Australia

[Holalisha]

Hi. Me and my family are looking to migrate to Australia. We are thinking Perth but has anyone taken their family and could advise what it is like for families with things to do etc? I'm just worried as it's a very isolated place.
Thanks

We are looking between Perth and Brisbane! Not sure where is best. Advice would be great. Thanks x

Have you ever visited Australia? Best to do so if you haven’t already and explore. I have family in Brisbane and it’s ok there although the heat and humidity would totally put me off living there. I prefer Melbourne and Sydney but as I say you really should visit too as well as seek opinions.

1). What do you do?
2). How old are you?
3). The rental market here (or anywhere in Australia) is unbelievably tight - thinks hundreds going to home opens for a rental.
4). If your trade can take you straight to a rural area ie diesel mechanic, nurse, teacher, you may do better.

However, happy to help where I can.

There is plenty to do. Lots for the kids. Any number of sports but also music, art, drama classes etc. We have a very summer dry and warm, winter mild and damp climate. People here are friendly because we all know someone who has left somewhere else to come.

Yes, you have to be comfortable with the idea that you are leaving family behind. DH had to come to that and it is hard. Thankfully, we haven’t had to put it to the test but the thought is always there. And I had to go through it when living in the UK. Just don’t come always wanting home. Be sure of your decision and you will get on better.

It gets very hot here in Perth, winters are lovely though. It’s a real outdoor city, so if that’s your thing it would be a great place. Isolation doesn’t worry me at all.

Hi I'm from Perth, I moved to the uk 5 years ago.

Perth is lovely for raising families, it's a very wealthy state and is putting a lot of money into infrastructure for families and basically a brand new city.

Perth has ALOT for kids to do but it naturally caters to children who are sporty, if your child prefers indoor activities or reading then they might struggle to find things to do as alot of things to do is outside due to how lovely the weather is all year round.

Perth has a massive British population and isn't called "little Britain" for nothing, if you want to live close to British people and so your kids have British friends in their class then I would look at these suburbs. The majority of them are north of Joondalup.

• Carramar
• Banksia Grove
• Yanchep
• Merriwa
• Clarkson
• jindalee
• Quinn's rock
• Alkimos

I worked in a hospital local to there and if there were 10 staff on shift then at least 6 would be British so it's got a large Brit population that area which will help with homesickness.

Perth is growing faster than Brisbane so if you are working in a trade I.e plumber, electrician, roofer etc then you will be very well off in no time. A friend there was a sparky here and moved over. Got so much juice paid work with building new shops/houses/ schools that he is absolutely minted now! Lives in a massive house by the beach and all his kids go to private school. It is an incredibly wealthy state.

Perth weather is Better than Brisbane as it's more moderate, Brisbane has extreme weather conditions and it also has the most number of deadly species.

Perth still has nasty creepy crawlers but I lived there for 28 years and never had any problems, the only difference is dogs ( and kids) usually can't go bouncing through the bush/woods in Australia cause of snakes where as here you are free to explore more.

Thank you all for your replies they are really helpful! I am 30 and my partner is 33. He is a plumber and I am a stay at home mum.

Our children are still very young. 2 boys aged 1 and 2!

I just get the fear of moving to Perth and then not having much to do as all I hear is that it is very isolated and with Brisbane you can do a lot within gan hour distance.

Perth is isolated from the rest of Australia, it's a long flight to the other states and flights to abroad can be more expensive. In terms of isolation limiting things to do, Perth has a lot to do for kids as they grow up, many different places to go on the weekends or days out. I really miss that aspect of it.

Here would be an honest pro/con list for me

Pro-

• big state, lots of space and diverse environments to visit
• moderate weather, winters are usually 13-15 degrees. 6 degrees at night, not too much rain. Rarely frost.
• summer weather lasts about 6 months. So imagine 6 months of no rain, sunshine every day
• very clean place to live, litter is a big no no and whilst it's not spotless it's nothing like the UK
• good high paying jobs
• excellent schools, Montessori and Steiner schools are popular and not as hard to get into
• private health insurance (similar to America if you pay a monthly fee (mine was £75) you have a host of medical access and they have a full private health sector, virtually no wait times for private health care
• basic restaurants , serve much fresher and well more tastier food than the UK. I miss dining out the most. I really miss it 😪
• food is generally better quality there
• laid back people and "hippy" vibe (also a con)

