PerthPomToBe

What areas are you looking at? The rental market is a pain in the a?>e here!! :-)

Some hoodies and cosy socks. It does feel cold in the mornings and evenings. Bring some throws and blankets etc in the container, it will be warming up soon but they will always do for next winter. Good luck! x

I might be interested, I will have to ask my OH though when he gets home from work. Ill let you know.

great thread! Definitely check the paintwork, we took it for granted that the chips etc would be fixed before we got the car like they do in the UK but they don't, I think they would have though if we had mentioned it before we bought it.

I don't think it would do any harm to inquire about it from home. At least then it might make things a little clearer for when you arrive and you never know, you may make some contacts on the way

I do miss proper chippy chips, I haven't found anywhere that do them like back home. You can get a decent fish supper at freo though. I also miss the good old British pub! Really miss a Sunday pub lunch. Mind you if that is all I am missing then I think I'm doing all right!

When I was first given my flight details from my OH's company I groaned, it was going to take us 30+ hours to get to perth from aberdeen. It turns out though that it worked brilliantly. We got our first flight from aberdeen to heathrow just after tea time so we had our tea at the airport and jumped on the flight, ofcourse this was the exciting bit for the 2yo as he had never been on a plane before, we deliberately kept him awake untill we got on the second flight to Hong Kong and by this time it was about 10pm so he was shattered and slept the whole flight till about an hour before we landed so that was basically his nights sleep. We had a wait of 7 or so hours in Kong Kong and in this time we got food and found a kids play area and had him running around and playing and again kept him awake until the next flight. Once we were on the last leg of the flight he was sleeping before the plane had even taking off so in affect was having his afternoon nap and when he woke up he was quite happy watching Barney on the tv with his earphones on. I took a whole trunki full of things onto the plane for my son but barely used any of it apart from the clothes and pyjamas, nappies etc. Try not to stress too much, it wont be nearly as bad as you imagine it can be.

Hi, I too was really worried about my sons excema before we moved so I took a heap of diprobase and oilatum with me. It ran out within a couple of months so I went to the pharmacy here and they gave me really good stuff called "Cetaphil". It is the Daily advance Ultra hydrating Lotion one they gave me and it is the best thing! It is not as thick and greasy as anything I used in the UK but it worked a treat, I think because it lets the skin breathe as well. 6 months in and my sons skin has all but cleared up and we hardly ever have to use the cream anymore, it only seams to flare up a tiny bit at the back of his neck from time to time with his clothes rubbing on a hot day. I would recommend that you shower the kids regularly especially after being to the beach or in the pool etc to wash any sun cream or chlorine off of them. For sun cream I use "Sun Sense" the sensitive one. It hasnt made him flare up yet but as I say, I still like to wash it off him when we get home just in case. I just wanted to add that remember that sunscreens in the UK are made to EU standards and may not be as suitable to the Aus sunshine. I would always recommend that buy and use sunscreen that is designed for the climate here. Hope this helps a little Bev x

Offering to pay more rent on a property is unfortunately a very common occurrence over here. There is a serious shortage of rentals available and some people will do just about anything for the right house.

$600 is a bit extreme for a satnav and im sure you could have haggled them down a bit. When we first arrived we went and got the satnav and a digital camera at the same time and they knocked about $150 off for us with a bit of bargaining. You can haggle with pretty much all the stores here as they all work on commission. We also managed to get 25%, over a $1000 off our furniture package by playing 2 rival stores against each other, the stores are the same and have the same name but just in different locations. I have become really good at haggling here which is something I could do in the uk. Every penny is a prisoner!! lol Bev

No help with childcare fees at all on a 457 im afraid and it sucks cos childcare is so expensive here.

I cant remember the name of mine but sure it is a tom tom and it is brill. We got ours from JBHiFi and it was a great deal, you can haggle the price down with those guys too.

I am not 100% positive but think you will just have to prove her dependence on you guys. Does it not say anything about it on the DIAC website?

