brox

Hi to you all

Well I said we would keep you all updated of our progress in WA. It seems like years, not 4 months, since Ive been on this site, and all the old names I knew have gone.

We have settled well. Mr Brox is enjoying work and gets on well with 'the lads' even if some of them are a little 'high' at times. The kids are ok at school. Our youngest ( 5 ) loves it and never talks of 'home'. Our eldest ( 9 ) has not been to good at times and finds the Ozzy school work easy, therfore a bit boaring, she also misses her friends.

I dont seem to have felt home sick, but its still early days and Im expecting it any day. The nearest I have come to wanting to go back was when my best friend had her baby and there was a moment when I thought I should have been there.

We have only just got our stuff we shipped, it took 17 weeks. We were quoted 8 weeks, so you can imagine the phone calls to the Uk shipping company we used, who were completely useless. We brought most of our stuff so we have lived pretty basic these last months.

We have bought some land and hope to be in our own house by February. Ive loved every second of planning the house, its been great. You choose everything, right down to the last brick, so you feel the house is unique to you.

We have had some pretty awful weather. The kids were promised a life of sun, sand and surfing, and so far its been dreadful, but better weather is on its way and we are looking forward to that. The Ozzys have told us it hasnt been as wet as this for years. The English have told us its been the hottest summer there on record.

Anyway, we feel we made the right choice in coming here, Yes, it has its bad points, just like the UK. But in general life is good.

Congrats to anyone we used to be intouch with who have now made the move. I hope some of you come back on and let us know how its going.

Mrs Brox
PS Wheres PB gone? Mr Brox will be gutted, he loved to wind him up!!!!

footie chick

Nice to hear from you Brox and it is welcome news to hear you have settled in ok.

Hope your furniture arrives it must be a nightmare at the moment without your home comforts. Have your family and friends any plans to visit yet?


Take care

footie chick x

Paul and Steph

Great to hear from you Brox. Glad to hear that you are settling in. Who did you use for your removals by the way? That must have been a nightmare.

Steph

DavidT

Please let us know who your movers were & keep us posted good & bad.

WannabeWallaby

Hello

Glad you have arrived and settled ok. We are planning to check out the Mandurah/Bunbury/Peel Region and would appreciate any tips on accommodation (both temporary and purchasing), car buying, good and bad areas etc. We arrive in November with our two kittys.

Thanks and best wishes

Wannabe Wallaby

tinaj

PB has finally gone back to his beloved England. I am sure he will start posting how much he loves it soon!!

Glad to hear that you are enjoying your new lives. Please can you name and shame the removal company- it may help us decide who to go with.


Keep in touch.

hevs

Thanks for the news. Please dish the dirt on the removals company ASAP as we are having to book one for my Mums stuff this week Good luck and hope the sun shines soon......

DianeOZ

Hi - your feelings sound pretty much like mine. I had the same situation with the homesickness when my best mate had her baby too!! very selfish of them don't you think!

A lot of reports are the same as your about the school work, except if you happen to be my son, who thinks it's great cos he's so flippin lazy!!

What's it like in Bunbury itself?

Diane

brox

Well Dare I say the shipping company we used are the fantastic John Masons, to be honest everyone else who used them said they were great. We had nothing but trouble with them. The lads who came to pack everything up were very good and told us on the day that our volume of stuff was less than we had been quoted, great we thought, untill 2 weeks later I rang John Masons to get an update and was told that our shipment was in fact larger that quoted and that they wanted more money . I then asked then how long before we would get our stuff and they said mabye 10 weeks or so. I told them that the guy who first came out to give us a quote said it would take about 8 weeks. I was then told he had been talking rubbish

Anyway it finally came after 17 weeks, 9 weeks later than we first thought.

I would love to know if anybody else has had any trouble with John Masons as they are seen as mighty as the big man himself!!!!

Mrs Brox

brox

Mr Brox's parents are coming out to see us in January. We never thought they would step foot in Australia as when we first told them of our plans they hit the roof and didnt speak to us for months. Anyway they have come round to the idea and have booked their flights. I am slightly nervous about them coming, as everyone will be waiting for their return, to find out what its really like, and if it really is this great place weve been telling them all.

