StraighttothePoint

How hard is that question to answer....... So many unknowns. Perth is what it is, a city with a small country town mentality pretending to be bigger than it actually is in the wider economic market place. It is way too expensive for what is on offer in terms of housing, general living costs are higher than anywhere else in Australia, new infrastructure is not keeping up with the influx of people and many struggle to adapt to life here. But on the other hand the sunshines, a lot, the winters are short, things are new and shiny in many places which a lot of people like and if you get lucky, get jobs on or near arrival and settle quickly then there is no reason as to why it is not a place to good place to live. As for "will it be a great" life well that depends on a lot of factors and a number of things falling into place. And that of course is different for every single one of us because we are all different.

Yeah I am here at the moment, not back in Auld Reekie until 3rd June this year. You can get games on Hearts TV, via the net, but to be honest some broadband speeds here are poor and I gave up trying to do it that way. You need to have Foxtel here (Sky) and then once you have that you can add on Setanta to get the SPL, Scottish Cup games and a whole host of other world leagues as well. Bit expensive setting up now but I have had mine that long we are still on our original monthly fees from about 10 years ago!! No idea how that works but not complaining. Your FIL if he is a Jambo will have Sentanta, surely? If not, and he has Fox then buy him a membership for his next birthday, only about $150 per annum. HHGH

Just saw on this thread what you do. As for information send me your e-mail via a Private Message and I will send you most of the stuff you need to do all the necessary research. Broadband www.iinet.net.au and use Skype to call home works out cheap as. Cars are a must here but plenty of excellent cycle paths as well as good public transport. If you are going to Duncraig first then you will be fine, very good suburb. As for buying / renting there it is fairly expensive so you may need to think about that one or resarch it a bit more with the stuff I send you. The secret is to stay near a train station and you will be fine. That way you can get about, keep the costs down and if you are lucky not need a second car. HHGH

Funny just reading through Kickback and then flicked over to this site and saw you had replied. At your age good time to make the move then. Think you may have your times mixed up though? Latest kick off times here for a SPL game is usually 11.00pm but when Hearts are on Setanta it is usually either 7.00pm or 8.00pm kick offs depending on the time of the year. So no early starts. Bit more research perhaps? The banter here is what you will miss but then I suppose you are making a lifestyle choice and so you need to take the rough with the smooth. What line of work are you in? Not IT by chance? HHGH

If you can afford it the Leeming suburb is the answer for both schools and living out of that lot. Research that one first and as I say if you can afford forget the rest.

It is a long way from Gorgie out here mate as you know and that hurts. My wife is also Aussie and also hence the reason for me being here so it is not that a small world given your circumstances. Bottom line is if you have in laws here already then it will most likely be a bit easier for you as you will get involved with things they organise, do etc. Also depending on your work things may take off form that. The bottom line though it is not the same and the couple of things I have noticed is that it seems ex-pats are grouping together more, and you can fall into that crowd, or folk start using this forum like a dating site. How many people have been on here recently "looking for friends"? It was not always like that, and just appears to have increased steadily over the last 18 months. These two things tell you something in my humble opinion. I think it will depend on how old you are as to how you settle, for me, I came over too late in life and can take or leave the place to be honest and so I split my time between Fife and Perth. (I was born in Edinburgh, lived in Comely Bank for most of the time so was nice and close to heaven as it is just over the Murrayfield hill.) You can get Setanta here still so you get a few games live and a few replayed. In fact we get the derby tomorrow so heres hoping for a good result. Putting that all to one side if you like the outdoors and have young kids then you should be fine and mix with other families ok. My wife loved it here when she was wee and loves it now at her current stage in life so no way she will be going back in a hurry. I work on here constantly but the lady is not for budging!! So if your wife gets back here, and likes it, I suspect you will be in it for the long haul so you perhaps will need, like me, a plan or you will not be seeing the inside of Tynie for a while. HHGH

If it was me, and you can afford it, then at that time of year I would be in the centre of the city because IMHO more to do in such a short time here. You can easily get to the northern suburbs assuming you will have a hire car for the day and then you have a bundle of things to do at night. If you stay at Mindarie then your choice of things to is limited to the suburb pubs or cafes, the cinema or annyoing folk you know!!

