Perth reccie - 28th March to 19th April

We flew with BA/Qantas on 28th March at 8.30pm and arrived in Singapore at 5.05pm local time. The flight was full and it was a relief to get off and stretch our legs. Both girls slept for approx 6 hours so were full of energy on arrival unlike their parents!

Singapore Airport is great, lovely and quiet with good shops. We checked into the Transit Hotel at T1 dropped our hand luggage and headed to the pool for a swim.... just in time to see the heaven open and the rain start, but it only lasted 10-15 minutes which was a relief. After a quick swim it was back to the hotel to try and get a few hours sleep...but the girls were not tired so it was TV and DS games.

We boarded our next flight at 11.30pm and departed just after midnight (flight was delayed by around 45minutes) for Perth. The flight was run by Qantas and the food and service was brilliant compared to the first flight run by BA tbh. The flight was also only 1/2 full so lots of room to stretch out and both girls slept and OH and myself managed to get a good hour or 2 sleep.

We arrived in Perth at 4.45am slightly ahead of schedule and the visa activation process (or lack of!) was a bit of an anticlimax for my OH.

We had ticked our forms to show the tea / coffee / fruit bars in our possession but after a quick question from the official we were shown through the green route so about 25 minutes from leaving the plane to being in the Arrivals hall!

Our amazing friend arrived to pick us up at 5.30am and after a quick 20 minute drive we were at our new temporary home in Southern River. The house is a typical new Aussie one with huge rooms and evap and split aircon for cooling/heating.

The first thing to hit us was the heat - wow! It was "only" 34 celcius the first day but both girls were sick that day and the next day before bouncing back to full health. I developed a rash on my arms and chest after day 2 which a pharmacist said was related to sunscreen so I resorted to long shirts and it cleared up in a few days.... note to self - invest in a allergy proof suncreen before the big move!!

We spent the first day quietly adjusting to the heat. Just after lunch the neighbour children came calling for our 2 girls as our hosts had mentioned they were arriving. It was amazing that the neighbour children all played together in the park opposite the house or in the houses each afternoon after school - so friendly and welcoming!

The first week we did all the touristy things - Fremantle Market on Sunday and then fish and chips lunch at Fremantle (awesome!), Caversham Wildlife Park (very good value and lots of interaction with the kangaroos), Perth Acquarium and Hillary's Harbour.

We went down to Mandurah to meet with friends on Sunday and spent a few hours on the beach which was great.

Monday morning we headed to Busselton and visited the pier (2km longest pier in Southern Hemisphere) and went on the pier train which the girls loved. We had a quick lunch in Busselton and then drove to Dunsborough to check into our Motel. The Motel is opposite the main shopping centre and the room was lovely and big with 2 single and 1 double bed with a microwave, fridge, cutlery and crockery and a large shower room. There was also a lovely pool and jacuzzi which we made full use of.

The next morning we drove into Yallingup and went to the A Maze in Yallingup - brilliant family fun! We had lunch at Cheekey Charlies Bar & Restaurant which has a covered outdoor playground which the girls enjoyed and fantastic food.

We also visited the nougat factory and Margaret River itself which is very lovely. We also visited the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse - only to find it was closed for maintenance which was a disapointment.

We drove onto Albany on the Wednesday morning and stopped en route at a Thirsty Camel for lunch - our burgers were huge and in hindsight OH and I could have shared one and the girls also had an amazing meal.

Our Unit in Albany was a 2 bedroom one with fully fitted kitchen and lounge and the manager was really friendly and marked up a local map showing us things to do with the girls. Thursday we headed to the Valley of the Giants and did the Tree Top Walk (twice!) and took loads of photo's of the Tingle Trees. That afternoon we drove to Little Beach about 25kms outside of Albany which is probably one of the prettiest beaches we have ever visited but the weather had turned chilly (about 22 celcius) so whilst the girls played in the sea OH and myself stayed wrapped up and watched!

Friday we drove leisurely back up to Perth through the inland route which was in contrast to the forest route we took on the way to Albany.

On Tuesday the following week our eldest who turned 6 on the 14th April and myself went swimming with dolphins through Rockingham Encounters - absolutely amazing!!! We had used a 50% discount Groupon voucher so $205 for the 2 of us - bargain!

We got some lovely photo's which we will treasure forever.

The rest of the week we did more touristy things - Coogee Beach, Kings Park (including the Rio Tinto children's area - brilliant fun!), Mindarie, Joondalup.

One highlight of the week was that OH was in touch with a friend of a friend who is in the same trade which resulted in a job interview on the Thursday. OH had spoken to several tradesmen about work and they were all positive. The Interview went well but OH not wanting to rush into the first job on offer so we decided to head back to the UK and plan the big move first.

Outcome

OH and myself have decided that we both want to move for various reasons but mostly for:

1. Social life - children made so many brilliant friends and loved the outdoor spaces and parks

2. Jobs - OH and myself confident that although we will struggle at first we should come right after a year or so

3. Weather - although I struggled with the heat I am confident I will adjust... OH and the girls seemed to cope much better!

The only downsides we found:

1. Food prices - although I had done research ahead of the holiday I was still shocked by the high food prices especially fruit and veg! $14.98 for grapes although we learnt to shop around and there are some for $4.00 but the quality is not great! Cucumbers $2.98 for one!!! Meat we found to be slightly cheaper and much better quality than the UK though!

2. Household products - again much more expensive but could be reduced by shopping around.

3. Second hand car prices - shockingly high!!! OH did a tour with our host and on average prices were 2-3 times as expensive when converted so we will definitely be taking a car with.

4. Traffic - peak hours the traffic was very heavy but very few accidents as everyone sticks to the (very slow!) speed limits. OH was driven to distraction but the traffic as every lane is a free for all and even heavy duty trucks drive in the "fast" lane!

5. House prices / Rental prices - very high. We will have to do more research into affordable area with good schools before the move.

If anyone has any question or wants more info please PM me. I will be updating my cost of groceries spreadsheet this coming weekend and post a link of that if anyone is interested.

Final

For those looking at starting the visa process.

If you are 100% sure you want to move - get your finances in order before your visa grant as a reccie trip to activate is bloody expensive! In hindsight we would like to have moved immediately but OH has never been to Oz.... He now loves it and wants to move tomorrow!

Yes, it is expensive but the wages make it affordable!

Sorry for boring you with the long post!

You were certainly busy bee's,,lol, good on you for getting out and about and fitting so much in. Its great to see you enjoyed yourselves and well done hubby on the job offer.

​ Cal x

Glad you had a good time. I have not looked at the groceries for a while, so will be interesting to see what you take is on it.

Looks like you had a blast :biggrin:. Glad to hear a positive flight info too - about the kids sleeping on the plane :wink: