Folks Of Interest O/T East Perth, Australia, any HAMBers?

I’ve been offered a position in Perth, Australia.

I’m going and taking the family with me. This probably won’t happen until the December-January timeframe. I just got word this morning that I got the job. I applied completely on a lark, it’s like getting the missus pregnant, I was just poking fun but she took me seriously, as the old saying goes.

They didn’t even interview me. I didn’t know this but the manager in Oz is a good buddy of my current boss and they worked together over there. Anyway, they discussed it and decided I should have the job.

This has caught me completely flatfooted, and really. I am in shock.

The office is actually in East Perth, and the project is in Worsley out in the bush and it is an alumina smelter. This is about all I know right now.

 

Congrats mate,
You and your missus are going to love the place.
And I am sure that the other Perth Hambers are going to give you a good aussie welcome
oz40 (Tom)

 

Watch the summer heat, dry versus your wet heat Catch a AFL & Cricket game asap, learn to say "Mate" & drink lots of beer (it's the heat). Great place & great people, you will feel at home

 

I lived up in the panhandle in Borger, I actually prefer the heat there, nice and dry. I feel you on the AFL, but for cricket, any game that takes three days to finish is just too much. I tried over in India, really, even with the 40/40 or whatever, just too long. I'm sure they have footie as well?

What is the Perth beer and what are the WA teams? If I'm going to live there, I'd better get cracking on adapting to the local culture.

 

Congrats man! I hope you have a great time.

 

One of my brothers was there courtesy of the Marines and said it is very much like our San Diego, a great place to be. He says he is quite jealous of me going over so that bodes well for how the family will like it.

Are LHD cars permitted on the roads over there?

 

The Worsley alumina refinery is at Collie which is about 140 miles south of Perth. Lots of big holes there from the Bauxite mining.

Heaps of Perth Hambers will be able to show you around. Check out the post on here for Big Al's Poker Run which was just on. They're having a Nationals at Bussellton at Easter next year so if you catch that you'll see lots of East Coast rodders too.

swifty

 

Thank you swifty, I am truly looking forward to meeting Oz-HAMBers. I guess I'll have to think about buying a car while I'm over there, I don't imagine there are LHD cars allowed on the road everyday over there.

 

I believe anything over 15 years old is allowed to be LHD here, but anything newer would have to be converted.

 

Bring a nice car. Enjoy it while here and sell it when you leave and make some money. It's a win win win deal.

 

I went there when I was in the Navy. WOW!!!! what a great time.!

 

Now that is one helluva move, to the most isolated capital city in the world, in a state (western australia) that is 5 times as big as the state of texas!

Heaps of LHD cars in perth, and australia in general. Just can't bring a LHD hot rod pre 49. Stock pre 49 no probs, or any 50's, 60's, 70's car no worries. If you do bring somethin over, don't bring something that is too heavily modified, it would be a pain in the a$$ to get licenced here. Not saying it can't be done, just more headache than you'd probably want.

Pretty healthy hot rod scene in perth, so you should be able to get around to a heap of good shows, and cruises to see what we have on offer here!

Need any more details, don't hesitate to fire away.

 

I might just buy something there unless there is something that is really desireable in Oz right now so I could at least recoup my expenses for getting it over there.

My wife wants an old VW Beetle.

 

BTW, I'm in the market for a 3 bed, 2 bath flat with a minimum 1 car garage.

Any of you Ozzies have any connections in that area?

 

http://www.realestate.com.au/

 

Perth is a great spot and you will love it. Great place to bring up a family

There is a pretty healthy hot rod and custom car scene but a few less HAMB style cars here.

Population of Perth is only around 1.6 million.

East Perth is pretty central but from most areas of the Metro area you could drive there under an hour (you can drive from one side of Perth city limits to the other in 1.5 hours easy)
East Perth is also quite expensive real estate. Go out 1/2 an hour and you will find a 4 bed 2 bath house with a 2- car workshop for less than an apartment will be in East Perth.

weather is a bit like Cali with a bit more rain in winter

look forward to cathing up when you arrive!

