StraighttothePoint

Oh well then this should be easy for you. As a full time forex/commodities trader you will be used to gathering and analysing information before making a decision. If you work from home then you have a big choice, over a large area, and so just follow the suggested process and you will find it works. Your $500 to $600 budget will narrow it down a lot more than you may think and so the process may not take that long to be honest. Good luck.

How poor the sunsets are here in the metro area given the hype that surrounds them. If you come from Scotland, and are used to light nights up until nearly midnight in the summer months, with sunsets that take literally hours they are a huge disappointment. When you go down to the beach and get all settled you barely have time to open your bottle of wine before it is dark

No problem but as Give Me says you probably need to narrow your own search down rather than starting to take on board opinions about a range or number of suburbs fro example. The reason being that we all have them and we all have our own views of working in Perth, it's suburbs and it's schools. Not an issue taking on others opinions / views because that is sensible but perhaps try to do your own detailed research and then you will probably be able to ask more detailed questions. At the moment you are a bit scatter gun. My advice would be if you are budgeting for $500 to $600 per week then go here http://reiwa.com.au/home/default.aspx and see where you fit in suburb wise. Then, like Give Me says, factor in where you will be working, or think you will would like to work, and create a suburb short list based on renatl cost, infrastructure and amenities. Then match that shortlist against the schools in the catchment area and do some further research on the schools. People on here who ahve done this tend to come up with 3 or 4 short listed suburbs and it really helps them to focus. This site is full of views on cost of living, suburbs, schools etc and so also have a good read over these. That background information will also help you when creating your own personal shortlist. It is just a case of digging through the pervious threads. Also if you need a list of other key information sites and/or a template that will help with budgeting then please drop me a PM with your e-mail address and I will send you them.

But the Mandurah commute is not just the 50 minutes by train is it guys? I would have thought that any total daily commute time, regardless of mode, was from the time you left your front door until you got to your work place added to the total reverse journey time? That gives you the true total daily commute time - no? Not baggin Mandurah but just sayin.....

Lots of similar threads on here already, some only in the last week or so, where a lot of this has recently been debated. Worth looking through the Education threads as well as this one http://www.perthpoms.com/forum/renting-real-estate/11156-suburbs-avoid.html Also what comes first suburb or school, your overall budget remeaining intact or it being altered so that you can get into a better school in a more expensive suburb, or does the school come first no matter how much it costs to live there and you pay to be in the suburb regardless of costs and so on and so on. As Porty says how will you chose anyway? Better to be here, with a shortlist of suburbs and/or schools and be flexible as to where you end up on a more permanent basis if you can. If your budget is constrained then as I say you can drop your expectations in terms of housing and allocate more to education for the kids. Schools are what they are here as is the system for entry. Unfortunately we cannot choose to be in a suburb and have our kids attend a school outside the catchent area unless we go private or bend the rules. Anyway here is some more reading that may give you some more pointers. Good luck with it all. Education and School Lists http://www.det.wa.edu.au/ http://www.det.wa.edu.au/schoolsonline/home.do Go here and just type in the suburb name and up pops the schools in that catchment. http://bettereducation.com.au/results/WA/all.aspx http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/P...son_Statistics What Suburb http://www.viacorp.com/perth-suburbs-compared.html

If you were ever to camp here in late spring, winter or autumn down south, or around Perth, then it can drop to freezing and below overnight during these cooler months. Very, very cold here at times at night. However that being said, and you only ever intend to camp out in the summer, then thin, cheap tents are available here in abundance either new or second hand. So if you are intending to be an all year round camper then bring it if you have the room.

True if you are earning an ok wage but completely off the mark if you are here on low income, a mid range pay or have a large family. Aussies are really suffering as are many incomers who have misread the situation or have failed to do their homework. How do I know? My wife is a check out chick at Clarkson, the heartland of the Brits here in the northern corridor, and the home to many dinky die true blue Aussies. Everyday she is being told stories of hardship from all sorts of folk. Many whom she says seem to have over extended themselves on arrival. The majority of folk appear to be tightening their belts, looking for ways to reduce their grocery bills in order to cut back and all because they cannot seem to see anything get better soon. Sound familiar? My wife says that the trend seems to be, for many, that they are robbing Peter to pay Paul and that shopping trolleys are much less full than you would expect based on what the customers are saying re their family size and circumstance. Bear in mind checkout chicks are like bar staff and are told everything

As nicola34 says "label" rather than stamp. All info http://www.immi.gov.au/visas/about-your-visa.htm Some people on this site say you need one, others say save your money. It really all depends on what you are doing and who you want to show it to I suppose. Also you can check online as to the status of your visa here at anytime http://www.immi.gov.au/e_visa/vevo.htm

First place to start is here to see where, it at all, you fit into one of the curent visa categories. If they change this visa wizard will be updated. http://www.immi.gov.au/visawizard/ http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/990i/visa-charges.htm Was it ever "easy" to find a sponsor? I do not know so hopefully other folk with your skillset will come on and help to answer that secondary question.

It is easy enough to do. Just go to https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports when you need to do this. I did mine not long ago, it was an easy process and quick. As Phil says cheaper in the UK to do this but see you have time constraints. However there is a service in the UK where you can apply online for a fast track passport but of course that costs more and if you went down that route you may end up paying the same as here.

Have a read through this previous thread for clarification http://www.perthpoms.com/forum/education/10271-how-does-work.html The Rocks is on the ball though.

I sent them the link to the wizard. That alone may stop them in their tracks...... Good fun researching though.

