Sapper59

Shayne, I absolutely agree with the posts above - it is such a personal thing and everyone has different experiences. There is no black/white, yes/no to this. 'Making the right decision' for one person/family will undoubtedly be different for others. From our (relatively short) experience, we have made the right decision to move to Perth. I suppose that only time will tell whether that will remain the case, although I am reasonably sure it will. There are negatives to moving to the other side of the world, without a doubt, but for us, weighing up the pros and cons, especially work/life balance and family time/activity opportunities, the pros win! I concur with the advice of listing your +ve/-ve points, in priority order and weigh them against each other - that should give you a good idea of whether you should come. Also, running through a few 'worst case scenarios' would be worthwhile, as suggested by ali. For us, it has been expensive, time consume and emotional getting here, but everyday that the sun is shining and we are enjoying family time and outdoor activities over here, we say 'Yes, it has all been worth it'. Good luck with your decision making and the visa application process if you do decide to come to 'Wonderful WA'! Regards, S.

I certainly hope so, Kate. Thanks for the pm. Have a really good evening. Regards, S.

Absolutely! I reckon that you are spot on. I am especially enjoying spending more time with my wonderful daughter than I was ever able to in UK. In fact, it is nearly time for the school run!! Thanks for the encouragement. Love the African proverb, by the way. Regards, S.

Great to hear that things are going well for you. We arrived in October and things are going well although I am continuing to find it hard, like your hubby to find a job. Life is good, however, as our daughter has settled really well into a fantastic school (and has enjoyed 2 Summer Hols, like your children). We have a reasonable amount of savings, but don't want to eat into that too much as we want to buy a house fairly soonish - I really must get a job! We, like you, I think, have gone through the majority of a fairly traumatic process (which we probably underestimated) and are now really enjoying life here in Perth. I think that they call it 'Living the Dream'!! Have a great day. S.

Hello, All, We are unfortunately now not going to be able to make it this evening. Hope that you enjoy the evening and thank you to the organisers for their kind offer. Have a good one! Regards, S.

Hi, Sianyc, Sorry that I haven't responded earlier - our container took about 7 weeks including customs clearance. It arrived much quicker than we had been told and we had to pay for storage for a few weeks whilst we confirmed our rental. We had our stuff delivered last week and the chaos has just about subsided in time for Christmas. Good luck with your container and Merry Christmas! Regards, S.

Ktee, Could you please confirm that children will be welcome at this meet? If so, please book me in for two adults and a child. Thank you for the generous offer. We use Moneycorp and have found it to be very useful. Regards, S.

Hello, CDM, I think that you would be very lucky to find a reasonably priced furnished 6 month rental property without booking and paying on a nightly fee basis (expensive!). It is really dependant on where you want to stay in Perth and how much you are happy to pay in rent. There are a number of websites for short term accommodation - stayz, AirBnB and rentals on real-estate.com.au are all worth a look and will give you some idea. Relative to UK, we find rental accommodation to be 'cheeky'. Hope that you find what you are after. Regards, S.

Ali and All, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and the best of wishes for a successful and prosperous 2014. Furthermore, I would like to add my sincere thanks to all posters and mods on PerthPoms - it is an excellent site which we have found very helpful in reducing the inevitable uncertainty and stress of moving to the other side of the world! We are moving into a longer term rental today after 2 months in (small) holiday rentals living out of our suitcases. Our 'stuff' (40ft container) will be delivered early next week. It will be so nice to be more settled before Christmas. Woohoo!! Had a really nice day in Mandurah yesterday. Life is good. Regards, S.

Guys, There definitely is a Santa - I saw him last night on a float on St George's Terrace! S.

Redsquare, I am on the Amaysim $40per month package - I wasn't aware of the 6c per minute to UK - I'll have to check it out. Many thanks, S.

Akasully, Broadband packages are similar to UK in terms of data plans - but more expensive! You can either pay less for a certain amount of monthly data or go 'All You Can Eat'. As my daughter loves watching Hannah Montana and other such excellent (!?!) videos on youtube, we will probably go for an unlimited package. Regards, S.

Hi, Darren, Our quest to choose a car took longer than expected (but I think that we are close to success), so we unfortunately couldn't make it yesterday. It sounds as though everyone enjoyed it, so well done for organising it. We'll try to make the next one. Regards, S.

Hi, Celts, If you and your family have iPads and/or Apple computer/laptops, Facetime is superb over a wireless broadband connection. We use it for my daughter to have video calls with her grandparents back in the UK and we have found the video quality to be much better than Skype and it is free (once you have spent a small fortune on Apple products of course!). Hope this helps. Regards, S. P.S No shares in Apple, but I find it all just works better!

Hi, Darren, We are on a mission to find a car to buy today, but might pop along to Burns Beach to say hello after 1pm if that's okay. Regards, S.