Canbush

5 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

I can’t quite believe it but we’re at Heathrow having breakfast.  Bags dropped, all checked in, through security.  I’m starting to believe we are going to make it! Can I get excited now?

Great news. Have a good trip home. 

50 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

15th September.  Not cancelled yet no, but I can't take the risk with no jobs, house or schools from the 10th...  Fingers crossed it comes tomorrow.

A friend just made it back to perth last Friday.  Her flight was moved back three days, but otherwise no problems.  Flew business class through Singapore.  I’d still take the DFAT option though if you can get it.

On 17/08/2021 at 00:17, Jon the Hat said:

Yep!  I finish work next week, removals on the 6-8th and hopefully flying on the 15th.  So many forms to fill in!!

All the best with the flights Jon.  Hope it all goes well.

5 hours ago, HappyHeart said:

We stayed at the Doubletree in April. Thought the breakfast was fine. Not a massive choice and slow to refill (understaffed) 

We must have been unlucky.  We had a five night stay in June and a weekend in July and had poor breakfasts each time.  The staff were very nice, but stretched as you said.  

It was an old mental hospital.  It's been the Bluewater Bistro for a few years now, and other building have been turned into arts & crafts workshops and a gallery.  A very lovely spot and just a short walk for me from next week so it will become my regular coffee haunt I expect, along with the Ardross Street coffee strip.

We used to live in South Perth opposite the Civic Centre, and my wife's family have had homes there for several decades - typical farming family.  I'm a little disappointed with the Windsor area now as it seems to have lost a lot of its old character.  Much prefer the inner North suburbs around Leederville, Subiaco and Claremont.

Airbnb's seem to have become pretty expensive this last couple of years, but we did stay in a lovely one on the coast a few weeks back.  Otherwise, if you find a good deal, the Doubletree on Elizabeth Quay has marvellous views if you are just after a hotel room.  Just don't bother with breakfast there - very poor.

Best of luck choosing where to be and stay safe in Sydney.

1 hour ago, Bolsen said:

That´s interesting. Were you allowed to visit each other in your rooms or have contact with each other?

Absolutely.  The rooms were side by side.  We simply got up in the morning, sat on one or the other’s veranda for meals or just to relax, or choose a room to spend time when it was too hot outside.  The only thing we really did was sleep separately - which after 30 years of marriage felt a bit strange, but as I often worked away from home it wasn’t that unusual. If you were outside you just had to wear a mask  if you weren’t eating, and there was no wandering around the camp other than a direct trip to the laundry on the block when we needed to do some washing.  Laundry days were allocated to sets of huts.

This was back in April so there might have been some changes since, but we had no problems and enjoyed our two weeks enforced rest.

On 21/07/2021 at 22:19, Bulya said:

In WA or Scotland?

 WA, but if we ever go back then I’d be happy with the Scottish alternative or anywhere up around that coastline to Achiltibuie.  One of my favourite areas.

5 hours ago, Bulya said:

Where is that?

Hi Bulya - Applecross. 

22 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

Space is always worth a little more I think.  We are looking for modernised or modern I guess, hence Applecross is probably off the radar unless we get lucky.

There’s some good properties coming up on the other side of the highway, but still Applecross/Ardross, or around to Attadale/Alfred Cove.  We were lucky, but we’d worked out to get in before open inspections by contacting the agent in person - gives them a chance to meet you and potentially favour your application if there are multiple applicants.  It was what we were advised by a couple of agents and seemed to work for us.

Best of luck 

If we jump up and down on the balcony we can almost see the river! 

We managed to keep sub $1000 for a 4-bed near the old Heathcote hospital.  Older house-tidy and nice enough, but could do with a bit more updating. We just wanted the extra space to do some sorting, then we’ll switch down to a 3 bed when we can as its just the pair of us. 

2 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

How is the house hunting going?

Finally got somewhere nice in Applecross for 12 months, though still horrified at the rent level we're accepting.  We've been too used to paying rural Shropshire rents these past 12 years, so switching to city rents has been an eye opener.  That said, we choose a very good area to be near to family and to provide the sense of space and peacefulness I need for my work, so its our own choice.  In 12 months we should move out to the Perth Hills and be able to halve what we're paying.

I know you said you have family here, but when you get back to Perth give me a shout if there's anything we might be able to help on.

