ROCKYROCKS

Thanks for he info, I will contact these clubs directly. My eldest son plays as a goalkeeper at the highest level in our region, how big a difference there is between levels at his age group I'm not sure? He is keen to play in anyway shape or form just so long as he is involved in football as soon as he is in Perth. However he does have designs on playing for the best team he can in time for the 2017 season. My younger son isn't bothered about the standard he just enjoys the kickabout and the team aspect of it all. Overall it would seem there is much to be positive about regarding junior football in the area.

I am looking to track down a decent football club for my two boys aged 11 & 12 for our arrival in early June. We are looking around the Rockingham area as we will be living in Baldivis. Any suggestions welcome.

Yeah I think you are right thl4kel, its a different scenario to when we first moved out to Victoria in 2009, there were loads of people making the move then. We are taking a chance going back, but then again I'm in the O&G industry so if stay in the mature N Sea basin or go and get involved in the LNG sector again, there will be cyclic periods of uncertainty in either location. What I will say is if I was a betting man I'd put my money on the LNG game in Australia for the long term as opposed to the N Sea O&G industry! I hope you get a clear way ahead, we have been weighing up our situation for the best part of a year now, its very unsettling.

We are moving back to Perth after 2 years back in Scotland, we see Perth as our long term home. There does seem to be way more people going in the opposite direction to us though.

Hi Frank, the following refineries are still operational to the best of my knowledge. Viva Geelong (Vic), Exxon Altona (Vic), BP Kwinana (WA) & Caltex Brisbane (QLD). As others have mentioned the market is slow, but it does seem to be moving along better than the N Sea. I'd imagine with your background it's worth applying to various projects that are at commissioning/construction stage being run by Inpex LNG, Chevron LNG & various others including Shell.

Don't worry there is always an abundance of to$$ers around on these sites to pass judgement without knowing the full story, don't take it personally. In terms of the 457 situation it does sound like you will have apply for dispensation , sorry I can't give any specific advice. Best of luck and keep us posted.

I lived up in Baldivis for a while and I'd say Mandurah was our favourite weekend family hangout. The foreshore has a great play area and there is a good choice of restaurants etc. In terms of living there I'm not sure, although I could see myself living in a canal side home once I make my first million!

I agree with the sentiment that depending where you are in the UK will affect your chances of securing a job. Up here in Aberdeen you'd be lucky to get anything at present and I mean anything, however it's cyclical and will bounce back when oil increases in price for a prolonged period. I would also suggest though, that a great many working people earn s%$t money in the UK, with virtually non existent benefits packages. What are most going to do with their stakeholder pension that has contributed 3% of their 22k salary when retirement comes around? The UK simply isn't booming in my view, far from it, wages outwith a couple of plumb sectors are shockingly low. WA certainly doesn't have it's problems to seek that's for sure, I've had to accept a lower level role on slightly lower money than before in the same location (I still see myself as extremely fortunate). Many people that were employed in Iron-Ore mining are now struggling and that has increased completion in other sectors of the labour market.

Moved out in 2009 on a 457 with the offer attached to said visa. Returning in June with an offer form the same employer albeit we are now PR. I will commute on 14 day on 14 day off roster from April (jetlag anyone). Even though I'm well connected with my old employer it took a bit of back and forth before they would commit to an in writing offer.

We are moving back circa June 2016, I'm about to review my old 2014 bank statements and build a rough budget. We are now a family of six as opposed to the mere five we were when we left, once I pull the figures together I'll be happy to share them. I agree with some of the comments above, people are fleeing hellish situations worldwide and most build new lives in the Western world. Pulling a budget together will give a general indication of fixed costs etc. but there are the incidentals that catch you out. Cups of coffee, extra takeaways and bread/milk runs! Also I stand corrected on Adelaide housing costs.

100K equates to a take home pay of $6084 per month, If you assume a weekly rent or mortgage payment of circa $500 per week, then that level income is doable. What I would say is, you won't live like a king or anything of the sort but you will do more than OK. $500 a week rent will preclude you from living in the most desirable areas of any Aussie city but it gets you some very nice rental property further out in the burbs. Our income in 2009 was circa 90-100K, that was with 2 then laterally 3 kids, we lived fine and didn't feel cash strapped. We did have to be careful though. I'm happy to share that when we doubled our income and our outgoings went up slightly we still saved circa $50K per year, but like some posters have mentioned above I did have many colleagues that struggled to survive on $200k. We felt we were living the dream and went on 3 holidays a year. Two of which were Bali & Thailand, with one at home in Oz. Some people on expat forums insist you need 180K minimum to live as a family of four, it's simply not true. My view is 100k is doable however 120k is probably the sweet spot, this is accounting for having the average rent or mortgage payment.

Wow that's a really bad summary of your interactions in Perth but not unexpected, thanks for sharing.