Bunbury is lovely, we actually live in a place called Autralind about 5 mins from the city. Its quite new looking and like Perth has some fantastic beaches. There is a place here where the dolphins come into the bay to play with us, its just amazing. Bunbury has all the things that Perth has, just on a smaller scale. Land here is cheeper that in Perth, but the price to build your home is slightly more expensive. Someone mentioned Mandurah, Its fantastic there but we couldnt afford the land as we wanted a bigger block.

Mrs Brox

hamiltonnz

Thanks for your update. What are the house prices like in your area. we want a bit of land also, an acre or so if possible. what would we pay roughly for an existing ordinary 4 bedroom house on an acre - if you have some idea ? wer'e hoping to come over march next year. thats the plan anyway.

brox

An acre block sounds like a good idea. That was our intention. However when you get out here there are a lot of hassles with acre blocks.
1.An acre block is a big piece of land.It needs a BIG house on it.

2.If the block has a lot of trees on it you have to keep 60-70% of it untouched( If I remember correctly)

3.Some blocks don't have scheme water. (Water tanks and septic tanks)

4. Fire breaks. You have to keep all the dead vegetation clear because of fire hazards

5. We know of a family that when we are spending free time at the beach etc, they have to keep on top of their huge garden.

6. Ground works from your builder(if new) can be expensive.


An acre block where we are can cost from as little as $70,000

Price of an existing house on an acre depends on area. $180,000 upwards.

Also if you get a block that has no trees or bushes on it, it just look's like a house in the middle of a cow paddock (no fields out here). We got a 810sqm block and people here think that big. All the pommes want a big garden where as all the local's build pool's, shed's garages etc on their block's and have no garden. All so don't think you will be spending time under the sun. Every thing you want to do with the weather and the garden in the UK is 180 degrees opposite here (ie sun there. shade here) Everyone here has 6m patio's with huge roof's over them at the end of the house that doesn't have the sun on it.
DON'T let me put you off. You're coming out here for you, no one else. You do what's right for you. We love it. Especially where we are. 2 hours from Perth, !5 min's from Bunbury. 5 mins from the estuary. I went down there this morning while Mrs Brox and the kid's were still in bed. In the space of 20 mins saw 8-10 roo's feeding in a paddock 1.5 kms away from our house. Past numerous parrots, eagles etc. Saw a flock of Pelicans chasing fish and a cormorant catch a fish and eat it 20 yards away from where I was. the attached piccy was taken this morning and it is the last day of winter

Don

Great picture!

I have to disagree that an acre block is particularly unmanageable, though. Depends on what you do with it. If you put some to trees, but lots to shrubs that tolerate the climate and loads of grass (which will go brown in summer but always comes back) - there isn't that much maintenance to do. Might be different if you buy a section that is already wooded and needs to stay that way, I suppose.

hamiltonnz

Great picture and thanks for that info Mr Brox. 810m2 over here in NZ is considered a good sized residential section. can I ask you a difficult question. Is the job situation difficult? I know it depends on what you do. I am not a tradesmen. I also will have 6 kids to support when I get there so the employment situation is very relevant to me. I will arrive with some capital but do not want to use it up waiting for months and months to get work. Any advice would be appreciated. Graham

brox

Graham

Brox is a Spray Painter/Panel Beater and he got a job on the second day here. Since then he has had someone else phoning us to see if he will go and work for them. We get the idea that English blokes between 30-45 are sort after as they are known to be hard workers. Bosses think that all Ozzy blokes want to do is go surfing in summer or head up north in winter where its warmer. We also found that its no good ringing aroung to see about jobs, the Ozzys take people on face value, so you need to get out there and just drive around looking for places, walk in in and ask, thats what Mr Brox did and it seemed to do the trick. There wasnt even a job going, but because he was English they took him on anyway.

Bunbury is classed as the capital of the south west, and has a lot of industrial estates and such, so depending on what kind of work you do I would imagine you would stand a good chance of finding something.

Hpoe this helps

Mrs Brox