squeezzii

We are going-on sunday 17th july! :scared: -at times never thought we'd get this far but suddenly it all happens at once, we will be based in Bicton initally, I love Freo and would love to be near-ish there

Tiawamutu

Good luck!

Just under 2 weeks to go

squeezzii

Sorry, forgot to say why. Freemantle was fab, so much going on,very friendly and we have family in Bicton,its an older more established burb with a nice feel to it

squeezzii

Yeah- absolutely terrified at the moment everything is in chaos, the removals are coming to pack whats left on weds then come back on thursday morning to load it all up and take everything we call home away! The house sale completes on friday morning (I hope!) and we leave as soon as get the call from solicitor. then we split up between my/his mums till 17th.the pressure is really starting to show! but I guess it'll all be worth it but at the moment stress factor 10.....

hutchy

Hi to everyone heading out here to Perth........Tiawamatu, you are from sunderland, i think i spoke to you briefly before as thats where i am from.........I have been in oz almost 2 yrs but live in rockingham which is where most of you seem to be heading........All i can say is it is a great place to live........Not far from the city 30 mins roughly although i dont go up there much but once the train line goes in it will be fantastic to just hop on the train up there.........We have a local shopping centre 2 mins by car then all the way along to Mandurah there is shopping centres and plenty of warehouse type stores which sell everything.......I am near Rocky beach which is gorgeous,and we have a pod of dolphins which u can pretty much see most days...........The foreshore itself is full of nice restaurants/coffee shops/icecream shops.....At the moment there is lots of construction work goin on down the foreshore,new apartment blocks /hotels etc which will see the house prices soar in the surrounding ares.........It will bring a lot more visitors to rocky and obviously all the business owners will benefit............I have found the local people to be very friendly and helpful ,,,,,,,,our neighbours are smashing and from the minute we arrived they made us welcome..........we often sit outside in the summer and gather for a few beers while the kids all play.........Best part of the street are expats and Rockingham is full of poms.....At the moment being winter the foreshore is a bit quiet but the summer is great, and there is always stuff goin on down there,for the kids and grown ups........plenty of parks,,,,,,bbq areas which are free...we have lots of bands playing there in the summer which are free.........New years eve is a must there......last yr was live music all nite till 12 with a fantastic firework display.there was around 20.000 people there,,,,,lots of food stalls fairground rides.etc.........My kids go to rocky high and have settled in well...........made lots of friends here,,,,,,,and dont want to live back in UK.......they are 15 and nearly 13......so 2 yrs ago was a hard time for them leaving but they have adapted to their new life great........I have some pics of the dolphins and the beach and house if anyone wants to see them pm me and i will send them onto you.......For any of you who would like to meet up once you get here i will gladly have you round to mine for a bbq once the summer is back or if you just want to meet for a chat.......You can
never have enough friends and since we are alreday here we may be able to help out with any questions you guys may have..........I must apologize to the folks already here as i have not got involved with any of you since my arrival and it all sounds like great fun, especially the perth ladies......1st reason, hubby takes the car to work and if i do have it im not confident goin to far from rocky, the other main reason is i was crook not long after i got here but recovering slowly........so hoping if anyone around the rocky area plans anything local i would like to join in and meet lots of people.........I dont work so have plenty of time to mingle and would happily have a coffee morn etc to meet the ones that are here already........well good luck to all those comin out you will love it........Speak soon hopefully........jan hutchinson.xxxxxxxx

nomayaja

We're heading for Perth too (hopefully). Our application was sent in in March so are now waiting for our visas. My inlaws live in Rockingham and sister in law lives in Kwinana although she's moving closer to the city because she says the schools are better there? I love Rockingham but just had the impression the high schools aren't that great there? Any info welcome! My kids are only 2 and 5 and we would like to settle somewhere where there are good schools. It seems alot of you live in Rockingham. What do you think of the schools there?

Good luck to any of you heading out soon. You'll love it

Marina

Scossie

Each to their own I suppose Hutchy, but I'd hate to live in a suburb where most of my neighbours were from the UK.
We're the only non Aussies for streets around us. I can't think of anyone I know who lives near us who aren't about 5th or 6th generation Aussies.

That's exactly what we want though, & we get on really well with all our neighbours. (constant parties in the summer....)......
It'd really piss me off if we moved away from Kensington & then discovered we weren't still in a 95% Aussie neighbourhood....

As I said though, each to their own....

hutchy

Yes scossie i get where ya comin from, we also have lots of aussie friends also but it just makes u feel a bit more at home knowing all the poms we have met have done the emmigration thing and so we have lots in common....before i moved to rocky i didnt know anything about it really, was through hubbys job..it just so happens that it is heavily populated with poms but i enjoy that along with meeting australian people..........it depends what people want like you said.........i think we have the best of both worlds.....jan hutchinson......xxxxxxxxxxx

Vegemite Kids

Diont get too fixated on Northern suburbs !

We started off ion W.Perth moved to Kensington (South Perth) and have now bought in the Hills area.

PS. most jobs are either in CBD or South of the River (esp engineering type jobs)

South Of River (SOR), consider Applecross (v.expensive), Attadale, Kensington, Mt pleasant or if not so flush with UK house dollars, Bibra Lake.

hutchy

Hi Marina.........for me personally the school my kids go too didnt have a great reputation but we choose it because it was local.they walk and it is 2 mins away........I think a lot depends on the child and how much they enjoy school......if they like to learn they will do well anywhere they go..........so far our kids are doin great........Daughter loves school and is in top grades right across the board.........son not so keen on school but he is doin ok...better than he was in uk...sending him to another would not make a difference ...........The school they both went to in uk had a terrible reputation for drugs but daughter had fantastic results for the yr she spent there.........I have heard the star of the sea,catholic school has a very good reputation, it is in rocky but not sure about any others further afield............The only thing is too ask around and speak with the schools personally to find out what their policies are............good luck...jan hutchinson

Vegemite Kids

'part fronm Chris that was


and me the "plastic jock"

worzel

I am totally open-minded and given that I tend to work on industrial estates etc I am quite prepared to be south. It's just that as we haven't been to Perth before we are inclined to play "safe" and go with the majority to start with. But if I get a job SOR there are some nice areas and Fremantle / Rockingham look just as nice. We will just have to play it by ear.

Tiawamutu

Great post Jan....Have PM'd you

nomayaja

Jan, Thanks for the info on your experiences with schools in Rockingham. My niece and nephew (7 and 10) go to a school in Rockingham and now are moving to Applecross because my sister-in-law says there is very good public schools there but as Vegemite Kids mentions, Applecross is very expensive. We will probably end up staying with the in-laws in Rockingham for a while till we decide where to settle and buy a house. The last time we were on holiday in Perth (1 and a half years ago) we looked into buying a house as the prices just keep rising but unfortunatly were told that you had to be a resident to buy Just want to mention that this is a great site and am glad I came across it

Take care
Marina

Tiawamutu

Thanks for all your replies.....It's so interesting to find out where you are all going, and what is is like for those of you who are already there.

At least there'll be plenty of people to meet up with when we finally get there (Hopefully early next year)

Keep it going,

Ange