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real life Perth

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Meet the moverNames rachel (28) & Duncan (31) Camilleri

occupatioNrachel worked for an architecture

company in the UK. In Australia,

she works as an office and events

administrator for Investor Assist. Duncan

works as a site carpenter and kitchen

fitter, an occupation he held in the UK.

moved fromFerndown, Dorset

moved toWembley, Perth, Western Australia

usefuL coNtactto find out about Investor Assist, which

provides a property investment service,

visit www.investorassist.com.au

Perth

rachel and duncan love to spend time enjoying perth’s beautiful beaches

since moving to perth, rachel and duncan camilleri say that

their lives have changed dramatically…

“We love our sunshine lifestyle”

Au s t r a l i a & NZ | a p r i l 2013 75

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movIng down under real life Perth

His sister and family also moved out at the same time as us, so we are house sharing at the moment, which is making life much cheaper.

It’s a brand new complex with underground secure parking, a massive basement, three bedrooms, two lounges, a laundry room, and many balconies.

It’s a stunning area, with parks and lakes, and the people all seem lovely. We are fairly new so we haven’t met all our neighbours yet, but they all seem great.

We are renting for now, but we are looking to buy in a year, once we have our deposit together.

Housing here is quite expensive compared to the UK, but we are on a much higher wage, so it is relative. It is fairly reasonable to get a first home and we will be getting a much larger and nicer house than anything we would have been able to afford in the UK.

In the past couple of months we have had maybe two rainy days and three or four quick showers. The rest of the time it is glorious sunshine and just so lovely!

You tend to need a car to get around here, but literally everything is just a short 15-20 minute drive away.

The move has changed our lives dramatically as we live such a healthy lifestyle now!

In the UK we were always hoping for a sunny day to plan something that would end up being ruined by the rain. We also watched TV a lot! Now we are out in the sun every day after work.

I commute to work by cycling through two beautiful parks, with ducks, swans, turtles. We make sure that we see the beach every weekend, even if we are really busy. We look for outdoor activities to do rather than indoor ones and

find that there is no time for TV! Food here seems expensive, but once you are earning dollars it is fine. We are enjoying searching for alternatives for each of the products that we were used to.

There is more of a coffee culture here than a pub one here! We often go out late at night for coffee and deserts. During the working week, we both start at around 8am and finish at 4:30pm.

We are both always home by 5pm and then either go to the beach, play tennis, go for a swim or go and see friends. During our weekends, we are spending more time out in parks, beaches and doing touristy things.

LooKiNG aHeadIf I could have done anything differently about the move, I would have signed up to a few recruitment agencies before leaving as finding work can be quite a slow process.

Also, if I had known some of the prices of things I would have done one last supermarket shop and brought over a few more supplies in my shipping.

Being so far away from friends and family is difficult and the time difference can make it hard work but I plan to go back to the UK for visits. Our advice for other British people wanting to move to Australia is to just do it!

Just find the money and get here. Yes, it is a struggle to get all the paperwork sorted, but it is massively worth it!

Share your story!if you are heading down under to start a new life and are willing to share the story about your move with us, we would love to hear from you! simply email us at editor@australiamagazine.co.uk

e felt that Australia offered better opportunities and

a more outdoor-orientated lifestyle, that would also be great for bringing up a family.

We visited Australia’s East Coast for a holiday five years ago. We hired a camper van and drove from Cairns to Sydney and just loved Australia, but had never been to Perth. We had read about Perth in books though and fell in love with the place!

Perth is a growing city, and we liked how the sun sets over the sea. That sounds draft, but sundowners on the beach are not the same when the sun disappears behind a building! We also liked how the weather in Perth is mainly sunny.

We were living in Ferndown, Dorset when we decided to make the move. We enlisted the help of Sue Tempany from Visa Bureau – she was excellent!

We wanted to get our visa application in before the new system came in place, and because of this we were limited on time.

Sue was brilliant as she made sure no details were missed and would

let us know when things had to be done. Her assistance was priceless, and I wouldn’t recommend anyone do it on their own!

With Duncan being self-employed we had to sort out a lot of things before the visa was submitted, so in December 2010 he started gathering references, doing a carpentry exam and so on.

We submitted the visa application in June 2011. We were asked to carry out our medicals and police checks in March 2012 and were awarded our permanent residency visas in June 2012.

I wouldn’t say the migration process was easy – it was hard work. We had to be quite

Duncan has family in Perth, so after they picked us up from the airport they drove us straight to the beach and we had a ‘barbie’, and watched the dolphins in the sea and the sunset. It was bliss!

