SJT

We asked the same question when we were moving over, and lots of people had recommended to bring everything you own, we were only going to be bringing out pictures, kids toys etc. We paid £4,000 for a 20ft container and it was full. But we still spent $10,000 when we first got here on bedroom furniture for my son, a fridge freezer and a washing machine and a new couch for the extra living space that most Oz homes have. I don't know why but you spend a small fortune when you first get here and if you are not earning AUD it can seem very expensive. I presume, maybe wrongly when you first get here that you might be renting and then once settled be buying your own home. So why not bring what you have, it doesn't matter if it's old as it will still only be for a little while, then when you have your own home buy stuff that suits your new home. We also found that whilst we were looking for our own house, every house was so different that not all our furniture would have fitted, in one our new fridge freezer would not have fitted, in another our new couch would not have fitted, and in most of the houses my son's new bedroom furniture would not have fitted, so the new things we would have spent a lot of money on, had a good chance of being sold on Gumtree for not a lot of money when they were only a year old. Obviously if you do not have furniture to bring over then you cannot bring it, but if you are only not bringing it because it's old, I would maybe reconsider, until you are 100% sure where you will be living. We did bring our dining room table and chairs and when looking for the new couch, we found a new one we liked, so we brought that and sold our old one on Gumtree within 1 day of it going on, we also sold our son's old bed and again that went within 2 days on Gumtree as lots of people are arriving and leaving everyday so you can always pick up a bargain on Gumtree. Exciting times ahead so enjoy it. XX

We have got our first puppy and she is a cavoodle, so she will hopefully be knee height, so middle range of height. Yesterday we started puppy training purely for the fact that I want to be able to take her out whenever we want to, and be able to sit in a cafe with her by our feet, not annoying other people or dogs. Our old next door neighbours here in Perth had a similar breed of dog and it was a nasty thing, it barked constantly all day, and then if it ever got out, which it did often, would stand and guard its property attacking anyone that walked pass, I am determined not to let Cara get to that point ever. I did mention it to the owners as I know the new owners of the house would not put up with it and they did not believe me, they even said they had never heard him bark ever!!!! At the puppy training, they did advise unless they always come back to your command 100% of the time, to never ever let your dog off the lead, as it causes more problems than its worth.

Hi @cutchibear We had the same but with our cats, and to be honest it was the worse decision leaving them behind, which we did on the vet's recommendation as one was very small and timid and only had a 50/50 chance of making the flight. The kids have never forgiven us and it was so hard the first few weeks after they had gone, and there were lots of tears. I remember our visa activation trip where all I could think of was that I had given up my babies for this. It has been two years since we gave them to their new parents and the kids were always talking about them and cried whenever they saw a photo of either of them, but we have been very lucky in the last two weeks we have brought a cavoodle puppy and last Sunday we got a 6 month old kitten from a rescue home, we always knew we would replace them and the cat/kitten was always going to be a rescue as we felt very very guilty about rehoming ours. Luckily we have a very happy outcome as our new pets have been the final piece of the jigsaw in us settling here, but if its only for financial reasons, then possibly rethink and maybe delay your coming over until you have the finances. This may not be the answer you were looking for, but I really wish I had asked the question before I gave away our fur babies. All the best in your decision making and please let me know how you get on. XXX

I actually found Go Walkabout were the only company to offer immigration insurance that saw you through the customs gate and arrive in your new country, you can take out cover for as long as you need it upto 21 days and it was not much more expensive than those that only covered up to the customs gate.

Have a fantastic time Porty and cannot wait to hear all about it as well as seeing some photos.

Hi We choose Churchlands right from the word go and now live in the Churchlands catchment area. I am extremely happy with Churchlands and most importantly so are my two boys, they are both thriving here. I also love the fact that we are 20 mins closer to the CBD, which was important to my hubby's work, but we have found that we seem to be in the middle so going either further NOR or SOR is not too much of a chore. Have you walked around both high schools as your gut instinct might choose for you all.

