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9 months in tomorrow


Candygirl

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Sorry not been on for a while. We have not stopped since being here. It will be nine months to the day tomorrow since we arrived and we also settle on our first Aussie home. It has been a bit of a whirlwind. We had been looking for a house for months, spending our weekends attending home opens, visiting show houses and looking at blocks of land to perhaps build on.

 

We had got friendly with a local agent who had said he had an idea of what we were looking for and if something came up he would let us know. At 5.45pm on a Friday night we were driving home from work and he called. This house has come on the market and I think you should take a look. We asked can we look at it tonight? 10 mins later we pulled up outside and OH never said a word, but I now know he had decided this was the one. I knew when I stepped into the hallway. 9.00am the next morning we were sat in the agent's office, signing the contracts. That night, the agent was sat in our dining room confirming that the deal had been done and our offer had been accepted and the contracts were binding. This is very unlike us. We are a couple of ditherers and normally take our time to contemplate things. What we have learnt here is if you want something, you have to grab it with both hands otherwise you will turn around and someone else has grabbed it. We were concerned about how difficult it would be to get a mortgage as we had been here for less than year, but we only had to show 2 payslips each, bank statements, copies of passport and visa. We got approval the same day and unconditional approval seven days later. We also stressed over breaking our current lease, again worrying for nothing. The owners had two applications on the first home open.

 

We are both in the same jobs and are still adapting to life in Perth. I don't think my accent is changing, but I was corrected by an Aussie work colleague the other day when I said daata rather than data.

 

Still cannot get over how many Brits live in Perth, but I love hearing their stories of how they got here. We never get bored of seeing parrots flying around in the back yard (garden) or driving along and seeing a pod of dolphins in the river or looking at a field and seeing roos staring back at us. Perth has far exceeded our expectations and we are truly in love with her.

 

Even though it is winter and believe me it is freezing in the early mornings, never thought we would have to scrape the windscreen, it is clear skies and sunny mostly during the day. The last couple of weeks have been trying with the heavy rain as an umbrella is no good here, it is torrential and seems to rain from the ground up too. If you are out in it, you get drenched. We are looking forward to Spring, but we know once the thermometer hits the 40's we won't like that.

 

We have not done much at weekends in the last few weeks as we have been packing and/or trawling round salvage yards and are fast becoming "members" of the church of Bunnings on a Sunday morning, but no matter what the weather here is there is always something to do.

 

In the Autumn before the weather changed we headed over to Rottnest and had a great day over there (although the crossing over is an experience if you don't have your sea legs and you want to stay dry). We did a tour of the island and saw some stunning bays and even got to see a few quokkas.

 

We have learnt to like the Snags and chocolate, but no matter how much we try we cannot get to grips with the bacon here.

 

We have put our house in Spain up for sale and are hoping that it sells within a reasonable timeframe. We both feel like we have been here forever and are still shocked how we have just settled so easily. We talk to our families at least a couple of times a week on either the telephone or Skype and have not really struggled with the time difference. I think that is a real positive for being on the West Coast, we are only 7 hours ahead.

 

Although neither of us are working in the mining industry, we are earning decent wages and have a good standard of living. We are not extravagant and don't go mad, but we are doing what we what to do. We have bought a nice new car and our plan is still to buy a second hand caravan for weekends away. This month I got a 10% pay rise so a nice bonus as I was not expecting it.

 

We have not left WA yet as we have been focused on buying a property and putting down roots, but our plan next year is to start to see more of WA.

 

For those people who have "wobbly" days, we had them believe me, but once you are here, you forget about all the hard work and visa forms and headaches. I know everyone said to us It is worth it and we thought yeah yeah, but honestly it is.

 

There are so many opportunities here if you want them and are prepared to work. The rental market has slowed down a lot and I think the occupancy rate is now 3.8% compared to 1.8% last year. People are tending to buy instead of renting. They say there is a slowdown, but we have not seen any sign of it. The shops are busy and people are spending. The home opens are like Piccadilly Circus on a quiet day and houses are snapped up or sold before they get to home open so people have money and are spending it. We are both incredibly busy at work and both our employers are having to expand and employ more staff to keep up with demand and the workload.

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Love a good settling in story.

 

What do you and your husband do for work? You mentioned the mining industry, i've been told that that has slowed down/stopped for a while but is rumoured to pick up again. I'm a nurse and have my eye on a couple of hospitals, and think I should find a job relatively easily, my husband has a degree in business management, and finances and is looking for post graduate job, are there opportunities for that kind of work out there, do you know?

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We have learnt to like the Snags and chocolate, but no matter how much we try we cannot get to grips with the bacon here. - See more at: http://www.perthpoms.com/forum/news-gossip/16003-9-months-tomorrow.html#sthash.OJenxRyR.dpuf

 

 

you can get proper bacon from McLoughlins in Malaga and sausages too! I am lucky my local Coles stocks it too :)

 

glad you have settled.

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Hey Candygirl :smile: So pleased to hear from you. It's brilliant to know your both really happy and you've settled so well. Your updates have always been fantastic and full of positive energy, just what the doctor ordered, thank you. Next month it should be our turn to make that long flight and start the new adventure. Our container leave's in two weeks and a lot more "last time" moments have started ..... lots of nerves, excitement and rollercoaster feelings all mixed into one so the positive update really helps :)

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Guest Guest6235
  aligard said:
Hey Candygirl [emoji2] So pleased to hear from you. It's brilliant to know your both really happy and you've settled so well. Your updates have always been fantastic and full of positive energy, just what the doctor ordered, thank you. Next month it should be our turn to make that long flight and start the new adventure. Our container leave's in two weeks and a lot more "last time" moments have started ..... lots of nerves, excitement and rollercoaster feelings all mixed into one so the positive update really helps :)

Wow, two weeks....things have moved on for you. Who did you end up choosing?

My wife sent her docs off to TRBWA today to register.

 

We got our visa's granted yesterday so we're getting somewhere now.

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  Keefo said:
Wow, two weeks....things have moved on for you. Who did you end up choosing?

My wife sent her docs off to TRBWA today to register.

 

We got our visa's granted yesterday so we're getting somewhere now.

 

 

Congrats mate!

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Lovely to hear from you CG! It's been a while and you've been missed :wubclub: I'm so pleased you have all settled in well and have decided to sell up in Spain.

 

Can you believe it, we've been here nearly 2 months now?!

 

So is the new house in the same area as your rental?

 

Lou xxx

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  Keefo said:
Wow, two weeks....things have moved on for you. Who did you end up choosing?

My wife sent her docs off to TRBWA today to register.

 

We got our visa's granted yesterday so we're getting somewhere now.

 

hi, hi, oh that's brilliant about your visa!!! The TRBWA didn't take too long so you'll be good to go. Are you still planning to go at Easter? Yep, container from pss coming in 2 weeks then flying couple of weeks later : )

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  aligard said:
hi, hi, oh that's brilliant about your visa!!! The TRBWA didn't take too long so you'll be good to go. Are you still planning to go at Easter? Yep, container from pss coming in 2 weeks then flying couple of weeks later : )

Thanks!

 

We have something in mind that if it works we may head out at Christmas.

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