shelz

Hi,

I am trying to find a Christmas party function with entertainment, that our work place can book into.  I thought I got lucky and found a Gatsby Night at a Mecure hotel - only it is in Scotland! Any recommendations of hotels offering any party packages in Perth - dont want a exclusive venue, just to book a couple of tables, meal, entertainment/DJ and maybe sleep over (if its a hotel)?

Any thoughts - all I can find is possibly booking onto a 'party boat'...

Hi all,

Just collecting thoughts at the moment.....

I have been dissappointed by the small choice of bra's for larger cup ladies and the price, and was thinking of having some shipped over from the UK - what are your thoughts on possibly being able to buy a selection of UK bras over in Perth?

Any particular designs, brands that may be of interest to anyone?

Thanks

Yes but we need a referral from a GP.. So we have to see the doctor again, pay money, and get a referral to hopefully do skin testing. I heard blood testing is less accurate..

You could go to a bulk billed GP if you have PR? and be careful if you want a allergy test, make sure it is clinically evidenced and maybe you might find a answer, we had terrible bites from ants - that we happened to be allergic to!

Hi all, please help. We are moving to Australia June 2017. I have family that I can stay with in Burns Beach, WA. My daughter will be in year 9 this year. The schools within their catchment area (Kinross College and Oceanreef Highschool) both seem to have bad reviews on the internet. Is both schools so bad and if so is it better to just rent my own place? Then which school would you recommend between Duncraig /Carine/Mount Lawley? Then I can rent a unit within the catchment area of the recommended school?

We had the same thoughts when we came accross and we had a list of government secondary schools that we wanted to live in the catchment area of - our personal list was - Shenton College (naturally), Churchlands, Carine, Duncraig and Woodvale. We found that rentals in Shenton College and Churchland areas were very expensive if you wanted a 4x2 with a pool. We managed to find a rental in Sorrento which is a very nice suburb and catchment area of Duncraig - we have been very pleased with them upto now.

Burns beach is a very nice area! You could consider going private (much cheaper than UK private schooling), if thats where you wanted to live. It is very hard and always difficult to know where your children will settle. When we are ready to buy it is unlikely we will be buying in Sorrento due to the prices of the area, so will be going further out, but will still be travelling from where we buy in the future to keep him at the same school.

Hope that helps :-)

Hi,

i don't think this is in the right forum heading so apologies.

We have been in Perth for 8 months now and are settled and happy.

The only downside is my husband only has a contract job, which will finish July 2017. There will be no offer of permi work after that ( he has been told) and the company only hire contractors for a maximum of 2 years. There is a clause stating that they don't re employ contractors

Anyway, my dilemma is this, I have a 15 year old son in year 10. If we have to go back to the UK (which given the job market here, we will probably have no choice), when should we go? This year to get my son into year 11 in the UK so at least he could do the main GCSES, or hold out here to see if anything miraculously happens job wise??

i know no one can know the answer to this, but has anyone been in this situation with kids involved?

if we wait until next year and my husband hasn't secured permanent work, then my son will have no qualifications and colleges only offer maths and English re sits!

we are all happy here and my son is too but I am having sleepless nights worrying about his future.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks xxx

Hi,

I presume you are on PR visas? July next year is a little while away, would you be able to manage off one wage coming in? The job market is difficult at the moment, taking longer to get employment but if you like Perth, and you have PR visa's I would be looking at keep trying for employment and looking how you can reduce any outgoings, if you can manage hopefully your son will be able to stay in the school he has settled in - good luck.

So I am after some advice 're holidays clubs/child care. I have 2 children aged 7&10, we will be in the joondalup area initially with some in law support. I am a nurse so possibly be working some shifts, hopefully part time if hubby can find a good job.

What is the best option for childcare in the holidays? I've been having a look and it looks quite expensive. Is it worth looking at an au pair/nanny? I'm sure people manage, I'm just stressing about the 8 weeks holiday in December/January. I've been fortunate here in the UK I've had my mum on tap so it's going to be a huge change for me.

