nic1964

Hi I wouldn't get too concerned from a Visa perspective. Any medicals etc. are really interested in any long term costs that Medicare would need to cover. Something like that isn't an indication on long term expenses. I got my visa, even though I suffer from depression, and require routine medication, its not a high cost for them, so they weren't concerned. Hope this helps Nick

I agree with others, try setting it up for Germany, I"ve heard that may work. However a set top box is really cheap anyway, so not a great loss if it doesnt work. Nick

I work on the Kwinana strip, and work here is certainly slowing down alot. We've recently let a number of people go from the support staff, and the feeling is its more widespread. It really depends of your field. We did recently recruit an experienced engineer, and had 80+ CV's vs. a handfull a year ago. Alot have load of experience within oil / gas and were being let go, due to projects being shelved. I would check the local websites for jobs,and ask your boss what the opportunities and wages are, as I expect they have also levelled out. Sorry to not be more positive, but with WA costs being so high, were not really competitive Nick

Hope someone can hep me out with a couple of questions around RRV. Myself, wife and two children received out 175 visa in February 2010. My wife and myself moved here in August 2012, and enjoiying life here in Perth. My two kids decided to stay in the UK and finish their education. Both have visited multiple times, have bank accounts etc, etc,and both want to move here. Neither however will be redy to move before the 5 year period expires on their current visa. Both my wife and I have received RRV's because of the 2 year rule. My two questions are 1) Do the kids (21 and 23, its an old habit) have to apply for an RRV before the 5 year period is up? As they are abroad, and havent lived here for 2 years, then will (unless you know otherwise) only receive a 3 month or 12 month RRV? One may come out sooner, but the second doesnt finish university until June 2015? 2) If we don't apply for an RRV until they are ready to move, then what do we do when they want to come for holidays? Do we just apply for an eVisitors visa? Would this affect their success in being granted an RRV. 3) Finally would there be a reason why RRV's arent granted? I know they got their own visa's on the back of mine, but I'd hate for them to loose the opportunity. Thanks in advance, heres looking forward to some thoughts. Nick

Hi, just to confirm, you need nothing to buy a car, assuming your buying it cash and not on HP. An address if necessary to send the documentation to is key, as you only get one letter when the Rego is due, and if you miss that, then you could run out of Rego, which is a pain. You can however track and pay on-line so its not the end of the world. Gumtree is a great place to start, you can get good value for money. Nick

We shipped everthing out, but the company was paying. Our daughters are coming out next year, and we're only shipping out their personel stuff. The reason is that with such a migrant workforce here is WA, people literally give stuff away. Look at Gumtree and then select all free ads using the list on the Left hand side. You'll be amazed. We brought a cheap ute here, and its paid for itself many times over. We got garden furniture, setees, lawnmower, bookcases etc, all for free. If you want to spend a little bit more, then you can easily find everything you need. Hope that helps Nick

I don't know the area specifically, but I"m assuming you will rent initially, so use that as a good opportunity to look around the areas your thinking about. I've found that within the same area, there are very different feels to streets even side by side, so you do need to look around to find somehwere you like. Also don't go by what others say, its so important that you want to be sure / happy yourselves. Best of luck Nick

Like anywhewre there will allways be positions available for unskilled workers. The salary won't be great, but it depends if your the main wage earner or not. Also don't put yourself down, there are plenty of skills that I"m sure you do have. Maybe not paper qualifications, but lifeskills which add value. Try looking at Gumtree out here, it often has general jobs advertised, either hospitality or labouring. Best of luck - Nick

An alternative for shopping is spudshed warehouses. Theres a couple locally, Jandakoot and Baldivis. Fruit and Veg is really good value, plus their meat and fish is OK. Go for whats in season and its value for money. Gumtree for furniture definitly. Depending on your budget, then look in the free section, we've picked up no end of nice furniture including couches, outdoor tables and chairs, for nothing. Hope that helps. Nick

Hi, we live in Kwinana, but do travel to Mandurah alot, due to the really nice restuarents, and walks by the river / sea. Everywhere has its good and bad points, so its difficult to generalise and say is the town / city good or bad. Same with accomodaiotn. Being a fair distance from Perth, probably an hour by car, then rental prices / house prices are alot more realistic, so many people choose to live there. They city has undergone alot of expenditure with a large marina and apartments, but alot are only used as second properties so it tends not to look busy. It isnt a centre of manufacturing etc, so professions like mech engineer and OHS I would expect have limited demand locally. I work on the Kwinana strip, with BP, Tronox, CSBP etc, wherer you may find more options, and then its either FIFO or the city for design consultants. MY advice is to try and visit the place before you make a decision, as everyone is after different things. Nick

we only had a pest inspection done, when we purchased our property, and paid $150. That was with http://www.rockypest.com.au/ Hope that helps Nick

For that length of time, I would buy one. Look on Gumtree, with the migrant workforce here, perople are allways selling cars on. Only need to spend $1-2K, and you'll get the same back again when you sell it. As long as its got Rego, then it comes with minimum 3rd party insurance, so very little cost involved. Nick

One other viewpoint. We didnt use an agent, but went ahead ourselves. Depending on what visa you are going for, then do consider this option. It really wasnt difficult, mostly just providing documents, organising medicals etc. Anything to save money!! Nick

if you are staying 3 weeks, then I would suggest that Perth is really only a base. its not a big place, then go and exlpore more of WA. Depending on what you are after (quiet / busy) then that would help in making a decision. Fremantle I think is a great social place, and a good base. By train its only a short trip my train to Perth. Then explore outside the main Perth area, there's plenty of other threads covering what to do out here. Nick

We looked at both options, and finally decided on an existing house. Primary, because we got a small 3x1 on an 800m2 plot, with large trees in the garden, hardwood jarrah floors. It needed alot of work (not structural, but decorating etc), which we did before we moved in by extending our rental lease. Nice relaxing place, birds in the tree's etc. etc. On a new build, you'd be lucky to get a garden of any size. Also when looking at rentals, when we first arrived, we looked at 2 year old houses, and they really didnt stand up well to daily life. Oh, and although we live in Orelia, which people will now say is a poor neighbourhood, we paid way less than $300K, and have great neighbours. Look at both options, but ask yourself what you really want from the house and neighbourhood. Nick / Lynn

The market is really slowing down here for rentals, whereas there were routinely 20 people at a viewing, now there can be just one or two. Also people are negotiating lower rents, so I don't think you will have any issues there. Unfortunately, that also means that the job market has also slowed alot, so be aware, hopefully your skills are in demand, but it may take a while to find what you want. Nick

Hi Chris, I'm a Chemical engineer who came out here last year, but with lots of experience, so slightl different case. I went down the skilled migration visa route, didnt use and agent, and found the whole process (for me and my family) very straightforward. Having my own visa, which wasnt tied to a state, meant that I could apply for jobs anywhere within Australia. Costs werent too high either. I then contacted a number of agents, and waited until the right job offer came up. Ended up in Perth, which we love. With limited experience, I would suggest you will also need to be really flexible on the job and where you work, so having family in Aus would also be a help as you have some where to stay without the high cost of renting etc. Overall I would suggest you look to go down the skilled route, head out to Brisbane, and then start trawling for jobs. I would also suggest you keep your options open, even graduate engineers here in Perth are finding it hard, and I have friends who have non-engineering jobs as a fill in. Hope that helps a bit. Nick

This isnt an uncommon situation, most older houses only tend to have one or two sockets per room. The standard answer (unless you'r really bothered by appearance) is to buy multiway adaptors from Bunnings that plug in and give you multiple sockets. Only a few dollars, and you can do it now. Don't know about costs sorry, as you say potentially alot. Nick

Either good or bad, but Australian's have a very laid back approach to life. Great to enjoy, hard work, when your trying to get something done. Nick

I applied for my skilled Migration Visa at the age of 44, i.e. just in time. I"m a chemical engineer by trade, so was on the list of those skills in demand, even though my experience is not oil, gas or water, which is what everyone wants. Myself, my wife and 2 kids got our visas approved, and we validated them in 2010. At the time I was spending 1/2 my life on an aeroplane or hotel room, so the money was good, the work / life balance was shot. One of my colleagues got a job out here in WA, and I was his telephone reference. I asked the agent if there were jobs going, and after a few months one potential position came up just outside Perth here in WA. I was lucky with the telephone interview, on line testing, references etc etc and got the job. That was April 2012. By that time the kids were in Uni in the UK, so last August we said goodbye to everyone got on a plane and arrived in Perth on a cool August evening. We had a car and accomondation for 6 weeks, but still struggled to fine somehwere to rent. We ended up in a Fibro home in Medina, and only got that on condition we adopted their pet cat which the owners couldnt take!!. Those first few weeks were stressful, kids on their own, my wife alone, and with limited money, looking for cheap cars etc etc. We did sell our own house in the UK 3 months later, brought a small 3x1, and are currently completely renovating it inside and out. Lynn has a good social life, and the cat has been joined by a stray, and my job is alot easier than before, so are we happy. Well yes, but its easy to foget why we came, and we take time to enjoy the weather, local haunts (Freo, Rockingham) as well as starting to go further afield. Financially we are no where near as well off, but we are quite happy with a small house, and simple life, and so far plenty of visitors from the UK. When asked, if we are returning to the UK at any point we say no, we've been there, we'd rather pay for relatives to come out here. Even though I had a job and support here in Aus, it was still stressful, but that should be accepted as part of the move, and not something that you can avoid. Best part so far, Christmas day, laying under the trees on Rockingham Foreshaw. 40 deg.C, lots of families enjoing themselves, and no cooking - wonderful Nick / Lynn

Hi ,like most places its difficult to say, there are good and bad areas everywhere. I tend to go by what the house and street look like to gauge the area. Two streets side by side can be very different. I would suggest you come over here initially with a short term holiday let, then you can look around for longer term rental. There are certainly plenty of nice places in Mandurah, it depends what you want? There are great apartments in the Marins complex, but if you want garden etc, maybe further away from the town centre. As to the cost of living there are quite a few threads that cover this top for Perth etc, so would be worth searching for there. We moved out here a year ago, and live in Orelia, and our costs are roughly as follows Mortgage $1500/month for a $200K mortgage over 30 years (we are overpaying by 20% to try and pay it off earlier) Car Loan 0 - Both cars brought for $2K each, and running well Car Insurance approx $80 for two/month Gas $50/month - we are rally careful, it can be alot higher Electricity $50/month - again we are really careful, we have a log fire for heating and that costs about $40/month in wood in winter season Rates $150/month Internet $70/month Mobile phones $100/month for two (both iPhones our luxury) Food $150/week. Petrol depends on how far you travel, but its around $1.50/litre Alcohol; Wine $5/bottle, Beer $45/crate Cigarettes $20+/packet of 20. If we eat out, then typically $60-100 for two of us, again without Alcohol We don't live an expensive life, but never wanted to, so thats fine. If you run new cars, and have expensive houses, then the cost can be alot higher. I think you can live comfortably on $100K we certainly do. Nick/Lynn

The sun is shining, I finish work at 3pm, and will head to the beach for a lovely walk with the wife along the sand in Rockingham. The place is clean, people are nice, and we really enjoy the simple life. We have a nice house, 1/2 hr from Perth at 1/2 the price that the CBD demands, so our mortgage is OK. This evening well light our log fire (free heating, plenty of wood offered on Gumtree), and watch one of the public TV channels, or a DVD, and go onto facebook and see how are friends are doing. And this is winter!!!! We don't drive new cars, or have loans for anything, if we save for it, then we treat ourselves. We also don't compare costs etc with the UK, there's no point, were here so we have to pay local prices. We shop around and find that there are loads of bargains to be had. Life is what you make it, but I tell you what, we find it 200% better here that in the UK. We came out here twice before we emigrated and we find the actual life as good as the holidays, even though we hadnt been to WA before. Don't be put off by others, go with what you want to do, and enjoy it. Nick

We moved out a year ago, mainly for the quality of life we saw when on holiday out here. We also had good jobs, nice house, friends, hobbies, family, pets, so it was a huge move. Also my wife suffered with Arthritis, which Liverpool weather didnt exactly help with. It was tuff the first few months, I had a job coming out here, but getting a rental, cars etc took some work, and also ensuring my wife (who decided not to work initially), wasnt just hanging around the house bored. One thing we decided early on was not to coampre things to the UK, prices, housing or shopping etc, that wasnt fair on Aus. So how are we now, 12 months in, we have a nice small 3x1 house, according to my wife I look 10 years younger and we have so much more time as a couple. Perth weather is great, and we love being near the beach, so we can just go for a walk. Winter is still nealry 20 deg.C in the day, so we still sit outside when I get back from work, and can still enjoy it. So yes we also had lots of concerns (our kids are still in the UK at Uni), but we like our life here in Aus, and don't hanker after going back. Quality of life is alot better, alot simpler, but were happy. Overall life is what you make it, but we feel happy and settled. Nick

We used pickfords when we moved down under and as part of their service they would return once, after delivery and collect any packaging from boxes we empited within the first few weeks of getting into our rental. Getting rid of remaining boxes we found easy, so many people move here in WA, just put them on gumtree, people are allways looking for them. We offered 20+ boxes all flat for free, and they soon went. Nick

it really depends on you. We live in WA, have two cars, neither with working aircon, and its OK, you do the old fashioned thing, wind down the windows!!! You may have some issues registering it, as certainly WA you need to get an engineers report for anything that isnt original, so converting it to a camper (adding gas bottles ??), would require an engineers review which can be expensive, esp if you need to do further remedial work. I would look on Gumtree and see how much you can buy one for here. Nick