| Author/Date | Message | Action | steveruth1
6 Oct 2007
| Hi everybody, we are a family of 4 thinking about making the move to Australia. I am a 44 year old carpenter, my wife is a 38 year old secretary. I have two children, 1 aged 12 one aged 19. I already have my skilled 136 visa and we went to Perth in May 2007 for a 3 week rekkie. I wont bore you with the flight details or all the toursit attractions, this is just our raw experience of PertH and what it would be like to live there. Firstly, we are a very well travelled family having travelled to allover Asia, Middle East, Carribbean and the obvious parts of Europe like Spain etc, so going to Australia wasn't going to have the wow factor for us. As my daughter wants to do nursing/midwifery, we had specific areas in Perth where we had to live so my daughter had easy access to uni, which was in Joondalup. We were looking at areas within a 20k circumference of Joondalup.
Our first impressions of Perth was how clean and quiet it was apart from the rush hour periods. All the time we were there, we never had a problem with traffic congestion although there driving techniques had alot to be desired. We found all the beaches we visited in the area of Scarbourough, Joondalup and Yanchep to be uncrowded and clean with easy access all along the coast for parking or launching a boat or jet ski.
There was no development on the beach (apart from Scarbourough) which gave it a really natural feel. The beach at Hillarys had a lovely little beach for children and was next door to an aquariam which is worth a visit.
Regarding suburbs for Perth, as i said before, we were only looking at ceratin areas. we looked at Joondalup, connoly, hillarys,edgewater and all the surrounding suburbs. The ones that came across as being really nice were Hillarys, Joondalup and edgewater. Other areas which were nice was Ocean reef and Mullaloo. All these suburbs were well established with beautiful front gardens and tree lined streets. The average house prices in these areas for a 4 bedroom bungalow with a pool on a 700sqm plot was $550, 000-650,000 Ausrtalian dollars. Most of the houses we looked at at this price needed heavily updating with the bathroom, kitchen and decor although the houses were soundly built.
We spoke to a couple of carpenters over there. they said there was plenty of work for all building trades, but the money is not as good ( around 25-30 dollars per hour) and the ones i spoke to said it was really hard working in the summer months beacause of the heat, so something to bear in mind.
The whole cost of living generally (fuel, food, clothes, gas bill etc), was slightly less than england but only very slightly.
The university at Joondalup seemed very good with good transport links, i.e bus and rail. As many people have said before perth feels very isolated from every where and there isnt alot going on there. But it is being developed.
Would i emigrate there? im not sure at this moment.
On reflection being back in England, My gut feeling tells me theres not enough there to make me want to emigrate there.I have read on other rekkies how people have gone to Perth and cannot wait to get back and start a new life. I dont have this same feeling and it worries me.
4 MONTHS ON SEPT 07- BRISBANE
As i write this rekkie, me and my family are in a motel room in Rockhampton which is a suburb of Queensland ( actually my daughters typing it as my typing is so slow and we have got to be out by 10 am). We flew into Brisbane on 27th Sept with the intention of driving up as far as Cairns stopping on the way to various citys in queensland to to look at areas and unis and to get a general feel on QLD. We found Brisbane to be a clean, friendly city with lots of nice parks and good shopping, lots of lovely river walks. As we did not intend to live in Brisbane, we only stayed a couple of days and drove down to the Gold coast. We stayed in the Gold coast for a couple of days and found it to be very touristy, like Benidorm. it fely grubby and dirty although it had a lovely beach. Not a place i would like to live.
We then drove up through the Sunshine coast only stopping to look at a uni in Coolum. Although the uni was nice the area just did not look appealing. We stayed for a couple of nights at Noosa which had a lovey feel about it. It had a couple of nice beaches and again was a little bit touristy but still nice. House prices were very expensive.
our next port of call was Yepoon, Which is a nice small town but more like a town to reitre, not for our growing family. Close to Yepoon is where we are now at a place called Rockhampton, which is another uni town, but again i am not at all inpressed with the town, seems very rundown, lots of empty shops, seems like the back of beyond.
