Relocating to Perth

[djianb]

We’re planning on moving to Perth after Xmas from Victoria, I’m reading conflicting information online about whether we are allowed to even enter WA.

i work in recruitment and believe I’ll need an exemption letter, Is that the case does anyone know?

thanks 

[cglcb1]

3 minutes ago, djianb said:

We’re planning on moving to Perth after Xmas from Victoria, I’m reading conflicting information online about whether we are allowed to even enter WA.

i work in recruitment and believe I’ll need an exemption letter, Is that the case does anyone know?

thanks 

yes you need exemption unless the hard border open after xmas (highly unlikely)

[Marisawright]

No one knows what's likely to be the situation after Christmas, it will depend how infection numbers are going.  Currently everyone needs a "G2G pass" before they can enter WA.   You wouldn't get one as you are simply choosing to move to the state.  

The categories of "exempt traveller" are set out in detail in the Directions. It is important that any person who is seeking to enter Western Australia reads and understands the categories of exempt traveller that are set out in the Directions. In summary, the categories include: 

• any person performing a function under a Commonwealth law
• truck drivers who deliver goods to Western Australia as part of their normal duties
• FIFO workers, subject to requirements to isolate for 14 days at an approved location at their employer's expense 
• emergency service workers 
• compassionate grounds – including urgent and essential medical treatment, visiting a relative who has suffered a serious medical episode, or whose death is imminent, and to attend a funeral 
• members of the House of Representatives and Senators of the Commonwealth Parliament
• carers and relatives who need to care for a dependent person in Western Australia
• dependent persons who need to enter Western Australia to be cared for by a carer or relative because they can no longer be cared for interstate 
• people whose residential facility, such as a boarding school, has closed, who need to return to Western Australia to stay with family or a carer 
• people who need to enter Western Australia to comply with a court order
• specialists with skills not otherwise available in WA, who are required to undertake time-critical services required for industry or business continuity or maintenance of competitive operation. This does not include anyone who performs their duties according to an established work schedule.

[Canada2Australia]

It appears as though there is a decent-sized exodus happening out of Melbourne and Sydney into more remote and regional areas of the country. 

Interesting times indeed

Edited October 27, 2020 by Canada2Australia

[Marisawright]

12 minutes ago, Canada2Australia said:

It appears as though there is a decent-sized exodus happening out of Melbourne and Sydney into more remote and regional areas of the country. 

Interesting times indeed

Plenty of media reports about it but I don't think people are going all that remote.   People in Melbourne are realising they can work from home and looking for places in Victorian country towns, but most seem to still want to be commutable to Melbourne for the occasional office meeting and cultural visits.  

[Bobj]

10 hours ago, Canada2Australia said:

It appears as though there is a decent-sized exodus happening out of Melbourne and Sydney into more remote and regional areas of the country. 

Interesting times indeed

It's been happening for many years, from Sydney especially. I remember that over 30 years ago, people were buying cheap homes up around Maclean and Yamba in the far north of NSW. They made a fortune from selling their Sydney homes for $1m+ and buying bigger and better homes for $300k, or so.

Indeed, when I first retired here, in Ball Bay, Qld, we had Sydney and Smellbum people coming up and asking the prices of our houses to compare...And that was 21 years ago.

Cheers, Bobj.

[Canada2Australia]

12 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Plenty of media reports about it but I don't think people are going all that remote.   People in Melbourne are realising they can work from home and looking for places in Victorian country towns, but most seem to still want to be commutable to Melbourne for the occasional office meeting and cultural visits.  

The working at home phenomena is true, however there are other factors as well.

Up here and all over the boonies of coastal QLD (outside of the SEQ Kingdom), there has been a flurry of activity in the real estate markets. People in droves from Melbourne and Sydney (and to a smaller degree Brisbane) are snapping up properites in places like Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns (and Darwin is being affected by this as well) in order to get away from the chaos the pandemic has caused. This is now possible for many people because of the increasing ability to work permanently from home. So one doesn't need to be at the office, or even the big city, more than a handful of times are year. People can now have the 'big city' jobs whilst living in smaller and much more affordable centres. It's a match made in heaven for many.

The rental markets are also being impacted. In both Mackay and Rockhampton, the vacancy rate is hovering around the 1% mark, and it has become a dogfight to get a decent place to rent. My understand is Darwin is even tighter. The reason for this is primarly because mining companies are starting to force people who are traditionally FIFO to take up residence more locally so that they can avoid any future interstate border closures that would affect their operations. It's a smart move. So now both the sales and rental markets are overheating and prices are going up.

Edited October 27, 2020 by Canada2Australia

[AJ]

Perth starting to become very popular these days. A year ago people moaned about it being isolated and boring! Wonder what changed?

