Originally Posted by lang81 (Post 4644254)

My wife and i have now been in Perth for 6 months and all we can think about is when we can get out of it. Unfortunately we are in the process of building a house so we will be here for another year at least !!!! ( jumped into the market to quick ).

I am not writing this to scare people off from Perth however if you are in the UK and are dreaming of coming here then you may like to know of some of the harsh realities of life here.


First of all i would like to point out that most of the shops are closed on Sundays. There are many big shopping centres here and none are doing business on Sundays !!! Yes the city is open but the stores there are crap compared to the UK and it is so small. It may sound trivial but when you have come from a place where Sunday shopping is quite normal it is bloody hard to get your head around. Apparently WA is the only state in OZ where this happens ?

Lots of people walk about in their bare feet !!!! Let me tell you that this is weird to see when you are working in a University (like i am) and you see people walking to classes with no shoes ! Am i the only one who finds this disgusting ????

The freeways are just as busy as the roads were in Glasgow, so don't think that driving here is a pleasure, in fact it is one of the most frustrating things about Perth.
The people here just don't know how to drive. Drivers will sit at 90 ks in the outside lane and they don't move over for anyone so they overtake down the inside lane. It is real life wacky races.
They also love doing burnouts in their V8s. We live in Greenwood and it is a decent suburb however it seems to be the burnout capital of Perth.
Drivers here have no curtesy either. You will sit at a junction for ever and no one will let you out, they don't flash their lights here (to let you in /out at junctions) and a friendly wave of thanks is non existent.

The nearest pub is always miles away and the drink is expensive. $8 a pint in the Greenwood is considered good and $10 is normal in other bars.I have paid $15 for drink in Subiaco ! Getting a taxi from the city or Northbridge is almost impossible. There are no private taxi companies here so they are sparse to say the least. Never mind, you could always have a few pints then drive home. Drink driving here is rife, worse than Scotland.

The cost of living (for us) is roughly the same as it was in Scotland. House rental prices are high as are house prices, fruit and veg is pretty expensive, bills etc are similar to what we were used to. We got a bill from the water board for $84 for 2 months water at our plot of land !!!!!!!!!! It is just a big plot of dirt and have never seen any water in my time there ????
The one big difference though is the cost of petrol, much cheaper than UK prices, although it is going up all the time. It was $1.06 in December and it is now hitting $1.32 in some garages.

Banks are worse here than in the UK. You get charged for having an account with the banks ($5 a month) and if you use atm's make sure it is your own banks that you use, you get charged for using other atm's.
They don't hold any large amounts of cash either which made life difficult for us when we tried to buy a car. We went to the local branch to withdraw $7000 and were told that we would not be able to get this amount from the one branch, so we had to go to 2 banks to get this money out !!!

Internet connection is as slow as a week in the jail. Broadband is miles behind the UK and is such a problem that it features highly in the political stakes.

The topic is Perth and its isolation hits home when you get here too. I thought about a weekend in Sydney recently and it is $300 one way. Instead we chose to drive to Margaret River, one of WA's premier holiday destinations. We walked the length of the town in 10 minutes and had a drink in one of the 2 bars there. Not much happening there, except for wineries.
There are also a shortage of building materials which causes delays in house building.

The good things about Perth are it's beaches and weather, although it is raining heavy as i write this.

I know everyone will not agree with this thread , but these are only our thoughts and experiences of Perth.

Oh and if any of you guys are joiners / carpenters then be warned, they use gyproc over 5 metres long here !!!!!!!

Originally Posted by worzel (Post 4644506)

Tis funny, 9 out of 10 people love Perth BECAUSE it is like the OP wrote. The whole laid-back thing is what makes it so special. But 1 in 10 HATE it for those reasons. Perhaps it boils down to lack of research / rose tinted glasses. But it seems those that decide not to like it cannot / will not accept that the 1.5M people that live here are the norm and it is them that is different. No offence meant to the OP - it must be horrible to feel that way. But there are plenty like them on here who just hate it more and more as time passes rather than come to accept it for what it is...and that is what really surprises me - that it does not grow on any of them.

Originally Posted by xabialonso (Post 4777047)

Methinks there are more than 1 in 10 people that dislike the place. I have met many. I think you are being a little economical with the truth there. I think the fact that 1.5 million people live here makes it all the more unbelievable how poor shopping etc is. Why should people change their opinion with time. OK they grin and bare but dont like it. As was pointed out already all of the other states have more logical shopping hours.
One thing that never stops me from chuckling is when people talk about the bad things about Perth and then go on about how it is related to the relaxed lifestyle. Has political correctness gone to the stage that rather than call a place boring we call it relaxed. The 1.5 million people of Perth are not the norm in Australia (and most of the western world for that matter).

Originally Posted by northernbird (Post 4777057)

You find it boring I find it relaxing. Just a difference of opinion. The shops not opening on Sunday doesn't affect me. I can still get DIY stuff at Bunnings and can pick up a pint of milk at an IGA.

Originally Posted by Amazulu (Post 4777082)

Careful now NB, don't get sucked in to this pointless thread!

