JaseandAnne Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 (edited) So, we are nearly 15 months in and these are my observations on a practical day to day level not the whole heart felt leaving family etc I'll put our feeling down in another post, I will start by telling you I'm a 46 year old bloke here with wife and two kids aged 3 (nearly) and 7. I'm in the motortrade currently working as a Tech at a great garage in Rockingham. These are my thoughts, you may not agree and have different views and experience. Some of mine are negative and some are positive. WA. - We live in Baldivis south of the river and spend a lot of time in Mandurah due to being into boating. The beaches are beautiful the coast is fabulous. If you are into the outdoors then this is the place to be. I am astounded by the free boat ramps, trailer parking, outdoor BBqs, fabulous parks, free parking, camping sites, places to visit that do not cost anything, the list goes on of stuff to do, plus the free events that are put on. Everything is really child friendly and I dont think Ive been to an event where there are drunk teenagers playing up like there used to be at home. (We did live in a deprived part of the country). The sun shines most days and even in winter on a sunny day the temperature can get to mid twenties. However because its a dry climate once you get acclimatized it feels much colder, so when its 15 degrees here it feels more like 4 or 5 did back in the UK, so out come the jumpers!! Last year at this time I would go out for my early morning run and think how warm it was, this year I think its bloody freezing! Ha CARS and Driving. The cars are sh*t, if you think you are going to come here and buy yourself a nice little ten year old Peugeot 206 for £1500 like you had in UK , forget it!! The WA car fleet is old and I would estimate that 50% are either partly maintained to poorly maintained. There is no MOT and no requirement to maintain your car unless you are unlucky enough (unlikely) to get stopped by the police and "stickered" to get whatever they find rectified, as long as you pay your "rego" on time just keep driving. European cars like Peugeot, Renault are not popular, VW group have more a foot hold and slightly more popular however parts for European cars are expensive and a rip off. There are a lot of Japanese and Korean cars. The older jap stuff is fab and as they dont rot like they did in the UK youll see a lot of stuff from the early to mid 90's still on the road as peoples daily drivers, they will still want upwards of a grand when they sell them. Back in the UK some of these cars are turning up at classic car shows. I wouldnt buy a korean car over ten years old, except maybe the Hyundai Getz for a run around. I have seen cars with the canvas and metal hanging out of the tyres, rear diff oil leaking over the brakes so that only the fronts work only for customers to say that they dont have the money to fix them and drive away promising they wont drive them (yeah right). My advice buy the newest car you can afford preferably something Australian, Commodore or Falcon seem to be pretty cheap to maintain and on the whole reliable. Petrol is cheaper here than the UK, when we arrived it was half price that of the UK but has crept up a bit. Diesel isnt as popular here although readily available, V6 and V8 petrol cars are still very popular here and there are some beauties. How the Hoons afford to leave all that Rubber on the road is beyond me, Tyres are just as expensive here as UK The Aussies are terrible drivers, it astounds me that in state where the speed limit on the freeway is 62 MPH and the freeways for the most parts are two lanes how many crashes they have!! They drive too close and when you are doing the 100KPH limit someone up your arse so you move out of the way only for them to sit alongside you doing the same speed!! Theres been a number of times when Ive been ready for a row with someone who appears to be driving like an idiot only for them to be totally oblivious to how annoyed ive got at their driving!! There seems to be a lot of deaths on the road and a lot of is put down to drink driving, they appear to be 20 years behind with their drink driving thinking. The people - The people on the whole are friendlier on a daily basis than the UK. When your out and about people say "HI" more than UK. However, once you start working for Aussies, or want them to do work for you, or buy something second hand like a car they have no morals and will screw you over without a second thought! The first guy I worked for paid me short, regularly and when I spoke to him about it he tried to tell me it would even itself out, err no if you only pay me 37/1/2 hours and I work 40 how will that ever even out?? Also only paid from 8 to 12 Saturdays but didnt expect you to leave until after 1!! Had the attitude that if you wont do it then someone else will, I lasted 3 weeks before telling him his fortune! Aussie tradies want to do as little work for maximum dollar and even in the current climate I still find thats their attitude, however when you do work for them they want to pay minimum dollar for maximum work. If you look on Gumtree and Facebook for second hand stuff they want far too much for stuff, some people want near on retail new price for SH stuff. Ive also bought stuff where Ive turned up and tried to haggle and been told thats the price mate Im not knocking anything off but the advert said ONO!!!! I'm into my cars and I like doing up broken ones and keeping