mandandbri

Hi

I am never quite sure what it is actually isolated from? just booked holiday to Malaysia costs us 500 pound each for 9 days in a five star hotel takes 41/2 hrs to get there . better than a package to majorca any day!!!

I am not sure how close the other states of oz are to drive to each other ? Is it about the same as driving from bath to Bristol? or from driving from Penzance to Scotland? If so I would never have driven that far anyway.

Point is everyone says Perth is isolated because it is not on top of another city!

Hope this makes sense!

Amanda

renth

Well said owieb.

We're off to Ningaloo for 10 days soon, in a 6 berth campervan, just like last year. We can't wait.

It's the best city in Australia for families and for people who love the great outdoors.

People who slag it off and haven't been here, well, their opinions are worthless.

Perth isn't just a city isolated by desert, there's the beautiful, and very different South West region which is probably as big as Tasmania.

Do people slag Tasmania off for being isolated? You want isolated, what about New Zealand?

We like living here and we too would also rather move back to the UK than have to live in a cold, wet and depressing place like Melbourne with it's racially motivated soccer violence and gangland killings. Taking the train from Melbourne to Bendigo reminded me of Northern Ireland with the Croatian murals painted on the houses.

Or Sydney where 50 strong Serb gangs battle Vietnamese in the street and the Lebanese battle each other with automatic weapons in the Western suburbs every night.

So there, my 2c on Perth. If you don't like it, stay away and let us enjoy it in solitude.

bondipom

That does sound great. Hopefully I will be getting a dive course before I go up North later on in the year. There should be humpbacks near hamilton island when we are there.

I normally jumped on the plane for a couple of hours rather than go on holiday in the UK. Cheaper and and normally quicker.

Santa

Agree with you 100%. The way people crack on you'd think Brisbane was nothing more than a short bus ride from Sydney, or that you could ride a push bike from Adelade to Melbourne and be back home in time for tea !
What's all this tosh about 'once you've seen Rottnest, what else can you go and see' ? That comes from the same book that Americans read about seeing London and thinking they've 'done' England and by the time they've been to Paris and Zurich Europe is pretty much covered. Crap the lot of it. Cities and areas are what you make of them, and Perth ain't bad.

DianeOZ

I don't feel isolated here at all. We have everything we need and more. The city itself is beautiful and alive, they beaches are glorious and the parks are vast and many. We were never great travellers in the UK so it's not something we miss. As long as there is the opportunity to visit beautiful areas in WA that is enough for us.

Renth - your holiday sounds great - would be interested to hear how it goes as doing the campervan thing is something we quite fancy.


Di

karawara88

Thats OK if you live here and are able to continue working on the $ conversion rates. We just booked a one way flight to Singapore £500 for the two of us cheap as chips but thats $1200 and thats a lot of cash when earning $s.

Perth is a nice city, we are leaving, but that does not mean we don't like Perth as a place, its just not a place we want to live.

owieb

Hi Diane,

We did a similar trip as Renth last year and are going again in a couple of weeks. We just went 4WD and camping, same thing, different luxuries!

Some friends who came over in December hired a campervan and travelled up and down the coast. They went to Coral Bay and Exmouth and had a fantastic time. They've only got one child, about 8 months old, but they said he was fine with it all.

This time of year is fantastic up there, you won't be disappointed if you decide to do it. I highly recommend it!

DianeOZ

Thanks - I think the campervan will deffo be the way to go if we go after the baby arrives. (at least the midnight screams will be muffled rather then echoing through the canvas).

Hope you have a great trip.

renth

Last year was the best holiday we've ever had. Which is why we're doing it again.

There's 5 of us so we have to have the 6 berth vehicle - it's to do with the available seatbelts.

The rental's gone up a bit since last year too. Our 10 days is costing us about $2,600.

It's a bit steep but we thought, what the hell!

DianeOZ

Eeek - better get saving before I stop work!! It sounds a lot but it's really the only way to do it (apart from flying and staying in accomodation - but where's the fun in that)

There will be 5 of us too - Was space an issue?

renth

Plenty of room but the kids are young.

