Paul1Perth

You've written in a different thread about bands and film festivals on at the moment and last night of the proms. Make your mind up, Perth has loads of things going on and the added bonus of the sun and beach. Glorious Saturday and probably better yesterday. Me and the wife were at the beach for about 4 hours Saturday and me and the youngest about 5 yesterday. Not sunbathing though, rarely do that, out on the paddle board and surf ski or just swimming. My wife went to some markets at UWA yesterday, not my scene but she said they were very good and busy. Factor 50 waterproof sunscreen is the go to. If you forget to apply and go to the beach just ask the lifeguards they always have some. Popular beaches like Scarbs, Cottesloe bottles are put out for the public. If you're ever out and forgot to apply there's usually free sunscreen somewhere. Very important for kids.

When I broke my leg 3 months back the X-rays, moon boot and treatment at the hospital, on the day and follow up, didn't cost me a thing. They gave me crutches too that had to be returned but no cost. Our doctor bulk bills and if you're really ill he'll squeeze you in on the day you ring. Otherwise you have a few days wait.

When I was there last the queue for the uk passport line going in was longer than I had to wait with an Aus one.

Surf ski BF, not a jet ski.

Fine thanks. Been in Dunsborough last weekend for the Eagle Bay Adventure race. Not a shark in sight.

If his UK passport is still valid he can use that. It's expensive and I reckon a waste of money keeping two.

Waited till we had the visa and knew we were in. Told the in-laws first as they were just down the road and we were hoping to move in with them after we sold the house. I was a bit worried but they were really supportive and excited for us. It helped that they had moved to Canada for about 10 years. My wife had a Canadian accent when I met her. My family were OK, my sister and BIL were the most upset, we were very close and used to go out together a lot. Mostly we were more excited than apprehensive. Just wanted to be on the plane as soon as we got the visa.

He won't miss out here.

You have a good memory HH.

Another good thing is having designated dog (and horse) beaches and animals are banned at others. I'm a dog lover and when we were on holiday once in Portugal, where there are no restrictions, a stray dog used to come sit with us every day. Everyone thought it was ours and gave us a few black looks when it would be wandering around. I've known some dog owners moan about rules but I like the idea. The dog beaches are well equipped with cafes, dog wash, bags for dog crap. People generally do the right thing so they aren't dirty places. The one near us and Hillaries gets packed.

I'm with you there. If Perth and surrounds wasn't near the ocean with good weather it would be just another City. Another thing about Perth is how clean it always looks.

That culture is still there BF. you would be up too late to notice it anywhere near the City though. Don't try to park anywhere near any surf club Sunday mornings, there are literally hundreds of kids running around with their club caps on. Maybe the sleeping on the beach has disappeared but there's still a lot of people that love to go down with a bottle of bubbly and see the sunset.

We've been here since 92 and have never got tired of the beaches. We never "sunbathe" like we used to on holiday from the UK, so sitting and melting, as you put it, wouldn't be on our radar. I have a surf ski and paddle board at the surf club, both kids have been in the club since 7, most of our friendship group have the same interests and the beach is where we see them mostly. In summer one or the other of us is there for ski, board or swimming anywhere between 5:30am and 7:00am. My wife is there this morning for yoga. We are always doing something when we're down the beach. It is pleasant just to sit and relax for a bit and maybe have a snooze. I've always found the sound of the ocean soothing and relaxing. Our rellies love that they can walk to the beach when they visit. Saves us the hassle of having to ferry them everywhere.

I think whatever airline they are travelling with will be mandating covid free with vaccine proof before being allowed to travel.

Lanzarote used to be very popular for windsurfers when I used to do it. Is it still the same? Do you windsurf? Some brilliant spots for it along the coast here, kite surfing seems to have become more popular now though. I liked Lanzarote but that was back in the 80's and we were only there for a week, windurfing every day.

