Rik 3 Posted September 24, 2022 Hi New here, and joined to get help with my decision. 50 yr old single professional, Bit by brith been here in Nelson NZ for 16 yrs. Beautiful place but honestly bored of it, smallish town, isolated, and feel like a change. I have the possible option to sell my house here, buy in Mandurah / Bunbury / North of Perth perhaps?? and start a new chapter. I know the grass wont be greener, than here anyway lol, and Im not naive, but ready to make a big change and make the most of it. Just want any thoughts on the areas, Mandurah, Bunbury, or North - Hilary or up that way. Im temple to just make the move as a permanent one - sell here and go, then I hav to make it work, otherwise paying rent and having the option to leave means I may not be 100% committed to making it all work. Worst case I cold always move again.. life short have go for it! Any ideas, advice or opinions much appreciated. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rik 3 Posted September 24, 2022 Brit by birth.. temple - Tempted .. morning first coffee !! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marisawright 10,269 Posted September 24, 2022 I assume you're a New Zealand citizen, so getting a visa to live in Australia won't be an issue? Scot by birth, emigrated 1985 | Aussie husband granted UK spouse visa, moved to UK May 2015 | Returned to Oz June 2016 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blue Flu 999 Posted September 25, 2022 I would not move to either Mandurah or Bunbury due to issues ongoing in those places. Although some years back was looking at property in Bunbury. Of the preferences given would more likely pick North of Perth. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cheekee 2 Posted September 25, 2022 Pros & cons to every suburb you really need to turn up & get a feel. Some prefer NoR others SoR, I moved to Butler & my best mate from UK moved to Mandurah & we’ve all been happy & made it work for us. Consider what you need in a suburb, schools, employment, transport, nightlife & you’ll find your ideal place. best of luck 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VERYSTORMY 3,397 Posted September 25, 2022 We lived in Mandurah for 8 years until 2016 and really enjoyed our time there. We were in the suburb of Dawesville which I would happily recommend. Feel free to ask me any questions Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DIG85 197 Posted September 25, 2022 12 hours ago, Rik said: 50 yr old single professional, Bit by brith been here in Nelson NZ for 16 yrs. Beautiful place but honestly bored of it, smallish town, isolated, and feel like a change. I have the possible option to sell my house here, buy in Mandurah / Bunbury / North of Perth perhaps?? and start a new chapter. Isn't the obvious question here: if you find Nelson NZ boring, small town, isolated etc., what makes you think you Mandurah/Bunbury will be any different? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bulya 2,761 Posted September 25, 2022 13 hours ago, Rik said: Hi New here, and joined to get help with my decision. 50 yr old single professional, Bit by brith been here in Nelson NZ for 16 yrs. Beautiful place but honestly bored of it, smallish town, isolated, and feel like a change. I have the possible option to sell my house here, buy in Mandurah / Bunbury / North of Perth perhaps?? and start a new chapter. I know the grass wont be greener, than here anyway lol, and Im not naive, but ready to make a big change and make the most of it. Just want any thoughts on the areas, Mandurah, Bunbury, or North - Hilary or up that way. Im temple to just make the move as a permanent one - sell here and go, then I hav to make it work, otherwise paying rent and having the option to leave means I may not be 100% committed to making it all work. Worst case I cold always move again.. life short have go for it! Any ideas, advice or opinions much appreciated. WA is isolated. Bunbury etc even more so Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marisawright 10,269 Posted September 25, 2022 That would be my question too -- why WA in particular? I haven't lived in Perth but I have visited a lot and my niece worked there for a few months at one point. Her impression, and mine too, is that it's a great place for families. Not so great for singles. Scot by birth, emigrated 1985 | Aussie husband granted UK spouse visa, moved to UK May 2015 | Returned to Oz June 2016 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rik 3 Posted September 25, 2022 19 hours ago, Blue Flu said: I would not move to either Mandurah or Bunbury due to issues ongoing in those places. Although some years back was looking at property in Bunbury. Of the preferences given would more likely pick North of Perth. Thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rik 3 Posted September 25, 2022 19 hours ago, Cheekee said: Pros & cons to every suburb you really need to turn up & get a