia for less than $400k in Burlington. Same distance commute to Toronto as it is from where we live to Perth CBD. Wages for both my husband and I would be about the same in the GTA as here, certainly utilities were cheaper in Canada than here.

verystormy

Well, the first thing is as Dorothy said, Perth is expensive. However, salaries can be higher. You mention you are an engineer, but that is a big area. What type of engineer?

As Dorothy also mentions, first thing is a visa. If you qualify you certainly arent going to be here in May. Probably not even next May. The only way that you could get here fast would be on a 457 visa. This is a company sponsored visa and are usualy very quick - 4 to 6 weeks. However, the likelyhood of getting a company to do this would very much depend on what job you are looking for.

You mention the mines and if you are a qualified mining engineer then companies will que to sponsor you.