Moving to Perth, Australia

[Cozyblanket]

Hi, my husband and I are moving out in a month, he has a job and we both have visas through this. We’re leaving adult children in Europe so it will be just the two of us!

Anyone got any pointers about settling there, things to take, things to leave, places to make friends etc. Any help gratefully received!

@Cozyblanket

Because this is an open public forum and everyone has a right to express their opinion. You may not have a choice to not move a remote part of the world (with no other main city for thousands of miles) but others on internet may find it useful to realise that its a serious consideration.

@blauvogel - thank you but I see absolutely no point in your negative feedback on my post. I asked for help and not negativity. I’m ok with good and bad points about the place but no reason at all for your post and I’d rather you kept it to yourself. I think, and I hope, you’re wrong and anyone who sets out with that kind of attitude in my opinion will always be unhappy.
I will make the very best of this opportunity and thank everyone else for their positive and informative messages.

@Cozyblanket there’s a reason so many expats come here for holidays/working visas and never leave, my DP included. He’s from Scotland, came here on a working visa 5 years ago and he’s just become a citizen.

As my mother would say, if you don’t have anything nice to say then sod off
As if someone who already has firm plans to move overseas is going to see one post from a random on the internet and think ‘oh cancel everything, someone said Perth is isolated’

Yes Ally, my mum would have said the same too!

I’m kind of excited, obviously a bit apprehensive too, I just need to get over there and star5 finding my feet I think.

Well your mum’s upbringings are easy to see here. Where an opposing opinion is automatically ‘negative’ and hard to digest.

Anyway you will soon find it out for yourself!!

I just personally found Perth to be an expensive, isolated and boring place. Some of the other expats i met there, wanted to escape as soon as they could.

Flat sheets are extremely hard to find for some reason and when it is 35+ degree, I'd rather not have the duvet on the bed.

Target is your friend here, as is any bedding shop. You can buy your bedding in sheet sets or doona sets, but both flat and fitted sheets are readily available individually. Bedding shops will also sell wool blankets, Waverley Mills are particularly good quality and have an online shop.

There are lots of places to buy bedding online as well - catch.com.au often have good bargains.

Just wondering when you first emigrated - how much luggage you took on the plane? I’m thinking we could take most of the clothes and maybe some towels which would put us well over the 40kgs....

Could you afford to buy linen and towels etc when you get here? They can be purchased quite cheaply (check out Kmart or target online or Adair’s, Myers or David Jones if you want to spend a bit more).

I was born here so no advice on emigration but you’ll be able to find everything you need here that you couldn’t fit in your luggage (I think!)

Could you also look at shipping some clothes over via post before you leave?

Yes to be honest I think towels and bedding etc are just so bulky and heavy to bring over on the plane when you can buy them relatively cheaply over here. What is happening with furniture etc? Are you having that sent over? If so, can the bedding and towels etc somehow be sent over with the furniture?

Hi thanks everyone, I think you’re right, i will buy when we get there. We are shipping a container over later so I’ll get enough to manage until then.
Now - what else shall I worry about?!😂

Have you found a place to live yet? Don’t worry about a thing, it will all fall into place eventually! When do you get here?

We’re arriving in two weeks, no house as yet but we have an offer on one so fingers crossed.

How exciting! What suburb did you end up going with?

This one is in Floreat? Anyone got an opinion?

You haven't put up a link so I will have to fly a bit blind here.

Floreat was built in the early 60's, many of the houses were accommodation for the athletes and officials for the 1962 Empire games. At its prices, it's more corporate salaries/retirees that live there.

One end of the suburb is beach side so you may have beach views if you are high on a sand dune. It was known for many years as Floreat Park and , away from the beach and sand dunes, has a lot of established gardens, trees and parks. This makes a big difference to the feel of the area. The sea breeze comes in every day and may strengthen to a sea gale before it dies later in the evening. This will cool your house wonderfully on a hot day.

It has supermarkets etc, churches, library all handy with cafe's and pubs nearby or not far away in all directions.

It's handy to the centre of Perth though I don't know the commuting time in rush hour terms. I can't think of much against it except that I don't live there.

I hope all that helps.

Ah Floreat is stunning! Quicker commute to the city than Scarborough via car and not too far by bus to get to the nearest train station which I think would be leederville.

You’ve got the Floreat golf course, lots of great cafes and pubs. The wembley Hotel is just up the road which is a nice pub, shows a lot of sport. There’s a great little set of shops just off a main road called the Boulevard which has a 24hr supermarket and a good bottle shop too (vintage cellars). And there’s a really lovely Italian restaurant there called lo zucchero that I can highly recommend. You’re also really close to the beachside cafes and restaurants in city beach to (try oddysea and Clancy’s fish pub).

There’s a medium sized shopping center there called Floreat forum but your nearest ‘big’ shopping with the major stores would be Westfield Innaloo or the Claremont quarter (very naice!).

How exciting for you!

I absolutely love Floreat. You are so lucky.

We still don’t know if we’ve been accepted - the references have all been requested but it’s taking a few days....

Sounds promising if they have requested references. Perth is not exactly booming right now so you will have a good pick of rentals

We didn’t get the house, it’s a tough process in Australia it seems.
Everything feels hugely stressful right now! Please send positive vibes...

Oh bugger, that’s a shame. I gather you’re applying for rentals? You’ll get one soon, I’m sure. Just keep applying and worst case scenario if you run out of time, could you stay in an Airbnb here until you find somewhere more permanent? It might be easier to find somewhere when you’re actually here. Fingers crossed!

I visited Perth and loved it. The wildlife was amazing. Visited shark bay, went on a catamaran on ningaloo reef. What an opportunity. Enjoy.

Hi, yes we’re looking a rentals, it’s a stressful situation, we waited nearly a week to hear if we’d been accepted. We will be looking for an Airbnb now for a few weeks at least.

Any luck OP finding anywhere else? Which website are you using to find rentals?

Hi we’re looking on REIWA but nothing yet. Booked an Airbnb for 2 weeks and we’ll see how it goes.