Peter

On 04/07/2021 at 10:32, Blue Flu said:

Bucketing down in Perth at the moment. Expected to last most the day. Entire weekly forecast is for rain. Most uncommon to have such an extended duration. Love the rain myself , so no problem for me. Just unusual to have so much . Did you find Perth rain torrential?  Never thought it as such. I've seen it in FNQ and NT and Kimberley, but Perth? 

It took us by surprise this last 10 days.  We were out house hunting and ended up going through flooded roads across the city - we’ve never known anything like it.  My wife is from Perth, and we’d previously lived here in the mid 90’s and from 2003-2008. This continuous wet & cool spell seems very unusual.

On 15/07/2021 at 16:19, Jon the Hat said:

Yes Howard Springs doesn't look great.  Not that keen on 12 and 8 years old having their own rooms with outside access.  I can well image the 8 year old going exploring for a start.  Unfortunately we might not have a choice, I finish up work at the end of August.

There were several families around us with young children but we never saw a problem.  The huts are partitioned into fenced sections so children can’t wander too far.  The WiFi was decent enough, and each hut has a TV.  The camp also has guards wandering through regularly keeping an eye on everything.  I’m sure problems do occur, but we saw nothing in our two weeks and had families with toddlers to teenagers in our hut group.

1 hour ago, Jon the Hat said:

Thanks Pete

Were trying to focus on the better high schools, so monitoring Suburbs around applecross, rossmoyne and maybe churchlands.  All expensive of course.  We lived in applecross last time we were in Perth.

Nice areas. We’ve been looking around there ourselves as well as Claremont, Dalkeith and Nedlands. My brother-in-law lives in APplecross and his children went to Penrose and Wesley - all did well. You are looking at higher rents, but I feel it’s worth it for the feel of the areas and easy access to the CBD. Certainly good schools on the area. Might be worth looking at Alfred Cove, parts of Bicton and East Fremantle as well. Other side of the Canning Highway there are some nice properties now near the river in Salters Point/Manning but they don’t come up for rent that often. 

2 hours ago, rammygirl said:

Write a covering letter explaining your situation, use UK references but if you can find Australian ones all the better, an employer or even the temp accommodation you are using. We added the spec from our home in UK we had sold. Prove you are good for the rent and are not going to wreck the joint that’s all they want to know really.

Oh and many of those queuing are probably just being nosey, agents don’t put them off because it creates competition!

All good comments, though from what we’ve seen and from talking with others the queues are real enough. We fought through the Perth storms to view a property yesterday thinking no one else would bother in the weather. It was crammed with people measuring where to put the furniture

we’re lifelong renters so don’t have significant funds to display, or the option of offering multiple months rent in advance. Our key advantage is probably being a professional couple in our 60s - you play to your strengths

13 minutes ago, Canbush said:

We are lucky that I’ve been able to keep working part-time remotely with my old UK job and then I have the new job to move pretty well straight into.  Showing you have an income or resurces is important, and for Perth anyway you seem to need two personal references and a contact to your old landlord/agent in the UK. I can post a copy  of a typical Perth tenancy application so you can see what they ask for if that helps.  

airbnbs aren’t cheap, but then again rents are expensive and its worth taking a bit of time in choosing an area.  If you’re heading to Melbourne then North East/Eastern suburbs have good travel links into the CBD and have some real village feels that Perth lacks.

Typical tenancy application form …

REIWA-Application-for-Tenancy.pdf

1 hour ago, bicek said:

I did a quick search and it looks like all the DFAT flights for July are now sold out. They were snapped up pretty quick then I guess. They've said uptake has been low on recent flights but that clearly isn't the case...?

They had a bit of a slow down in bookings I understand, but the new changes will almost certainly return it to full flights.  The government is already scheduling additional flights so the expectation is they’ll need them.

1 hour ago, bicek said:

Is it tricky trying to rent when you haven't started work yet? We're just wondering if it's even possible, or whether you have to pay a large sum up front to secure it (ie. 6 months up front or something). The rental market in Melbourne is pretty competitive too I hear, we're fairly nervous about that bit. We're booked into some airbnbs initially and then planning to rent once we can find somewhere. We're hoping we won't be stuck paying extortionate amounts for holiday rentals whilst we find somewhere a little more permanent!

We are lucky that I’ve been able to keep working part-time remotely with my old UK job and then I have the new job to move pretty well straight into.  Showing you have an income or resurces is important, and for Perth anyway you seem to need two personal references and a contact to your old landlord/agent in the UK. I can post a copy  of a typical Perth tenancy application so you can see what they ask for if that helps.  

airbnbs aren’t cheap, but then again rents are expensive and its worth taking a bit of time in choosing an area.  If you’re heading to Melbourne then North East/Eastern suburbs have good travel links into the CBD and have some real village feels that Perth lacks.

