StraighttothePoint

The clues are that Centrelink, one of the Governments Department of Human Services that is responsible for the development of service delivery policy and provides access to social, health and other payments and services, starts helping oldies at 45 years of age!!! Retirement villages, Lifestyle Villages as they can them, are designed for fit and active over 45's!! Perth seems to be for either folk who want to come and earn big bucks, start a new life or for those that want an easy life. If you are 52 and want to work another 15 years at your age then you will not be the norm that's for sure Joking aside if you come and build up a network of contacts you will find work. If you go to interviews keep your age off your CV, reduce the volume of previous jobs to a minimum and baffle the interviewers into thinking you are a sprightly 45 year old!! I am older than you and have been through it all here in he last few years. It is a weird and wonderful job market with self employment to best route for many of us oldies. You work when you want, how you want and earn what you need. That way lifestyle gets the priorty and you do not become yet another hamster in the wheel. Only my views and sure others will differ. But ask yourself this. Why would you want to come to one of the most beautiful places in the world and have to work your knackers off to survive? If that what it turns out to be then you need to go to plan B

Solicitor = Mount Lawley, Nedlands, City Beach, Cottesloe.

I pay tax here, I have had Family Tax Benefits and I am not a citizen. However I am on a visa that is allows me to claim ceratin benefits from Centrelink. All eligibility claims are different. Look at this one for example Parental Leave payments. Everything you need to know should be on the Centrelink website. http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/individuals/ppl_working_parents_eligibility.htm#am

Dean I have followed your posts over the months and they make me smile, so positive. Sure you will do well here but one small piece of advice the ocean off Perth is not the only place that sharks gather and feed You probably have heard this from others but I have been around the world and IMHO the sharks here in Perth are the biggest, sharpest and most dangerous ones there are. It is because there is so much new blood in the area, it attracts them. Take your time, don't run head first into the water, have a good look around and check everything out before you take the plunge. Anyway good luck in your new venture and as I say sure you will do well.

Interesting thread. What seems to be the case here is two things. One people tend to think that the streets are paved with gold because they were told they were, or they believed they were, and secondly what happens is that people who come out here never seem to end up doing what they were trained to do and end up on another job path. The reality of it all is leaving your homeland and moving this far away is hard, very hard. Stick at it, don't give up and you will succeed. Yes money will be tight if you did not plan for a downturn but in the short term cut back, don't worry what others have and think of why you left your homeland in the first place. Nobody said it would be easy and if you did well

Come on guys give me a break please This is funny, for me anyway and I am sure for others, it is as simple as that. No bad spirit, no bad taste, no bad nothing just read the posts from start to finish and surely somebody else out there can appreciate there is a funny side to the to and fro of the comments? Maybe it is just a male thing but honestly it is funny. I think planking is hilarious and now the fun police are moving in and trying to stop it. Maybe it is just a style of humour that certain people have? What the world needs now is...... Just because one side does not think it is funny surely that does not stop the other side from having a view? The alternative is censorship is it not? Come on geez a break

Ageist, sexist, hilariousist, funnyist... You name it Oh ma sides are still aching.

Oh my sides. After reading the above series of posts it was like watching a re-run of the Golden Girls. You could not make it up. LoL

Jambos, what does that mean? Not a Jambo by chance are we? Anyway Darlington = hills = very, very hot at times with no chance of a sea breeze. If you have a family be careful about venturing too far inland. I would say keep in striking distance of the coast regardless if you like the beach or not.

Thanks for that JoJo. My handle says it all and no point about beating about the bush. If you come here on holiday you will love it especially if you come for a month and get a real chance to see the place. Problem is as you know a holiday is exactly that. Still do it and maybe the teenagers will respond positively!! Just bring a heap of cash, start the bribes early in the trip and promise them a better life.

