Reply to: Working in Silicon Valley or San Francisco

[beaker]

No, it's Mineral Wudder. My wife just gets blank looks when she asks for Sparkling Water!

Ah, I'll have to try that next time!

[Devlin]

That'll be "Sparking warduh?"

No, it's Mineral Wudder. My wife just gets blank looks when she asks for Sparkling Water!

[beaker]

Try asking for Sparkling Water in Oz....

That'll be "Sparking warduh?"

[Devlin]

Thanks for the info.

We're only looking (initially at least) at a couple of years. Having done 2 years in California we have no illusions about the logistics and practicalities of moving abroad but I reckon it will be FAR easier than trying to adapt to the US.

Have you ever tried asking for a glass of water in California in a theme park? After 5 minutes of blank stares someone piped up - "oh, they mean wadder"

Try asking for Sparkling Water in Oz....

[gadgetman]

Thanks for the info.

We're only looking (initially at least) at a couple of years. Having done 2 years in California we have no illusions about the logistics and practicalities of moving abroad but I reckon it will be FAR easier than trying to adapt to the US.

Have you ever tried asking for a glass of water in California in a theme park? After 5 minutes of blank stares someone piped up - "oh, they mean wadder"

[beaker]

Melbourne is my hometown so I'm probably biased on this one. But it is by far my favourite city in Australia. You will still have the cost of living issues obviously, but it is just much more civilised than Perth - or even Sydney imo. Great parks, great restaurants, some good private and pubilc schools and probably the best public transport in Australia (that's not hard though!)

I would strongly advise that you find the time to do a reccie to any potential places and check them out and do the sums etc. It's really easy to get all rose tinted about Aus.

Agree that you should really check some places out before you decide to settle there. The other thing about Perth is that its so remote you are basically trapped there! That's ok for the locals but you can't really do a weekend away in Sydney or anything, whereas you could from Melbourne, Adelaide or Brisbane.

Also if you've read any of the British Expats boards on Perth, you'll find a lot of them want to come back to the UK after 1 year or so!

[Devlin]

If you have any.

We put it on the shortlist on admittedly pretty flimsy criteria (weather, outdoors lifestyle, friends having lived/worked there in the past, scenes from a New Life Down Under etc) and welcome any informed opinions.

On the flipside, what about Melbourne as a place to live?

Melbourne is my hometown so I'm probably biased on this one. But it is by far my favourite city in Australia. You will still have the cost of living issues obviously, but it is just much more civilised than Perth - or even Sydney imo. Great parks, great restaurants, some good private and pubilc schools and probably the best public transport in Australia (that's not hard though!)

I would strongly advise that you find the time to do a reccie to any potential places and check them out and do the sums etc. It's really easy to get all rose tinted about Aus.

[beaker]

Minimum $18 for a chicken parma at a suburban pub near where I grew up. I actually asked them if it was a mistake!

Crazy! Even at the average cafe you struggle to get a bowl of pasta for under $10... no wonder my folks never eat out...

[gadgetman]

If you have any.

We put it on the shortlist on admittedly pretty flimsy criteria (weather, outdoors lifestyle, friends having lived/worked there in the past, scenes from a New Life Down Under etc) and welcome any informed opinions.

On the flipside, what about Melbourne as a place to live?

[Devlin]

Are you kidding? I was back for a few weeks last year but can't say I did much grocery shopping. Going back again in April for a while...

Minimum $18 for a chicken parma at a suburban pub near where I grew up. I actually asked them if it was a mistake!

[Devlin]

Really interested to know your reasons...

All subjectively my opinion of course:

1 - Dead boring - very little in the way of cultural activities.
2 - Too hot for me
3 - The smallest outing seems to entail at least 60 mins in the car
4 - People have a real chip on their shoulder about us Eastern Staties
5 - Housing prices are now OBSCENE. AUD $500k for anything decent
6 - About 4 decent restaurants in all of Perth
7 - Didn't find a decent pub
8 - Blatent racism among the general populice towards asians and "abbos" which doesn't sit well with me.

Would you like some more?

It has some nice beaches though and WA has some awesome wineries.

[KevinS]

Really interested to know your reasons...

It's full of Brits and South Africans???

[gadgetman]

Really interested to know your reasons...

You couln't pay me enough to live there! The Brits love it though because it used to be cheap and is reliably unbearably hot in summer.

[beaker]

a standard loaf of bread is almost AUD $5!

Are you kidding? I was back for a few weeks last year but can't say I did much grocery shopping. Going back again in April for a while...

I did notice restaurant meals were about $25 for nothing too fancy - which seemed like a lot and comparable to equivalent meals in London, but maybe it's because I didn't really eat out at restaurants like that when I lived in Oz...

Most of my friends are doing ok but they own small businesses and they work really hard! Not like me

[Devlin]

The IT contracting is much stronger in Melbourne than Perth. Your wife should be able to find fairly well paid work as a mid wife anywhere.

IMO the main high cost of living is housing (ie if you want to buy a house). The houses might seem cheap when converted to pounds but they are expensive when earning an Australian wage. Renting is comparitively cheap. The main thing is an average Australian house is bigger and will have more land than an average British house.

For some reason lots of Brits want to go live in Perth - I don't understand why...?

Agreed, however I think the cost of essentials - especially food has gone up massively in about the last 3-4 years. Also eating out used to be dirt cheap, but when I was back in Melbourne just over a year ago I can honestly say that decent restaurants were not much cheaper than in London!

I have family in Perth. You couln't pay me enough to live there! The Brits love it though because it used to be cheap and is reliably unbearably hot in summer.