[Canada2Australia]

1 hour ago, AJ said:

Perth starting to become very popular these days. A year ago people moaned about it being isolated and boring! Wonder what changed?

It is still extremely isolating. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere it was the lagest isolated city in the world. That is pretty telling. I lived in Darwin for almost 4 years, and that city too is extremely isolated. Perth may be a large city, but the fact that it is so far away from most other cities makes it less appealing for myself, anyways.

[Marisawright]

2 hours ago, AJ said:

Perth starting to become very popular these days. A year ago people moaned about it being isolated and boring! Wonder what changed?

Panic due to Covid - isolation is suddenly attractive.  WA is Covid-free and it looks like the Premier is going to dig his heels in to keep it that way, which is attractive.

Melbourne was vibrant because of all the social and cultural activities, which are all shut down, so it's now more boring than Perth.  In spite of the current reopening, many people feel it will never fully recover - so if life is going to be boring, they might as well live somewhere cheaper.  

And let's not get into a discussion over whether Perth is boring.  Some people are blissfully happy with a reasonable variety of activities.  Some of us are greedy and are bored unless we have the plethora of choice offered by large cities (over 2 million people).  

Edited October 28, 2020 by Marisawright

[Canada2Australia]

3 hours ago, Canada2Australia said:

The working at home phenomena is true, however there are other factors as well.

Up here and all over the boonies of coastal QLD (outside of the SEQ Kingdom), there has been a flurry of activity in the real estate markets. People in droves from Melbourne and Sydney (and to a smaller degree Brisbane) are snapping up properites in places like Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns (and Darwin is being affected by this as well) in order to get away from the chaos the pandemic has caused. This is now possible for many people because of the increasing ability to work permanently from home. So one doesn't need to be at the office, or even the big city, more than a handful of times are year. People can now have the 'big city' jobs whilst living in smaller and much more affordable centres. It's a match made in heaven for many.

The rental markets are also being impacted. In both Mackay and Rockhampton, the vacancy rate is hovering around the 1% mark, and it has become a dogfight to get a decent place to rent. My understand is Darwin is even tighter. The reason for this is primarly because mining companies are starting to force people who are traditionally FIFO to take up residence more locally so that they can avoid any future interstate border closures that would affect their operations. It's a smart move. So now both the sales and rental markets are overheating and prices are going up.

In addition to this, it's why I'm looking to build now before prices get much higher. All the gov't incentives are making it very attractive for people like myself who don't have a huge deposit saved up. It's just unfortunate timing that I haven't have my citizenship ceremony yet to qualify for the federal home owners grant. But it's still a great time to buy/build for many potential first home owners, and the perfect storm for me to take full advantage of it!

Edited October 28, 2020 by Canada2Australia

[AJ]

4 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Panic due to Covid - isolation is suddenly attractive.  WA is Covid-free and it looks like the Premier is going to dig his heels in to keep it that way, which is attractive.

Melbourne was vibrant because of all the social and cultural activities, which are all shut down, so it's now more boring than Perth.  In spite of the current reopening, many people feel it will never fully recover - so if life is going to be boring, they might as well live somewhere cheaper.  

And let's not get into a discussion over whether Perth is boring.  Some people are blissfully happy with a reasonable variety of activities.  Some of us are greedy and are bored unless we have the plethora of choice offered by large cities (over 2 million people).  

I quite happily live in Perth. I have also lived in Melbourne for a few years. If I wish to make a comment on either I will- this is a public forum!

[Paul1Perth]

9 hours ago, AJ said:

Perth starting to become very popular these days. A year ago people moaned about it being isolated and boring! Wonder what changed?

It's not changed much in a year. I've never understood the isolated bit. Even when you live in the UK you don't usually go that far away from where you live, maybe Europe for holidays once a year, so it's the same deal, you organise it and get on a plane. 

[s713]

41 minutes ago, Paul1Perth said:

Even when you live in the UK you don't usually go that far away from where you live, maybe Europe for holidays once a year, so it's the same deal, you organise it and get on a plane. 

Some people do, just because you didn't doesn't make it the norm. You're obsessed with once a year holidays, the reality is a lot of people have shorter breaks in the UK much more often than that. And you don't need a plane.

[djianb]

Seems as though the news for the interstate borders is positive and as long as we don’t drop the ball in Vic, worst case we’ll have to do 14 days isolation, best case nothing at all. We were planning on coming end of dec/early jan 

[djianb]

Flights are booked for jan 4th.

 

does anyone know if we can do our 14 days self quarantine in an Airbnb? It says suitable premises so assuming I just provide them the details? Here’s hoping the cases in vic stay non existent and we move onto the very low risk list!!