Greg I totally agree with that but would add that to make sure that it definatley happens is to consider getting them out here young or very early teens at the latest. That way they just take in thir stride and think it is a bit of an adventure almost. The longer you leave it after these ages then it is only right that they have a fuller say in any move. And my point has always been all for one or none at all. You seem to have a good handle on the place. I think am a bit like you in the way I feel but I go back every year and that way I can cope with it all. This leads me onto what I would like to think is the second valid point when you move here and that is do not put all your eggs into one basket. Once you are caught here with the expensive lifestyle you appear to get trapped. Everything is big here. Big cars, big houses, big health plans, big bills, big TV's , big salesmen, big fees, big tax and so on. If you can try and steer away from the norm and try and build a life patiently, slowly and less demanding then you have a big chance to settle more easiliy. The con here is that it seems to feel like the sharks are lining up at the arrival halls just waiting for the wifes to show them new kitchens, big patios and shining 4 x 4's. Once they see those us chaps are stuffed!!

You have two daughters at that age who do not wnat to come but you and your husband do? My advise to anyone who wants to come here is that everyone in the family must want to move otherwise don't do it. Moving to another world is hard. This is not just round the corner. My son went on holiday with us at 15 and that was the worst month in my life. Moods, hormones and just possibly the worst pahse in a teenagers life. And you want them to move to the otherside of the world?

The second link is to a stamp duty calculator.

Is that $600k including or excluding stamp duty? These two sites should give you some good information. Government of Western Australia - Home Buyers And Builders Untitled Document

Dean I am sure you have done all the analysis and are sure that, for you guys, things will be better here financially. Good luck when you get here and I hope your expectations are met. If it is things, luxury and a better life you are after you will certainly get the opportunity to have that here in spades. In fact why don't you go for a pint when you get here to celebrate. Oh by the way that is touching $11 here now in many places in the city. Ok $9 if you only buy a schooner. You can spend some of your newly found disposalable income on a couple of those:wink:

The secret starts at the beginning of the journey. Arrive, take a deep breath, watch what everyone else does and do the opposite. Set your goals a bit lower, work out how to do more with less, don't get caught in the head lights where bigger is better and flat screen TV's rule, don't get carried away with all the new kitchens on show and, buy or rent wisely and definately do not end up living in the middle of nowhere. Follow those simple rules and bingo Perth is a great place to live without having to flog your guts out day after day. As an accountant once said to me not long after I first arrived here, the secret is to not earn a lot and live well. He was right.

No. Nobody works in Perth!! That's why we all come here :-) My career ended in Scotland when I left in 2003. Life here is about living and having a good time. Wait till you get here you will soon see what I mean :-)

Just need to get a wooden garden seat back to Scotland. Would be happy to pay a small amount to put it a container and then collect at the other end when I am over later in the summer.

Hi Dayna At the moment overall figures show that house prices are on the slide in Perth however my view is that that they were so overpriced in the first place that this was always going to happen to some extent. However as ever these figures reflect the whole of Perth and when you dig down into them it is becomes more factual. It appears that prices in the $600k+ bracket are stalling worse than others where indeed in some areas prices have actually risen due. Add that together then get a $5m house only selling for $4.5m and variances can easily be deceptive. Add into the mix the current mortgage rates and you have a lack of first time buyers which puts pressure on the market. You always need to look deeper into any set of statistics, which I am sure you appreciate, and you find out what is really happening with housing. If you can buy now, without having to sell, it is a good time. As for new builds you can get some really good deals at the moment in the sticks but then you need to consider the lifestyle given where you could end up which I suppose ties in with what you seem concerned about and that is schooling. (Sorry I am from a generation that went to the nearest school and I do not really understand why everyone gets into such a tizzy over it now. Kids are robust creatures.) Anyway Perth is the same as anywhere else I suppose in reality. There are good State schools and there are not so good State schools and in the case of the former they tend to be in the better quality suburbs. So I always have a simple approach to this. If you want your kids to go to a better State school you will probably end up living in a suburb that costs you more. You pay for what you get in this life and you always will. Go to the MY School website, Google and so on, do the analysis and pick the school and you will be presented with a suburb. If you cannot afford to live in it move onto the second choice and so on. Practical analysis will flesh out your answer. I am very lucky in that I live between Perth and Edinburgh/Fife and so I see first hand the costs involved in day to day living and honestly I can say hand on heart that Perth is way more expensive. I just looked at what I was paying 5 years ago at the Scottish end for food, utilities, insurance etc and it is far less now. Only thing that has gone up that much is petrol. (Bear in mind Edinburgh is one of the most expensive cities in the UK.) This is because over there I can swap around utility and insurance suppliers anytime I want to get the best deal. I can shop in a multitude of shops and so on. Here as you know there is limited and/or no competition and without a doubt price fixing goes on and that has been proven in some recent cases. Just to back this up on one front my wife works on the checkout here at Coles and deals with customers everyday who now cannot deal with the increases in food costs without drastically cutting back. If this is happening, and it is obvious, then something is not right? It is always a good guage of things when mothers start looking at the shopping list and start to budget hard because that tells us a lot. Us men just go blindly on until the train wreck happens. For what it is worth I honestly, on reading your posts, think you need to try and separate out what you are reading/seeing in the media over there because there are two immediate things that jump to mind. You will face the same types and style of media here. It is as depressing and it is getting worse albeit the sun is shining when we are being told the bad news. Also I have a lot of friends and work colleagues in Scotland who say they have never had it so good. You have to remember that a recession/economic downturn to one person is doom and gloom but to another an oppotunity. All this said and done you will decide on what you do but my only piece of advice would be make sure that everyone in the family really wants to do this, everyone. If anyone person feels that they cannot hack it or they will just miss home too much then don't do it. Your idea of a holiday is ok but you know that is not the same as living here again. It will be a holiday. All this is not designed to wind you up but to try and help you make your mind up. Straight to the Point :-)

