Queensland to Western Australia

[Danie]

G'day to all the friends out there!

I have a question that is bugging me a bit (sorry chatterbug)...

I am having a couple of prospect's opening for me, and one of them is to relocate to Perth from Central Queensland.

Without opening a container of worms, would I like to know of any of you have done the move from the East coast to the West coast...?

I would like to hear more detail regarding your experiences, the difficulties, stuff that is better and so on.

I have seen many positive reports from fellow foruminites regarding Perth, but will we adapt... I have gotten use to the Queenslanders, I believe they are a breed on their own...

Many thanks in advance!

D

[Olly]

I have not been to Queensland yet, but I have heard others complain that their leather furniture and clothes go mouldy over there because of the humidity, that does not happen in Perth.

Also, aren't the creepy crawlys bigger and scarier in Queensland?

Edited August 22, 2006 by Olly

[ExASP]

Oh thanks alot Olly...now that we are thinking of not going to Perth and going to Brisbane instead ih ave to hear that the goggos are bigger.....

[Bob]

Danie!

don't fall for all the stuff others say about Australia and the various parts of the country. Much of it isn't likely to have much substance if they're not from there. The creepy crawlies aren't much different from East to West. It's more a difference between the tropics . . . . crocs . . . and the temperate part of Australia.

Perth is a great place. When I lived there in 1972, the climate was sunny and warm for most of the year . . . hot even in summer. The city has gone ahead in leaps and bounds over the thirty years or so that I was there, but the main aspect of life in Western Australia is the isolation that "Sandgropers" felt.

I dunno if it has changed much nowadays with cheaper air travel, but there used to be a real sense of distance between Western Australia and the rest of Australia . . . called the "Eastern States", as if it were a different continent! Singapore, by the way, is closer to Perth than Sydney or Brisbane!

If you want to see any other part of Australia you have to be ready to travel a week there and back to get to Adelaide which is on the fringe of the eastern side of Australia and which is within a day's travel to Melbourne, two days' travel to Sydney and Brisbane. If you want to holiday in tropical Cairns where the South Pacific beaches are, from Perth, allow yourselves a week and a half to two weeks' extra travelling time in your car.

Also important is the nearness to Africa from Perth . . . just a ten hour flight across the Indian Ocean . . . . so it has its pluses and minuses with travel.

Aside from that, Western Australia, like Queensland, is one of Australia's fastest growing States and has jobs galore, with Australia's lowest unemployment rate from what I hear. The lifestyle there is great, the beaches clean and have white sand and the bush just rolls on forever . . . a camper's paradise.

You can also watch the Western Force in Perth play against other South African and New Zealand teams.

[Dreamcatcher]

Hi Danie,

There you have it, out of the horse's mouth - so to speak. I live in regional WA, and I love it here. It all depends on yourself though, but most South African's love Perth. I cannot compare it to other cities, because I have not been to any other cities yet. Still trying to explore my own (huge) doorstep.

Greetings,

Dreamy

[Guest Noeks]

I cannot compare it to other cities, because I have not been to any other cities yet.

Me nor, not been anywhere else in Aus - HOWEVER, I do dig, dig, dig it here Not come across many scary goggas yet (only been here 5 months though ) - there were much scarier, bigger and hairier goggas in Botswana... To be sure, its a glorious place to live!

[Bob]

I guess, being a typical bloke, that I was a bit curt with Olly, but she'll soon find out when she gpes with her family camping in the great outdoors of Australia that creepy crawlies aren't really that big a problem.

Usually the golden rule is "leave well alone" and they'll leave you well alone when it comes to reptiles and spiders soon get the flick from me if they are unsafe and in my house, otherwise I leave them alone.

So far, no problems in all the years I've been in the bush here.

[Dreamcatcher]

Hi there,

On the subject of bugs creepie crawlies and other slithering things, I must say that Aus has nothing on the Lowveld in South Africa.

Having lived in the sugar-cane farming area, snakes, rats and spiders were a part of our daily life. My kids encountered a spitting cobra on their way to school, we have seen a few black, and green mambas. We found at least three snakes in our house, one under my daughter's bed, and lots more in the garden. Just before a rainstorm we would find several big tarantulas and red roman spiders inside the house, and had to shoo them out. In the summer we would amaze ourselves with the different species of insects that collected under the lights.And then we had to cope with the ever present threat of malaria, and the horrible mozzies.

Now tell me Aus is worse?

Greetings,

Dreamy