WA/Perth questions!!

[mr luvpants]

Hi

One of my main concerns regarding moving to oz is my job prospects over there. My wife is a nurse and we have said that we are not going until she has a firm job offer. I would however have to find a job. I am presently employed as a Firefighter and have 13 years service and do not have another trade to fall back on. We were originally looking at the GC or Brisbane but I have just found out WA fire service are looking into recruiting directly from the uk as long as you have a number of years service and you have your PR.This is great news as I thought that we could come to WA and both have jobs and if we did not like it, well at least we are over there and it will be easier to find property jobs etc.

However my wife has said that WA is too isolated and has spoken to a few people who feel like this. The girl on reception at my wifes gym said that she lived there for 8 months and would never go back.

Another issue is that we are very young at heart. We are both 40 but are never in. Our kids are all grown up and only one lives with us. So every weekend we are out: weekends away, Live bands etc.

We are looking at spending a max of $450,000 on a 4 bed house (will go to 3 bed but heart set on 4) and we dont want to be too far away from a beach (max say 1hr).

On what I have said above, does WA sound like it is for us? We have been to the East side a couple of times and we are looking to go to WA next year for a reccie.

Thanks for your posts in avance.

JOHN

[mr luvpants]

Come on!! Someone must have an opinion!

[ali]

I personally don't find Perth isolated it all, it doesn't feel as crowded as other cities I've been too which is one of the reasons that we love it. I think Perth is one of those places that you love or hate and you need to decide for yourself.

Ali

[mr luvpants]

Thanks for that. Is it true that house prices are rocketing because of the mining boom?

[adey]

We dont find WA isolated, remember its closer to the UK for visitors and you get over to Thailand, Bali etc quicker from here.

Ok its a long flight to over East but to be honest if you were living in say Brisbane how often in reality would you fly to Sydney??????

Lots of jobs here in WA and a huge influx of people expected with the mining boom, lots of houses being built everywhere so guess its a good sign for WA. House prices have fallen slightly compared to last year so plenty of bargains to be had.

[mr luvpants]

Whats Bunbury like? After what I wrote above, do you think its for us?

[bruce&jackie]

Hi John,
Just back from reccie went up as far as Mindarie and down to Mandurah stayed coast side throughout our stay.
From our point of view we are going to have a better quality day-to-day life, home from work earlier more bike rides, family meals etc etc.
I felt Perth city was more like a big town, Fremantle like Greenwich,London. I personally would not move to Perth if i wanted a great social life in terms of going to lots different venues and happening places. Perth is a relaxed place, great for families and enjoying a laid back lifestyle. Saying that i did notice in certain places there was a definite feel of keeping up with the Jones's.
House prices did shock me even though i'm always on realestate.com because you really need to suss out an area you like and what suits you and your needs. It's no good having a great house if you have to drive for miles for everything, or in a rough area and so on.
We have a good life in the UK but feel it would be better for us in OZ but what suits us might not suit everyone.
Go with whats in your heart as our heads always hold us back to what could be a fantastic adventure and if you don't like it you will have lots of stories to tell down the pub.
Good luck Jackie

[mr luvpants]

Thank you. What was Mandurah like?

JOHN

[bruce&jackie]

Hi John
We thought Mandurah was great it was our very close second choice of where to settle.I felt very at home there. It's very up and coming lots of apartments being built starting price a million $ over looking the marina. But also some really nice houses at a more reasonable price, but was told to avoid Greenfields. New train link now up a running only 45mins to the city. If you fancy owning a boat it's ideal. Some nice restaurants plenty of shops i could imagine it could be very touristy in the summer months though.
Hope that helps
Jackie

[adey]

Originally Posted by mr luvpants

Whats Bunbury like? After what I wrote above, do you think its for us?

If you want to go to different pubs/clubs every weekend then nope I wouldn't say Bunbury is for you as we have about 8 bars in the town, three have live bands every weekend and the rest are restauarants and cafe/bars.

If you are from a large town in the UK then you'll find Bunbury too quiet. Most of the people out clubbing on weekends here are under 25 and we find it weird as we are used to going out with our friends and mixing in quite well but here we stand out apart from in a couple of the local bars where people are more our age. I'm 38 hubby is 41 but we still like to have a night out ever so often and find it very quiet here on the social front. Most people tend to socialise around each others houses and go out on the town on a Friday night but everything is pretty much closed by 1.30am.