them for a bit, ive seen a couple that I wanted to buy to do up and have negotiated a price and asked the questions has it been involved ina crash, do you owe any money on it etc to be told no they were ligit, only to check them and discover they had finance on them, when I challenged the owners they both said that they were going to pay off the finance when I paid for the cars, yeah right course you were!! They also dont really have the same sense of humour as us, I mean, theyve never heard of Only Fools and horses, Black adder or the Inbetweeners!! The government - Australia, in general, and WA is a nanny state, I hear adverts all the time, on how to stop your child being injured at home, "Make sure you check the bath water before you put a small child in", Dont drink and drive, dont drive over train crossing when the lights are flashing and the latest one I heard was that you should go to bed early to avoid being tired when driving, it actually says try going to bed before 9PM, WTF, are Aussies really that stupid they need the government to tell them when to go to bed!! The government bodies that you will come into contact with have got that attitude that they used to have in the UK 30 years ago before they became more customer focused after realising that it was the public who funded the department but also paid extra for their particular services. The Department of transport for example is a bizzare step back in time as you go to change ownership of your car and take a ticket and sit and wait for your number to be called only for there to be a sour faced old cow behind the counter who treats you like you're wasting her time and shes doing you a favour!! If like me you dont want to give your child the MMR vaccine, then the government wont give you the family allowance payment, they also wont allow you to send your child to any preschool/Kindy either until they are vaccinated. Apparently it puts other children at risk however if other children have had the vaccines and mine havent the only risk is to other children who havent had the vaccines!! I wont go into my reasons for not wanting the MMR but as a parent this is my choice and I should not be dictated to by the government. If you ever have the misfortune of taking your personal import car to Welshpool DOT for its inspection then here you will reach a new level of A*sehole who take great delight in failing your car/trailer etc for no reason other than they can and it makes their day. In fact the guy I used to import my car was from over East, Sydney, and when I told him i was bringing them into Perth he said , and I quote, "they are all a*seholes over there, the docks,the customs and the DOT its the worst place to get anything through" and he wasnt wrong. The only government officials I've come across who have been courteous are the police and most of them have been from the UK. HOUSING The houses are nice, you get more for your money here, although the blocks are getting smaller for new builds. Not really sure why when they have some much space other than to maximise profit. However we have just bought a 4 by 2 house on an 800sqm block with pool and workshop for less than we sold our 3 bed semi for in the UK. the buying process is nicer, once signed you cant get gazumped as long as you meet the contract dates. If the owner hasnt told you something doesnt work and they are selling it as not working then it has to work. for example I did the final inspection last week for the house we are buying and one of split cycle A/C motors didnt work and the pool gate didnt shut properly, now in the UK i would of just accepted this as thats how it is but not here! The estate agent said they got to be fixed before we take ownership!! Refreshing. Schools- Our littlen goes to Baldivis primary school which is a state school, its is lovely and I think her class has 22 children in it. If you come from a large city in the UK then you will not be disappointed with the class sizes here. Our little girl had also been at school for a year before coming here and having to start year one again but there is still stuff on the curriculum to challenge her and I dont find the education system behind. I have found that here they seem more focused on the journey to adult hood than focused on training them to pass exams parrot fashion. She seems happy and is always coming home with some reward for being the top reader or top in maths so that year head start has put her top of the class which is nice boost for her confidence. I dont know a lot about the secondary schools but it seems to be if you can afford it send them to a private school. WORK/JOBS - I'd say WA is on its knees for work, especially trades. In my industry the only jobs available seem to be the lower end of the spectrum, the fast fit lower skilled end where there tends to be a high turn over of staff anyway. Having said that i've managed to get a good job at a nice place, but there is a lot of competition out there and Ive realised it isnt what you know but who you know . If you want to get a job in government beware that the higher paid jobs require you to be a citizen however the lower paid jobs and those they have trouble recruiting for, Ie Police officer, even if you have the skills and qualifications, that being "a citizen" or being in the throws of" becoming a citizen" clause is chucked in. If you want to change careers or do something different, good luck, as you'll need courses and qualifications before you even get a chance at having a go, I dont