All the links for the information you hopefully need are on the first page of this post. http://www.det.wa.edu.au/schoolsonline/home.do Go here and just type in the suburb name and up pops the schools in that catchment.

Some more stuff in the this site that probably will help http://reiwa.com.au/Faq/Tips/Pages/Browse-tips.aspx and maybe here as well http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/consumerprotection/content/Property_renting/Buying_and_selling/ Happy researching

If you send me a private message with an e-mail address then I can send back a couple of documents that will get you started with most of the things on your list. Unfortunately the natural birthing and feeding bits are out with my expertise Hopefully someone else can handle those topics!!

Especially when you target the more trendy and/or well off suburbs!!

A few threads from last week maybe worth reading http://www.perthpoms.com/forum/money-finance/11134-getting-mortgage-no-credit-history.html , http://www.perthpoms.com/forum/news-gossip/11094-renting-house-back-uk.html and http://www.perthpoms.com/forum/renting-real-estate/11000-selling-renting-house-uk-while-living-oz.html#post59802 Bottom line on reading these looks like if you are going to be registered here for tax purposes then there are implications in terms of a few issues relating to income derived anywhere in the world and also there is a few in there that any mortgage payments in the UK would be a factor. I suppose the devil is in the detail and would relate to the overall figures you are talking about, e.g. mortgage amount in UK, job here and income, level of debt required and so on. Hopefully a Perth based financial services site member may come along and comment / clarify for you.

It appears that 'child life specialist' is possibly more a US term? Looks like the term used here is the same as your own currently. As Ali says e-mail the Princess Margaret hospital direct and see if you get any replies. Apart from that these links should get you started http://www.aahps.org.au/index.php and www.facebook.com/aahps Also here is the WA government website with jobs http://www.jobs.health.wa.gov.au/page.php?pageID=215 and the commonly used Seek site http://www.seek.com.au/healthcare-jobs/in-perth Good luck

The orginal poster says it is about escaping from something or for a lifestyle change as to why folk move here and I added in "to make money" as a third possible reason. Your shallowness of wanting more sun and a beach way of life can of course can be included It fits in nicley to option number two And cover yourself up - outside with only a tee shirt on I ask you

Yep good point and makes sense. I haven't yet seen anywhere without any pavements. Seriously? There are streets, mainly side streets, everywhere in certain suburbs with no pavements. I love this thread. Mundane and yet so informative

To be honest I am not bothered either way and the saying "when in Rome" springs to mind however one reason could be personal safety. Only a guess though....

In the case of WA though is there not a third reason and that is to come here and make money? I agree with what you are saying with reasons one and two. I also agree about talking to one another because I think that in many cases one person drives the move and the other gets sucked in. It has to be all 100% wanting to do it or if not then some form of lifestlye plan needs to be agreed where everyone gets what they want out of the move. Also the phrase " I am doing it for my kids". How do folk know that their kids will not be 100% happy in the UK and that they would go on to bigger and better things than the adults? A cliche that is possibly being used too often as a way for some people to justify the move for themselves perhaps? Only saying........

See Subiaco pavements - another better off suburb - there is a pattern forming here - more money, better suburbs, more pavements Also bear in mind though are the first few metres of a property where there are no pavements, from the road edge in, not owned by the council and not the home owner? This area is called a verge. Cannot find if there is a minimum or maximum but on my house plan it is 8 metres. We have a big block. Is that not right? Think it could be? If that is the case, which I think it may be, then you are not trampling over the owners front yard you are are trampling over council land!! There are policies of what you can and cannot do with the verge area adjacent to your property shire by shire. One example is that if you plant big bushes on the verge then it could hinder your line of sight, and others, from reversing safely from their driveways. Verges are also there in case laying new pipes or services are required and so if you lawn or plant right to the road edge then councils can come along and lift it all without needing to ask. This is why there are policies on what you can do and not do with the verges in the suburbs. If you have a pavement directly in front of your house, and then a small additional verge area beyond that, then being WA then you can bet their will be different rules for those!! How many incomers knew about this will be interesting...... I only found out about it in our suburb when I did my first house alterations back in 2005 after being here two years. I guess this is yet another thing to check when buying a house here, i.e. where does your property end and the verge start. You may get a shock depending on what suburb you are in as to how it is done:biggrin:

Have a look at this site first and bung in your $450 as search criteria. http://reiwa.com.au/home/default.aspx Then have a read through this to give you a gerneral idea. http://reiwa.com.au/home/default.aspxAssuming maybe three of you but you do not say? For $450 a week you would need to go fairly far north or south to get that price range. As for the commute if you travel in peak times then 45 minutes either north of south will not take you far in terms of distance and then of course that may not be far enough out to achieve that level of rent. If you travel outside peak times then Murdoch from any direction is easy because it is on the main freeway routes. Subi is a little off track and so you would need to add a lot if travelling in peak times because you will hit the city and just a few minutes more if outside peak times. If it was me I would pay more on rent and try to get nearer. Save money on less petrol and have more personal time. As for primary schools all seem to be good by what is said on these threads so that should not be an issue.

Cash rich suburbs like City Beach, Cotty and the like tend to have more pavements - funny that eh Other suburbs the design seems to be, from what I see anyway, is that any main road into or through the suburb, and any road that leads somewhere, has at least one pavement but all the others appear pavementless (is that a word?) So if you are choosing a suburb that is another thing to consider when renting or buying if a pavement is important to you That all said and done as I seem to keep saying these days, it is what it is...... Bear in mind that when it is 80 degress at 7.30 in the morning, and hotter as the day goes on, a walk to the local shops pushing a buggy is not something that may appeal too much