ABOUT ME AND MY NEW LIFE IN PERTH
When we immigrated to Perth in October 2003 it was the end of a long process that started back in 1999.
I am not sure what started the wheels in motion for our move to Perth. Gareth my hubby is a Mad Max fan and I had distant family over in Western Australia, moving to a life in Perth was an idea that we both agreed on and so we made it happen.
Once the decision to move to Perth in Western Australia was made Gareth was ready to pack his bags and move to Perth there and then. Me I was not convinced that I could move to the other side of the world without first checking the place out.
So when we married in September 2000 we travelled to Western Australia for our honeymoon.
We wanted to check out the land down under out as a prosective new home.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA IS A HUGE PLACE
I did not realise just how big Western Australia was, I expected to cover all the key tourist attractions in a couple of weeks. Silly me, I soon reduced our itinerary once reality kicked in and I learnt the travelling time between towns.
Life in Australia was not love at first site. Although the outback is one amazing place, great for holidays and adventure it was not my ideal location for day to day living.
The first part of our holiday was spent travelling 1270 km North up the Western Australia coast line to Exmouth and back. This was a lot of driving between towns along the same road with only the Australian outback to see, which when you are driving lots to see as much as you can becomes a little monotonous.
IN THE OUTBACK EVERYTHING STOPS AFTER DARK
When travelling out in the outback we soon learnt that everything, well nearly everything stops when the sun sets. Unlike the UK this is much earlier in the evening, around 8pm in the summer months.
If you wanted accommodation for the night you needed to book in advance or arrive at your destination before dark. Everything stopping at dusk made me a little unsure about the move to Western Australia to begin with. How could I cope without the convenience of late night shopping or a wide choice of entertainment on an evening? I was soon to learn that was the fun of life out in the Bush.
The other thing to watch out for once it turns to dusk is the Kangaroos, a novelty to see to begin with but you soon tire of them. At dusk they are out in number and are attracted to your car headlights. If you hit a kangaroo, it can do some serious damage to your car.
Don’t let me put you off the Australian Outback, it is a wonderful place with many beautiful sites to see. As long as you go out bush well prepared, and are ready for a little (well lot) of travelling time to get there.
We saw some beautiful places and small towns on our trip up the North West coast of Australia such as Northampton, Geraldton, Kalbarri, Carnarvon, Coral Bay and Exmouth.
Many of the places we still enjoy to spend time and visit when we have family & friends visiting or if we are just taking a Perth vacation.
A VISIT TO KINGS PARK AND THE LOVE AFFAIR BEGAN
The last week of out vacation was spent in Perth and that is when I really fell in love with Western Australia.
Perth was a clean City (the remotest City in the world) and although it was not open 24 hours there was sufficient happening to meet my needs.
That topped by Kings Park looking over the City and heaps of unspoilt wilderness to explore.
THE MOVE TO PERTH
Back in the UK and the plans started to find a migration agent to help us apply for an Australian Visa and make the move to a new life in Perth. It was a long process which took nearly 3 years.
Gareth was a diesel mechanic so he applied to migrate as a skilled migrant and I accompanied him as his wife. You can read more about our migration process here.
Now we are living in Perth I wanted to share with everyone what a wonderful place Perth and Western Australia is to live. Help you with your research so you too can explore this wonderful state and may make the move to live over in Western Australia.
In June 2004 I made the decision to build a website.
A WEBSITE IS A GREAT WAY TO SHARE LIFE IN PERTH
When we were planning our move to Perth the one thing we struggled to find on the internet was enough information to help us with our move to Perth.
The information we did find took ages to locate and was spread over many web sites.
I wanted to build a website would allow me to put the information or the links to contacts, services and resources that provided the information you needed when migrating to Perth all in one place.
I wanted to make that Aussie move to a life down under easier for other migrants.
I wanted to remove the stress and time spent finding out about what youy need to know and what you don’t already know.
So with the help of Site Build It immigrateperth.com was born 🙂