Stormz

Hi all,

Been visiting this forum for a long time (on and off), while we were umm-ing and aah-ing about whether we should move back to Perth. I have found (and still find), golden nuggets of people on this forum. It`s like a community self-help centre

I`m Australian and my wife is English (but we met in Perth as her parent`s live there). We have a little 9-month old girl, and were planning to go back to Aus sometime in the next few years so she could live liefe with her grandparents a bit (as they are in their 60`s). We have another little one on the way in September though so we felt it was important for us as a family to be back in Perth where life is possibly a little less stressed, but more importantly there is alot of family support to help us bring up the babies. We love most of life here in the UK, but we`ll never be able to afford a house (we rent), and we just seem to be treading water all the time, what with all the expenses here (£150 a month just in council tax... yikes!). In Perth we`ll get $3000 for having our baby there, and get $7000 towards a house.

If we were going to be selfish, we would love to stay in the UK as we both love it more than loath it, and it feels more like home than Perth, which to be honest we both felt it to be quite boring in the late 80`s/early 90`s when we were last living there. But as a family the best thing is to be back where the love and support is, so we have settled on early June as when we will fly back. We`ll stay at my wife`s parents house until we can afford to get a house of our own.

Luckily we don`t have to worry about visa`s etc, but as we have both been away for so long, you guys that have been living there recently know a hell of alot more than we do.

We have 2 dogs, one of which will be coming with us (have quotes between £1300 and £2000 to decide between). He starts his Vet stuff next week.
The other one we have kept at home, and have asked the RSPCA to help us find a home for him (the RSPCA lady has his photo and details and is looking for a suitable home for him). He came from the Blue Cross so we didn`t want to just dump him back in `jail`. If we can`t find a decent home for him by May then he`ll have to be taken to the RSPCA though to give him better chance of some loving new owners. We can`t take the 2nd dog for a few reasons... a) we can`t afford it, b) he`s a yapper and would soon get Mandy`s parent`s in trouble with the neighbours (and if you didn`t know they are very strict on noisy dogs in Aus... if they can`t be controlled then they have to have their voicebox taken out or be put down).

We`re trying to sell our Rav4 now, and hopefully will be able to sell the Townace just after I finish work (or leave it with a friend to sell after we`ve gone). If we don`t get much joy trying to sell the Rav I think we will just bite the bullet and take it with us, as it would cost us at least the same to buy something similar in Perth, and at least we know ours is a good car.

As for shipping, we are getting lot`s of quotes now and will decide soon. It looks to be between £2500 - £3,500 atm .

We`ve been putting off going back to Perth for a long time, but now we`ve had our hand forced a bit and have started sorting things out for the move we are itching to go. If we could go next week we would.

The only thing I`m really worried about is employment. Here in the UK I`ve been working for 10 years as a transmission controller, sending out the digital tv to your homes basically, and fixing whatever goes wrong (preferably before it get`s to that stage). In Perth though there is no TV Broadcasting to speak of (just the local news). As I`ll be 36 a month after we get back I`m scared I have to start at the bottom again as a relatively unskilled worker. I`m not sure what skills I`ve been using in this job can be transferred to anything else, and it seems the IT industry in Perth is quite bad. I have no formal qualifications so yeah, I`m scared I may end up on the checkout in K-Mart (just like I did for 6 months after leaving school).

As for the UK, we`ll miss the scenery and history most of all.... one of which is totally different in Aus (and pretty much just brown and dark green in Perth), and the other is non-existant in Aus.

Hopefully we`ll be able to come to some of your meetings in Perth

Anyway, apologies for the ramble. I just appreciate reading alot of the posts on here (most of the time I don`t add anything), and have found them to be very entertaining, informative, emotional and thoughtful. For all the people who are going through divorce; gay and trying to find a nice area; getting emotional blackmail from their parents; writing their feelings to their dad; happy to have gotten their visa; upset that their kids don`t want to go; upset that they did go; scared of the spiders; having a whale of a time and just living their lives......

CHEERS!

Vegemite Kids

Goog luck with the move. Hope it all goes well for you. There are lots of IT jobs here (mostly contract) but it depends on what field within IT you work in I guess. If all the reports are to be believed there will be plenty more IT jobs coming as Perth companies ramp up for all the new mining contracts.

Regarding starting again, my hubby decided on a complete career change (he's 45) and is doing a 4 year apprentice in stonemasonary, and absolutely loving it. OK the money's nothing like he would have got if he had stuck to being an engineer, but if we wanted money we would have stayed in europe. I'm working but took a couple of steps back down the ladder and a 70% cut from what I was earning in germany. As it is, we have enough to do whatever we want, are in the middle of buying a house and are even managing to save some $ each week.

Dont know what Perth was like in the early 90's, but have to say I dont find it boring at all. Lots places to go, things to do, people to see. Not really into nightclubbing so cant really comment on that side of perth social life, but then I guess with a 9 month old, you wont be either

BTW. perth expats are having a meet-up today in KP so will have a for you and hope to see you at one of the future ones.

Luv mairi

sj oldfield

Hi there,

find it a bit odd that you cant afford to take your dog, but you can afford to take your Rav4????

And as for dogs barking, the dog next to us, bloody doesnt shut up!"!!

moneypenny20

Cos the car can go in the container and the dog can't - I guess.

Stormz: Good luck with the move, hope Perth has more to offer you than you remember.

Stormz

Thanks for the comments. Will def. be at a meet in Perth. I`m also looking forward to getting back to Cottesloe & Scarbourough for some boogie-boarding and Mettams Pool for snorkelling (there`s a great pool on the way to Albany called `Greens Pool` which is even better).

As for the 2nd dog. We got him years ago to keep our other dog company but for all his good points, he has some bad points and he hasn`t really fitted in, but we`ve felt too guilty to take him back to the kennels. So we kept him with us and always tried to find a home for him ourselves. Now we`ve involved the RSPCA to help, but with us still keeping him at home. We`re trying to do the best by him, and know being with us isn`t the best for him (or us). Generally he`s a good dog, but he`s typical Border-Collie (very demanding).

As for the Rav, it seems we`d spend the same money bringing it over (it`s worth, plus shipping and customs) as if we bought another in Oz. So if we can`t sell it here for a fair price, we might as well take it. I`d prefer to sell it here of course.

Simone

Green's pool is between Walpole and Denmark, and with it is also Elephant Rocks, very nice!
We were there in January, though it was quite cold to swim, though Pascal 'got through' the cold and was snorkelling around, even saw a fish!


Well, Perth's grown heaps since the early 90's, so you should be ok.
And there's plenty to do if you look for it, I'm wondering what you can't do.....


History is not non-existant. First of all this is impossible!
First,there's lots of history from the last 200 years, so there's the museums like WA Museum, Maritime Museum etc.
Then of course there's the 40000 something years of Aboriginal history, what is becoming more and more recognised as history.

There's all sort of old buildings you can visit, like when you visit the WA Art Museum, part of it is in the old Police Courts.

Even National Parks have history, like John Forrest NP with it's old picnic area's, and the old railway tunnel.

Anyway, that's enough for now

Simone