I totally agree with @Lou8670, it was the bravest thing we as a family have ever done and I don't regret a single moment. Again some family have felted rejected that we left the UK and hardly ever contact us, even though I go out of my way to send cards, messages etc but I think that is more jealousy, it took Pete a while to find a job, and I think certain family members were hoping we would be going back, then when we brought our house that again was another reality check for them. It can be really hard when you first get here and go through your first birthdays without family and Christmas but that is because back in the UK you have a routine, you have a life and you have a home, when you move to Oz you put some things in a container, maybe even a car then pack a few suitcases and hop on a plane, when you land, you have to literally start all over again from finding out what shops you like, to where to get good meat, what area to live in and then to start new friends and it is so overwhelming as you don't have your mates to meet for a coffee and talk about all these changes, which is why it is important to go to meet ups etc, because there you will find lots of people who have done the same thing, some find it easy, some find it difficult, but by discussing your feelings and concerns and realizing you are not the only person to feel that way helps so much. I think I found it so emotional the journey here, that I presumed once we got a job and long term rental sorted, then hey presto everything would be fine, and on the whole it was, it was just sometimes this overwhelming sadness would creep in. BUT and this is a very big BUT I do not regret anything we have done and really appreciate that we live in a beautiful area and we do so much more as a family. I am not sporty, I don't like getting up at 5.00am for bike rides, I like to paddle in the sea, but don't want to swim out too far, I don't think I will ever be brave enough for camping or bush walking, but that is because I am too old to change my ways, where as my kids are young and have their whole lives ahead of them and now have so many choices that they could fill up every day and they are the reason why I thought the move would be good for us as a family. Pete still has to work, but his phone does not ring after 6pm, it never rings at the weekend, where back in the UK he could still be working at 11pm at night and he could never go out without his work phone at the weekends. I don't expect my children to live their whole lives in Perth, but hopefully it will give them a good starting point and make their childhood last a bit longer. I have made some very good friends here and they have become my family, and we have made sure that on special occasions we now spend time with our new friends. We have just moved in to our new home and my friends have all made an effort to come and see it and share in my excitement. Sorry for droning on, but I think its important to say that I have not found it easy, but all the pain and tears have so been worth it. I was talking with my 15 year old the other day, and he was the only one he did not want to come out here, and we were just chatting and I casually said would you like to go back to the UK to live and he looked at me as if I was crazy and said no straight away, he said he can see that he has a much better life here than in the UK already, purely because he has more freedom and can jump on a bus and go anywhere and not really worry about being bullied or picked on, he has made a whole assortment of different cultured friends (he is the only English one) he even had the confidence to organise a job interview all by himself without even being prompted by us to go looking for a job. He said of course he misses family but he only really saw them on birthdays/Christmas's. As long you plan financially this can be the biggest and best decision you will ever make and if you don't like it, you can always go back, nothing ventured, nothing gained. XXXX

Hi Porty, I've tried to turn her up the right way but I cannot do it, its annoying me., anyone on here know how to do it? We are all settled in the new place, and everything is in place as I knew we were picking her up today, it feels like we have had her for ages, not just a few hours. Then next Sunday we are going to the Cat Rescue to choose our two cats, so talk about chucking myself right in the deep end, but they do make a house feel like a home. Already I have Cara's toys, bed, food bowls and toilet training area spread out everywhere!!!! I bet you are all getting excited about your trip?

Look what we got. Her name is Caramel, Cara for short. She is a gold cavoodle puppy and is just under 8 weeks. We have all fallen in love already.

