alant

Hello, we have been in Perth for just over 5 weeks now and we are currently living SOR with friends in Waikiki. We have been house hunting and we put in an application to rent a townhouse in Mount Lawley - which has been accepted....yay! We have done our research of the area and we like what we have read. I was wondering if there is anyone out there that knows Mount Lawley and would like to share their thoughts and experiences of the area - hopefully it will confirm what we have read? Thanks in advance, Alan

Hi Lou8670, we have been here just over 5 weeks now and we are living with friends in Waikiki (Harrington Waters) and we are enjoying it so far! We will only be there for another couple of weeks as we have managed to sort a long term rental in Mount Lawley....which we are really looking forward to (& so are our friends I presume ) Best of luck when you arrive and have a safe journey over to Perth!

Looking forward to it - will be great to finally meet!

Hello, we have used Golden Arrows to ship our cat, Cody. They have been absolutely fantastic and a pleasure to deal with. He is currently in quarantine and we chose to have him do his time in Melbourne instead of Sydney as its smaller and there's more chance (we think) of him seeing the same face more than once while he's there. You do have to pay the additional cost of getting your pet from Melbourne (or Sydney) - my wife has organised it (he's coming home in 2 weeks time) and I think it's around $350-$400 for this.

We applied and got the permanent 189 skilled visa and there is nothing in this visa that states you have to show that you have a certain amount of cash to live. On this visa, you could, if you choose to do so, turn up with not a brown penny to your name.....not something that should be recommended!

Jamesw - is it ok to pm you to find out the details as you appear to be the man in the know?

Hello, thanks for the replies - I'll look at the website Ali and see if I can wangle my way into a game! Jamesw - who organises the games at Peel United? I'd be keen to get involved if possible. Jim Shorts - I'm down in Waikiki and its a bit of a distance to Forestfield as I don't have a car yet. Once I have a car, it might be an option but thanks for the invite...its appreciated!

Hello Justme, my wife and I (both 35) moved to Perth 4 weeks ago. We are staying with friends in Waikiki (SOR) but plan on moving to the city or western suburbs. We too have a four-legged friend but he is of the feline variety!! If you fancy meeting up then drop me a pm!

That's the very place Nancy - I put on my posh voice when telling people where I'm from so I didn't put them off!!

Hello, my wife and I have been in Perth for 4 weeks now. I am now at the point where I'm missing my weekly fix of (trying to) playing football - is there anyone or any teams out there that need a 35 year old body to make up the numbers?? We are currently living with friends in Waikiki but we are planning on moving to the city centre or Western suburbs. If anyone knows of any teams that require players then please let me know. Thanks in advance, Alan

We are arrived 4 weeks ago and we are currently living with friends in Waikiki (SOR) - my wife and I are both from Wishaw....please don't hold that against us

it's our first proper Ozzie BBQ tonight for us!!

Hello Karen - welcome to PP! We arrived in Perth on 30th August so we had similar questions that you had! In terms of car, I'm assuming that you wish to buy one on credit - if you do, the important thing that dealerships look at is affordability so what they will be most interested in is to see your (or your husbands) contract of employment. We met with one last week and this was their primary concern. So if you or your hubby already have jobs lined up then this won't be too much of a problem. If you both have jobs, you can have the car secured under a joint credit agreement. What you'll find is that the interest rate/APR might initially be a little high but if you have a deposit then this will bring it down. We bank with Westpac and when we arrived we met with them to activate our accounts and order our debit cards. They spoke to us about credit cards (not something we want to have TBH), again, we could get one provided one of us was in employment. They would need to see the a contract of employment. So not an issue if you or your husband are working. With Halls Head being close to Madurah, then going on my limited experience I would suggest that your hubby gets the train into the CBD - it takes just over 40 mins from Mandurah into the CBD (he would exit at Esplanade station & it's a 2 minute walk to middle of St. George's Terrace). You can see how packed the freeway into the city gets in the morning from the train as it runs through the centre of it - everyone I've spoken to that works in the city commutes via the train. The trains get really busy at peak times (morning and evening commutes) but as Mandurah is the first stop into the city on the Mandurah line your husband will have no problems getting a seat! In terms of schools, I have no knowledge whatsoever but hopefully others better placed on PP can help with this! For mobile phones, we decided against a contract and have a prepaid option (it's called recharge here). After doing some searching, for what we wanted we chose Optus (part of Telstra I'm told) and we choose their Social tariff. It starts from $30 (we chose $40 option to start with) and for $30 you get unlimited texts, 250 mins of calls (including back to UK) and 500 mb of data - you can pay more to get more mins and data. It lasts for 28 days and then you recharge again. You lose what you don't use is the drawback unfortunately!! We are currently staying with friends in Waikiki (not too far from Halls Head) but we want to be closer to CBD and western suburbs so this is where we will eventually end up. Good luck with the move - if you've any other questions please ask - I'll do my best with the limited knowledge that I have!