Originally Posted by northernbird (Post 4777088)

I am in Perth, therefore I am bored ;)

Originally Posted by northernbird (Post 4777088)

I am in Perth, therefore I am bored ;)

Originally Posted by Amazulu (Post 4777093)

Yeah. Boring Perth would be even more boring without BE!

Originally Posted by northernbird (Post 4777099)

and to cap it all I am without husband for a week :(

Originally Posted by Amazulu (Post 4777126)

Is he up North this week?

Originally Posted by northernbird (Post 4777131)

Shark Bay on a boys fishing trip!

Originally Posted by northernbird (Post 4777131)

Shark Bay on a boys fishing trip!

Originally Posted by Hutch (Post 4777134)

How utterly tedious.




;)

Originally Posted by lang81 (Post 4644254)

My wife and i have now been in Perth for 6 months and all we can think about is when we can get out of it. Unfortunately we are in the process of building a house so we will be here for another year at least !!!! ( jumped into the market to quick ).

I am not writing this to scare people off from Perth however if you are in the UK and are dreaming of coming here then you may like to know of some of the harsh realities of life here.


First of all i would like to point out that most of the shops are closed on Sundays. There are many big shopping centres here and none are doing business on Sundays !!! Yes the city is open but the stores there are crap compared to the UK and it is so small. It may sound trivial but when you have come from a place where Sunday shopping is quite normal it is bloody hard to get your head around. Apparently WA is the only state in OZ where this happens ?

Lots of people walk about in their bare feet !!!! Let me tell you that this is weird to see when you are working in a University (like i am) and you see people walking to classes with no shoes ! Am i the only one who finds this disgusting ????

The freeways are just as busy as the roads were in Glasgow, so don't think that driving here is a pleasure, in fact it is one of the most frustrating things about Perth.
The people here just don't know how to drive. Drivers will sit at 90 ks in the outside lane and they don't move over for anyone so they overtake down the inside lane. It is real life wacky races.
They also love doing burnouts in their V8s. We live in Greenwood and it is a decent suburb however it seems to be the burnout capital of Perth.
Drivers here have no curtesy either. You will sit at a junction for ever and no one will let you out, they don't flash their lights here (to let you in /out at junctions) and a friendly wave of thanks is non existent.

The nearest pub is always miles away and the drink is expensive. $8 a pint in the Greenwood is considered good and $10 is normal in other bars.I have paid $15 for drink in Subiaco ! Getting a taxi from the city or Northbridge is almost impossible. There are no private taxi companies here so they are sparse to say the least. Never mind, you could always have a few pints then drive home. Drink driving here is rife, worse than Scotland.

The cost of living (for us) is roughly the same as it was in Scotland. House rental prices are high as are house prices, fruit and veg is pretty expensive, bills etc are similar to what we were used to. We got a bill from the water board for $84 for 2 months water at our plot of land !!!!!!!!!! It is just a big plot of dirt and have never seen any water in my time there ????
The one big difference though is the cost of petrol, much cheaper than UK prices, although it is going up all the time. It was $1.06 in December and it is now hitting $1.32 in some garages.

Banks are worse here than in the UK. You get charged for having an account with the banks ($5 a month) and if you use atm's make sure it is your own banks that you use, you get charged for using other atm's.
They don't hold any large amounts of cash either which made life difficult for us when we tried to buy a car. We went to the local branch to withdraw $7000 and were told that we would not be able to get this amount from the one branch, so we had to go to 2 banks to get this money out !!!

Internet connection is as slow as a week in the jail. Broadband is miles behind the UK and is such a problem that it features highly in the political stakes.

The topic is Perth and its isolation hits home when you get here too. I thought about a weekend in Sydney recently and it is $300 one way. Instead we chose to drive to Margaret River, one of WA's premier holiday destinations. We walked the length of the town in 10 minutes and had a drink in one of the 2 bars there. Not much happening there, except for wineries.
There are also a shortage of building materials which causes delays in house building.

The good things about Perth are it's beaches and weather, although it is raining heavy as i write this.

I know everyone will not agree with this thread , but these are only our thoughts and experiences of Perth.

Oh and if any of you guys are joiners / carpenters then be warned, they use gyproc over 5 metres long here !!!!!!!

Originally Posted by CadburysFingers (Post 4777175)

If you need a hand to pack when leaving give me a shout, we would be more than glad to help you out of the country. Your small minded attitude to some of the trivial things in life is alarming, I think its bloody great that shops are shut on a Sunday, how disorganised do you have to be to not find time on the other 6 days? Life means different things to different people, speaking for myself, a perfect Sunday would be at one of the parks with my wife and two children enjoying a few games and a drink or two, accompanied by a good bunch of friends and their children (some of whom may even have the ordacity to be barefoot) I am pretty sure all the guys who work in shops appreciate the fact they can guarantee at least one day off too, or dont you care about them.

How strange that the only thing you found at Margaret River was wineries.......what were you expecting to find archaeological digs, or theme parks, its a wine region for goodness sake. I also find it fantastic that there isnt a pub on every corner, many times I saw adults sat with their children in theUK, in pubs getting bladdered whilst the poor children were given a piece of paper to colour on to keep them quiet.

Close the door behind you on the way out mate, and next time you are thinking of emigrating, do some research first.