feel. Some prefer NoR others SoR, I moved to Butler & my best mate from UK moved to Mandurah & we’ve all been happy & made it work for us. Consider what you need in a suburb, schools, employment, transport, nightlife & you’ll find your ideal place. best of luck thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rik 3 Posted September 25, 2022 13 hours ago, VERYSTORMY said: We lived in Mandurah for 8 years until 2016 and really enjoyed our time there. We were in the suburb of Dawesville which I would happily recommend. Feel free to ask me any questions thanks, 9 hours ago, DIG85 said: Isn't the obvious question here: if you find Nelson NZ boring, small town, isolated etc., what makes you think you Mandurah/Bunbury will be any different? Nelson is a town of approx. 50,000, and other than fly the closest bigger place is Christchurch, some 5 hour drive away. Perth has almost 2 million people, a much larger and more active place, I may get bored in the region but I think it would take a while! I meant bored as in I've been here and done this - time for a change. I don't need a bustling metropolis to excite me, and I don't imagine I'd want that anyhow. Just a largish town near enough a big city and other places to visit, in a better climate with work available (plenty in my profession) and then start a new life and make it work for me. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rik 3 Posted September 25, 2022 8 hours ago, Bulya said: WA is isolated. Bunbury etc even more so Thanks, but isolated with a large city and multiple towns, not isolated as in nothing there.? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rik 3 Posted September 25, 2022 7 hours ago, Marisawright said: That would be my question too -- why WA in particular? I haven't lived in Perth but I have visited a lot and my niece worked there for a few months at one point. Her impression, and mine too, is that it's a great place for families. Not so great for singles. Why WA - combination of the climate and I'm concerned somewhere like Brisbane might be too humid, and the house prices. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marisawright 10,269 Posted September 25, 2022 1 hour ago, Rik said: Why WA - combination of the climate and I'm concerned somewhere like Brisbane might be too humid, and the house prices. If you're travelling light, then you could give it a try. The big downside of Perth is that if you settle there and then decide to move East, it gets expensive to move anywhere else. It's a long flight for a start, so going for job interviews gets very expensive. Then, shipping your stuff from Perth to Sydney (for example) costs as much as shipping your stuff from Perth to Sydney. Whereas if you start somewhere on the Eastern seaboard, it's fairly easy to move around if your first choice isn't quite right. If house prices are an issue then I can see that Perth makes sense. House prices in most of Australia have gone bonkers and while Perth was once the worst of the lot, it's now the most reasonable of the capital cities. However have you thought about going to a regional city instead of a capital city? For instance, Geelong is four times the size of Nelson. Newcastle is over ten times the size of Nelson. Both are within a reasonable drive/train trip to a capital city for a day trip or a weekend. Scot by birth, emigrated 1985 | Aussie husband granted UK spouse visa, moved to UK May 2015 | Returned to Oz June 2016 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blue Flu 999 Posted September 25, 2022 17 hours ago, VERYSTORMY said: We lived in Mandurah for 8 years until 2016 and really enjoyed our time there. We were in the suburb of Dawesville which I would happily recommend. Feel free to ask me any questions Time must remove memory. I recall very well just how unhappy and disconnected (lonely) when you were living in Mandarah. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blue Flu 999 Posted September 25, 2022 3 hours ago, Rik said: Why WA - combination of the climate and I'm concerned somewhere like Brisbane might be too humid, and the house prices. We were looking at several home opens over the past two weeks and all had so many people checking them out. Most don't seem to even bother to give a price it seems anymore. Just want offers. This could be a result of rentals being very hard to find , not sure. Usually with interest rates on the rise vendors need to work harder. Another issue we have a major issue of people making the drug Ice in Perth. (all around me) Both Mandurah and Bunbury are very notorious for this sort of business. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Marisawright 10,269 Posted September 26, 2022 2 hours ago, Marisawright said: shipping your stuff from Perth to Sydney (for example) costs as much as shipping your stuff from Perth to Sydney. LOL. this should read, "shipping your stuff from Perth to Sydney (for example) costs as much as shipping your stuff from Sydney to the UK. Scot by birth, emigrated 1985 | Aussie husband granted UK spouse visa, moved to UK May 2015 | Returned to Oz June 2016 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bulya 2,761 Posted September 26, 2022 11 hours ago, Rik said: Thanks, but isolated with a large city and multiple towns, not isolated as in nothing there.? Not much there. Great speedway though Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rik 3 Posted September 27, 2022 Thanks all, a fair bit to consider there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
