Clippy

Hello, we've never been to Oz before, so we wanna do a reccie trip before we actually up and leave (if we get a visa that is lol)

Apologies for the long post

Anyway, we've done loads of research and 'think' that WA is for us (yes I know it's a huge place). Ideally I'd like to visit Victoria too but it's just gonna be too expensive.

If Mr Clip doesn't go to work he doesn't get paid so we can only afford 2 weeks. As time is going to be limited could you help us out with where to go please?

We were thinking of maybe just getting a tent and hiring a car and staying on campsites to cut costs - has anyone done this with a child? (just for the reccie I don't mean we want to move over there and live in a tent )

Mr Clip is a carpenter so ideally we'd like to be near somewhere he'll be able to get work fairly easily.

We have a 4 year old boy so we'd need to be somewhere near to a good school.

Money is a factor, we've not got too much.

Also with flights, we've been quoted £1500 for the 3 of us in May with Emirates and a stopover in Hong Kong - this seems to be about average - do you agree?

Thanks very much you lovely people

Kath x

Clippy

Bump

Wendy

Hi,

Don't know too much about WA as we are going to South Australia, just wanted to ask if you've tried other sites for Flights. I found the cheapest to be Singapore Airlines. Quote £1700 for 4 of us in May (3 adults, 1 child, full fare over 12). Flying from Manchester and a stopover in Singapore

Web address is www.singaporeair.com

Clippy

Ooh that seems quite cheap, thanks Wendy I'll give them a try

Vernons

Hi
wE TOO ARE THINKING OF pERTH. hAVE BEEN TO oz BEFORE BUT NEVER Perth so we are planning a Rekkie during the easter holidays. We also have limited funds so are only going for two weeks. We also wanted to check out Brisbane but can not afford to go there as well. I love your idea of camping, I never thought of this I was just thinking of cheap motels or something. If you find out how easy it would be to camp while checking out Perth please let me know.

Have you completed your TRA yet? Ian is a fitter and we are on the skills in demand list so hopefully the prcess will be a bit quicker. We have a migration agent who is helping us put together the TRA formwhich will hopefully go off next week. I am starting to get impatient already and we have only just started!

We have been quoted £1600 - or just over for the two of us with Qantas (stop over in Singapore) but it is more expensive than norm duw to it being eatser and low availability of flights - or so I was told!

Good luck with everything and let us know if you get any infor on camping.
Michelle

Clippy

Hi Michelle

I'll definately let you know if I get any info on the camping thing. I'm thinking of going to AusTravel in Brum the weekend, maybe they can advise me.

We haven't completed TRA yet, Dale is a Carpenter and we're still trying to gather the information. We're trying to save money and do it ourselves so it's a really hard slog because you just don't know what to do lol. I've had a lot of good advice off here though.

Yes Easter would be more expensive for flights because it's school holidays and they love to bump them up at holiday time. That's why we're hanging on until May.

Do you know where in Perth you're gonna look?

Kath

lened

If money is very tight try austravel Thompson fly it's cheap . HThere's not many campsites about and for me too many creepy crawlies . Sorry can't help with anything else .Good luck

webgum

Here is a link to campsites

http://www.camping.com.au/

I'm not sure how comprehensive it is, but it would give you an idea.

You could also hire one of these:

http://www.campertrailerswa.com/

Are you wanting to find out about towns to live in WA or just Perth, because that would change your trip itinerary?

If you want Perth to be your destination, then in two weeks you could have a jolly good look around, but if you wanted to be somewhere different, time would a limiting factor due to distances. Saying that there are a number of towns only a few hours of Perth that many on this site have settled in eg. Bunbury.

Good luck!

Clippy

Thanks I'll give them a try too.

Oh that's a shame there's not many campsites - I was hoping that would be the cheapest option (even though I won't sleep worrying about crawlies lol)

Thanks for advice

Clippy

Thanks very much that's great, I'll have a look at those sites

You know I have no idea - I've been looking at Bunbury on the internet - having never been it's really really hard to know where to look. I think obviously house pricing will be a big factor for us, we'd rather be in a cheaper area and get more for our money, but on the other hand good schools will be most important. We'd like to be within a reasonable driving distance from the airport - say 1hr or 2 maybe tops. But again it's not essential. I was thinking we'd be best moving to an area that's up and coming - you know cheap at the moment but has potential for the future.

Don't want much do we lol

Thanks for the luck we're gonna need it!

Vernons

Hi

I wish we didn't have to go during easter but I am a primary school teacher so can't go any other tie (am off sick today with a stomach bug so please excuse me if I have to dash off!). Don't get me wrong I can't wait to get out there but we are trying to save as much as we can for the big move - if we get a visa - so every penny counts at the moment. Have our hearts on a nice 4x2 house.

We have been trying to decide whether to head for Perth or Brisbane. Ian has not been to OZ before but about 7 years ago I travelled from Adelaide to Cairns but I never stopped at Brisbane - kicking myslef now so we are finding it hard to decide. We have been doing quite a lot of research on the net and asking the lovely people on here for their help and I think we have decided on Perth. It seems like this may be a better spot for Ian as a fitter jobs wise and it looks fab too.

We are waiting to hear back from our agent and the likely outcome of the TRA before we book our flights - would be just our luck to pay for the flights and then the TRA computer says no, can you imagine it!

I think the plan is to have a good look around perth, estate agents, recruitment agents and maybe a few schools for me and basically get a feel of the place and I am sure within a day or two we will know if it is for us or not. We are not going to go and see too many of the sights as we want tosave them for when we get over there. We are still considering getting a flight to Brisbane as well while we are there but that will be massive money but it is playing on our minds a little bit.

Good luck withwhat you decide.

Are you thinking of settling in Perth? We want to have a good look at the suberbs north and south of the river, especially Joonalop and maybe some of the suberbs up in the hills. It all looks great on the estate agents sites but like I said before it needs to have the right feel.

Good luck
Michelle

Clippy

Ideally I'd like to go during school holidays as we have a 4 year old in nursery school, but I guess he's not going to miss too much in two weeks at nursery.

I know what you mean about looking somewhere else, there's so many places I'd like to check out first, Victoria, SA, Brizzy - they're all so different. But it's impossible, so that's why we've been looking at WA. We're not going sightseeing either, we need to find the right area to settle so it's going to be a lot of driving. I know it's going to be hard to do in two weeks, in fact my mil thinks we shouldn't do a reccie she thinks we should just wait til we got our visa and move out there. But I'd like to see where I'm going first!

We just have no idea where to look!

Nightmare. Hope your stomach bug goes away soon

Kath x

webgum

The Hills are fantastic - you really feel you're in Australia. Big houses, big plots, good communities in places like Kalamunda. Negatives up there would be hotter in summer, more wildlife, increased fire risk. Prices are rising up there as well, but maybe not so extremely as down on the coast.

Clippy

Big houses and big plots sounds good - hubby has always wanted a smallholding - I on the other hand keep thinking that's just an invite for snakes lol.

Maybe worth us checking out Kalamunda then. I'll do a search on the net. I've seen a tv program that showed Rockingham, but it was a few years old and I think the house prices must've rocketed by now.

sj oldfield

Perth hills are very nice..........but it does get very, very hot in the summer!!
Why stay at a campsite when you can get furnished accommodation for just a few dollars more. Check out our website at www.northperthrentals.com

If you do email us mention that you are an 'expat' member and we will do you a special price!!!

All the best