HBF Arena in Jonndalup is reasonable especially when getting the CCR if you are on a PR visa, and is their a Chipmunks local to you? They also provide holiday care

Hey,

 

Im not a scrounger, far from it. The missus and me both work, just wondering regarding rebates on Child Care etc as its costing us a fortune!! Do we also get things like child benefit etc?

 

We apply for PR in Jan next year, just wondered if and when we get PR, can we claim anything and straight away?

 

Thanks

 

Mike

Hello,

Once you have PR, you can complete an application for child care rebate, and depending on your earnings child tax benefit and Medicare. It may take a while to get processed though! Think thats the limit from Centre link as a new PR holder - only if you have children can you claim anything. Hope that helps :-)

Hello,

We have been searching jobs online with various websites - just wondering if there is somewhere you can visit like a job centre where most vacancies would be advertised? We are around Duncraig/Sorrento but can travel if need be :-)

Just need to view what's available - noticed that WA corrections service have all their training positions closed at the moment :-( - and noticed that you seem to need certificates or experience already needed in that advertised field even when a lot of jobs say are advertised as Trainee :-/

No they won't pay, will only pay for text replies. I use whataspp a lot for messaging now. If you are both on that it's good for messaging & picture messaging.

Thanks - i was a bit worried about ringing the parents - they are not internet savvy at all and there internet connection is poor where they live - at least i can call them knowing im not running up a bill for them

Hello,

We have landed and will provide an update soon - but quick question please .... i have a Australian phone with inclusive unlimited calls and texts to UK - so when i ring family will they be charged to take my call or text on landlines or mobiles???

Don't want to be ringing them often if it is gonna cost them a fortune x

Thanks in advance ?

It's 4 weeks maximum bond by law in WA. With over 8000 empty properties in Perth you won't have any trouble finding a place plus you should be able to knock them down on the asking price.

Hopefully this does'nt start me daydreaming that I can get a $1000 a week house for $550 lol :-)

How much would you generally reackon we could knock off per week? We have generally been looking between $500-$700 max per week.

hmmm food for thought ...

Thank you for your replies - its really helpful :-)

Mostly appears to be bond plus 2 or 4 weeks/month in addition from your responses - i guess it depends on the agent...

Guess we could email the agent before viewing to ask how much upfront?? Would this be advisable?

Hello,

We will be looking for a long term rental from 8th January 2016 and been looking on realestate.au - it does highlight how much the bond is, but not how much rent upfront is in addition to this?

What is the norm? I should have a job contract by then and commence work on 4th January? So will be able to provide some evidence that I am earning.

Thanks in advance :-)

Singapore Airlines give each passenger 10kgs extra each. But you must be on an unvalidated PR visa and no stop over!

We have extra luggage with SA and we have a 3 day stop over in Singapore??

Thanks for you responses - was hoping for a decent phone so I can facetime, mobile emails, etc which you cant do on a cheap phone - but will check out options when we arrive- my Samsung is playing up and ready for an upgrade but don't want to do this in UK.

Thanks for the heads up with SA - I have only had the information about the extra luggage verbally so yes I might ring them and ask for a email.

We fly out 5 weeks on Monday so getting close now - although not really sinking in yet :-/

It is day 13 for us today and wanted to share or experiences so far although honestly feels like we have been here for much longer

 

We flew on 9th Sept with Singapore airlines, flights as good as can be expected in cattle class We have been staying with my sister in Kinross but wil be moving to Halls Head shortly as have secured a rental there as we have to live regional for two years (489 SS visa). Have to say been impressed with what I have seen so far of Mandurah we looked at meadow springs, halls head and Falcon and have settled in Halls Head Seascapes which seems a lovely area.

 

Day one we went and collected bank cards and set up Medicare, Day two we sorted out phone contracts and viewed cars , day four we bought a car and registered for a tax number one line, day five hubby started work he's a plasterer and there's no shortage of work out here so far. We signed for our rental property yesterday and move on the 2nd October and the children start school on the 13th October. So within 12 days we had car, job, house and school sorted. There seems to be plenty of rentals around at the moment and there are deals to be had so well worth negotiating, we did and ended up with a good deal.