Hello, we got ours last week. Although we did have the paper part (as well as the photo card) it was not needed. The staff member took all the details he required from the photo card. ChelseaMG, I'd suggest that since you aren't leaving until 4 weeks time, that you get your paper part from DVLA (which I did - around £20) then that way you have everything you need! It will save you a little stress (you will have enough on your plate to worry about!) as the way one member of staff deals with it could be different from another! Good luck on your travels!!

I would also recommend Golden Arrow. Our wee cat, Cody, is currently on his holidays with Golden Arrow before flying out to Australia next week. He is being quarantined in Melbourne before he travels to Perth. Our experience so far with Golden Arrows has been top notch and I expect this to continue until Cody arrives in Perth!

Hi Bean, still not had any luck with getting a job and its been too wet and windy to enjoy Perth this week...this isn't what I signed up for Had lots and lots of meetings & conversations with recruiters over the last 2 weeks and I have 3 roles that I am waiting to hear back about. I am going to meet a Financial Controller on Monday from a mining company for a potential role so fingers crossed I get something sorted soon! How are your visa preparations going?

We have just done the same Peanuts - the wife is really looking forward to it - thanks for the heads up!

Hello, we are just back from the Skills Expo and it seems to be aimed at school leavers and university graduates - I didn't see anyone looking to recruit experience candidates!

Hi Wern, my understanding is that AAT is not a fully qualified accounting role - you may struggle to get it recognised via a CPA skills assessment for visa purposes. If you contact CPA then they can confirm this to you. What type of visa are you planning on coming out on? We arrived in Perth last week. I'm CIMA qualified and in the process of searching for a job....you definitely have to be here to get a job!

You cannae beat the scottish sense of humour and witty banter!!

Leaving on a jet plane was my works laptops password!!!!

Thanks Sarah - ill get my wifey to look that up for us!!

Mines is "Good Feeling" - the song that is used in the First Choice Holidays advert!! I've had this playing in my head since we left the UK!!:ssign11:

Thanks for the advice / feedback. I like the idea of $400 for ambo and basic insurance. Sarah - do you mind me asking who the cover is with? Is it HBF or BUPA? Bean - still trying to find our feet. I've met with the major recruiters and all seem confident that ill get a role within a couple if weeks; more likely to be a contract role (which I'm happy to do). Was told today by one of the utility companies that I am over qualified for one of their management accountant roles (was contract role but will go perm) and they feared that I would be bored& leave! I find out tomorrow if I'm going to get an interview with a major IT firm for a perm role on the money I would like (get your fingers & toes crossed!) They all have said that the roles are there fit good candidates so I'm hoping that I fall into that category! In terms of salary, some have said that I would get $10k less than what I would ideally like whole others have said that my expectations are realistic. They all did say that I should consider all reasonable & sensible salary packages if offered a role as a means to 'get an in'; this is fair advice and one that I might need to follow!!

Hopefully an easy question - do you know if you can buy ambulance insurance on its own or can it only be bought with a basic insurance pack? Thanks in advance, Alan