lozzachino

So, since my first week update, my OH has started work and we have bought a car! His first interview led to a meeting with the director 2 days later and he was hired, and started yesterday. Salary is liveable and performance based so he has been told there is potential to move up quickly if he works hard. When i find work we will be quite comfortable as a family of 3. from speaking to people and reading the paper i think we have been quite lucky as the job market seems very slow, but i guess this is industry dependent as there are lots of job being advertised in the West Australian, seek and the wa gov jobs site. we looked at a few cars which seemed good as described on gumtree but turned out to be awful! And they were between 4 and 5k, when we thought we might only try and spend 3!! we ended up with a renault clio for just over 5k, but its only done 66000 kms in 6 years with one owner so we are pretty happy with it. We could have got a cheaper car with 3 doors but we wanted a reliable 5 door as we have a toddler and didnt want to be faffing with a 3 door with him! we have done some fun stuff too, been to the zoo, whiteman park, mullalloo beach, ocean reef beach, burns beach and had dinner watching the sunset at clancy's on city beach. The weather has been great for us, low 20s and so sunny, rain tends to come at night which is great! still amazed by prices at the likes of kmart, target and big w. you can get pretty much everything in these shops! Big w has a 600g bar of cadburys choc for under 5 dollars at the moment. was also surprised to not see aquafresh toothpaste in woolworths but then saw an ad on tv last night for macleans milk teeth toothpaste and it looked identical to aquafresh so figure aquafresh is called macleans here! I am loving random things like this! still waiting for husbands tfn, although mine only took 6 days! Also still waiting for medicare cards. Need these to change our driving licenses! Loving life!

And what is PBS? Sorry if thats a stupid question! Finding all this health care stuff a minefield!

Thanks but would i have to pay to see the doctor and get the script in the first place? Or is the doctors visit covered under medicare? still waiting for medicare cards and havent decided what to do re private health insurance yet so not sure if either would help the cost yet.

Hi all, just wanted to let anyone know who needs an epi pen. i went to a chemist to find out if you can buy them over the counter, as in the uk i always got a prescription for mine from the dr. you can buy them otc and they are $111!!!!! not sure if you could ever get them otc in the uk and the comparative cost, but i would imagine its nowhere near this amount!! so if you need one, bring one!! I didnt think i would need one being winter but there are bees around now and i wish i had brought one over for the cost of a prescription! ​Hope this helps someone!

Thanks for that. I have spoken to the head of immunisation in our area and she advised the second one is a month after the first and the third is three months after the second,which would make it 4 months after the first. I have since booked my son in at the local medical centre so will see what they say. Thanks for the heads up.

Hi, we are starting to look for rentals, dont need one til July but just keeping an eye on things. We are in Carramar and would like to stay round here or possibly be closed to Osbourne Park where my OH will be working, budget permitting! my OH starts work full time next week so am wondering how I will get around to view rentals as most seem to be in the mid to late afternoon before my OH will get home. We then noticed on gumtree that private rentals seem to have viewings on weekends which would be easier for us. if anyone could share any experiences of going through gumtree and private landlords I would be very appreciative. Thanks!

How much a week? How many beds and baths? Is it private rental or throughh an agent? Thanks.

Thanks everyone! Definitely loving life, despite the heavy rain outside which is so loud we cant hear the tv!! also discovered the drovers market in wanneroo, about 2 mins from where we are staying, its amazing! Fish, meat, fruit and veg and a deli. All at such reasonable prices!