CONS -

• extremely spread out state
• public transport is slowly improving but very restricted still requires ALOT of walking if public transport is your sole mode
• because public transport is crap, for a small population state 6 million...it's VERY congested. Peak hour traffic rivals the UK. Everyone drives there.
• redneck mentality, if you want a progressive place to live that is culturally diverse and SOCIETAL diversity then Perth may not be for you, they have a strong ethic of "assimilate or leave" they are not tolerant of different religions and very outspoken.
• homophobic (I left due to homophobia and feeling really out of place where I lived and worked) it's very normal and still culturally okay there to be homophobic, the eastern states (but not Queensland) are much more tolerant, Perth has a reputation for being backwards and a lot like the southern states of America hence the redneck theme.
• the summer heat is often unlivable and you can potentially spend all day inside during summer but nothing to do at night as not much is open late
• it's a sun down state, no daylight savings, after 5pm very little to see or do. That's getting better but still a long way to go.

I know a few people who left and came back, with cost of living and there not being that much to do/small town mentality even in bigger cities outside of Sydney or Melbourne

I have a family member who moved to Brisbane from London. They don't like it. Brisbane is just a lot more 'limited' than London in many ways. For example, in London, you can get any type of food from any corner of the planet. Options are more limited in Brisbane. Same with culture. In London, you can't move for galleries, museums, festivals, outdoor markets, live comedy, theatre, opera, ballet... You don't get that sheer range in Brisbane. Then there's the extreme weather. Unbearable heat in the summer, floods, bush fires. I think if they had the opportunity, they'd move back to London.

Also prohibitively expensive to travel anywhere outside of Australia due to the distances.

Just remembered more cons

• methamphetamine is a MASSIVE problem in Western Australia (Perth)
• meth is such a big problem you will encounter meth heads in most places day to day (not unlike spice heads but more screaming involved and violence)
• Australia has an indigenous population that it tried to 'exterminate' via eugenics and this was happening into the 1970's it has only been very recently that the indigenous have been given a stronger voice and only in the last 5 years has it started identifying areas of Perth that were once completely sacred indigenous lands. For more information about this watch the movie "rabbit proof fence" with Kenneth Branagh
• Western Australia had slave and internment camps for the indigenous not unlike America but instead of recognising that as history, they desperately tried to cover it up. Your children won't learn about the treatment of the indigenous in school, they will have to find out on their own as it's not common knowledge.
• white Australians have very strong horrible opinions on this
• a popular holiday island called "Rottnest" off the coast of Perth is actually a large old indigenous slave camp and prison and hundreds people were buried there with no grave markings or recognition.
• poor indigenous health is a massive problem there and if you go out into the country you will see how neglected and disadvantaged these people are. There are towns in Australia that are "dry towns" where absolutely zero alcohol is sold due to massive alcoholism and substance misuse within this minority. I worked a lot with indigenous health as a young nurse and it opened my eyes to the vile treatment of this incredible people, their culture and religion "Dreamtime" is one of the most amazing on the planet.

@Holalisha why are you wanting to move to Australia?

Go if you are outdoorsy, into sport and ready to assimilate. The UK is a long way away,

It’s over 6000 k between Perth and Brisbane. It’s the distance between London and Moscow.

Australia isn’t just Britain with sunshine.

I've visited both Perth and Brisbane while living in Melbourne for several years. In my opinion, Brisbane is much more preferable for families than Perth for the simple reason that Perth is literally in the middle of nowhere. Don't underestimate just how far it is from Perth for a change of scenery. Yes, there are flights etc but they're all hours long. And yes there's Margaret River, the Kimberley etc. But I just had this sense of being stuck in bubble between a vast (desert) continent and a vast ocean. There's a lot more variety in Brisbane and it's a very liveable city. Melbourne beats both of them but good luck finding a place a to live there.

I'm from Melbourne but have lived in Perth and London. Perth is by the best lifestyle by a country mile. Time difference between Perth and the UK mean toy can easily talk to the rellies at a reasonable hour, unlike the East coast

Thank you all so much for your replies.

Fromwetome- thank you for all the pros and cons. That is really helpful.

We want to move because it's always been something we have spoke about and we kind of have the mentality now that we live one life so why not try something out of our comfort zone and show our children that adventure is a good thing.

https://www.playgroupwa.com.au/.

https://adventureworld.net.au/
https://outbacksplash.com.au/
https://www.bgpa.wa.gov.au/kings-park/visit/play-and-recreation
https://www.natureplay.org.au/natureplaywa-passport-app