george70

Haha, I'm a miserable Northern get too and I miss all that. It rains 400 days a year in Manchester and I can't wait to get back so I can start complaining about it.

Yeah I got a half price BBQ in Masters last week.

Thanks I'll look into that. The only painting I have done over here is my old garden gate. After the first 5 coats had been absorbed, never to be seen again, I gave up and bought a new gate. I am hoping that I will be able to see the paint as I go so I'm glad to see 'Endure' in the title. Cheers.

This is an extremely tedious post but can anyone recommend any external wood paint. Every time I've bought paint in Oz it has been like water.

Long been accepted in Perth that $10 a pint is average, which, at current exchange rate, would put us top of that list. My mother-in-law tells me fags are $30+, not seen that list.

They must have forgotten to ask Perth. And Ibiza, my nephew went recently and paid more than 20 quid for a beer.

Quoting myself here but coincidentally read an article in The West last week about The Guildford Hotel. We went some time ago, very nice and all that. However, the article was stating (and moaning) that a schooner was $12. Think how that equates out: $16 a pint or over 10 pound a pint if you are coming here on holiday. Criminal.

We have in-laws with rellies here at the moment and they think the place is Utopia. I must admit, it does give you a renewed appreciation for certain things when you see people enjoying what the place has to offer. Yep, there are a couple of serious drawbacks here but it's a fine place to live and bring up a family.

I was glad I read your post as your situation is almost exactly the same as ours, minus the health scares thankfully and the fact that we are in Perth. Other than that, everything else resonates. We have had our doubts about going back at mid-40s but, reading your post, I had an overwhelming feeling of 'just go for it' so, I really should take my own advice. My wife is having second thoughts but I am hoping that is just wobbles along the way. Good luck.

Do you have kids? If not, I'd go with the community pool. The reason being, us, and the people I know with older or no kids, generally find their pools unused. I go in ours about 5 times a year, the wife hasn't been in for a couple of years. Bit of a novelty that wears off if you ask me. Unlike the upkeep, which never wears off unfortunately. Different ball game if you have little uns though.

I refer the OP to the above posts. See what I mean about this site?

I wouldn't place too much emphasis on opinions from this site, it's not really subjective and can be overly negative. I don't agree that 49 is too old to embrace change. And there is more to a child's upbringing than maths. Whilst it is true that much of Australia is suffering a downturn at the moment, a lot of people are still thriving here. Only you know what's best for your family but if you don't go you might regret it. The brutal truth is you should have moved whilst your kids were younger. We have nieces and nephews over here ranging from 3 to 22 and, in my opinion, the younger they are the better. Australia is brilliant for little uns, less so for teens and older, I'd say. And yeah, a lot of new migrants struggle for that first job. But you never know, you might land a job and your kids might love it. Who knows?

We have more disposable income here. I know that flies in the face of opinion on here but I'm not alone in that, other people I know have too. I get 150k a year here, I got, and will get, about 40K in the UK. That's not stopping me wanting to move back but it's not a foregone that people are better off in the UK, no chance.

Yeah that sounds about right. We have a spreadsheet too! And whilst stuff looks cheap when googling UK sites, personally, I am not expecting to earn anything like I do here when back in the UK.

Hi, what's the best UK job search website(s), a la Seek.com?

Stuff I miss - decent pubs, decent telly, chips, my family, comedy, conversations, belonging. Stuff I don't miss - celeb culture, chavs, cold, moaning miserable arses, dog ****, shite telly, the train coming every half hour if it can be arsed.

I've been to Fleetwood, you should be ok, haha. Only joking, good luck.

Worked in Amsterdam for 6 months, hated it. The weather is toilet and the Dutch are ruder than the Aussies. Cut price Germans.

We are planning on moving back and enjoyed a holiday there last year. However, I'm not expecting our life back there to be like the holiday was. People made a real effort when we there that I knew was way beyond what they're normally up to. For example, I went out with my lifelong mates 3 weekends running, which was great and would be lovely to slip back into. But the reality was that they hadn't seen each other for the best part of a year and were making an effort because I was there. When I move back, the likelihood is that it will be nothing like the holiday was. That's not stopping us but I would just temper the holiday style feelings with a dose of the likely reality.

People have been predicting the downturn in Perth every year since we arrived in 2008. And yeah, it looks like its finally happening but then again, had to at some point didn't it? I don't really think there's any fantastic fiscal fortune-telling at work here. Also, the gusto with which some people seem to be lapping it up makes uncomfortable reading to be honest, very mean-spirited to say the least.

