Bunbury here we come

[susanmary38]

Hi guys
Great news today, just wanted to share it.
We have been granted sponsorship from WA, its the last piece of the jigsaw, as we had swopped from SA to WA, visa 176 already applied for in April, just waiting for case officer now.
Hoping to be in Bunbury before the end of the year, can't wait as we have heard so many great reports on the place.
See you soon
Dave n Sue

[adey]

Congratulations, hope you love it as much as the rest of us do. It's totally different to anything in the UK but that's why we love it. 15 mins max to work from where we live in Dalyellup and beaches all around us.

Take a look at MySouthWest - Western Australia's South West Business and Community Directory Portal Website and much more! I'm sure there are photo's so you can get an idea of what the city looks like (its a small town really but don't tell the locals!).

C u on the beach.

We have definate seasons here so I'd bring jackets as it can get windy here and we have plenty of rain as its a med climate. Then again didn't rain for 50+ days straight from Dec to Feb but made up for it in April. Haven't worn my winter coat yet or scarves etc even though locals do (its too warm for that) but need warm blankets at night as the house is cold as no heating and single glaze windows.

Summer is beautiful, hot but not as hot as Perth, it was 40 degrees on Christmas Day and Boxing Day so that was very strange, but that was the hottest it got on average reckon its 32 - 35 all summer but very manageable. Autumn was wet but had some really lovely warm days. Winter only last a couple of months and then back to glorious sunshine.

Spent all summer in shorts and vests and haven't worn half the clothes or shoes I brought with me and had to buy new shorts/vests as mine from the UK were too hot. Its great living in thongs (flip flops) for 8 months of the year, one thing I love about the place.

The only creepy crawlies we've seen are red backs in our garage and white spot tailed spiders in our house but we sprayed the place and they disappeared. You get used to checking things automatically even though we were paranoid for a few months but now just don't even think about it.

Any questions feel free to ask, not on PIO much these days but check ever so often.

Sarah

[susanmary38]

Thanks Sarah.
So glad you like it out there, how long have you been there, and how do you get on with the locals, or how do they treat you.
Will probably get back to you with loads of questions.
Thanks Dave n Sue

[adey]

We've only been here since October 2007 but we like it so much we are building a house and its due to be finished in September (we bought the land at the end of November - yep we sure don't hang around lol).

You'll find everyone here very friendly and we've made lots of new friends already. The city is quiet compared to Cardiff where we come from, its more like a small town to us. Its very Australian looking, you'll know what I mean when you get here, nothing trendy but we've got a few trendy type bars and a few pubs. Most people live in the suburbs Eaton, Dalyellup, Treendale, Millbridge to name a few.

We have always been made to feel very welcome and I work in an all Aussie office and they have been really helpful and given loads of advice, and tried not to laugh too much at my silly questions. OH works in mainly a South African staffed office with only a few Aussie's and he's the only POM, you'll get used to being referred to as the POM, I just say no I'm Welsh lol.

Its very, very laid back here and there are really beautiful places to visit down in Margaret River and further south and its all very very quiet still waiting to see a traffic queue down here. Seen plenty of queues in Perth but that was during the week and its a very spread out city if you ask me (Perth not Bunbury).

Shops shut early but we are used to that now, 6pm all week except for Thursdays (9pm I think) and Saturday they shut by 5pm. Sunday's shops aren't open in Bunbury but you can drive to other suburbs and they are open. Its actually quite nice as used to spend way too much time and money in the likes of Tesco's, Asda's nothing like that to tempt you here, supermarkets sell food and that's about it and you have to go to the bottle shop for booze but to be honest its not a hassle to shop think we spend max of a hour shopping and that's going to the butcher, baker, farmers market and supermarket. One of the things I like most is that they pack all your shopping for you - its great and still a novelty.

The beaches are pretty quiet and you don't have to fight for a space like you do in Spain, infact lots of the time you could be on your own on the beach. Dolphins breed in the bay in Bunbury so you'll see plenty if you know where to look for them and whales swim past this time of the year and in Sept/October.

Its very very laid back and has taken us a while to embrace it and switch off our UK vibes but we are getting there I assure you.

One thing to buy is a sat nav as sign posts are useless in WA if you already have one see if you can buy a map in the UK as we ended up having to buy a brand new Sat Nav as the maps here were as expensive as buying a brand new machine. It was only about 80 quid in the UK for the map OH was not happy lol.

I brought a load of nice dresses to wear for socialising here but to be honest you really really won't need them. Its very casual and people do get dressed up on a Friday night but its mainly smart tops and trousers, skirts or shorts depending on the weather. Smart town wear but nothing posh and the rest of the time casual very casual.

Lots of people have uniforms for work which is great and OH was told smart office wear so he brought all his ties and can't think of a single day that he's had to wear one except for when we went to the works ball up in Perth and that's the only time I've worn a posh frock.

Its great and we've totally embraced it.

Sarah