[Freemantle]

4 hours ago, djianb said:

Flights are booked for jan 4th.

 

does anyone know if we can do our 14 days self quarantine in an Airbnb? It says suitable premises so assuming I just provide them the details? Here’s hoping the cases in vic stay non existent and we move onto the very low risk list!!

I have replied to you on your "removal query".  I arrived from the east on the back of my husband being an essential worker so I had to obtain a G2G pass 3 weeks ago.  My husband had already completed 10 weeks  (5 batches of quarantine) at various hotels so this time we booked at the Perth Caravan Park in a cabin which was great! Friendly staff/ ground level all the amenities within the cabin at a  favourable price. The thought of an airless hotel room wasnt attractive and the cabin ticked all the boxes.

Edited November 21, 2020 by Freemantle
spell

[djianb]

Thanks Fremantle 

[Paul1Perth]

On 28/10/2020 at 17:08, s713 said:

Some people do, just because you didn't doesn't make it the norm. You're obsessed with once a year holidays, the reality is a lot of people have shorter breaks in the UK much more often than that. And you don't need a plane.

A once a year holiday to somewhere else in Europe with a few trips within the UK was the norm for most people from where we were from.

Spain, Portugal, Greece were our favourites. Sure, we had the odd trip in the UK but you're never sure what the weather will be like. You can go to a nice place and the weathers crap, used to feel like we'd wasted money, specially when we had kids.

[MARYROSE02]

On 28/10/2020 at 10:24, Canada2Australia said:

It is still extremely isolating. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere it was the lagest isolated city in the world. That is pretty telling. I lived in Darwin for almost 4 years, and that city too is extremely isolated. Perth may be a large city, but the fact that it is so far away from most other cities makes it less appealing for myself, anyways.

The criticism of Perth's so called isolation confuses me because, living in a city of two million people, with all the facilities you need - hospitals, schools, universities, etc, what does it matter if Sydney and Melbourne are 2,500 miles away? People talk about its isolation as if it is little township thousands of miles into the Outback.

And if you want to travel to Europe and some parts of Asia, you are actually much closer than if you live in Eastern Australia. Doesn't Qantas fly direct to London from Perth now in 17 hours? That is six or seven hours off the time from Sydney to London.
 

[ali]

24 minutes ago, MARYROSE02 said:

The criticism of Perth's so called isolation confuses me because, living in a city of two million people, with all the facilities you need - hospitals, schools, universities, etc, what does it matter if Sydney and Melbourne are 2,500 miles away? People talk about its isolation as if it is little township thousands of miles into the Outback.

And if you want to travel to Europe and some parts of Asia, you are actually much closer than if you live in Eastern Australia. Doesn't Qantas fly direct to London from Perth now in 17 hours? That is six or seven hours off the time from Sydney to London.
 

I think it's a state of mind Maryrose, particularly if you're unhappy.  We've never felt isolated or cut off, we've had far more overseas holidays from here than we ever did in the UK. 

[MARYROSE02]

3 minutes ago, ali said:

I think it's a state of mind Maryrose, particularly if you're unhappy.  We've never felt isolated or cut off, we've had far more overseas holidays from here than we ever did in the UK. 

I was just writing an opinion in one of the other threads "comparing Perth to Brisbane" and I looked at the total number of posts for each state (on PIO), I was expecting my "home" state, NSW, to be top of the tree if only because it has the biggest population and, arguably the most iconic city, Opera House, Bridge, Bondi Beach! I was wrong! With 42,000 posts Perth/WA is far and away the most popular, with the next, QLD on 32,000 and NSW "only" 21,000.

It is hard to know if Perth is a symptom or the cause of people's unhappiness? If it is the cause then, no problem, moving to the UK or the Eastern States will solve the problem. But if it is "just" a symptom, then making that move might make no difference?

I was happy enough living in Sydney on my own until this year when experiencing the lock down on my own was not entirely pleasant, hence my "escape" to Queensland to live with my brother in Surfers Paradise. Now I am thinking that I may well  just live in Surfers Paradise "forever!" I was thinking of going over to Perth this year too but Covid stuffed it up.

As far as I can see, Perth's "isolation" would only be a problem if you could not get services like good medical care, good schools, good universities but that is certainly not the case. So, no problem as far as I can see!!?

[Canada2Australia]

6 hours ago, MARYROSE02 said:

The criticism of Perth's so called isolation confuses me because, living in a city of two million people, with all the facilities you need - hospitals, schools, universities, etc, what does it matter if Sydney and Melbourne are 2,500 miles away? People talk about its isolation as if it is little township thousands of miles into the Outback.