We have been here just over a year, and have brought our first house and tomorrow we are collecting our fur baby puppy. So we are now at a point where I would say we are settled and getting into the way of Perth life. It has been very very hard work emotionally and financially. We decided to move away from the UK as we wanted to try something different. Back in the UK I had family around me but there was never ever any support or help, never any babysitting or offerings to take the children out for the day, but the MIL was always willing to help the other brother all the time, even though we all lived within 10 mins of each other, so that helped us to decide to move as it had always just been the five of us and that we did not need the support of family. I have really struggled with not having the family and friends around me, even though they never played a large part in my life, they were still there for birthdays, Christmas, etc even when the kids were ill even though I never got any help, but I knew I could always pop in for a coffee and a chat. It must be very hard to be part of a supportive family and then come here and not have that support and if your children are very close to grandparents/aunts/uncles and cousins I have no idea how you cope. Mine suffered a lot and they did not have a lot to do with theirs. I also agree with others that have posted on here, you both have to want to do it. I did want to do it, maybe not as much as the other half but was of the view I only needed to be near my family and we would be ok but I cannot tell you how many times I have "thrown" the "I moved half way across the World for you", to my hubby, and when we first came out here, it was a lot. Also honestly we came out with quite a bit of money behind us, which was lucky as hubby took a while to find a job, but there is no way on earth I would do this move without enough money to be able to go back to the UK in case did not work out. As I'm sure the pressure of feeling trapped will make emotions run very high and running out of money when you have a family must be very scary. Don't get me wrong, I love living here and would not go back voluntary to the UK, but no one knows how you are going to feel and cope with it all until you have done it, just make sure you come prepared financially and emotionally.

@akasully you are more than welcome anytime.

I would love to come, but, and there is a but, I cannot come again this time as I will have my cavoodle puppy and kittens and need to spend time with them. We are picking our puppy up this Sunday and our kittens next Sunday, so do not want to leave them too long for their first few weeks. See already I'm having to plan my social life around them!!!!

Sorry no internet. I can make the Saturday and would not miss it. It seems to be coming round really quick. I hope you had fun yesterday. Xx

Oh Pete would have loved to have come with you, if he had not taken off all this time for the move, but another time maybe. Have a great day.

IKNWC but today at 12.30pm we will settle on the house. I am just a tad excited and have been awake since 5.00am. The rental house looks like a storage warehouse at the moment and I have lots of stuff all ready to take to the new house so that I can start cleaning, then tomorrow is the big move in day.

We got our ambulance only cover from Bupa, it was $63 for the year. Hope this helps.

@Tatty, two months is no time at all to feel even a little bit settled, especially if you have gone back to the UK within that time. I have been here just over a year and no there is no way I can go back to the UK just yet, as I would not get back on the plane to come to back. If I remember right, two months in I was still crying myself to sleep about the move. Its a big thing you have done, even if both parties are super excited about doing it. Pets become family members so when they are not around it feels very painful. There are quite a few of us on here who have struggled when we first got here and find it difficult to go out there and make friends, but once you do it, it becomes much easier, you cannot beat meeting some friends for coffee, cake and a good chat. Some of the meet ups on here we meet half way because some are from NOR and some are from SOR, I'm sure there will be a meet up soon. What you are experiencing is completely normal and it does become easier once you know your way around, and things start to become a bit more familiar. When I was at my most unhappiest I would go and get a take away coffee and go and sit by the beach and people watch and somehow that always made be feel a bit better about the move, being outdoors and watching the waves roll in and watching those nice young men on surf boards also helped. :0)

Back in the UK, my children never went out, the eldest one had a bad experience at a local park with some friends who then turned on him, so after that none of them really to go out. Here they go all the time, admittedly not during the very hot summer days, they tend to go out later in the evening, but I struggle to keep mine in, I have a 15, 13 and 10 year old, and the two older ones even take their younger sister to the park to play tennis etc. During the last half term I hardly saw the two older ones. It helps that we do not have a garden of any sort, only a small area with a table and chairs, so they have to go out to play football/tennis/cricket. Everyday after school the kids play in the school field and on the equipment and parents take snacks and drinks and sit and watch them. Obviously when they first get here they will not know many people so it will take them a while. We have been here a year now, and the kids social life is more hectic than ours, for the next four weekends we are full of stuff to do for the kids.