I didnt think there was a time limit for you to apply for your PR. We were told we could apply for it any time we wanted, our sponsor company wont pay for it before 3 years but we can go through the motions ourselves if we want to.

Shame the weather aint though!! x

Thats funny cos the Video Ezy here in Cockburn do $2 new releases on a tuesday. I thought it would have been the same all over. Strange. Our tuesday night always consists of cheap dvd rental and cheap pizza. Perfect! lol

Ha ha ha! Portlaunay you are terrible!! Honestly it is not as bad as you think, you adapt so easy. I used to be really scared of spiders in the UK but in the 5 months being here I have seen so many different types and size of spiders that now I actually find them quite fascinating. I could probably identify a spider better than most Aussies now because of all the research I do every time I see one to make sure it isn't poisonous. You have to remember that most of the spiders are doing you a favor and eating flies and mozzies, and believe me you need any help you can get with reducing the flies because they stick to you here. My policy here is if it can bite and really put anyone in danger then kill it but if it aint gonna hurt you then it good to keep around to keep the smaller beasties away. And remember that huntsman eat redbacks. As to the case of the little ones getting too close, when we first arrived I dealt with that by making a huge fuss any time I seen a creepy crawly, I would grab my 2 yo away and tell him not to go near, even if it was just a beetle or something. Sounds severe but now if he sees anything he will run and get me to check it out first and if it is safe we look at the insects together and talk about them so he isnt too scared. Does that make sense? lol. when i read it back to myself it looks as clear as mud but it late and bed time so Ill leave it at that! lol All the best Bev x

Hi, I live in Atwell which is just across the freeway from Success. I cannot comment on the schools as my little one is just turning 3 but can say that the suburb is really lovely and that is starting to reflect in the prices, the rents have went up quite considerably in just the 4 months we have been here. There is a lot of expansion going on around this area just now like they are widening the freeway and building a hospital just down the road. The suburb is about 20 mins from the city, 15 mins from Freo and 15 mins to the lovely coogee beach. There is a great shopping centre at the north of Success called Gateways and beside there is a bar, cafe and youth centre. Both Atwell and Success are very family friendly areas and have a great community feel about them. As far as I am aware it is a safe area to live and have never heard of anything bad happening here so far. If you want to know anything else just give me a shout. All the best. Bev

We are a family of 3 being myself, partner and 3 yo son and we would need about $100k at least.

Atwell 30 mins Airport 10-15 mins Coogee Beach 20 mins City

Hi, my partner is FIFO and has no particular rotation, he is adhoc so just goes when and where he is required sometimes with only a days notice. He works in the Oil and Gas industry. He has been working offshore as long as we have been together so I am used to it and in fact I used to work offshore myself so I know what it is like on the flip side. It can be difficult and there are moments when I really struggle being over here in a new country with no support network. I get terribly home sick at times but you will make friends and build new supports. You will definitely not be the only person who is a FIFO widow here as there are a huge number of families here that have this lifestyle. The key is to get out and about and meet as many people as you can and take in this beautiful part of the world. There are some days when I am particular low and then I take a trip to the beach or one of the lovely parks and you realise why you are here and why you made the move in the first place. If anyone ever wants to meet up for coffee/chat and discuss the trials and tribulations of being a FIFO widow then just give me a shout! lol Bev xx

Thanks for that, will check it out for when the rellies come over. Bev

I would say go for it and at least give it a try. Living in Bunbary that is. xx

I have come from a friends house in Scarborough to my home in Atwell during rush hour a few times and a journey that any other time of the day would only take 25 mins takes over an hour sometimes during rush hour. I personally couldnt do that drive every day. There are so many beautiful burbs SOR, what makes you want to live in Joondalup over somewhere SOR?

You can get a takeaway like domino's pizza up to 11pm and most supermarkets are open till 9pm. You get late night shopping on a thurs just like the UK so the shops in shopping centre are open till about 8. Also there are some centres open on a sunday but they are few and far between. I am still getting used to the sunday thing but actually it is quite nice, I just have to remember to get everything on saturday that I will need!