 

We are all enjoying the fab weather and now that the stress of houses and schools is sorted we are going to have a few days out with the kids to make up for dragging them around endless car showrooms and rental inspections!

 

All in all its gone smoother than I expected. The rental inspections are a pain and the estate agents aren't great even my 10 year old commented about how unhelpful they seemed Anyway it's is all good and I don't want to start sounding like a whinging Pom after only 13 days!

 

I've been pleasantly surprised with the cost of everything and although yes it is more expensive it's not ridiculously so. Of course the great exchange rate has helped and I am mentally calculating everything in £'s still but guess ill stop doing that soon!

 

Good luck to everyone on the visa journey it is worth it!

 

Thx

Thats a great update and helpful :-) Can I be a pain and ask a few questions....

What did you take with you to buy a car - i was worrying that I might need a WA driving license before hand as will still have UK ones.

Did you get extra luggage on SA - we have 30kg but was told if we presented our visas at check in they would up it to 40kg each?

Do you get free alcohol on board? :-) (Im not a drinker but i think by 8 hours in I might like a little baileys or something haha!)

Phone contacts - did they accept a holiday rental address - I presume you showed them a job contract too? My phone is on its knee's and keeps shutting itself down and camera broken so definitely could do with a new one :-)

Thank you for any responses in advance x

That's it, pretty simple. Except the bit you're paying for in 7 days isn't the rego, it's stamp duty (they tax pretty much everything out here). I think it's 3% of the purchase price if it's under $50k but then it goes up.

Flatpack - thanks for the clarification - so after the stamp duty is paid do you just renew the rego when it runs out? :-)

Do you need to have a WA driving licence to buy a car??

From what I have read in theory - I can buy a car with rego - I don't need to ring anyone else to take out any tax/insurance at that point (before I drive it) and present within 7 days at an office and change over documents?? Then pay extra to continue the 'rego' - is that right?

Seems to simple - is there a catch?? or something i'm missing?

we have 30 kilos with Singapore airlines, I queried it with them that we should have 40 kilos as we are emigrating but they said no, it used to be 20 but it was upped to 30.

 

I also queried laurens medical items that she needs, no extra allowance for that either !

Might be worth ringing again - I got told normally 30kg but if you arrive 3 hours before show them your one way ticket and visa then they would up it to 40kg at the counter! I hope i got told the correct information - one of us hasn't got the correct response from Singapore Airlines :-/

Can someone please help? A bit concerned about this? I do not imagine it is anything too major though.

I would just upload the correct document, i think just as long as you have all the correct information they need then any additional documents wouldn't be a bad thing.

Obviously this is if you cannot find a delete button when you hover over the document you have uploaded - have you tried right clicking to see if any options come up?

So... in short we are all booked to fly out end of November, with holiday rental set up, job lined up to start in January on PR visa.

 

All good, we have the visa's, nearly due to put notices in for work, move cube was packed up and collected last week with most our essential items.

 

Last big hurdle -our house... not sold and we were (short sighted i know) banking on it selling to raise the extra pennies for settling in until I start my new job ie. buy 2nd hand car, deposit for a rental and rent up front, mobiles etc, Christmas...the list goes on and although we technically don't need thousands and thousands about 5k would have tided us over. So house sale fell through at this point and only 'settling in money we can raise would be in the next 9 weeks salary - just isn't going to cut it i think :-/

 

Really not sure what to do... I have lots of different options in my head -

best case scenario - we have reduced our asking price on our house again and hope for a very quick sale;

try to get a re-mortgage for a buy to let - but then we would need lots of safety certificates which would cost and end up with no 'lump sum' - unless i found a very good btl mortgage where i could take some equity out of the house;

try to re-mortgage on a residential mortgage and request a small lump sum of equity to help us sell the property and continue to market it and pay the mortgage whilst it sits empty...;

hand the keys back to the mortgage company and go with what we can manage to raise before we go

worst case.. not emigrate in 9 weeks :-(

 

Also I have the move cube which has been collected last week - although not shipped yet and is still in UK - not even sure if i could ask for it back and charges for it! We have paid our £200 deposit and our next payment is due now of £810 before departure...what a mess - dilemma's having a meltdown.