What's a crap(enter)? Sounds painful..... I am from Fife and where we are we call them "juiners"...... Carpenter is so 2000's Good luck with the job hunting and keeping an 18 year old sane in Mandurah

That's the trouble with this world, too many wants!! You will get a bunch of wilted flowers from the servo and think yourself lucky my young lady!!

http://www.1cover.com.au/travel-insurance/quote/select/input.html?sessionFormKey=LExQttu5AxSuZnIy5MgX Does not seem that hard to get. Anyway the more I think about it travelling at 80+ will not be on my bucket list. As Porty says way too much hassle. If I am lucky enough to get to that age the mountain will be coming to Mohamad even if Mohamad has to pay for the priviledge.

Bugger all. Lot of nonsense. Mothers all over the world do it tough and they should be thanked, praised and honoured every day for their efforts. One day a year getting some tea and toast in bed, a wilted bunch of flowers and a hurried meal in some over priced and busy restraunt is not how yhey should be treated. Power to the Mothers not the card shops, flower shops, bars and cafes....... Just saying...... PS And why are you choosing? Should it not be a surprise?

Well done sounds as though the initial period is all going smoothly for you. Driving relaxing? Seriuosly where did you drive before in the middle of a war zone?

Look I know you were not whinging hence the smiley but I honestly do think you need to look at it from their point if view, which is running a business, not a service. "They" really have to be careful in relation to the risk associated with this issue. You are also right and understanding how many folk at that age use the service is certainly good information. I would hazord a guess that the airlines already know this, have passed it onto the insurance companies and that will be part of how the latter manage their service offerings. I fly regularly and do notice a number of oldies on each flight is increasing however over 80's not so sure that there are ever that many to be honest in comparison. Long haul flights are tough on the body and, although many people can cope with it, they are partiularly hard on you as you get older even more so if you have any health issues. At my young mid fifties I do struggle with jet lag at both ends however do appreciate that many people breeze through it. I am not sure how many folk at an older age would feel and what their thoughts would be though. Many will be excluded from flying at that age anyway due to medical conditions. My mother was 76 when she first came out here, did it twice and said never again. Everyone will be different. As for the pilot not having to do anything if there is a serious health emergency that would be another good piece of information to have, i.e. how many times has it happened to the over 60's for example and what actions were taken. Again useful for insurance companies to know. Do you honestly believe if there was a non stop filght and somebody was serious, and the plane was near Dubai, that the pliot would just say carry on? He would be a hard man if he did. For everyone who says they cannot afford it there will be at least one that pays up. The bottom line is there are many people at that stage in life that pay the cover and also many where immediate family members would pay it for them due to concern. Not everyone is hard up, does not understand the actual policy cover or cannot afford it. As you suggest it is all about risk and many people, like you and me, take the risk with no travel cover. Choice is a wonderful thing although I know that, even at my age I worry a bit, about not having cover each time I fly. Not about the luggage, which is not worth bothering about because nothing valueable is in the case in the hold, but more about what would result as anything happening enroute to, or in Dubai during stop over. The number of parents and grand parenst flying out here now muct be quite high and so as you say it would be interesting to hear about any numbers of over 80's and if they were insured or not. I made sure my mother was insured.

Nice one, first post and it is a whinge. You will get on well here on his site Anyway not sure I follow though? Non stop flight = no insurance needed? What happens if a person took ill on the flight and they needed to do an emergency landing at say Dubai for example? Who covers that and the resultant ambo and hospital services? Still a risk involved in any long distance travelling regardless of method I would have thought, especially the older you get. Also if people travelling the other way took ill on a non stop flight the same principal would apply if they had to stop enroute due to an emergency who would pay? You can bet your bottom dollar if they introduced non stop flights there would be specific rules relating to insurance because the airline would want to cover all eventualities and reduce their risk.

That is the funniest thing ever. When we first came here folk said bring a plate. I thought bugger me they do not even have enough crockery what have we let ourselves in for!! Bringing a plate must be a throwback to the early days here when nobody had anything and they had to share everything out. Fair enough but nowadays to get asked to somebodies multi million dollar house, over looking the ocean and to bring a plate? Please..... Tight bar stewards.....