And if you want to travel to Europe and some parts of Asia, you are actually much closer than if you live in Eastern Australia. Doesn't Qantas fly direct to London from Perth now in 17 hours? That is six or seven hours off the time from Sydney to London.
 

I'm not suggesting that every single person will feel isolated living in Perth. Obviously plenty will not feel any isolation at all. 

What I a saying is that Perth's isolation from other major centres will and does play a factor in many people's lives.  There are many people that enjoy being able to drive to other large cities in a relativelt short period of time (12 hours or one day's drive) or access other large cities by air within an hour or two. It does play a role in people choosing where they want to establish themselves. One of the first things people learn about Perth when they research facts about the city is that it is the 2nd most isolated major city in the world,  next to Honolulu. That is a fact, and a pretty major fact at that. 

I've never known true isolation until I lived in Darwin. And I have nothing against Perth, in fact I quite like it there, but it is simply too far away from anywhere for me. So I will likely never choose it as a place I want to live. 

Edited November 27, 2020 by Canada2Australia

[MARYROSE02]

8 hours ago, Canada2Australia said:

I'm not suggesting that every single person will feel isolated living in Perth. Obviously plenty will not feel any isolation at all. 

What I a saying is that Perth's isolation from other major centres will and does play a factor in many people's lives.  There are many people that enjoy being able to drive to other large cities in a relativelt short period of time (12 hours or one day's drive) or access other large cities by air within an hour or two. It does play a role in people choosing where they want to establish themselves. One of the first things people learn about Perth when they research facts about the city is that it is the 2nd most isolated major city in the world,  next to Honolulu. That is a fact, and a pretty major fact at that. 

I've never known true isolation until I lived in Darwin. And I have nothing against Perth, in fact I quite like it there, but it is simply too far away from anywhere for me. So I will likely never choose it as a place I want to live. 

So I am guessing that the only thing that makes Vancouver acceptable as a place to live is the fact that Seattle is just over the border in the USA. Otherwise it would be as isolated as Perth with Vancouverians (sic) pining for Toronto and Montreal?!

Actually, I regard a 12 hour drive as unacceptable. That is Sydney to Brisbane or Sydney to Melbourne and of course there are no MAJOR cities between any of those three cities. Then again, for me, smaller towns and cities are quite acceptable as destinations, in fact preferable to all day slogs. I would much rather drive from Perth to Margaret River than Sydney to Brisbane, Very subjective I know. The last time I drove was from Sydney to Coolangatta which took me from 2pm to about 830pm to Taree where I stopped over night then the same again to Coolangatta.

Acceptable for me means a two hour drive up to London from my home town of Southampton, though I'd probably take the train.

I suppose what I am getting at is? Why is living in a big city unacceptable unless there are other big cities within, 12 hours drive by your count? I felt no deep desire to go to Melbourne or Brisbane when I lived in Sydney just as I feel no desire to go to Brisbane which is only an hour or so from Surfers Paradise.

 

Edited November 27, 2020 by MARYROSE02

[Canada2Australia]

4 hours ago, MARYROSE02 said:

So I am guessing that the only thing that makes Vancouver acceptable as a place to live is the fact that Seattle is just over the border in the USA. Otherwise it would be as isolated as Perth with Vancouverians (sic) pining for Toronto and Montreal?!

Actually, I regard a 12 hour drive as unacceptable. That is Sydney to Brisbane or Sydney to Melbourne and of course there are no MAJOR cities between any of those three cities. Then again, for me, smaller towns and cities are quite acceptable as destinations, in fact preferable to all day slogs. I would much rather drive from Perth to Margaret River than Sydney to Brisbane, Very subjective I know. The last time I drove was from Sydney to Coolangatta which took me from 2pm to about 830pm to Taree where I stopped over night then the same again to Coolangatta.

Acceptable for me means a two hour drive up to London from my home town of Southampton, though I'd probably take the train.

I suppose what I am getting at is? Why is living in a big city unacceptable unless there are other big cities within, 12 hours drive by your count? I felt no deep desire to go to Melbourne or Brisbane when I lived in Sydney just as I feel no desire to go to Brisbane which is only an hour or so from Surfers Paradise.

 

I could sit here and debate with you for hours (especially with regards to the Canadian geographical reference as you appear to be unaware of the proximities of our other major cities between Toronto and Vancouver which don't even come close to the Perth isolation factor), but I would think we both have better things to do with our time. I will simply reiterate that facts are facts;  Perth is literally one of the most isolated cities on the planet. No getting around that huge factor one I'm afraid. 

If you enjoy living in Perth, then that is all that should matter for you 

Edited November 27, 2020 by Canada2Australia