kookylittlestar

Hi all, I'm extremely excited to be leaving for our recce in 10 hours! I don't care how early I have to get up, I'm getting on that plane and hopefully getting a good dose of sunshine. London is drizzling today and pretty grey so the escape and opportunity to check out Perth/Freo is very much needed. I hope it goes well, my other half was originally a bit reluctant about the move so this is crunch time. He's become exited in the last year so I hope we lives up to our expectations and we like it. Our agenda is packed with activities. . .next to finish packing and try to sleep

I would have been happy to move to Perth without visiting. I figure I've done enough research , I know what works for our lifestyle and I'm dying to get out of London. My OH is different though, hence we have our recce booked for two months time. I'm not complaining though, I can't wait! And hopefully the visit will make us even more eager to move and get settled!

I'm a project manager and trainer. Currently I'm managing delivery of a youth employment project and I train young people, education and charity staff and corporate volunteers. My other half is a software engineer and also does sound engineering and AV. We probably won't be looking into work stuff on this trip as we're hoping our experience is broad enough to secure something. Any tips are welcome though!

Thanks Porty, we'd love that. We're arriving on the 26th March and staying til the evening of the 6th. So hoping to fit in Bathers Beach sunset market, Sunday music at Fremantle arts centre, and of course the street arts festival. It'd be lovely to have some company.

So excited to have booked our recce for late March/April. Yesterday we spotted some cheap flights with Emirates we couldn't turn down Now to just look for somewhere to stay in freo and start to think about all the places we'd like to visit. Wahoo!!!

Hi portlaunay, So are you saying we shouldn't worry about coming over the Street Arts festival weekend? Considering the temperatures, we are now focusing on a visit between March and May. Are there any other festivals you might recommend over this period? Thank you

Hi everyone, Me and my OH are looking to migrate September 2016. We are planning to visit Fremantle next year. We can only manage a fortnight and would like to choose a time when we can get a real feel for the city. I was considering visiting after Christmas or over the Street Arts festival period but I'm slightly worried these periods wouldn't give us a true sense of the place. Do you have any January-May suggestions? It'd be nice if we could squeeze in a small festival or event (this could be in Perth/Mandurah etc). Thank you

My OH is dyslexic but has no certificate. In his first IELTS he scored 8,9,9,7.5 (writing). It's dented his confidence a bit about retaking, which is a shame. I'm hoping next time he will be okay. I am a teacher so I have been trying to give him help and I've provided assistance/marking for the practice texts. It's just a shame that it would cost so much for the certificate of dyslexia. Feel like he may as well just keep retaking it until he passes for the cost of £400 just for that certificate.

I've excepted the waiting (My OH is slaving away over RPL forms for assessment as a software engineer) and I've tried to accept everything will happen when it's meant to. Even if we don't get a yes first time we'll keep at it til we do. I'm trying to enjoy the planning and uncertainty by viewing it as an adventure and watching programmed like Coast Australia and thinking "One day . . ."

I got this one for my OH. Several practice tests, CD, tips, and a mark scheme. We both thought it was pretty good, and as a teacher I'm picky when it comes to textbooks http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1405833122/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Sounds like you're in a similar position to us. My OH is in IT and was learning towards Melbourne for work reasons. But I think Perth has the ideal climate and range of activities for us and is a better place to start a family. I visited Mebourne 3 weeks ago and although I found the people amazing and I had lots of fun I felt like it was best suited to 18-35 year olds and I noticed that families tended to live out of the CBD meaning long commutes and not really being able to take easy advantages of things in town. I also think Brisbane seems a bit too humid etc at least for us. I hope we make the right decision going with Perth though, hopefully my OH finds fulfilling work. . .and your OH does too wherever you decide to move. At the end of the day I think lifestyles comes first and as long as we have enough to live and cover emergencies and occasional trips home we should be happy.

I was wondering why houses in that area seemed to be a bit cheaper lol. Within 200meters of my current home we have dumped rubbish, random raves (or at least crazy loud rave like music), a derelict house, and a couple of houses that look like half their kitchen and other tat is stewn around the front garden. . .it'll be just like home then.

Glad to've helped. Hope you have a lovely relaxing evening.

Have you read 'The sensible girl's guide to emigrating elegantly' Debs? I literally just finished it and it was pretty fantastic. It takes you through all the stages of emigration, from planning to making the move to being there. It offers both frank and humorous takes on things and goes through the emotions you might feel at various points. I definitely recommend it. The only thing which could be improved is that it's a bit sexist in only focusing on a woman's perspective (to be honest I didn't notice til my OH pointed it out) it's a shame too as most of the points would be relevant to either gender.

Hmm. . .well making a decision like this is a massive leap isn't it. And once you've said 'yes' if that's what you do (and it sounds like you're rightly thinking about it) it'll mean you'll finally have to get on and do the big and scary stuff of actually making the move/quitting your job etc. Perhaps it's the case that up until now you've known you can't do anything until a buyer says 'yes', this has meant that everything else has pretty much been taken out of your hands. But now if you accept the offer it means that the move is full reality and there's lots of pretty scary (but definitely exciting) stuff that will you have to do. I'm guessing that before the 'yes' you were excitedly thinking about the move and how you'd get everything done. Accepting the offer will mean the wheels will be in motion and they'll be no turning back. Thinking about what we want and actioning them can be two very different experiences. Just my thoughts and well done for getting a strong offer