 

Then worst case if we decide not to emigrate in 9 weeks and take a holiday instead (visa validation) work will not allow me the time off (not for 5 weeks) and the children would be classed as missing school, and the payment for flights back :-/ and we will be very sad :-(

 

Any helpful suggestions

 

(Also posted on other site -sorry for duplication)

Thank you for your helpful replies - it really has helped us to think a little clearer about the 'do we go as planned or not' - we have decided it would cost just as much to return to the UK and get our furniture back, as to set up in Oz. So we have decided we will risk it and go for it :-/

So we have added everything up we can possibly save (and still pay the bills here until end December including the mortgage) and reckon we could muster up 4K. Not alot to set up but this is worst case scenario and hopefully I start my new job on 4th January - our holiday let will be paid for until 11th January.

Think it will be hard though as we need to get a cheap car, find a longer term let from 11/1/2016, eat and sort out Christmas!

In regards to the house, we have reduced the price again and if their is no more interest before next week we may look into re-mortgaging, taking some equity and over a longer term to reduce the monthly payments until its sold - maybe we will get accepted/maybe not - but i guess they can only say no...

Unable to get a BTL mortgage as with the new rules I would need another UK residential property - so we don't meet the criteria... we have asked if we are allowed consent to lease as a back up - we await the response...

At least we are focused in our plans in our goal to go with our original plan and make it work - fingers crossed!

Although we continue to be worried...

So... in short we are all booked to fly out end of November, with holiday rental set up, job lined up to start in January on PR visa.

All good, we have the visa's, nearly due to put notices in for work, move cube was packed up and collected last week with most our essential items.

Last big hurdle -our house... not sold and we were (short sighted i know) banking on it selling to raise the extra pennies for settling in until I start my new job ie. buy 2nd hand car, deposit for a rental and rent up front, mobiles etc, Christmas...the list goes on and although we technically don't need thousands and thousands about 5k would have tided us over. So house sale fell through at this point and only 'settling in money we can raise would be in the next 9 weeks salary - just isn't going to cut it i think :-/

Really not sure what to do... I have lots of different options in my head -

best case scenario - we have reduced our asking price on our house again and hope for a very quick sale;

try to get a re-mortgage for a buy to let - but then we would need lots of safety certificates which would cost and end up with no 'lump sum' - unless i found a very good btl mortgage where i could take some equity out of the house;

try to re-mortgage on a residential mortgage and request a small lump sum of equity to help us sell the property and continue to market it and pay the mortgage whilst it sits empty...;

hand the keys back to the mortgage company and go with what we can manage to raise before we go

worst case.. not emigrate in 9 weeks :-(

Also I have the move cube which has been collected last week - although not shipped yet and is still in UK - not even sure if i could ask for it back and charges for it! We have paid our £200 deposit and our next payment is due now of £810 before departure...what a mess - dilemma's having a meltdown.

Then worst case if we decide not to emigrate in 9 weeks and take a holiday instead (visa validation) work will not allow me the time off (not for 5 weeks) and the children would be classed as missing school, and the payment for flights back :-/ and we will be very sad :-(

Any helpful suggestions

(Also posted on other site -sorry for duplication)

Hello,

I know its a little earlier but we land in Perth in December and wanted to try to find a family friendly new years eve party - any suggestions?? (we have a and 11 year old) :-)

Sounds great! I'm just looking at my very wet rain soaked washing on the line outside...can't wait to be able to keep on top of the washing! haha x

11 weeks till we fly out...

Agree- Duncraig would be my number 5 choice, have a friend who works there and speaks highly of it.

Thank you to Scot01 and Arwen - you have been so helpful :-)

Well we have our list of 5 ideal schools ready to look for rental accommodation in catchment areas when we come over, that is reasonable to get to Lockridge area.

I have just emailed the employer back to see if I would be able to secure the position they have available before my arrival in December - fingers crossed