All along this stretch of coast their are warnings of the deadly box jelly fish which they say can kill a small child in about 6 minutes and a adult in about 20.They advise not to go into the water between between the months of october to may and the further north you go the worst it gets.Although i have read about this in the uk it do not sink in until you are at the beach and you are actually reading the sign and looking at the ocean in front of you thinking they are probaly in there some where (puts you off going in).They have stingers net in place in these areas which gives you a small area of ocean to go in ,but it not the same and can get crowded.We are now on are way to mackey where we are going to meets some friends of ours from uk.All in all even at this stage in our travels in queensland i can see its not the place for me.The beaches so far are not as nice as perth,half the year you cant go to the sea because of jelly fish and the other half its not really warm enough.Not wanting to seem rude but i have found queensland so far to be abit rough around the edges and i can not see my self and family living here.On a Good note the house prices here are about 10 % cheaper but the wages seems even lower than perth.Okay bags packed, we are now of to mackay, will let you know what it is like |    
| david
6 Oct 2007
| hi,
great post,very informative and honest,which we appreciate.
my hubby and daughter are just back from adelaide,they liked it but werent sure if it offered enough for to uproot us all and move there. we are currently thinking of perth but cant help but wonder when the novelty wears off, what the reality would be like. our main concern about remaining here(n.ireland) is wondering what the country would be like in 5 or 19 years time with regards to the mass immigration into britain.is this a concern anybody else would have?
gillian and david |    
| Boot
6 Oct 2007
| Hi Steve,
Thanks for your great account. I am sitting here (yes, in my treelined street near Hillarys - and yes, it is nice living here) waiting for your next instalment!!! I was particularly interested to hear your comments on Queensland, as my hubby is really keen on it over there. Did you, out of interest, find navigating out of central Brisbane nigh-on impossible, as we did? Or are we just stupid?
Sorry you didn't like the Gold Coast. Actually, I quite liked Surfers and think Southport has quite a buzz, but the area behind the Coast, ie the hinterland between say, Nerang and Murwullimbah (just over the NSW border) is truly spectacular. Sounds like you missed it!
Happy travelling,
Regards,
boot
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| shirleyf2
6 Oct 2007
| Hi just read your note, what did you not like about Gold Coast, we thought it was fantastic and r thinking of living there. |
| shirleyf2
6 Oct 2007
| Hi, we r thinking the same as you, england is bad now so imagine 5 or 10 yrs it will be far worse, we worry about kids growing up and going out, nowhere is safe.
We have thought of going to Adelaide or Brisbane, but everyone i talk to is going to Perth (what is the attraction of this place) i would love to know |
| Boot
6 Oct 2007
| Hi Shirley, I don't think I did say anything I didn't like about the Gold Coast, did I?
For some strange reason, even though we went to beautiful Noosa, the Gold Coast hinterland was the best part of my trip to Queensland. There was something very quaint and spiritual about it - beautiful scenery.
Seeing as you're asking me to think about things I didn't really like about GC, if pressed I'd probably say that the roads were not in so great a state of repair as they are in Perth (as the population is more dense) and the traffic was thicker and slower than here, but really nothing bad at all (roads not as dug up as British ones, say). We only stayed a week, so I think it would be unfair of me to slam it anyway, but really, our impressions were very good. We liked it. In fact, we nearly bought a property there only last week, so I think that just about says it all.
I'm sure you'll love living there!
Regards,
boot x |
| shirleyf2
6 Oct 2007
| Sorry got wrong person, do apologise. |
| Boot
6 Oct 2007
| No probs, Shirley. Anyway, I hope my comments on the Gold Coast were enough to make you even more excited!
Have a nice day... and may the best team win at RUGBY!!!!!!!!!!
boot xx |
| Ljenks
8 Oct 2007
| Hi
I disagree with your comments about wages. In Brisbane they're about the same as in Perth and in regional Queensland tradies wages tend to be higher eg a CNC machinist would earn at least $5 more per hour in regional Queensland.