6 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

If you don't mind me asking whereabouts are you trying to rent? Are you finding good ones are gone quick or there aren't any good ones?

We did look at the newer northern suburbs in areas such as Ellenbrook, and the coastal developments going up to Yanchep, but it all seemed a bit soulless to us.  In the end we’re focusing north of the river around Wembley through to the coast.  Certainly good properties around, they just go fast, and hence rents are spiralling.  

The data is a bit old, but we find its worth keeping an eye on this site when looking at suburbs -  https://www.perthcrimemap.com - Perth has the usual city problems.  Its just an indicator, and there are always nice parts of rougher areas, but having been burgled here before and having the house trashed we like to give it a thought.  Mind you when we lived here before we were in South Perth, a relatively good area.

It really depends on where you’ll be working, what sort of environment you like (hills, old neighbourhoods, beach/river nearby),  and how much road noise you are happy with.  Have a look at https://reiwa.com.au and https://www.domain.com.au - they are the two main rental sources.  Don’t expect much help from estate agents.

pete

On 13/01/2021 at 23:46, Jon the Hat said:

Yes I can imagine - hopefully by the time we come in September things will be a little more stable.  If not we might be bunking with family for a few weeks!

Hasn’t improved I’m afraid.  Be prepared for a couple of months of house hunting.  We’re finding every house to rent we visit has a queue of people looking around.

8 hours ago, Morpheus said:

Many thanks for the info. To register with DFAT flights, do we just need to fill into the online forms and wait? or do we need to call them, or someone else to confirm? our next Saturday flights to Perth have just been cancelled today and trying to see if we can still travel in the next few days

We registered online, then updated when we had flights cancelled to say we needed help getting home.  We then waited for the next release of DFAT flights to be emailed to us with an invitation to book.  You have to be very quick when the email comes in - they are booked out very fast.  Emails were coming through about once a month at the beginning of the year.

best of luck for Perth. We got here 10 weeks ago and actively started looking for a house to rent three weeks back.  Finding rentals very difficult.  We’re lucky to have friends putting us up at the moment, but need to find somewhere more permanent by mid-august when I start my new job.

On 04/07/2021 at 20:51, Jon the Hat said:

I was also bottom with Qatar for about £2600 for 4 of us, cancelled.  Booked with Singapore Y class for £5000, now bid a further £2000 to upgrade LHR to SIN to Premium economy...  If this doesn't work (or we are in September now knowing) I will also book DFAT end of September If I can.. Credit cards are taking a battering at the moment!

Best of luck with the flights.  If you do end up with DFAT, Howard Springs was fine for us as an older couple - a welcome enforced relaxation after all the stress.  We did have to be in separate rooms next to one another, but I believe they were putting in some family rooms.  

On 02/07/2021 at 20:41, Jon the Hat said:

Do you recall what level of economy?  We are Y which is fully flexible absolute top.  I guess it make sod all difference if they don't have the seats

Did you ask them to rebook you?  I see agents have had success in rebooking their clients with no additional cost.  I wonder if one argues effectively enough it can be done.

We were bottom of the pile - W. We went from £590pp to £745pp for Y class to £1194pp DFAT in the course of 10 days  - but, we got here !

We did ask them to rebook us, but it took quite a bit of pushing and of course no guarantees.  Our problem was the only date they could offer was a month later and we had to be out of the house we were renting within 2 weeks, with lockdown in place and nowhere to go.  I’m sure we could have sorted it out but we were so stressed we accepted the DFAT costs just to get back.  Haven't regretted it a moment. 

3 hours ago, bicek said:

Did you book economy? 

I'm wondering whether to upgrade to premium, if that gives us better odds...

Do you know how far in advance SIA are cancelling flights based on caps? Is it weeks or only days? I'm not sure I can cope with being homeless and unemployed with 3 dependents one of which is school age. Oh and the cat. It will be very costly to be stuck in the UK for months on end waiting for a DFAT or commercial flight. 

Our experience was a few days I’m afraid.  I found SIA pretty hopeless in this respect and didn’t even offer to rebook us.  We luckily got a DFAT flight 10 days later as we’d given notice on our rental and already sent everything to the shipper when we were called by them.  
 

we were economy by the way.  Had we been business class it might have been a different story