Well we are very nearly there in getting our fur babies. Yesterday I paid a deposit for our cavoodle puppy. Not sure what sex yet, as there is a litter of 8, and we get fourth choice. Akasully I am a bit like you, I don't think I can handle the willy bit, but a breeder has said boys are more affectionate!!! I was so excited I could not sleep last night and I still can't believe I have not told the kids, as normally I cannot keep things like this to myself - hence the post. We are also looking at getting kittens, but there are none around at the moment, I am hoping to rescue two.

Oh no Rossy, we did try and find you I promise. XX

When you are getting organised to come here all sorts of questions pop into your head at the most ridiculous times and you need an answer, so then you can move onto the next niggly question, those that are here already have been there and done that and know those little questions really can take over your life until you have the answers (and no I'm not joking, I remember many a night waking at 2.00am in a blind panic because of a question). You do not need any physical evidence of having been granted your visa, they just need your passport, but if you are like me, I always carried a copy around just in case, and when you first get here I did need to show my actual visa for things like the bank etc, but that was just so that you put on the record that I had PR. We have had to produce paper copies of our visa for certain things like rental agreement, Medicare, Centre Link for the Oz version of child benefit, bank account opening, but that was purely for future use in case we needed a loan or a mortgage. The mortgage company we are using needed a physical hard copy and so did the bank's solicitors, so it is handy to have a couple printed off ready to go.

@Laz That is not that far away, time will soon fly and you will be here before you know it. I now pay between $90 - $130 depending on whether I have low lights put in, but at the hairdressers it was just over $300. We use our Paypal account for most on line things just to be careful.

We just used our short term rental address for the bank account and medicare, then once you move into your long term rental you just update those details, I'm sure your friends won't mind you using their address for just a couple of weeks. At least you will be with friends when you first get here, so you will have a friendly face.

When we did it, we needed 100 points for ID and this included our Medicare Card, a bank statement showing our address, obviously our UK driving licences and as Plimthing said both parts, I think we also waited for confirmation of our TFN number to help us get the 100 points, there is a list on the Perth website http://www.transport.wa.gov.au. It is no good turning up without the 100 points needed other wise you will sit there for ages and then be sent home. Also as my husband is on blood pressure tablets, we had to go to the licensing centre, fill in all the forms etc, and then he had to take a form that they had given to him to be completed by a doctor to say that he was fit to drive, and then go back and complete the new license details. I already knew this would happen as someone had mentioned it previously on here, which is why I'm mentioning it, as I think if I had not already known, I would have stressed out over that bit. You also get to chose if you want a 2yr or 5yr licence.

We still do on line shopping from the UK to here, as most places always have free postage or there is usually a code somewhere. Honestly try not to panic, I know that is easy for me to say, as I'm already here, but it really does fall into place, but as you said, you do need to plan. Kmart and Big W here do stuff like rashies and the like really cheap. I use Regenerist by Olay. Ive just checked and you can get Dermalogica here You do wise up once you have been here a while, and when you see something on special you have to get it there and then. At the moment I have about 15 jars of coffee in my larder as they were selling them for $12 rather than the $19, and I think I have enough dishwashing tablets to now last me for about a year, as Woolies were selling them dirt cheap at the weekend. You soon learn what is a reasonable price, also when they put prices up as other specials are on, or when it is dirt cheap. I like shopping at Myers and it is a bit like Debenhams, and they are always having sales, so I never pay full price. Silly things like Shellac nails costs $30 here, but they cost £30 in the UK, so these are cheaper. I also find meat is a lot cheaper here than in the UK. Hair dressing is very very expensive here, but I have since found a mobile hairdresser who is fantastic and does it at half the price. It just takes a little to while to work out they way they do stuff here. When do you arrive here?