Agree that some parts are rough round the edges - but not all. Some parts of regional Queensland are beautiful and you can buy very large blocks of land close to the beach - if you know where to look.
What did you think of Hervey Bay?
I think you're being a bit hard on the Gold Coast. It is a tourist area. It's a popular tourist destination for people holidaying within Australia and as such caters for that market. Away from the main hotspots there are some very beautiful suburbs and you have missed out on the true beauty of the hinterlands.
Having lived in WA and Queensland I would say that the cost of living is cheaper over here.
Have you looked at Melbourne? Unless you're seeking the all-round warm temperatures it would tick a lot of boxes. I think Melbourne is one of the best cities in Australia.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your rekkie. |
| sidney
8 Oct 2007
| I agree with LJ Jenks re the comments on salary having moved from Perth in June this year - both my partner and I earn more on the East side than in Perth.
I love living on the Gold Coast, Surfers and Southport are only part of it - yes it is tourist area but there is so much for older kids to do, the major theme parks sell annual passes out of season so as little as $100 each which pays for itself in two trips. The new rugby league team Gold Coast Titans are looking promising and the players are often seen out and about locally. Having an older son I find that QLD has a lot more happening for him, he is playing sports at weekends and meeting lots of kids his own age which helps us met people to.
The surburbs away from the main tourist areas are fantastic from the top end of the GC where we live right the way down past Tweed into NSW is fantastic and only an hours drive from Byron Bay. Cassurina Beach and Salt resort is beautiful and the beaches are less developed there which reminds me of the undeveloped beaches in Perth.
The Best Look Out of All and Springbrook, O'Rielly's rain forrest are just some of the hinterland places to explore. A drive up to Tallai or Tamborine and the views are breathtaking
I disagree with Queensland being a bit rough around the edges the inner suburbs are no different to living in WA - it's all down to choice - it's a big place and well worth exploring, once I get over taking two trips to the UK and NZ and moving from Perth all in the last couple of months I will get myself on a flight down to Melbourne as it sounds great.
Australia is a diverse and interesting place and well worth exploring and there is something here for everyone. My son plays Rugby on a field behind Dreamworld and we often see 10 to 15 kangaroo's grazing there at dusk, this is a sight I will never get bored of seeing. |
| steveruth1
16 Oct 2007
| Hi all
Just to give you all a update on our progress in Queensland.We are now in Port Douglas having travelled up from Arlie Beach about a week ago. It seems to me the farther north you go from Brisbane the nicer every thing seems to be getting.As we are now in the tropics every thing is alot greener and hotter,reminds me alot of the caribean. Arlie beach was very nice, alot of back packers but all seemed very well behaved. Many people go to Arlie beach as it is the gateway to the Whitsunday islands which we did a day trip to Whitehaven island which was stunning with cyrstal clear waters, and talcum white powder sand. Carried on up,to Cairns which having drove thbrough fields and fields of sugar cane it was nioce to see a built up town which is touristy but not in a tacky way like the Gold Coast.Port Douglas is growing on me more as each day passes. Took views from a lookout point of Four Mile Beach which were stunning. Every one seems so relaxed and you just get a good feeling about the place. But getting a little touristy now and need to focus on real life issues as of now, so looking at schools and uni's and houses later this week. |
| lynthechef
17 Oct 2007
| Hi was thinking of moving to Brisbane in about 2 years but need to know the areas to stay clear of? I was looking at indoorloopily having never been to OZ its just somewhere that came up when I was looking. Do you have any tips about places, its me and my daughter only who will be moving so it will have to be somewhere nice but lively for work beach not to far yet not to dear either can you help this little lady out? many thanks lyn |
| trigger79
22 Mar 2008
| hi mate, im a brickie and i worked in perth for a bit not long ago while i was travelling, if the carpenter are only getting $25-30 dollars hr there being taking for a ride, all the one i worked on site with were getting $40, if you can do form work for concreate shuttering you can easily get $50 hr, the rates are going up very quickly in brisbane for all trades, espeiaclly brickies and chippies.the house prices are also alot cheeper in brsbane than perth but like u said the beaches are not as good.
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