 

Went to Perth for a 2 week holiday in 1987,still here.Iv been to LA,Brazil and Hawaii our beaches and girls are as good as any.Weeeeeeeeee

 

i live right next to east perth which is basically on the edge of our CBD, you could find a nicer house only about a 10 minute drive from east perth a lot cheaper. east perth is all offices, multi story million dollar apartments
houses, town houses in my area which is a 25 minute walk along the rivers edge to east perth are between 350 to 550 per week
if you need any help let me know, i would love another car guy in my neighbourhood, not too many of us hear
craig

 

Congratulations dude, you will not regret this at all!! There is no place better than Perth, lived in Swanbourne for a few years.
The beaches beat the shit out of anything in SoCal! Seriously!
I miss the place a lot, only down side is how far away you are but its a nice enough drive to the east coast.
Def bring a car, most any 50's cars sell well over here. Hell, bring two, drive one, sell the other and buy a rod, then sell both when you leave!
Welcome to our world, I got $5 on you never leaving.

Doc.

 

Mate, welcome to Perth. I live in the northern suburbs about 15mins by freeway from East Perth and there are quite a few hot rod and custom cars poking around out my way
You have to check out Big Al's poker run, went for the first time this year. From memory there were over 600 cars and no late model stuff allowed. I work away in mineral exploration but I am 1,500km north of Perth so I don't get much time with my cars at the moment but I will do soon. By the way that is still nearly 1,000kms from the top of Western Australia.

 

i worked in perth this year and loved the place, but the best part was meeting hambers. yourll love it.

 

Best of luck, Perth is a great town, fantastic place to raise a family. The Hot Rod scene I'm told is alive and well in WA.

Boner

 

if you love exploring you will love western australia .as i speek its cold and wet in melbourne .can i come too

 

El C.....firstly, congrats on the new job.

Secondly,......mustangs, mustangs, mustangs.....they sell all day long here. I've been driving my left hand driver as a daily for the past 10 years.

Thirdly, I hope your gettin' paid in US dollars! You'd make out like a bandit!

 

Hey mate another Perth guy, happy to help in any way I can. Like FC Ute said, dont live in East Perth, you wouldnt have much luck looking for a house there anyway. You could live really close to the beach (5 mins) and be 20min drive to work or public transport. Or close to to the river like FC is. Summer is coming and the place is great, we had a nice cruise today (25 cars) and MANY more coming.

IF you bring a car, listen to the advice above but make sure its Rust FREE (very strict inspection process here) and you dont bring it over on the condition you'll take it home, otherwise you wont be able to sell it. Just import it. If you are going to do it, let us know as a lot of us have bought cars/bikes/parts before and know the traps.

Be aware there is quite a bit of controversy re the smelter here, but mainly down near it.

Once again if I can help just ask.

 

Good move, bring a car over as prices here = cost in US + $5k approx shipping + HUGE markup due to low volume, ya gotta remember Australia has less total population than California so profit margins need to be higher, do some research of whats for sale and bring in something that will sell if you need to, LHD is ok from 1949 up to 1988 but you need to have import aproval from DOTRS before it leaves the wharf, look up their website it has heaps of info, also Dept of planning and ifrastructure http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/licensing/566.asp has a lot of info on licensing rules for WA and importing http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/ro...n/importing_vehicles/general/pdf/VSB10_09.pdf
cheers Russ...

 

I'll be sure to tell the wife...

I'm getting a housing allowance plus another to rent furniture so I'm interested in something where I can hop on a metro/bus/public transport to go to work. I hate traffic so if someone else can do the driving, great. Do you have park & rides over there? They are parking lots where public transport goes and you leave your car there and go into town, y'all might call them something different.

I've looked at real estate websites, but they don't tell me if they are good to work with or not. I'm also interested in how to go about registering my children for school, ages 11 & 10.

 

Yes mate there are park and ride train stations that are pretty accessiable, although the park part fills up pretty quickly. This is the homepage for public transport here, including some maps.

http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/

Besides cars what are you and your family's interests as that might help us guide you on possible locations for living.

Real Estate Agents are all pretty much the same. As for the schools some of the other guys might be able to help as I have avoided those so far, kids that is.... You are in luck though as the school year doesnt start until late Jan, early Feb due to OUR summer holidays

 

Kids are like Labrador Retrievers, they love water; so we need to live near/on the beach or in a building that has a pool. Wife enjoys getting involved in church stuff and having a coffee and croissant while I work anonymously in a cube farm somewhere. I'm a Scorpio and I like to BBQ, swim, run, and drink beer while watching sports on TV, 'scuse me, telly.

We haven't told the kids yet, we are going to get a whole bunch of questions answered first so we can tell them whats up. They are going to freak...

 

Any good surfing around Perth?

Nevermind....there is.