lara24

I have used a few combi washer/driers and have say I would never buy one. Agree with the jack of all trades master of none comment. I think you will get very frustrated with the small capacity and poor results when on wash mode and on the odd occassion you want the drier you have to put so few items in for such a long time it almost defeats the purpose. If you have any way of having a drier in the garage I would go with that option and spend your money on a decent washer. We had one in our short term rental a few months ago and I thought they may have improved as it has been over a decade since I used one. This was a brand new decent model but was still pretty rubbish and certainly didn't change my opinion of them.

We arrived in Perth on the 21st May and were really worried about how hard it would be to find a rental. We looked at 12 houses and only 2 of them had anybody else turn up to view. In the end we got one in Hillarys for $100 p/w less than they wanted and they had already reduced the rent by $200 per week. It really depends what your budget is, the demand for $500-$750 per week is still pretty big but not near as bad as it was. If you can do $750-$800 you really have your pick of some lovely properties that were renting for over $1000 a few months ago. Good luck, oh and the agents will want a small story about yourselves and what takes you to Perth, some like a family photo and plenty references. We don't have pets and my husband already had a job but with proof of savings I am sure you will be fine. We could have moved in 3 weeks after we arrived so a month would have been fine but really all depends on the area and budget you have in mind.

Agree Vitamin E cream and Bio Oil are the best but it is the actual massaging it in to the skin as much as what you are putting on that helps. I have had a few ops and the skill of the surgeon really is your major factor. Oh and I am sure you have been told to cover up in the sun. I haven't been on here for a few weeks as just arrived in Perth a month ago and husband away so just been manic with the 2 kids. How are you Kate? How did your surgery go? Thinking of you. L xx

Brilliant, thanks will look them up.

We have been here in Perth a month now and I will need to go to the GP in a few weeks to sort out prescriptions for some long-term medications for me and cream for my 1 year old baby. I needed to get some eye drops prescribed this week for my son and it was a bit of an emergency so I wasn't thinking about cost so just went to our local pharmacist (777). Is there a cheaper way of buying your medication, should I be claiming any of it back from medicare or is that just for appointments......?? Thanks, not quite got my head round the medicare thing yet.

We used Travelex and will again in the future. Everything done online and they had better rates than we could get elsewhere...... I believe that they can have slightly better rates because they don't actually move money about. They are so big Travelex in the UK takes your pounds and Travelex in Oz give you dollars they already have so no banking involved. I could have that wrong and I am sure someone more money minded than me will explain it better but I would say they are worth a look.

Apologies for being off-line for a bit. We arrived in Perth 10 days ago with 2 young kids so life has been manic to say the least. I will do an arrival report when I get a minute but as promised update on our container shipment. Our container was due in Fremantle yesterday, Kent International contacted us today to confirm it had arrived, asked us to complete the final piece of paperwork and to give our delivery address. Just customs clearance and delivery to go - can't wait to get all my stuff back!!

Thanks, will bear that in mind - never thought of the fumes only the noise.

Thanks northernbird, all a bit frantic here as packing today and flying tomorrow. I will certainly PM you next week once we have arrived - thank you, sounds like you know he areas we are looking at well.

Thanks but we are going to stick to our set area at the moment and look further afield in a couple of weeks if it looks like we are going to be homeless......

Thanks, will get back to you. We would rather not be quite so far north but I am being pulled by the fact that we could afford a really nice house in Mindarie and when my husband was over doing a reccie he really loved Mindarie.

I have to say if your primary reason for leaving Perth is lack of money I would hate for you to move to Aberdeen and realise it is almost as bad. Would you be renting a house to start with? Rental market here is crazy at the moment, every estate agent has sign's up looking for rental properties as demand has never been so high. I have a good friend who does property searches for families arriving in Aberdeen and basically her job is to secure them a house no matter what. She is having to fight for every property at the moment and often offering more rent per month than is advertised. There are areas (as everywhere) where you will get a cheaper rental but whether you would be happy for the kids to grow up and go to school there is another matter. What you need to remember is many many people are living here with their rent and sometimes their bills and private school fees all paid for by oil companies. That coupled with a much higher than normal average income can make housing expensive. Like I said before look carefully at areas. Good luck

I have lived in Aberdeen and shire all my life (36 years) and move to Perth this weekend. It is true there has not been a recession in Aberdeen, we are in an economic bubble with the oil and gas much like Perth. £35,000 is not a lot to support 4 kids with up here but if you get another £2000 per month that would make it more like a $50K salary here so that would be much more realistic and comfortable for you. I have to tottaly dsagree with some of the comments on here about unfriendly people. You will find many Mums have husbands that work offshore so are single Mum's half the time. They are very understanding and supportive of people in similar positions and if you make a bit of an effort you should be able to build a circle of friends for you and your kids. Where about in Aberdeen are you being offered work? Public transport is pretty terrible. Good if you want to get into the centre of town but rubbish for commuting from a suburb to an office. I have lived all over so if you want to PM me with your job offer locations I will try and point you in the right direction for looking at house prices and schools.

Duncraig and Carine. We are looking at Marmion, Sorrento, Hillarys, Duncraig, Carine, Ocean Reef, Iluka........any advice welcome. Thanks L

We fly out to Perth at the weekend so the dreaded rental search will begin next week. We keep seeing houses we like that either back on to or face the Mitchell Freeway. Our old house backed on to a dual carriageway in the North East of Scotland but I think it would have been a quieter road than the Freeway. Doing a house view on a Saturday afternoon is maybe not going to give us a clear idea of how much the road will impact our lives so wondered if any of you could give us your experience....... For the suburbs we want we are going to have to compromise on something just trying to establish if closeness to that road should be an option. I will post this on PerthPoms too. Thanks L x

Thanks Jillian, I will keep it in mind but we really don't want to have to move again until March 2014 so will probably be too short a lease for us as we would not be looking to move in until the 3rd week of June. Good luck with your move.

Oh no, sorry to hear you had such a difficult time. Is it not your insurance company that you need to claim from not White's? I know that our insurance policy said that anything packed by us would not be covered if it got damaged as they only insure what is packed by the professionals. Maybe you are having such a nightmare because the lines of responsibility are blurred with a lot of stuff being packed by yourselves.......Did you use White's own insurance? We used Insure Your Move so not sure about the t's+c's of the policy that White's sell. I hope you get everything sorted and your Mum is not too stressed with it all - just what you don't need when moving!! I will update this thread as our shipment progresses and fingers crossed we don't have too many problems.

Thanks everyone, I have lots of plans for activities for the kids but can't really put anything in place until I know where we will be and what days if any we will have kindy. I know it will get better, just didn't realise it would be this hard first........good job youngest is asleep and hubby is at work as I can't stop crying - oh what a disaster I am!!

Thanks guys, I have been so relaxed the last few weeks it just seems to have hit me hard today. I am sure most people are the same, just need to get through the next week. Kleenex will do a raring trade from me....lol

OMG, I am sitting here in floods of tears having dropped my eldest off at nursery for the last time. He has gone there for 3 years and I don't know when or if I am going to get a Kindy place for him when we move. He is such a sociable little boy I hope he can cope with the loneliness for the next few months....... We have 2 leaving parties this weekend (Nothing flash we are a pretty private family) and everyone I meet during the next week will be a final goodbye. I am an only child and I know my parents are devastated but trying to put on a brave face - I just feel like such a selfish cow for leaving:sad:

I also love The Mentalist, you have got many years to catch up on though. I really like Elementary (new Sherlock Holmes set in New York), Blue Bloods is a really well made police drama set in New York with Tom Sellick and if you can stream UK tv Broadchurch was on ITV recently and was good. Oh and my guilty pleasure at the moment is the new Dallas, now on season 2 here and I am hooked.

This will give you a bit of info on the tow bar: http://www.caradvice.com.au/211197/kia-sorento-heavy-duty-tow-package-upgrades-ball-weight-150kg/ Happy shopping........

We were between the Sorento and the Santa Fe but the driving position was a nightmare for me in the Santa Fe. If your wife is quite tall then you would be fine but at 5Ft I had to have my seat so far forward my knees were hard up against the underside of the dashboard (not sure what you call it but the bit under the steering wheel).

We have just bought a Kia Sorento and have had the Kia heavy duty tow bar fitted. When my other half gets up I will ask him to post it's limits but we chose the Sorento as it was nice to drive, gave us plenty of space and 7 seats when we need them.

I think you need to have posted a set numbem of times before you are allowed to PM. Beeps only has 5 posts so that may be the problem......