M1cha3la

Haha, thank you I do understand the sentiment of it being a little mad, but there are always pros and cons of buying any house. I definitely agree with you, we wanted to buy and as we can't turn the clock back 15 years to pre boom prices, the current market felt like the best time for us. I am just glad it is not at the height of a boom, then I really would of cried with shock Really, I shouldn't of put the value in my post. It was just an honest review of our experience that I hoped would help others. But it is not the case for the whole of Perth. VXRH is right, there are cheaper houses out there if you go further out or to different suburbs. Prehaps what I should of included was that we did not live near a city in the UK and we got tired of the hour long commute each way to work, so this time we decided we wanted to live as closer to work. But I could go on forever with details and my first post felt long enough as it was

Um, wow ok. Well I guess firstly as you don't know our full financial circumstances or our motivation to buy where we brought, that your post could be taken as a little, erm, rude? Am I mad, maybe. But then maybe I am a millionaire. Is any job ever 100% secure? No. No one would ever buy a house if they thought as such. But we do know our financial situation and are perfectly comfortable with it. And for all accounts it takes us 20 minutes to get into the CBD from our local train station. I didn't fancy Butler, even if we could afford a 10 bed up there, but thank you for the reply though

Hi Collie, Thank you for the lovely reply. I totally agree with what you said about the boom and bust. It is all relative really. We knew it would be tough and had many conversations over timings, but in the end we figured if we can make it work here at its worst then we can survive anything. It is slowly all coming together. We brought NOR near Duncraig. What brought you over from Sydney? Good luck with the job search too. My hubby is ACCA (the enemy haha) and CPA, I am sure he would be more than happy to offer any advice, tips and contacts that could help

We are English, so we shall moan about the weather Most people can not understand why I feel so cold. But like you say, 6c in a morning when you get up is cold. And if your house is anything like ours, it is probably 4c inside. And while yes it does get colder than that in the UK, you rarely feel it, because of central heating and double glazing. Radiators are the last thing I thought i'd miss Good luck with the potential move, it is very exciting. Have you visited Perth before?

Sydney house prices are terrifying. Perth is not cheap but compared to Sydney it is. I think the weather will be better. When we visited Sydney in December I nearly died, but it was because it was humid. Perth is dry heat, so I never really feel too hot. This last 12 months have not been my definition of hot at all though. Winter carried on forever last year. My friends (work colleague) said they are normally in their pool by early October, but had to wait till mid November last year. Then there wasn't really the month of 40c + that is also known as January. I was really looking forward to it, so naturally I am feeling short changed it is endless sunshine here though. Well not today, its raining. But usually it is sunshine

Thank you everyone I have really missed this forum and all of the support it offers. Xx We are not overly worried about the jobs. We knew it was going to be tough with the current climate in Perth and was very thankful to get work. It is not the dream job, but it is not forever. It is hard to not let it taint the other areas of your life though and after reading my post back from last night, it makes me a bit sad that I come across so down as we do really love it here. For us, Perth is a great place to live.

I turned into a whinging pom thanks for the kind words

And because my first post sounded so miserable, lets have some lovely pictures, which show without words, why we moved here and why we love it here