The best thing about it is on the long drive they are right at the back, sitting around a table playing with toys, drawing etc... and when they start fighting or crying you can hardly hear it - unlike in the car where its right in your ear.

bondipom

I have priced up the red centre holiday I am doing. When you take into account the combo of car hire and accomodation the campervan is cheaper. Thats with a 4WD van to go onto the unsealed roads. With all the bloody inclusions it works out at about $190 a day. There are cheaper 2WD options available.

janeyray

Perth is lovely as a holiday destination for a stop over when visiting the rest of OZ. To contemplate living here forever would tip me right over the edge I'am afraid to say.:scared:

Hevs is right, it's very hot but I think most parts of Oz are aren't they?

I'am not sure isolated is the right word for Perth? It's a long way from the UK yes, but there are lots of lovely places to visit in W.A. If cash isn't a problem and you can get to see other parts of OZ then it won't feel so isolated, if on the other hand you're an average family, earning average wages then it will become and feel isolated.

Even a short hop to bali would set you back a couple of thousand dollars for a family. Accomodation down South and up North isn't cheap so to many camping is a cheaper option (and a good one).

As for trips to Rottnest (we haven't been yet, waiting till Easter when the in-laws arrive) we certainly can't 'flit' over there 'willy nilly'. The ferry cost about $35 each so for the average family it's a bit expensive.!! I would expect that once you've been for the day you'd have probably seen most of it.

Maybe if we'd have gone somewhere else we wouldn't be going back to the UK? I wonder if there are any statistics for the city with the longest staying migrants?!! I do think though it's not about where we are to much with us, it's about who and what we miss.

I would think most Brits choose Perth over any of the other cities for the same reasons we did. It's got the same beaches and 'lifestyle' as the rest of OZ but the housing is far cheaper. We couldn't afford to live in any other part of OZ.

Simone

Perth's not for everyone, but there's at leat 1 and a half million people living there, and I'm sure most are happy of at least satisfied.

My parents and us lived in WA for 9 years.
Holidays - southwest, mid coast, midwest. Once we went around Oz for 4 months, after that we never visited any other parts of Oz.
We didn't even make it to Uluru/Alice in those 9 years!
And as for the Rottnest argument: I've never even been there!!!
I asked my parents why the other day, and they said, well, it seems boring...
Plenty of other things to do apparently...
So, even without being majorly into beaches/watersports, you can still have fun in WA for many years (IF your enjoy camping etc, not city trips, OR, if you have enough money to do those trips anyway)

And yes, there is lesser choice of jobs, in SOME fields. Builders and stuff will be fine...

And yes, it gets bloody hot, but so does Brisbane. And well, you won't find perfect weather ANYWHERE.

And the eastern states people argument has already been discussed in the other thread (WHY is this thread started, why not keep going in the other one!!!!)
I'm sure a lot of eastern states people would find it 'isolated'. It all depends what you're used to...
I think northwest Oz is isolated, Perth for me is big/busy etc.

Nickyc, I don't really get you don't prefer Perth, but why always come in these threads, if you haven't even lived there.
I wouldn't want to live in Sydney (too big, to busy in NSW, I don't know why....) but I don't come into threads about Sydney. Everybody prefers different things...... Or has different jobs....

And Perth getting a hard time???? Maybe, but there's still plenty of posts, of people LIVING THERE, who are happy, and my friends and friends of my parents are also all quite happy in Perth...

Now, I wonder how long I will survive in Perth.... I think it'll actually be to big/busy etc for me.... But first get started there with jobs, and see if we end up in the southwest when we have kids (if we don't end up going back to Holland)

Yes, we should listen to people's 'negative' posts about Perth also, but there actually seems to be quite a good balance, just like you get everywhere. Some love it, some hate it (mostly those who can't find jobs it seems, a very important factor!!!)

Stoney

Firstly have you taken a mediteranean holiday from England lateley... if you dont want to be crammed into some tacky resort sharing a hotel with the rest of the UK's lowlifes you will haveto pay well over 2000 quid never mind dollars for the family.

And as for Rottnest $35 for a trip to a leisure playground is a bargain, the people who say once you have been once that's it are the sort of people who get off the ferry wander around the cafe's for an hour and stand on the jetty for the rest of the time
before going home
Get stuck in to WA and its great
Most moaners on here want things at their feet why they came in the first place is a mystery