benj1980 412 Posted October 2, 2022 On 26/09/2022 at 07:53, Blue Flu said: We were looking at several home opens over the past two weeks and all had so many people checking them out. Most don't seem to even bother to give a price it seems anymore. Just want offers. This could be a result of rentals being very hard to find , not sure. Usually with interest rates on the rise vendors need to work harder. Another issue we have a major issue of people making the drug Ice in Perth. (all around me) Both Mandurah and Bunbury are very notorious for this sort of business. I live in Mandurah and totally disagree. Yes there is Ice use, but no it's not everywhere. I've read several comments that you've made about this now and I don't think it's accurate. I appreciate it's one persons opinion against another but maybe this is needed in this instance for a more balanced view. I live in the suburbs but work locally within the Mandurah community. Realistically if you live in the suburbs you won't find the issues that you can find in the cheaper, centrally located housing. 4 AITSL assessment complete-09/10/2014 | IELTS L8.5, R8, W8.5, S8.5. -13/12/2014 | EOI submitted 07/01/2015 (65) invite 09/01/2015 | 189 Visa applied - 10/01/2015 | Meds -20/02/2015 | PCC-08/03/2015 | Visa granted! - 20/03/2015. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blue Flu 999 Posted October 3, 2022 (edited) On 02/10/2022 at 20:49, benj1980 said: I live in Mandurah and totally disagree. Yes there is Ice use, but no it's not everywhere. I've read several comments that you've made about this now and I don't think it's accurate. I appreciate it's one persons opinion against another but maybe this is needed in this instance for a more balanced view. I live in the suburbs but work locally within the Mandurah community. Realistically if you live in the suburbs you won't find the issues that you can find in the cheaper, centrally located housing. Well then they must all be in the Inner City Perth . MH plates are very prominent here in the Ice business which is overwhelming (but country plates in general) Mandurah was not termed methdurah for no reason. Again I refer to manufacture. My area has very limited, visible addicts, but simply business . A balanced view? No. WA is a world leader in Ice. Perth the top city in the world. As it as all around me I do keep an eye on what is going down. I never claimed all in MH are doing it , I said there is a severe problem with it there. Further down the road, Bunbury , was a few years back severely burdened by the plight of Ice. A simple search will confirm this and I'm told not much has changed. What is sad, is people attempting to down play, or worse deny the greatest social problem we are enduring in WA. The country is severely impacted especially my former home town, where a demonstration of hundreds of people have marched over recent years in protest of what is happening. One thing that did amaze me though. The sort of people engaged in this are probably the least expected participants in breaking the law. All in complete denial of course and work very hard at normalcy. Edited October 3, 2022 by Blue Flu Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MARYROSE02 2,302 Posted October 4, 2022 If you make the move perhaps don't sell your house in Nelson until you are sure you are happy in Australia. You may even be homesick for Nelson/NZ. You wouldn't be the first, or last, to regret burning your bridges, wherever you are planning to go, UK to Oz, Oz to UK. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jon the Hat 1,094 Posted October 4, 2022 On 02/10/2022 at 20:49, benj1980 said: I live in Mandurah and totally disagree. Yes there is Ice use, but no it's not everywhere. I've read several comments that you've made about this now and I don't think it's accurate. I appreciate it's one persons opinion against another but maybe this is needed in this instance for a more balanced view. I live in the suburbs but work locally within the Mandurah community. Realistically if you live in the suburbs you won't find the issues that you can find in the cheaper, centrally located housing. It is one person's opinion against just about everyone else I think. I suspect you have to be very unfortunate to find yourself in the midst of it. 2 PR (100) moved to Perth September 2021 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites