I want to know it all.......my time is running out whether to do this or not......how outback is outback? Is Perth the best place to be? What are general living costs? What will surprise me when I am there? My move has to be to WA as that is where corrective services are recruiting overseas staff! Visa 457 is my only option.
Stress levels have caused me to spend £50 on back massages this weekend - if I am going to take the plunge and go I cant afford to be doing that so HELPPP! Please!!!!!!!!!
Just moved from WA to Tas 1 year ago after 5 years. WA is a huge place and is including Perth. Perth is a city in WA. Outback usually means in the middle of nowhere! If you find work in Perth then it is a gret place to live and work. It is modern and very pretty, lots of things to do and see. You might find it a bit hot in the summer so you need to get housing with air conditioning and its always good to have a pool to cool down in.Lots of creepy crawlies including spiders (huntsman, red back, wolf spiders) and also cockroaches, flies and the usual snakes. You get used to them and learn to live with it. Living in the outback is a different story. Small towns are dotted hundreds of kms apart and have a few hundred people living there if you are lucky. Most water is supplied through rainwater tanks in your garden , this is what you collect when it rains and you drink it, bathe in it and use it for everything ! Roads are like dirt tracks, red and dusty and dry andcan be lethal for driving.But again you will get used to it. Small towns are also lacking in amenities eg you may only have 1 shop to buy food, no clothes shops and the nearest shopping centre could be an hours drive away. We lived 30 mins away from Perth city and beaches and had a ball ! Moved to Tas for a tree change. Happy to answer any more questions you have. Lorraine
I'd say it's a minus that there isn't alot of sunday trading (although alot of shops are now open in the city), but hubby thinks it's wonderful!! Public transport is cheap and in our experience has been reliable.
Ali
__________________ I am toopositive to be doubtful, too optimistic to be fearful and too determined to be defeated!
After you and I first spoke on here, I spotted your post on Aussiemove and noted that somebody had told you about the possible overseas recruitment drive that WA DCS are thinking about trying later this year.
So I followed the links because that possibility could be of interest to a friend of mine as well as to you.
I would suggest as follows:
Use Google Maps (quicker if you start by being in Google Australia) and have a look at the map of WA. WA is significantly larger than Europe, so the distances between places can be immense by UK standards.
When I looked at the DCS website to see where the prisons etc in the "regions" are, some of them are a heck of a distance from Perth, but then most of the larger towns in WA are now quite large too. I think the population of Kalgoorlie is now around 30,000 for instance.
Your best bet might be to send a PM or e-mail to a Poms in Oz member called BullcreekBob because I think he has been all over WA, pretty much. Please see here:
Reading the DCS website and the map between them, I did rather suspect that when the DCS say "Regional", they are not talking about Mandurah! They are obviously not finding it very easy to find local staff willing to go and live in some of the places that the DCS needs to cover.
Of all the PiO members that I can think of, the two I have mentioned are the ones most likely to know about some of the places, I reckon.
I would think that the DCS would rip your arms off to recruit you, though!
Good luck with it Simone! The correctional facilities are listed here just in case you havent seen where they are. If you have to go regional, then best hope they offer you Bunbury rather than Broome What the country "towns" lose by way of metropolitan experiences they make up for with a stronger sense of community I reckon. My folks have friends who have moved down to Bunbury and Albany for their retirement and they dont miss Perth in the least. Broome is rather warm and would be the facility for the Kimberleys which would be a big challenge.
I am curious about your comment concerning the Kimberley region. I know that there is quite a large aboriginal population in or around Broome. I know too that Port Hedland is a major commercial port nowadays, though prolly 2 mile long jetties for huge ships rather than the old-fashioned ambience of a "proper harbour" like Fremantle.
Certainly many if not most of the world's largest bulk carriers can't get anywhere near the Port of Southampton in the UK, where I live, because although they dredge Southampton Water it is not deep enough for the mega-ships and there is not enough space to turn them, even with tugs. I sort-of imagine Port Hedland to be a row of massive jetties and almost nothing else apart from a small fishing harbour perhaps, though I've never been there.
But apart from that, I thought the Kimberleys was all mining with men doing fly-in, fly-out?
It sounds like there is a lot more to that part of WA than I know about so I am curious to learn more.
I am curious about your comment concerning the Kimberley region. I know that there is quite a large aboriginal population in or around Broome. I know too that Port Hedland is a major commercial port nowadays, though prolly 2 mile long jetties for huge ships rather than the old-fashioned ambience of a "proper harbour" like Fremantle.
Certainly many if not most of the world's largest bulk carriers can't get anywhere near the Port of Southampton in the UK, where I live, because although they dredge Southampton Water it is not deep enough for the mega-ships and there is not enough space to turn them, even with tugs. I sort-of imagine Port Hedland to be a row of massive jetties and almost nothing else apart from a small fishing harbour perhaps, though I've never been there.
But apart from that, I thought the Kimberleys was all mining with men doing fly-in, fly-out?
It sounds like there is a lot more to that part of WA than I know about so I am curious to learn more.
Thanks
Gill
I was thinking of the indigenous population which, sadly form a disproportionate part of our corrective institutions population - those with families in the area would likely be part of that population. The problems besetting our indigenous communities are huge unfortunately and anyone working in that area is definitely up for a challenge! I think it is a pretty thankless area to live in - not "nice" like the southern parts and the heat and propensity to cyclone warnings Also, the mining communities - perhaps not the most savoury of areas to be wanting to live in unless you happen to be one of the well paid cohort who work there and get their week off every 3rd week. Hazarding a guess I would say that if you were prone to culture shock you would most likely experience it more in the Kimberleys than anywhere else in Aus except perhaps the more remote areas of NT or FNQ.
I just think it would be far more challenging a post (sociologically and psychologically) than one down south would be.
Miners are pretty rough types and if mining companies have to resort to fly in fly out to get staff you can figure the rest out. The Kimberleys are as hot as hell in summer millions of flies and dusty. Just the place for mines
then you should take the plunge, what have you to loose? you only get one go at life. WA is Australias biggest state, it's vast, real vast, Perth seems to be the place to be due to the huge boom in mining, it has generated a skills shortage. We always had a think for Fremantle south of Perth, very laid back place. We moved for an even more relaxed way of life in Tas, WA seemed to be getting too many rules, blame the rangers for that, Dogs, parking, beaches all regulated by the rangers.
You can drive across AU in about 4 or 5 days if you put your foot down, roads are only tarmac around the city areas, when you are a few hour out of the city it's not uncommon to be driving on gravel roads unsealed, but having said that they appear to be sealing more and more.Most maps will indicated if you require 4 wheel drive or not, and that's only if you intend to go bush driving.
We are happy to answer any questions you have, please let us know what you need to know and we will fill in theblanks for you. There is no such thing as a dumb question.
I want to know it all.......my time is running out whether to do this or not......how outback is outback? Is Perth the best place to be? What are general living costs? What will surprise me when I am there? My move has to be to WA as that is where corrective services are recruiting overseas staff! Visa 457 is my only option.
Stress levels have caused me to spend £50 on back massages this weekend - if I am going to take the plunge and go I cant afford to be doing that so HELPPP! Please!!!!!!!!!
Simone
Wanneroo was classed as outback when we arrived in Perth second time around back in 1990. Our friends south of the river referred to Wanneroo as being South Geraldton as it was deemed to be too far north.
In those early days Joondalup was somewhat off the beaten track too; Kinross was just a mass of sand as was Mindarie; and Iluka was all bush and overgrown vegetation. A trip up to Yanchep and Two rocks was like venturing into the great unknown. Definitely a case of heading off with packed butties, drinking water and a roadmap. Bondy was going to build a huge satellite city in tandem with a Japanese consortium ........... we are still waiting.
Real outback though is the Pilbara; it's rough up north.............. but it sorts out the men from the boys. I arrived here first time around in 1976 after leaving Africa with a backpack on and a 3 month sojourn through India and up to Nepal. Didn't know a soul in Australia; spent a few weeks in Milligan's Hostel for down and outs in Perth. Cost 2 dollars a night and 2 X 20 cent pieces in the meter if we wanted a shower. Rooms were sparse but very clean. Few weeks later I was up in the mines at Paraburdoo......... now that was outback. I thought I'd landed on the moon as it was so isolated in those days.
Actually........... I'd say Port Hedland bears more resemblance to the moon. People up there are real nice and friendly................ but the landscape. Red dust....... and more red dust. Reminded me of Arawa in Papua New Guinea culture-wise. Pity the mining company up there haven't put anything back into the land or the infrastructure after making their squillions of dollars each year? Very much like 3rd world country environment up there .................... but the miners are happy.
We've driven up to Hedland many times................. love visiting the joint; not sure if I'd like to live there?
__________________
If today was not an endless highway,
If tonight was not a crooked trail..............
What the country "towns" lose by way of metropolitan experiences they make up for with a stronger sense of community I reckon. My folks have friends who have moved down to Bunbury and Albany for their retirement and they dont miss Perth in the least. Broome is rather warm
and would be the facility for the Kimberleys which would be a big challenge.
