t4top

Thanks everybody for all the positive response to my post. Australia is a very beautiful country. I sometimes pinch myself to believe that I live in a country like this! I haven't been to the East Coast yet but we are going on holiday to the Gold Coast in July. However, the places that we have visited in WA like Rotnest Island, Bumbury, Busselton and Margereth River are very nice places with some of the best beaches in the world. More like the Caribbean with white sandy beaches and crystal clear water for miles. They are just so beautiful I wish all those who are in the process of coming over the best of luck and hope you find your own perfect place to settle in Aus. Do your research properly before you come and come with a positive attitude. The country is very welcoming and the people are very friendly. The saying here is "No worries" and that shows how laid back the people are. They tend to live life to the full and if you can relax and make a bit of effort you will enjoy the place. We are enjoying it here and we are also very grateful to the people and the Country. Wish you all the best of luck.

Hello Everyone, I was a regular visitor to this forum when we were preparing to emigrate to Australia just over three years ago. I haven't posted anything since we arrived here but today I just decide to visit the site again to read about peoples experiences of moving to Australia and also share our own experience so far of living here in Perth. We decided to relocate to Australia after many years of proscastination. We weren't sure at the time and thought it was a big gamble to leave our jobs, family and friends and move to a place where we had never visited before. Anyway, we summoned the courage and moved in December 2011 after my wife and I both had job offers in Australia. We arrived here on 1st january 2012 and my first impression was this place is so small. I mean we were out of the airport in about 15 minutes! Have we made a big mistake!!! All the fears quickly evaporate after a couple of days. We bought two cars as we both needed to commute to work, secured a rental accomondation and everything else started to fall into place. My eldest daughter who was in the middle of her A/Level in the UK before we relocated got an admission to two different Universities but she had to do a six month programme prio to her degree to make up for the rest of her A?Level that she didn't finish. Our other chuldren quickly settled at school but the younger one found it hard to start with because she wasn't happy that she was put back a year. I have found that the key to settle down quickly is to try and make friends and occupy yourself by going out to where you can meet people. I have found the Aussies to be very friendly and welcoming. We have met a lot of people through church and by going swimming regularly at state swim schools. I can honestly say that our lifesyle is better here than it was in the U.K. We do go out a lot now. We are regularly been invited to parties and barbies than we ever were in England. We are really loving it here. There were times in the first year that I wanted to go back but my wife and the kids said no way so I had no option but to give it a good go. I am glad I did because now I am very happy here. I can understand people that have come and want to go back. You do have this feeling at times but gradually most people get over it. We managed to buy a plot of land by the end of our first year here and have since built and moved into our own house. My eldest daughter will complete her BSc Nursing degree in December and our other two children are doing well in school. Our neigbours, who are all Aussies, are very nice to us. Infact, we know almost everybody that live in our street and they stop and talk to us all the time. It wasn't like that at all where we lived in London. We are now looking forward to becoming Aussie citizens in January and visit England not only as British but as Aussies as well. We think that this country as been kind to us and I cannot thank the people and the country enough for the opportunities they have given us. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.............

Secret Harbour is lovely. We stayed there for a month when we first arrived and the place is just beautiful. We were about five minutes walk to the beach and the street we were staying at was full of million dollar houses. It was gorgeous! We wanted to stay there long term but we couldn't get a long term rental then and we only booked our short term rental for a month so we had to look elsewhere. I am sure everybody would be fine. Australia is a nice place to live.

One other area SOR that I would be wary of living there is Thornlie. I was told to avoid the area before we got here and when we got here we drove round the neighbourhood and diddn't like what we saw. However, the place is now changing because of its closeness to Perth city and people are now buying up the older properties, knocking them down and replacing them with new and modern buildings. Success is also a fine suburb as well as the surrounding suburbs of Atwell and Aubin Grove. We looked at the suburbs when we first arrived and they looked fine. We also spoke to residents there and we didn't get any negative reports.

CRIME ! That is why you want to avoid Hamilton Hill. I wouldn't want to live there. I know somebody that live there and work in Freo and she has been burgled three times. There was a recent incident in the paper where a house was burgled at 7.30pm and the burglars smashed through the front door with the residents indoors. Beeliar is nicer and it is not far from Freo with easy access to the city. Canning Vale, Piara Waters and Southern River are nice suburbs with access to good schools, shopping malls, the freeways (kwinana and Roe Highway) and train link to the city via Coburn. These suburbs are very safe and affordale. Rents are also reasonable.

Hi All, Good luck to all of you in your adventure down under. We went through all those emotions too last year when we got our visa and it got worse as the d-day approached. However, the moment we got here i instatntly fell in love with the place. We got here on the 1st january this year and I absolutely love the place. I am sure you would all be fine. It is a beautiful place to live with loads of opprotunities and a fabulous lifestyle. The kids have settled well, we love our jobs that are both well paid and our lifestyle has improved a lot since we have been here. We have just bought a plot of land SOR and are in the process of building our dream home with a pool and outside spa. I doubt if we could have done that in England if we had stayed there and the fact that we are confident enough to do this less thatn a year in the country shows how well we have settled. Australia is a nice and welcoming country and we have found the people to be warm and helpful. We cannot wait to take up citizenship of this great country.

Hi Brenda, We arrived in Perth in January and had arranged for a temporary accommodation in Secret Harbour for a month. We spent about three weeks looking for a rental but with no success. We were even offering to pay as much as $20 over the asking rental but the competition was just too tough. Somebody then told us to look in The West Australian newspaper weekend issue as private Landlords advertise there. We did and bingo we got our first rental. There was no competition and we were the only one that came to view. We had plenty of time to view and had a good conversation with the landlord. The following day we signed the contract and the house is ours. It is a new house in a really nice suburb called Piara Waters (SOR) close to Canning Vale. We didn't even have to pay a cent over the asking rental so I will advise you to get the newspaper as soon as you get here and look through the real estate section. It always have private adverts by landlords for rentals. Good Luck. t4top

Could you please provide more details. How do you transfer UK pensions to NZ QROPS and how do you then claim that back in cash after 5 years in Australia.

Thanks Elen.

Do you know when this programme will be aired on ITV in the UK ? Thanks.

Blimey!!! Thanks Meljayg. Something else to think about now. We are now even more confused. I wouldn't want her to work somehere and be unhappy. That will completely unsettle her. The Clinical Manager sound very nice but I just don't know now. Anybody out there who can help please....ee!!! t4top

Hi, Is there anybody who has worked or is currently working as a Nurse in any of these hospitals who can shed some light on what it is like to work there. My wife has been offered a job in both hospitals and we can't decide on which one to accept. Both offer roughly the same salary so our decision would be based on working conditions/environment and future prospetcs. Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated. t4top