Regional WA towns... any advice?

[Lin09]

hello all hope everyone is good over there!
I'm new to the site and am seeking a bit of advice if poss.
I have been offered a 457 to come to WA next year (i'm a teacher in Glasgow just now) but Perth and its immediate surroundings are not an option; it must be a regional area. they've said that they wont be sending me anywhere too remote so no kimberley or anything; and it looks like i have at least some element of choice where i go although might not be possible to choose. I'll be coming with my partne,r and we've investigated Esperance which looks beautiful, and Kalgoorlie.
Does anyone have any advice on what these places are like? they look like the 'bigger' towns (although I'm aware that outside of Perth its pretty much mostly small towns!) Are any of you living elsewhere in WA other than Perth?

Any tips/advice/guidance would be great guys.

Lin

[ali]

My choice would be Esperence or Albany - heard they are beautiful places, do check if Mandurah or Bunbury count as rural as closer to perth and also very nice.

Ali

[adey]

Esperance is beautiful but its a very long way from the airport, most probably talking about a 10 hour drive at least. Albany is a bit closer but remember when picking up visitors it will make it a two day journey for you to get to the airport.

We live in Bunbury which is classed as a region and its a 2 hour drive up to Perth and is a beautiful part of South West WA. With beaches within two minutes of the city, or areas like Dalyellup where we live has its own beach is a ten minute drive to town. There are new schools here in Dalyellup and two more being built so that may help you out as well.

I've written plenty of threads about Bunbury and if you want a laid back lifestyle with the ability of still being able to visit the city when you want to then here is a pretty good deal. We are half hour from Busselton, an hour from Dunsborough and Margaret River area which is absolutely stunning, not forgeting the wine region as well. Produce down here is grown and sold locally so we've never eaten such fresh fruit in our lives....need I say more....take a peek at my threads plus Sarah & Matts, Kevin & Dawns we are all local to the area.

Google earth Dalyellup Boulevard or Batman Close (trying to think of local streets) and it'll give you a good idea of the area and how close it is to the beach. Its a newish estate so there's lots of new houses being built at the beginning of the estate together with a new sports centre, new high school and junior school, shopping centre.....

Dunsborough is very pretty but quite small but we've fallen in love with it since visiting a few weeks ago. It just depends what type of lifestyle you want not sure about other areas as it gets hotter the more north of Perth you go and cooler the more south. The South West has a med climate and is usually about 4 degrees cooler than Perth and we have plenty of rain in the winter months apparently.

Sarah

[ali]

I don't think all suburbs are the same, some are new and will take a little while to establish themselves with trees etc., whilst others have been around along time and are much sought after - hence the million $ prices

Ali

[adey]

Hi Sarah & Matt

rain well all I can say is bl**dy hell, we are from Wales and we are used to the rain but never seen so much in one hour before!!!!!!!

Don't like to tell anyone else but we feel the same about the big city too but maybe that's because we came here to escape the city and gain a more chilled out lifestyle. 10 mins drive to work wow what more can we ask for it used to take me over an hour to get to work and the journey back in Cardiff was shorter. But know everyone what's different things Bunbury just jumped out at us when we were looking for jobs in WA.

Sarah (see you over Dawn's one day)