It looks like government based, or public sector organisations, in the UK are now offering increased lump sums on maturity of the pension if you agree to accept a lower monthly / weekly ongoing amount. This is, I guess, is because they do not want to commit to possible long term payouts, i.e. not enough dosh in the treasury coffers. Just to clarify is this what you mean by the above Andrew - an additional part lump sum?

Don't worry most ex-pats I chat to over here about private and state pensions do not have much of a clue either...... My brother in law has been here 20 years and is only thinking about them now!! Anyway with having final salary pensions you need to be careful that would be my advice because they are the dogs bollocks and not to be sniffed at. The pensions I mean not the dogs....

If it was not for the re-sale value on the house you could come and get mine - pain in the butt pools, honestly - however I appreciate for many that it is one of the things that are on the wish lists for living here. Looking at all the prices re-conditioned pools are the go. They are like buying new ones, you will not be able to tell, and a lot, lot cheaper than what is being quoted above. Try DJ Pools if you want to compare costs. If you put a brand new one in, and then move, you may end up over capitalizing on your house. Dangerous time ahead in the property market. Oh and by the way remember and add on all the garden landscaping work when pricing for the pool because you will end up wanting to do that as well.

I posted this before. All the school that we sent our son to here wanted was our BSB and Account number!! You are coming to another country and it is not the same as the one you are leaving. As Arwen says, and if there are no special circumstances or needs, the just bring a few workbooks and some of their drawings from the fridge door!!

And this is before, depending on your age, you even start considering what to do about your state pension entitlement!! That is entirely different ball game.

Although my circumstances are slightly different in that I go back and forward every year I did decided, after much reading and financial advice, to leave my final salary pension in the UK and simply move any cash across after it matures, as and when required in regular small sums. It will be treated as income for tax purposes here, as long as I remain resident here, as will the lump sum on payout. However, and this was the big one for me, what happens if you move a pension across here into a superannuation fund, and then you decide to move back to live in the UK? I appreciate that will not always be the case due to most folk thinking / saying it will never happen to me but what if there are unforeseen circumstances and it does? What are the implications if as permanent resident you want to do that? Are the super funds accessible to you? If so is the tax rate higher than normal in relation to withdrawals or further transfer? My understanding on the research that I did on this was that it can possibly be done but it is very, very complicated, it is down to the super company as to how pre-active they are in helping you, the tax rates are not in your favour and it takes a long, long time. I think there is even a minimum age issue attached to that circumstance as well although that seems to be a grey area. All in all difficult so is that the piece of the jigsaw that is missing here for many of us when making this decision? There as usual seems to be a lot of quality information, and advice, on getting your pension into Australia but it is not so clear on the reverse. As I say for me personally my lifestyle decrees how I made my decision but without all the facts then I would be very worried about doing anything. Probably just me though because I like to undertsand things in their entirity before deciding. Andrews link is a great starting point but for many, without understanding all the implications, is it that easy to decide?

Yep if they have the forecast right, and it looks like they could have this time, then it will be a wee bit of fun for you being new. If will all depend on where it hits, usually Warnbro Sound gets it rough, and this time it may be a bot more spread out up and down the coast. Not sure if you have been through one of these before or not over here? If not dope the kids up on Calpol to make sure they sleep through it or they could pooh themselves with the noise!! Oh and batten down anything that is outside that could move otherwise your plastic chairs will be up the next door neighbours tree!!

Always keep in mind that you wanted to come here!! You have the joys of a lot of new things coming your way and by jove how you will chuckle One word - dentist. Now that is an experience. I hope you have private health care cover for that little gem of a service.

If you send me your e-mail address via Private Messages then I will send you most of the information you need in relation to the move here. You can research schools but you can only enrol the boys when you get here and have an address etc.

If you wanted to see more, and work in the real WA, and not be another number in the suburbs of Perth then on reflection if you can afford it and are not afraid of a real challenge then go for it. If you do though try and have an escape clause in your contract / agreement so that if you do get over powered by it all you can get transferred to another regional area and you also do not lose your visa rights. Most folk coming here end up doing the same old, same old albeit in better living conditions with a great outdoor lifestyle.