Hiiii my lovelies I have been here a year I have no idea where it has gone if I am honest, and I have also not spent nearly enough time on here repying all the help I received. I would like to say it is because I have been too busy enjoying life here.. Maybe. Maybe not, honestly I am not sure. Buckle up. Here we go.. Work We came with no pre set up work. Hubby was the main visa holder as an Finance Controller (accountant). I was lucky, I got a job 4 weeks after moving here, as a general admin, it was a step back from my previous roles, but strangly an increase in pay. I hate it, but it pays the bills and a year on I am still in it.. Hubby (bless him) truely has struggled. It has taken 10 months and 400 + applications and a major pay cut to get a permanent job here. I won't lie, it is tough for accountants in my hubbies field. General feel: I read it before I came and I could go on about incompetence and nepotism in the Australian workforce, yes, it is very much there. Without going into hours of detail, career wise, we are both miserable. Money Damn the brexit. We completed on our house sale the day after the vote. Good bye 2.05 hello 1.60. Yeay. We sat and waited and waited, the £ is screwed. Lets move on. Houses Compared to our part of the UK, it is bloody expensive here. But then to be fair, we did not live near a major city in the UK. We rented for the first 12 months. An rubbish old 80's style house that is cold, damp and dusty. Yes, pictures online lie, but we visited in person so we have no one to blame but ourselves what a location though, sea views and a pool. I forgive my realestate agent for being shocking, they all are. 12 months in, we brought another 80's style cold, damp house for far more $ than I am comfortable with. But I am still in Leicester price mode, not Perth prices. $630k for 3 bed still feels ridiculous though.. Weather Move to Aus, it is warm they said.... LIES. I have never felt so cold in my life I am told we moved during the coldest winter/summer on record (my luck!). Sure, those 28c days are peachy, but 4c at night in that 80's single glazed house, with no central heating, it has not been fun. Perth, you need to sort this s**t please Social Life We have no social life. But that is ok, we didn't in the UK either to be fair. We are not sociable per se, we do not have a big circle of friends so have not missed out on that. But, in the 12 months living in our rental, despite seeing our neighbors on the drive way everyday, I have no idea who they are. On the flip side, 2 hours in our new house 3 lovely neighbours (nosey sods) came around to say hi. Maybe its suburb related, maybe its owner/rental related. Who knows. I am sure if you make an effort to make friends (unlike us) then you will be fine. Cost of living We have not really noticed a diference. Yes, cheese is more expensive. But god fuel is cheap. It is swings and round abouts. We paid £6 for a glass of wine in the UK, its $9 here. Neither here nor there really for us. Overall, taking every houshold cost into account, I would say no more expensive or cheaper than the UK. Overall My god, I sound miserable. Honestly, we love it here. Yes, it has been the hardest year of our lives. We "knew" it would be tough. We "knew" it would take time. We had no idea. It has been the biggest learning curve for me and I discovered I am far more British that I realised.. I was the driver of this move and have felt in many ways accountable for it all. The days hubby was so depressed when he couldn't find a job. The days we froze watching movies. The day my mom got rushed into hospital and I was the other side of the world. Emigrating sucks. But it is also the best thing we have ever done. Every day on the way to (my hell) of a job, I am in awe of the stunning beauty that WA has to offer. The ocean, the gorgeous parakeets, the sunshine. We are miserable here but we also love it here, in a weird twisted way. We know that the current jobs, houses ect are not forever and we have a hope for the future that we never had in the UK. So. Would I do the last 12 months again? Yes Thanks for reading (to the end... if you got this far )

Hi @Missyell, I am so sorry for the late reply. I have not had chance to get on here much lately. Sadly there is only one way to make a claim, another huge form :frown:. We contacted PSS initially and then they pass you through to the insurance company who email out the form. They will want all your proof of purchases ect so maybe dig those out. We refused to give them most of ours as our policy was sold/based on a % value of new replacement in desitination country (it even said that on our application form) so I couldn't see why my reciept from 5 years ago for a sofa was relevant. This was our main argument with them for the miss-selling of the policy. Also our case officer only worked 2 days a week and no one else will look at your case, which is another factor that slowed ours down, so ask for a case officer that works full time. Hopefully you will not need to use them but if you do just stand firm with them. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you :cute: Edit, I just realised, you should have all your stuff now. Did it all arrive safely? X

My hubby has a big collection that we brought with us, around 12 bottles. We had them airfreighted with our shipping company as our "free incentive" to ship with them. The tax was around $600-$700. I can't remember the exact amount without digging out the receipt but it was expensive. For us it wasn't about the value or saving money it was more the fact that we have some rare ones and some sentimental ones from special occasions (wedding ect) that could not easliy be replaced in Aus. I would say if its a cost saving thing then don't bother as the tax pushes the price of the whisky up and over what you would pay here in the shops. If you have unusal ones then bring them, the choice here is quite limited and you can only really get the big named main brands. Also as a PP mentioned, utilise the duty free allowance. We had an extra five bottles (the most expensive ones as the tax is calculated on the value of the whisky) packed in our case to help soften the blow :laugh:

Thank you :wubclub: We are just glad its finally all sorted. I agree 110% for going with an independent insurance company. Ours was sold as being easier as it was all "under one roof". Not true at all :no:

So I thought I would pop back on this thread to give it an update. We have finally settled with the insurance company, 4 months after receiving our goods and lodging a claim. It has been nothing short of a nightmare and we have been pretty close to taking them to court for the misselling of the policy. Thankfully my hubby has been stubborn enough to fight it to the end and knows what he is talking about so we have come out with 95% of what we expected, which considering it started at around 20% is no small feat. I won't go into too much detail (its boring) but as a summery: - The policy was sold as a full replacement policy with the premium being a % of the replacement cost for brand new in destination. The insurance wanted to pay out based on original purchase price - depreciation for each year of age. - The policy was sold as an insurance policy, it was actually an indemnity policy. - We had to have external companies come in to assess and quote the damage and state it was from shipment at our own cost and submitt to insurers and claim back the expenses. - All insurance figures discussed and sold were in GBP but insurance has been paid in AUD (with current exchange rate, we have obviously lost out, not a big deal in the grand scheme but still). - The customer service was shocking from the insurance (see previous post) and the shipping agents where no where to be found when it came to requiring the transit paperwork proving the damage was not pre exisiting. All in all I would estimate hubby has spent a good three weeks on the phone chasing down our claim and we have a crazy phone bill to show for it, but at least it is now settled, it has taken over 4 months. Thankfully most of our damage was cosmetic (I will post some pics) and the goods were still usable. If they had been fully broken we would of had to pay out upfront for new whilst waiting. Anyway I guess the purpose of this post is to hopefully warn others to be super carefull when purchasing insurance. Make sure you get all upfont sales pitches in writing and read the policy 100 times. Our shippers would not provide a policy document despite us asking several times but they assured us time over that we were covered. We thought we would be safest using the shippers insurance and sadly this did not turn out to be the case and has been a lesson learned for us. Additionaly, when your things are being packed make sure they double wrap the big things, so much attention is given to the fragiles that the big things get overlooke and that is where we got most of the damage.

Most people we have met and talk to say its grim here, but they have been here through the boom so I imagine it would seem grim now. It seems pretty normal to me, similar amount of jobs advertised, similar level of competition to what I am used to and I found work quickly. Hubby, who is still out of work 3 months on would disagree. There are not many jobs at the moment in his line of work/position.

Oh hun, first of all big :hug: I am in a similar situation with my hubby, we have been here around two months and he has still not managed to find work. Things are tough out there right now and each day when I get home (I was so lucky and got work) I can feel the tension. My hubby has always been the main earner for us and and while he has not said it yet I know he is currently miserable. I think a job is such a big part of daily life and while many of of dream about quitting and doing nothing (me!), the reality of being at home all day is probably quite different. Combined with all the other factors of moving, it's probably all a bit much. From what you have posted you know when to pick your timings for conversations with your hubby, it's a fine line of being loving to stop the depression but also dishing a bit of tough love to stop the depression. Tonight I am kind of at the point bobj mentioned and am trying not to smack my hubby in the mouth :laugh: sometimes they need it. 4 - 6 months is not long enough for it all come together and it is not fair to put that pressure on you. It is not even allowing your hubby the 12 months to get his permit to work. It's still really early days and realistically you need 2 years i'd say to truly settle. I can imagine that amount of time will be hard for your hubby to swallow if he is not happy here right now, but after the time and money invested to get here it is silly not to try. Maybe agree (if you want to too) to a longer term plan that is fair for both of you. I wish you all the luck in the world, these first few months suck no matter what the dream is sold as. Hopefully once you both get work and move house he will start to feel more settled. Xx

Well it has been a few weeks since we received our things and to be honest we are not really any further forward with our insurance claim. Some of the damages we have inccured are: A large dent in the fridge freezer door and side. A corner of the veneer has been chipped off the dining table. A large dent/chip in wooden side board. Glue/scratches on a leather headboard/bed as the packing paper was not flush. Glue from the packing tape has discoloured the leather. Another broken bed frame. A badly dented lamp base. Bad mould on 3 of the settees and a scratch one of the arms - the packing paper again was not flush. There are other things, but this is what we are mainly focusing on. It is bizzare as all of the fragile things are fine, it's as if the large items just got thrown around at point of unloading. We purchased insurance through PSS, however it has now transpired it is not their own insurance but through some small company we have never heard of. So far we have spent approximatley 5 hours of phone calls and are still no further forward, the staff at this company are shocking and we have had comments ranging from "well it still works, so why are you complaing" (fridge) and "just buy replacements off ebay". Despite us submitting photos and the shippers evidence, the insurance want someone to come out and assess the damage and quote for repairs. That is fine, but we have had to arrange this ourselves and we will be charged an inspection fee. The insurance do not cover this, we have to pay and then add it onto the claim total. There are several other clauses of their policy that they are throwing at us to try and get out of paying. To this date, despite me asking several times, we do not have a copy of their policy booklet, only an email confirmation from PSS. I should of chased this sooner, like at the time we were moving (school boy error) but after several conversations, questions and assurances from PSS, I felt comfortable we were covered. Also, our insurance was priced and sold based on a % of the "cost of replacement for brand new in country of destination". Again I had several conversations with PSS surrounding this, i.e. what exchange rate given destination is $ and insurance is in £, how do you do a like for like comparison on things like settees? Did they have a preffered supplier I should be using for prices - there is a big difference between say SuperAmart and Harvey Normany. Anyway I was assured it was a like for like replacement and to insure items at full replacement value in destination country. We are now being told to submit receipts showing purchase price and then to reduce the amount by "xyz" for each year of use. Again I do not mind this, I am not out to claim more than something is worth, and my usual house insurance would want to know original value to do a like for like replacement, but in this case the % / premium was pushed to be higher than what they will now honour so we are currently exploring if the insurance has been mis-sold in the first place. At this point I don't really care if they replace or fix, I just want it resolved and we will keep fighting it. Sorry for the extra long post, I shall report back when we have more news.

Sorry to hear that you are going home, and that we didn't get chance to meet up. I am really going to miss your updates and pictures. You are bound to feel sad about leaving but remember you have had an amazing journey and experienced some incredible things. Plus its not goodbye, just see ya later :hug: Xx

Our custom fees came to around $480 I definitley agree with a PP about getting independant shipping insurance. We took out insurance with the shippers as they said the claims process ect would be easier/less hassle, its not haha. You can get far better cover cheaper with an independant. We have been unlucky and had some big damages, none of the small fragile stuff got broke, but big things like a dent in the fridge door and so on. The fragile stuff gets really well wrapped, just make sure they double wrap your big things too :cute:

Sorry for the delayed reply @Mrs Bee, it cost us around £4800 all in including customs fees and insurance ect. Hope your move goes well xx

Hey guys, I thought I would pop back onto this thread with an update. We recieved our things on Thursday, so 7 weeks door to door. Our things arrived in Aus on the 27th, cleared on the 1st and got delivered on the 4th, not to shabby at all. None of our things were opened, not even the shoes or garden stuff. A little dissapointing after I spent hours cleaning and a small fortune on Jayes cleaning fluid, guess customs were just in a kind mood that day :cute: Kent relocations did the delivery on behalf of PSS and I am told by hubby that they were ok. They unpacked and assembled the big things, but did not unpack any of the small things. That said there was about 70 boxes, so who can blame them :rolleyes: Unfortunately after unpacking and examining everything over the weekend we have found that we have quite a few damages, so our next step is dealing with the insurance. We took insurance out with PSS as they assured me their insurance was easier to deal with if we needed to claim, we will see. I will keep the thread updated as we progress and on a positive note, I have my bed back :jiggy:

Yea if you go economy plus/flex its 2 x 23kgs each, thats what we had last month before we upgraded to bc. It was only an extra £30ish from basic economy to the plus/flex so made sense at that price for us, or we would of gone down the excess baggage company like you recommend. You get the extra luggage and cheaper cancellation/amendment fees but nothing else. It also gives you the access to the upgrade bidding thingy majig :rolleyes: Timings do make difference on price so if you can be flexible (OP) then you may be able to bag a bargain, its worth a look :cute: our one way from Manchester to Perth was £860 total for the two of us on economy plus/flex. And like Cal and Snifter said, dont worry about household things, you can get them cheap here to tie you over. Ikea sell single plates and crockery ect like in the UK so you dont even have to buy whole sets. We have 1 plate each :laugh:

Hi, welcome to the foum and good luck with the move :ssign18:

Etihad (if they do your route?) In economy you get 2 cases each at 23kgs. You can upgrade each bag to 32kgs for 77usd and also purchase extra bags (23kgs) at 240usd. I am sure we were offered this cheaper once we had booked too, though we didn't need it in the end as 2 x 32 kgs each was enough. We found this to be far cheaper than the others who charged per kg. The hand luggage was 7kgs each I think. ps, good luck with the move :cute: