Peata Whyted

Hi Sarah & Dan. We are currently renting in southern river. Mid 30's with 2 boys aged 8 & 3. Always looking to make new friends so drop us a line if you fancy meeting up Pete & Jo

Cool, enjoy the trip and we look forward to meeting you when you get over

Hi Sarah, we are in Bletchley Park, not far from Bletchley Park Primary, our 8 year old goes there and he loves it. The school has a good reputation, and we don't have any complaints. Out of interest, where are you flying from, as my mum flys on the same day from Manchester via Dubai. Drop us a line when you get here and we will arrange a meet up. Pete, Jo, Lewis & Reece.

Hi Sarahb48, we arrived 7 months ago in the same situation. We have made some great friends and also live in Southern River. We have 2 boys 8 & 3, and we are always looking to meet new people. Drop us a line when you get here. It does seem scary at first, but we love it here. Pete.

Welcome Debs, hope you had a good flight!

This is a great topic! I was sat in the sunshine on Sunday, the first day of winter in Perth and thinking ' this is equivalent to December in the uk ' yesterday my dash in the car read 28 degrees mid afternoon! Yep, it's cool in the morning and evenings (8 degrees or so) but it does feel like spring time in the uk, which I love! So my summary would be, winter in WA is not too far removed to spring / autumn in the uk, we have had a fair bit of rain over the last 5 weeks, but so has the uk.

Hi Marksman, very, very small world. I work for Honeywell, and although I was based in Manchester, I spent a long time working out of Bracknell and looked to settle in Wokingham before the Aus role surfaced. Drop me a PM if you want my details to send a CV as we may need fire engineers in the near future.

I think I can see my street ;-)

Ha ha, cheers Travelchic, I like your description of Widnes and Runcorn Bridge (apparently closed today due to a major collision! The bridge, not Widnes ;-) ). My first job was in Widnes, I think I can still smell the place from here! (Those who have been to Widnes will understand what I mean!) Look forward to meeting you all at some point, as we are missing the local wit a wee bit now! Pete.

Hi Dan, We are in Bletchley Park, Southern River. It's a nice place, with good schools nearby. We have been in Aus for 8 weeks and in Southern River for 4 weeks. Just got our container, so took 8 weeks door to door. Good luck on the move and drop me a line of you need anything else. Pete.

Hi Liverpool Lass, we have been here from Liverpool for 8 weeks on a 457 visa. We have settled South for the time being in Southern River. Ask your hubby to drop us a line when he gets here and we will help out as best we can. Good luck with the move! Peter & Jo.

Woah, 20 mins of torrential downpour in Southern River as I type and set to continue through the night!

Hi Greg, I went with HBF last week, 2 adults and 2 kids on a 457 visa. Hospital and ambulance cover $200 a month. If you add the whole shooting match on there (out patient cover, pharmacy, dental, optical) it's going to cost you top dollar.

Lol, yep, you certainly did, but that was more around Mandurah to Burswood! Heading in via Nicholson & Albany in the morning seems like a breeze (35 mins), but heading back it seems like dodgems and can take 45-60 mins. I need to get creative and check out some back roads I recon!

This is a toughie, we arrived 6 weeks ago, searching all of the well known areas NOR up to Mindaree and SOR down to Mandurah. Finally found what we were looking for in Bletchley Park, Southern River, East of Canning Vale. The place ticked a lot of boxes for us, good school in walking distance. Shopping centre in walking distance. Brand new house at the right price etc. but as mentioned by other posters, it's quite far inland, has poor transport links, no 'attractions' nearby. But as long as it ticks most of your boxes then I suppose that is what matters. I am finding the return commute from Burswood a challenge tho, I just can't seem to find a way back without hitting every major intersection!

Hi Deb, we have been here for 4 weeks now, and felt very alien for the first few days due to jet lag etc. we were stunned by how much it effected us and felt like we were sea sick for about a week. Hang in there and things do get very much better!

Hi Keefo, Hailing from Liverpool, the condition of the public parks in our area back in the uk was shocking, we found that no matter how nice the council wanted to make the place, the local riffraff would take pleasure in destroying or defacing it for the rest of us. We have found most of the parks and facilities here to be in good condition with little or no vandalism. Have to say that a park in tapping had some obscene graffiti on a picnic table and there was a park in success that was in a bit of mess, but, you notice these things as they are the exception rather than the norm. I would not consider it unusual in Liverpool if I saw a bus shelter smashed to pieces, but over here, I would be mortified!

I listened to Radio 2 in the UK, and I really like 96fm here in Perth. It's a commercial radio station, so lots of ads, but I really like the mix of diverse music on there. I have yet to find a station where the broadcast is centred around the 'host' as with Radio 2 etc. (Ken Bruce, Simon Mayo etc.) the ones I have heard here are music / sport focused with constant ads and live brand mentions.

Cheers Walkabout. I am in work currently. I will log in and check your message later and contact you from there. Thanks for your help.

Hi Walkabout. Do you still have these? If so I am in the same situation and would like to buy if poss, thanks.

Lol, I hope mine is still there when our container arrives. Looking at this picture made me think "the iMac seems in a bit of a dodgy position" but this was before the mattress went in, so I hope that's been placed to cushion it's fall!

Why would you want to enter a country to whom you have paid no tax with the intention to claim benefits?

Thanks very much for the help guys, much appreciated.

Good luck, soon your entire house will look like this

Thanks guys all good advice. The house was pretty poor on close inspection, nothing too dramatic, but it felt worn and in need of a good bit of TLC, so we weren't blown away enough to justify the commute. Ended up putting an application in for a brand new build in Southern River this evening, fingers crossed we get accepted.