I've never known anyone go on about or seemingly affected by the drug problem as you BF. What do you mean you don't get people going out in the evenings? Of course you do, Freo and Perth are lively places in the evenings and if you get up enough courage to venture up and down the coast road, say City Beach through Scarbs and Trigg as far as Hillary's there's people out running, biking, walking, pubbing, going to retaurants with nary a drug addict or homeless person in sight. Depending what Spanish Island they're on they may be overrun by refugees mate. There's a real problem for the whole of Europe that's only going to get worse.

To have a like for like lifestyle would be out of reach for most Perth people. An equivalent property for us would be something like a 4x2 with a garden, on a quite street 5 minutes walk to Manly beach. God knows how much that would cost. Sydney is busy and frenetic too. When we had a family holiday there our youngster with autism was very quite, unlike him. We had been there a few days and went a walk through the botanic gardens, he was his usual chatty self and said the crowds, noise, traffic made him feel stressed. He loved the peace of the gardens.

Bunbury, Busselton, Margaret River, Augusta, Denmark and lots more down South are fabulous. You can feel a bit like you do on your small Spanish Island though and "outgrow" the area. Perth and Fremantle are nice places to visit, have things like international bands, top notch sports, artistic events, a massive casino and hotel complex, horse racing, dog track, great cricket and soccer grounds with good teams. Public transport is good. We are about 30km North of Perth, 10 minutes walk to the beach and feel we have the best of both worlds.

I've not really met many people from Perth who dislike Sydney, why would they? I love it and loved my work trips there. We've been on family holidays and we all like it. It's very busy, very expensive for houses in comparison with Perth but is a spectacular City.

What are you looking for from your move? Would you like to be near the beach, near the City, in the hills? Whilst beachside suburbs are highly desirable and rents competitive if you fancy that type of lifestyle it can really mean the difference to you settling and loving it to the other extreme where you feel as if you've moved to an outer suburb, with zero amenities, miles away from shops, pubs, cafes and hating it. On the upside there are lots of people moving in and out of places like Scarborough which has a huge rental market, lots of new apartments and lots of established smaller properties that are a few years old. Lots of them have pools, shared barbeque areas and you'd be a stones throw from one of the nicest beaches and ocean front along the coast. Loads of restaurants, pubs, clubs, brilliant 50m outdoor pool, bike paths up and down the coast, shops nearby. You could walk to most things, parking can be a drama there anyway. There may be more rentals avaialable when borders open. A lot of FIFO workers from over East stayed and rented rather than keep having to quarantine every time they flew in. Good luck, we've been here since 92 and love it. My son rents in Scarbs.

In the end it's all going to be down to your youngsters personality and temperament. Does she make friends easily, does she get upset if people make fun of her? Moving to the North East of England you can expect she's going to cop a bit for her accent and being the new kid. Hopefully she can cop it sweet and maybe have a few choice remarks back. My youngest has autism and had more than his fare share of bullying. Luckily he stuck up for himself, whacked a couple of kids, got suspended for a couple of days and bullying stopped. I know it's not as easy with girls, their bullyiing can be more subtle and more cruel in a way but if your daughter is insisting to go to the local state school with her friend, that's a step in the right direction. If her friend is part of a good social group already that might help.

I'll give that a chance as I like Nicola Walker, usually. Thought Unforgotten was really good and she was the main character, backed up by other good actors though.

We got into SAS Australia that finished last week but used to record it and fast forward through the ads and padding.

If there's a crash they might go down by the same amount.

Magnetic Island is brilliant too. I was there with work over a long weekend, not working. Caught the first ferry, hired a motorbike, islands surprisingly big. Found a nice beach where lots of people were swimming, took the bike back around 5:00 and went to the pub near the ferry terminal. What a brilliant atmosphere. Thought I'd only stay for a couple of beers but some guys got on guitars, started chatting to some people, got a jug or 2 and ended up on the last ferry back. Think it was about 11:00pm.