We spent the first three weeks recovering from the jet lag, sorting out our paperwork, registering with Medicare, getting our drivers licenses and job hunting. We both had work by the third week and are now both working fulltime.

Leigh, Duncan’s brother moved out a year before us, so when we were due to come out, he organized our house to rent.

We didn’t bother lining up jobs as it would have been quite complicated, seeing as you need white cards, ABNs etc.

We live in the suburb of Wembley, which is really close to Perth’s CBD and the beach, so you really get the best of both worlds.

committed and organized, but we were so determined to go that it was well worth it!

It all took a while to finance, so we just lived on a budget and saved hard. Our fees included £1,500 for our migration agent, £1,000 for Duncan’s carpentry assessment, £3,500 for our visas, £600 for our medicals, £150 for our police checks, £2,500 for our flights and £1,900 for our shipping.

arrivaL survivaLWe left the UK on 14 August, flew to Dubai for a week, and then we went to South Africa, where we spent time with family, before arriving in Perth on 1 October.

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ProSn there are so many Brits

here that you can befriend, so it helps to stop your home sickness!

n people are ultra friendly and seem happy to talk.

n No language barrier! this really helps with getting a job.

n You can find most home comforts here, they are just different brands.

n sunshine! We are making the most of every piece of sunshine.

ConS:n distance from the uK,

especially if there was a family emergency.

n the time difference can be annoying when you want to speak to people in the uK.

n Not having supermarkets open until 2am with BoGofs. those cravings just have to wait until the morning!

”our Perth ProS and ConS”

❛Sundowners on the beach are

not the same when the sun disappears behind a building!❜

the couple are lucky to have family already living out in perth

76 Au s t r a l i a & NZ | a p r i l 2013 Au s t r a l i a & NZ | a p r i l 2013 77

the couple’s apartment features a spacious open plan living area

rachel and duncan live in a new complex in the suburb of Wembley

relaxing in the park on a typically sunny day in perth

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movIng down under

78 Au s t r a l i a & NZ | a p r i l 2013 www.getmedownunder.com

PerthWHat it’s LiKeIf you want a relaxed and sunny lifestyle with a touch of city life then Perth could be for you. Perth has a population of 1.74 million people, living in one of the world’s most isolated cities.

Perth’s lucky residents enjoy a Mediterranean climate in which to enjoy some of the world’s most beautiful beaches. It is also known as a clean, spacious-feeling city.

Close to Perth is the Swan Valley wine region and further south is the Margaret River wine region, popular for its

spectacular views, amazing surf, beautiful scenery, wine and food. The schools in Perth are excellent and there is a good mix of private and state schools here.

GettiNG arouNdPerth has wide roads and highways. Rush hours can be busy but the traffic usually keeps moving.

Most people in Perth drive themselves to work rather than using public transport.

Perth’s public transport system is good for getting you into the central city and out

Western australia’s capital is known as a clean, spacious-feeling city…

again but is not so good for travelling between suburbs, for which a car is strongly advised. HousiNG Housing is plentiful in Perth and while prices have been coming down, they are still expensive. The median house price for Perth is A$610,000 (£414,022) and the median apartment price is A$692,000 (£469,677).

There is a lot of development happening here, including new apartment blocks and land releases. Three-quarters of Perth’s houses are detached, with varying sizes of garden.

whY MoVe to...

QUIET LOCATIONa$699,000 (£474,428)this modern double-storey three bedroom, two-bathroom home is situated in a quiet location. the open plan living area that interacts with the spacious alfresco area is perfect for entertaining. the master bedroom is equipped with a walk-in wardrobe, while the other two bedrooms are of a generous size. there are two bathrooms and two garage spaces.

FAMILY HOMEa$839,000 (£569,449)this four-bedroom, two-bathroom home caters for all aspects of modern family life. there is a bathroom servicing the remaining bedrooms on the first floor, an open plan family living area that incorporates a stunning kitchen, a casual meals area and an informal lounge, as well as a separate reception lounge/study. there is also double garaging facilities.

ContaCt: avenue one Property Group weB: www.avenueone.com.au

ContaCt: irving and Keenan weB: www.irvingandkeenan.com.au

TIMELESS APPEALa$799,000 (£542,300)this green titled double-storey home offers much style and a timeless feel. there is an open plan family room, a bright kitchen, which leads to a spacious dining area and two large alfresco zones. three generous size bedrooms can be found upstairs – the main with en-suite and walk-in wardrobe. this property also offers a large second living area with balcony.

ContaCt: avenue one Property Group weB: www.avenueone.com.au

homes in Perth

78 Au s t r a l i a & NZ | a p r i l 2013

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perth’s cBd is surrounded by lush green parkland

perth’s famous swan Bell tower