We have used Wridgeways on several occasions and they were excellent at both ends. Where are your rellies going back to by the way?

Dayna I am missing something here? At no point above does anybody tell you much about the current cost of living, the state of the building trade and/or the house purchase and rental prices are. You rightly say that you need to look closely at the finances well you better have a real good look at them. In the two years you have been away house prices, and rents, have soared, food and utility costs have rocketed, the building trade has cooled dramatically and just to top it all off for you the cost of airfares are now getting to the stage where walking will be the only way to get anywhere. On and add into that mix the exchange rate. So your decision needs to take these things into account I would have thought. It is most certainly not as easy as it was here. It is getting harder and harder to live the simple life. Yes it is sunny, yes you may have a better life for the kids, yes you may get a nicer house and so on but be careful because you need to take into consideration the current econmics of the city. You will still be away from friends and family. Money issues plus being away from family appears to be the issue. Be careful you could go from the frying pan into the fire.

Teabag think you need to do research. Look into the year 12 results here in Perth and see where the state schools are on the tables. Yes there are tables for the crucial years that really count. Also look at where some of the top pupils come from as well and it is not from all the private schools. My advice will be choose your suburb and if you choose a reasonable one then the school will be ok. As for going private absolutely as the costs here are far less than in Scotland but will it be worth it that is the question? As I say look at the tables for the years that matter. Agree that kids stay kids longer but that is society in general that is causing that to happen not being here. Here it takes even longer for them to grow up here because they get everything done for them, they have a better standard of living, they earn good money via part time work, houses are bigger so there is more room for them and so on. By enlarge we are all too over protective to the extent we are wiping their bums for them well into their teens. If you get your kids out of the house by the time they are 25 you will have done well. Get them out by 30 these days and you are more on the money So if you think about it getting a better education here is not the be and end all because they do not necessarily use it. Every kid is different and has differnet needs. We start pigeon holing them based on what we believe is correct and we start with get them to a better school because they will get better marks. This is a mining and construction town so why try and get them top marks in what we think is right. Get them a saw and a spanner and let them make millions. Think about it.....

No that is four and sixty blackbirds you are thinking about or maybe one in the leg is worth two in the outback. Something like that that anyway.

Stacey very happy to start a "Get them down also" campaign for that but consider this please first. One wrong does not make a right.

Well it looks like my "Get them down" campaign is gathering some momentum. Yesterday a car in Whitfords shopping centre car park had two St George's flags flying from the windows and as I was passing I heard an English guy asking the driver of the car why he was flying them? The drivers reply, in what appeared to me to be a clear English accent, was because I can. Now that is fair enough because, as per Stacey's reply above, it is a free country. However it could also be interpreted as arrogant, ignorant and an abuse of the country that we are all being hosted in. So yet again I say, Get them down!!