The biggest crime currently being perpetrated in Perth is bars selling schooners for pint prices and hoping that people don't notice. I noticed it earlier this year. A number of bars will not correct you when you ask for a pint and just serve you a schooner, for the price of a pint. Even if you're savvy enough to recognise a schooner, the price is set. So, $10 schooners are going to be the norm soon, effectively meaning that the new price of a pint is $13.40 (7 pound 90). To me, this tale is Perth in a microcosm. Firstly, everything is about extracting as much money from you as possible, for little or no service. Secondly, no-one in Perth stands up for anything, nor are they able to. You're over a barrel constantly. Edit: This is the CBD by the way. I'm sure you can get some dishwasher fluid (VB) in your local estate pub for $8 but that's not what I'm getting at.

We have extended family here and most have experienced a downturn in one form or another over the past 12 months that I think is going to last a good long while in WA. We have 2 rellies in construction who are now only working part-time with reduced hourly rates, we have a relly working in a factory that used to employ 170 that is now being run by a workforce of 12, we have a FIFO relly who can't get any work, plenty of other similar stories. I work in IT and the situation in Perth for that sector is dreadful. To be fair, it was never that buoyant at the best of times, Perth is not exactly an IT hub. At the moment though, the situation is dire. We have had 2 rounds of lay-offs and I know of 1 ex-colleague stacking shelves at night in Coles, and he was lucky to get that. We have a few nurses in the family who have been unaffected and 1 who is a hairdresser who is thriving! Other than that, a struggle. I wouldn't advocate coming here without a job lined up to be honest. I don't know how the State Govt can turn it around. They're skint (on the back of a lifetime boom) and have just spent about $2B on Liz Quay and the Footy stadium. Poor choices. And they get ball all off the Commonwealth.

Didn’t think my post would generate so much interest and debate. I think Perth’s isolation is a key issue. I’m from Manchester and love it but if you ripped Manchester from the UK and plonked it on a desert island that was an expensive 5-hour flight from anywhere else, I’m sure after 2 or 3 years I would be moaning about Manchester being boring. But, and this is the key, that’s not an issue in the UK; the UK has plenty of ‘Perths’ or better and so does Europe which is a spit away. I don’t like to bad-mouth Perth; we have (in the main) enjoyed our time here. The CBD has improved a lot for eats & drinks in the 8 years we have been here. And we really like Freo. To be fair, if you haven’t lived here for 10 years, you’re not really qualified to comment. Man City used to be shite 10 years ago but they’re not now are they? As I mentioned initially, if you have a young family, Perth is great, they’ll enjoy parks and pools and beaches galore. But there must be a reason why London is full of young Aussie adults, cheap ale, 10 million pubs, a general atmos of youth, there is none of that here; not as far as I can see anyway, kids don't have the money to do it here. Perth’s suburbia is a bit samey, monotonous and boring. We live in Joondalup and it’s not great in terms of facilities and things to do, NOR isn’t full stop. We were constrained in terms of where to settle here due to relatives already being here, time over I would head for the likes of Maylands, Mt Lawley, Freo, those areas are fairly cool.

Thanks guys, all good. No kids, no benefits, just us. My family is in the UK so we'll stay with them, still got my NI card. I do have Aussie citizenship so the voting thing is a good call. As for going back/leaving the party, few reasons: Bit of a feeling that we’ve ‘done’ Perth & WA (we felt this way after about 2 or 3 years here). The job situation is (beyond) grim in Perth, economically WA has a few years of trouble ahead I think. By and large Aussies are gobshites. Family and friends getting older in the UK/missing out on stuff. We didn’t move to Australia for a ‘better life’, we were happy in the UK. Moved here to be near wife’s family, kind of done that as well now. Perth is a lovely place, very good to bring up little kids. Bit boring for teens and young adults I reckon. It’s not very contemporary and it’s very easy to become middle-aged and boring very quickly. It’s also very materialistic here or at least it seems to turn people that way. And we hate all that. Just fancy the change back, might regret it, might not.

Hi All, Am sure this question is fairly typical but what do I need to consider in moving back to the UK after being in WA for 8 years? Do I need to inform anyone, either end? Can I just fly back in and start a job next Monday or do loose ends need attending to first, again either end? Thanks for your help.