First week! My husband, son (almost 3 years old), mum (coming with to help out for a couple weeks) and I flew sunday night with Singapore Airlines, LHR to SIN to perth. First leg on upper deck of the a380 was amazing, despite being sat in the row next to a guy with Tourettes! Bit of an experience! Had a shower at singapore using our free singapore dollars as we were transiting through. felt a lot better after that!! Flight to perth was delayed an hour as the push back vehicle broke down and we missed our slot! Service not as good as the a380 but still good for long haul. would highly recommend Singapore Airlines, especially if travelling with kids, they were all fantastic with our son and even remembered his name for the whole flight. Arrived at 1am in perth, pretty knackered but feeling ok. We were collected at the airport by our transfer included with our car hire from Mindarie car hire. Really nice guy from Walsall who had been here 5 years already. He gave us some tips on the drive up and pointed things out. Got to the house just after 2am and were in bed before 3am. Slept til 11am and had very little jet lag after that, which was amazing! We are staying in Carramar. Tuesday we went to the bank to collect our cards, only to be told they were sent to the branch at the start of March when we activated the accounts and had been destroyed as we hadnt collected them! They reordered them and they arrived in 4 working days in the post. You activate them online, and set up your pin number online too. Did a quick shop round Coles in Lakeside, Joondalup, for some basics before heading home. Did a further shop at Woolworths in Carramar later in the day. Woolworths seems slightly cheaper than Coles but I could be wrong. Both have UK and South African sections for all the bits you might miss. Wednesday we drove down to Burns Beach and had a walk around the beach, My son played on the playground for a while and we saw some wild parrots, so pretty. Another visit to Lakeside for some essentials from K Mart! Loving that shop! And Target and Big W! If i had know how cheap some of the stuff is I wouldnt have shipped some things, especially kitchen and kids things! Went to a house viewing in carramar in the afternoon which was another experience! About 15 people/ families turned up! Nice house but we are in the holiday let for 12 weeks so we just went to see what it was about really. Thursday we went to Hillarys Boat Harbour which was really nice, loads of shops and restaurants. Beautiful boats to see including ones for sale! Had lunch at Dome, which is a coffee shop/restaurant which does lovely food. Cost $72 for 3 adults and 1 child meal plus 4 drinks. Friday we went to sort Medicare but then realised we didnt bring my son's passport so gave up and joined the library instead! then went for lunch at Grill'd, a burger chain that makes' healthy' burgers. Plain burger, chicken avo and bacon burger, 1 regular chips (which was plenty for 2) one gluten free roll, 1 soft drink and 1 Corona was $41.50. Took a drive up to Butler for another viewing, only 5 people turned up here, not at the same time so was a bit less hectic than the other one! Nice house but small garden and practically as far north as you can go and still on a building site mostly. Butler feels very far from everything but not sure if thats just because we are liking Carramar and it feels like home. It also seems much more crowded in with less going on, but thats just a first impression. Saturday we went to Mullaloo beach, weather was beautiful and we spent about 4 hours there playing on the beach, swimming, then up to the playground. There was a launch event for the park going on with the mayor and a youth organisation, bouncy castle for the kids and music. The atmosphere was pretty cool. What a beautiful place! Sunday was spent by the pool and having out first bbq, awesome day! Monday was back to admin! Enrolled in medicare, which was fun as they had introduced a new system that morning that wasnt working properly! Wifi had been playing up at the house so we went to the library to use the internet there. Applied for TFN online. Got a few more bits from kmart and some more food shopping from woolworths. Had a coffee in Dome and used the free wifi there too. Bought a sat nav from harvey norman, garmin $137 reduced from 199. One of the best buys so far has been a small fold up pushchair from kmart for $19! Fits perfectly in our little hire car and is so handy for when little legs get tired! Wish i hadnt shipped our pushchair now. We didnt take it on the plane as it would have counted as part of our baggage allowance. We have been looking for a car and car seat at the moment, so thats the next big thing on the list. OH had an interview today that he managed to secure before leaving the UK so fingers crossed! If anyone has any questions just let me know. Am happy to help pay it forward after all the advice I have got!

Hi, i would be interested in the bookcases and maybe coffee table if you have any pics? Also if you have any white goods? Need a fridge and a washing machine! Thanks

Cngrats John, may i ask how you managed that? Is your trial period paid or unpaid? What visa have you got currently?

My OH is looking for an estimator role in construction too!

Hi Noelle, we are looking NoR around Butler simply due to cost. however once one of us has secured a job we may reconsider depending on the location of the job. If you have PR you can claim family tax benefit and rent assistance. On a salary of around 65k and 1 child this amounts to around 450 dollars every fortnight. Seems they like to support working families in australia! what areas were you looking at? We did a lot of looking and researching so its not an easy task and really until we are there we just dont know where we will end up. Our holiday let is Carramar so we are hoping this will be a good base for looking for more permanent accomodation.

Realestate.com.au is a really good site for houses, and their app is even better, its so easy to find rentals on it, would highhly recommend it. We are a family of 3 as well moving in april. We have worked out based on our current lifestyle we could live on 60k, it wouldnt be luxury but we could live.

We have had this happen to us. I would say from our experience, if you hear nothing you havent been successful. Harsh i know but seems to be the way they do things.

I have read about getting personal refs that mention qualities that would be attractive as a tenant, eg neat and tidy, reliable, financially sound etc etc. preferably from an oz based person but if you dont have any i am sure a ref from another country is better than no ref at all!

Nevermind, just saw in your op you moved in Dec!

Congrats jimi!! Good news. How long after arriving have you got this job?

Thanks everyone. I am very pro immunization so have no issue getting them done if they are offered in Oz where they are not here. Really dont understand what people are thinking when they choose not to immunize their kids! if they are free then thats even better. Was just worried about timescales and cost involved in getting this all sorted before my son starts in care or kindy, whichever comes first! Thanks again.

Vaguely i would say around 4k to 5k for a full 20ft container but its best to get some quotes as it depends how much stuff you have.

Hi, just been checking the Aus immunisation schedule v the UK one for up to 4 year olds and found this: http://www.immunise.health.gov.au/internet/immunise/publishing.nsf/Content/nips2 all seems very similar except for the 18 month chicken pox one. If they don't have this in the UK will they need to have it in Australia before being accepted into an Aussie school? Or is it acceptable that it isn't done here and then we don't have to have it there? any advice welcome please! thanks!

Free wifi at libraries? Amazing!! Thanks for this tip!!

Gardening? Whats that? Haha, i am known for killing all plants except herbs so only plan on growing a few pots of them! thanks peeps!

Random question, told hubby yesterday i was going to clean up my wellies for shipping and he said, why, just chuck them away! Would I use wellies ever in Perth??? Not spending time and effort cleaning them if i dont need to! Thanks!

There are a few threads like this if you do a search, and some on perth poms too. Have a look at the shipping and household threads. so hard to decide isnt it, we have changed our minds so many times about what to take and what to sell or toss!