believe there is such a thing here as on the job training. They'll be a college course that you have to pay for before you even try and get a job! Shops/Shopping - Not so many big supermarkets as in the UK selling everything like Tesco and Asda.You still get the little shops and off licences albeit some of them are part of the big companies. I applaud the Aussies for their Buy Aussie spirit however they are being let down by their government who has allowed some big business to move over sees. Now they have no option but to allow foreign companies in to sell theyre stuff. Ultimately this will be good for consumers but not so good for workers and small business. The shops close at 5.30 in the week accept for some of the bigger companies who are open to 9, our local spud shed has just gone 24 hours, the only shop I know of thats 24 hours. Thursday is late night shopping just like it was 30 years ago in the UK. The thing I love about the shops is that they arent open 24 hours for that one insomniac to go shopping at three AM but at the same time it annoys me that when I've forgotten our wedding anniversary if its not a Thursday I'm in proper trouble. Crime- The Aussies seem to be paranoid about crime, shutters on windows, house alarms etc but, I was a police officer in the UK for 16years before coming here and let me tell you they do not know what crime is here! The things that get reported on the nightly news here would be lucky to get a spot in the local rag at home. Yes there are burglaries, car thefts, assaults and robberies but they are nothing compared to the UK considering the size of the Perth metro area So if you are still with me thus far, well done, and I'd now like to point out that I'm not a whinging Pom, some of these things annoy me but its a damn sight better than where we lived in the UK. Our lifestyle and quality of life has drastically improved and I really like it here and, at this point, do not intend to go back. Yes, we miss family and friends and if they could be here that would make it perfect. Jase Edited June 3, 2017 by ali Offensive word (even starred out) not allowed 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted June 4, 2017 Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 Interesting read - although it always makes me smile when people say Aussie drivers as if all the bad drivers are Australian - i'm not sure how people can tell a nationality when they're sat in a car ... always think it reads better as 'drivers in Aus' to encompass the diverse nationalities that make up WA. Regarding secondary schools, I think it depends on the area's you live also - some may not have a reputable state school and I don't think that private is necessarily better, with some excellent state secondary schools. Personally, I think it's about getting the right fit for your child for some that's private and others public. We were lucky to live in an area with a good secondary school which met my children's differing needs - my daughter was academic (and they had an extension programme) whilst my son is sporty and has been able to study sports coaching and outdoor education - getting his skippers ticket this year. Glad you've settled though and the frustrations haven't made you want to go back to the UK. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen78 Posted June 4, 2017 Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 Hi Jase, great read and it's nice that I can relate to the updates now! Great news about your house, wish the prices were like that in Willetton! I heard the 9pm bedtime curfew advert on Friday and thought it was a joke... until I realised it wasn't! And I agree with Ali about the driving, you can't always tell the nationality of the bad drivers, but its more the parking I find! Glad you've settled in well and your daughter is happy at school. None of your comments sounded whingey, just an honest evaluation of situations you've found. Life is still life, even if its sunny outside there are going to be the odd everyday stresses. There is more crime here than I thought there'd be, and I'm surprised by the size of the drug problem tbh I'm desperately trying to get my daughters' immunisations up to date to get the family assistance, needs to be done by end of June, think they might need the chicken pox one even though they've both had chicken pox. Crazy! Jen x 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryStyles Posted June 4, 2017 Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 I have to agree with the driving. How can a country with so many nice and pleasant people be so rude when it comes to driving??? no one moves over to allow you to enter the freeway even when its really quiet. I also had to laugh at the many signs and articles i saw trying to tell people who to use a roundabout and what lane goes where. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunnyboy Posted June 5, 2017 Report Share Posted June 5, 2017 Think I met the same sour face woman at Welshpool the other week. Crime sounds high here as they have nothing else to talk about on the news. Driving gets my goat too, they sit at the lights waiting for a colour they like before they pull away like an arthritic snail then block the passing lane on the freeway or Mandurah road going south because they want to turn right in 20k's. I like Stocklands.... so much nicer than Rockingham to shop in. I will say people don't seem to be able to say sorry or excuse me and will deliberately stand in from of you when you are looking at something on the shelves. cant get my head around the takeaway shops being shut by 9pm.... I fancied a kebab the other evening... it was shut at 7.30! in the UK you could slaver at the elephants leg until 1am. Every form of work requires a ticket... even to stand in the road with the stop go board... the TAFE's are making a killing out of courses. I cant get a gas licence as I don't have a job with a gas plumber , and I cant get a job with a gas company as I don't have a gas licence... how does that work? We cant even get broadband here, we are having to use a mobile dongle with limited data (darta) . Still, the sun still shines most days and we still love being here despite the 80's approach 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy Posted July 5, 2017 Report Share Posted July 5, 2017 We think there is more crime here TBH, the amount of stolen property and home burglaries is mind boggling. There are a hell of a lot that go unreported too. My husband did work at a house owned by a high up officer last month that used to work in Slough. He thinks home burglaries is a lot worse here, especially the violent burglaries where crimes are committed against the lady of the house! There are so many wives etc that don't even see their husbands for 2-3 weeks at time due to them being away working and feel very vulnerable in this current climate. Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted July 5, 2017 Report Share Posted July 5, 2017 It's certainly not a crime free state and some areas are higher than others. I don't feel people should fall into the trap of being less security conscious. I'd be interested in your statistics Kath regarding home invasions for FIFO workers and if that's gone down now that less people are FIFO due to the recession 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weedolly Posted July 6, 2017 Report Share Posted July 6, 2017 18 hours ago, Kathy said: We think there is more crime here TBH, the amount of stolen property and home burglaries is mind boggling. There are a hell of a lot that go unreported too. My husband did work at a house owned by a high up officer last month that used to work in Slough. He thinks home burglaries is a lot worse here, especially the violent burglaries where crimes are committed against the lady of the house! There are so many wives etc that don't even see their husbands for 2-3 weeks at time due to them being away working and feel very vulnerable in this current climate. Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk Must be the area you are in. I dont see my OH for 4 weeks at a time and certainly am not feeling vunerable or insecure where I live! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rossmoyne Posted July 7, 2017 Report Share Posted July 7, 2017 On 05/07/2017 at 21:30, Kathy said: We think there is more crime here TBH, the amount of stolen property and home burglaries is mind boggling. There are a hell of a lot that go unreported too. My husband did work at a house owned by a high up officer last month that used to work in Slough. He thinks home burglaries is a lot worse here, especially the violent burglaries where crimes are committed against the lady of the house! There are so many wives etc that don't even see their husbands for 2-3 weeks at time due to them being away working and feel very vulnerable in this current climate. Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk There is crime here obviously, but you have to remember that Perth is a small place and burglaries, home invasions etc always make the news, whereas they are more common place in other states, countries so perhaps are not "newsworthy" so much. I live alone and have never felt vulnerable because of that. And I have to say that if you look at the crime stats, there are certain areas that seem to be hit more than others. So I think your comment about FIFO workers is inaccurate, unless you can provide stats to prove it that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaseandAnne Posted August 12, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2017 Just to add, sorry its been so long I dont get on here as much as I'd like as I'm too busy living the dream! With regards to crime, it is in no way as bad as the UK, there are areas that you wouldnt want to live in but remember the words "home invasion" sound so much worse than "robbery" or "Aggravated Burglary" that are the words we are used to from the UK. A home invasion is a Robbery and is much more common in the UK than here. They have Burglaries here but house security, and attitudes to it, are crap, my neighbour leaves his garage door open when he goes out!! WTF hes got his tool box in there and all his car stuff, yet he goes to work, leaves door up, 8 hours later comes back, if all his stuff gets nicked this is a burglary and is a statistic. The Aussies are lax about security not just in the home but also in other ways, we are near a naval base and I see Navy guys in full uniform, at petrol stations, in shops etc and the other day I asked one if he was supposed to be wearing his uniform off duty, yes he said we wear our uniform to and from the base! Now, when I was a cop in the UK we were told not to wear our uniform too and from work at all as this made us a terrorist target as well as the obvious target from criminals, I explained this to the Navy guy and he said well "I suppose when you put it like that but" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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