Yeah I think I can workout the organisation you previously worked for from your encryption lol! The application process can be painful down under of that there is no doubt. The picture being painted of Perth is far from positive, however being a resident of NE Scotland hanging around here is very uncertain in the short term. We want to be back in WA to settle down however there is no avoiding the obvious downsides to the economy. The boom was big but it appears the bust is even bigger! It get the feeling that most of the jobs being lost are construction driven as opposed to operational in O&G. Where as they are both construction oriented and operational in Iron Ore? I can't decide if my home town of Aberdeen is suffering more or my adopted home Perth is, I guess it's rather bleak for both.

Thanks for the insight although I’m sorry to hear you are going through such a difficult time. The job market in the UK for Oil & Gas people is extremely tight with huge payoff’s having occurred, I get the feeling Perth has suffered the same fate from reading forums and discussing the situation with ex colleagues. I am well into to negotiations for my previous role in the LNG industry in WA I have also applied for a couple of manufacturing roles that are related to my skill set. What I will say is that with my type of work, there was always a huge shortage of people and if I applied for a role the response was almost instant. Since I began applying for jobs again I’ve noticed a great deal of simply no response from potential employers and had a few knockbacks. If you are coming back to the UK and you don’t have to work in an Oil & Gas based role then the job market would appear to be quite good. For the likes of myself with O&G backgrounds things are extremely grim and set to get even worse, if I do land the WA role I’m negotiating at present I’ll be a great deal more grateful for it this time around!

I think the 120k figure is a realistic figure for a family to live well but not in shear luxury, that's if you base that on someone having the average WA mortgage of $332K and perhaps one decent car and one older car, then a 120k should see you live quite well. Most Aussies get by on quite a lot less than 120k. In saying that, a lot of new arrivals will have to borrow a great deal more than 332k to buy a property, the average figure will include a lot of people that have been in the market for a long time, hence lower mortgage average. When we first arrived in Oz back in 2009 I earned circa 100k, that provided an OK life for a family of 5, we had rent of about $430 per week and the car was bought and paid for. Our outgoings were fairly minimal, we managed quite a few holidays including the Gold Coast etc. and a mum & dad weekend in Sydney so it was doable. Again though if we had to buy a property for say 500k, things would have tightened up a fair bit even with a 20% deposit. We also saved a couple of hundred bucks a fortnight for a rainy day. Everyone lives differently but I do think some prospective migrants do get quite scared by the figures banded around on here and other sites.

Cheers hopefully all goes well, still waiting for the written offer. A bit of trepidation setting in now as the return move is becoming very real! Are you going to wait until Perth picks up or just stay put?

Bit of an update, I've got myself close to striking a deal for my previous role in Karratha. The package is worth about the same as it was in 2014 but I'm expected to travel to site in my own time and we now have to work an extra 1/2 hour per day. The general feel from my former employer is that there is still a lot of opportunity in the LNG industry but clients are driving a far harder bargain. Hopefully it comes off as securing employment aids any move and as mentioned by many being skint in Perth is not appealing!

Yeah seek is busier than expected it to be, I think various service companies will be doing it tough regarding their share value. The 120k figure seems about right to achieve a reasonable level of comfort for a family. What rota were you doing on Gorgon?

I think the answer to that is yes it has happened in the past but the slide this time has been quite spectacular and looks set to continue, Worrying times in resource cities as the recovery could be 3-5 years away

Yeah a decent income is vitally important in WA no doubt however there is a lot of talk about silly amounts being required to live an average life in OZ on these and other forums like it. I'm not sure I see Australia as massively more expensive overall, especially compared with places like the SE of England and Aberdeen. The Karratha gas plant is mostly FIFO on a 2/2 rota with some projects work being done on a 21/10 rota, although some people do the residential thing. The cash was pretty good for inspection people and from what I remember the Mono guys were on approx. 140K for the 2/2 as tradesmen & around 170K for supervisors. Of course there were other contractors like Fluor & TW paying Engineers 200k+ for equal time rotas, decent cash in my book. I have a few irons in the fire now with my old employer and a few others, but competition is more fierce than before. Cheers

I'm in the same boat, planning to return Perth after 2 years back in the NE of Scotland, we still have our house in Baldivis to return to. I work in O&G as a contractor and the N Sea is on it's knees at present, I'm in asset integrity and suspect that we will be cut back to the bare bones but kept in some shape or form. I can only echo what others in the thread have suggested, you should use old work contacts to try and open doors as applying for HSE stuff as an unknown quantity will leave you in a sea of similar hopefuls. My approach for landing a gig in WA for my return is to contact various ex colleagues and let them know I'm looking for a role in WA or elsewhere in Oz. My ex workmates on Karratha Gas Plant have taken a 10% pay cut and lost travel time etc. however they are still doing pretty well in comparison to the average Aussie. I am reasonably optimistic that I'll land a job in my field but far from convinced it will be as well paid as the job I left in early 2014 however you have to take the rough with the smooth. LNG operations will require maintenance and operation from the minute they are switched on with the demand for labour in those sectors increasing as the plants age. Therefore its far from doom and gloom in the medium to long term, the problem at the moment is heaps of construction guys will be trying to phase themselves into said maint roles when construction ends competition will be fierce. Good luck