Another Happy Customer :)

"We stayed at 14 Haselmere Circus for a month when we first arrived in WA.

The house was great, well furnished and spacious with everything we needed.
The garden was gorgeous and backs onto a park.

The location was very convenient for all the shops and services in Rockingham and also close to the train station for trips to Perth.

Moving straight into a house was great as it gave us a residential address for accessing services and getting established. It also helped us to settle quickly as it was much more homely than other types of accommodation.

John and Tracey were a great source of local information and support and helped us to find our way around, organise cars etc. Most of all, it was a huge benefit that they had been through the process themselves, so knew what we were experiencing both practically and emotionally.

Renting out 14 Haselmere definitely helped to make our big move smooth and as hassle free as possible. We would recommend it to anyone else like us, planning to move over from the UK.
Sam and James"

Internet access when you arrive

You've spent the last year, or more, researching on the internet, finding out about your new home, applying for jobs, communicating with the locals and others going through the same feelings, hopes, fears, doubts as you. Your virtual community has been a great friend, but when you arrive you may be left alone - argggh!

When you get to your new home you want/need internet access more than ever. To apply for your tax file number (TFN), apply for jobs, find out about schools, and more importantly to keep in touch with all your friends and family that you've left behind.

There are a few options that you can investigate, which will get you on line, if not immediately, then as soon as possible.

Your local area will probably have a library, we are lucky in Rockingham in that we have access to three, with good opening hours, the one I use Safety Bay Library is open to 7.00 Monday to Thursday. These have free internet access, you may have to book a slot (check with the local library). See http://libraries.rockingham.wa.gov.au/

If you have wifi access on your laptop then you can sit in McDonalds for 2 weeks! Rockingham McDonalds has free wifi access.

More areas in Perth have wifi access. In 2007, ResourceNet was launched in Perth – Australia’s first Wi-Fi internet network which is free for everyone 24 hours per day, seven days a week. Known as the “Resources Quarter”, the area includes St Georges Terrace, and Hay and Murray Streets west from William Street, up to the Barracks Arch near Parliament House. Free Wi-Fi spots are also available outside of the city centre, such as the main streets of Subiaco, Leederville and Mt Lawley. Fremantle café strip has free Wi-Fi along South Terrace, from Gino’s Café to the Capri Restaurant.

There are many more spots in Perth, and Perth Walkabout has compiled a handy listing of free wifi hotspots in Perth.

div>ADSL, Broadband, home based. When you arrive in your rental property you will be able to set up ADSL, Broadband, Dial-up, or even Satellite. We used BigPond which is part of Telstra, and were set up within about a week. Check whether ADSL or Broadband is available in the area you want, the ISP websites will point you to a search to check what is available. It is available in our property.

Other suppliers are Optus, IInet, Primus, but there are many more to choose from, and these will vary from area to area.

Mobile Broadband may be the way to go, again the above suppliers have products for you. By getting mobile broadband you will be able to use this wherever you move to without having to pay out a further connection fee, (subject to coverage areas). youcompare.com.au can show you the available options.

Rockingham schools for the 21st Century

Primary schools in Rockingham, Kwinana and Mandurah will share in $56.5 million funding for new projects under round one of the Federal Government’s Primary Schools for the 21st Century Program (P21)

P21 is the second phase of the Rudd Government’s $14.7 billion Building the Education Revolution program.

The P21 program is delivering much needed funding to primary schools for major infrastructure projects, including libraries, multipurpose halls and classrooms.

For example, Rockingham school East Waikiki Primary School received $2.3 million towards a precinct for early childhood, kindegarten and pre-primary ages.

The following local schools also received funding for projects:

Cooloongup Primary, funding for 2 Classroom & Multipurpose Block $1.7 million

Endeavour Education Support, funding for Multipurpose Room $270,000

Endeavour Primary School, funding for Multipurpose classroom block and Enclosed Covered Assembly Area $1.8 million

Safety Bay Primary School, funding for 2 Class ECE and Enclosed Covered Assembly Area $1 million

Secret Harbour Primary School, funding for 4 Classroom Block $1.4 million

Waikiki Primary School, funding for Enclosed Covered Assembly Area $100,000

Warnbro Community High School Education Support Centre, funding for
Multipurpose with Covered Area $920,000

One of our happy clients

We love to hear from our happy clients, here's an email we recently received.

We were very fortunate to have come across Tracey and John’s rental advert just a few weeks before our long-awaited holiday to Perth.

Tracey and John were extremely helpful leading up to our arrival and offered us plenty of ideas of places to visit and things to do while we were in Perth; they also excitedly told us that we were their first paying guests!

On arrival Tracey and John met us at the rental and showed us into what was to be our ‘home’ for the next 3 weeks. The house was cosy and comfortable and we had kindly been left a ‘survival pack ‘ of essentials, which was much appreciated as we had arrived in the evening with three very jet-lagged and hungry children. There was even a very welcome bottle of wine chilling in the fridge but it wasn't chilling for long!!

The three bedrooms were spacious, comfortable and had plenty of wardrobe space for a family of five. The living accommodation was roomy and had all the mod cons needed to make our stay stress-free. In the lounge/dining room there was comfy new furniture, a large TV (it just a pity that it was wasted on the dire Aus terrestrial stations!!). The bathroom was spacious with a large shower cubicle, bath, and loo plus there was plenty of cupboard and drawer space for all our toiletries, etc.

We noticed that there was air conditioning in all/most of the rooms but as our holiday was during the winter (July/August) we felt that the property would have benefited greatly from having sort of central heating. We managed to heat the lounge quite well with the electric fire but the other rooms were very cold, even by hardened Brits’ standards!!

The kitchen/dining/family room was well fitted out with a double-oven gas cooker, microwave, fridge with freezer compartment and ample cutlery and crockery. There was a large table and 6 chairs and a sofa In the utility room there was a washing machine, large chest freezer (which we found very useful as we were on a budget and could buy food in advance and freeze it, thus also cutting down on the shopping trips). The iron and ironing board provided were also very useful and we were left plenty of linen and bath towels for our three-week stay.

Outside, to the back, there was a large covered patio area with tables and chairs, clothesline, a grass area for the kids to play on and a large garage and a carport with electric door. The whole back garden area was enclosed, making it safe and secure for the kids. The property was protected by a burglar alarm which, on our arrival, John admirably explained how to set and unset!

During our stay in Rockingham we were close enough to all the people and places we wanted to visit and, despite all the winter rain, we had a wonderful stay in Western Australia.

Thanks again, Tracey and John, for helping to make our holiday such a memorable one; hopefully, if all our emigration plans come to fruition, we'll meet again Downunder soon!"

Warmest wishes
Karen, Ashley & the Boys

Changes for skilled visas to Australia

From July 1, 2009 trades people applying to live and work in Australia will be required to meet a higher level of English language ability than before.

English languages ability is assessed by the IELTS (International English Language Testing System), an internationally recognised system for assessing English ability. Prior to July 1, trades people required "vocational" level English to meet immigration requirements, but now must show that they have a "competent" level of English.

The change will make the English requirements for trades skills the same as all other occupations on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL). Research has shown that migrants who are proficient in English have better employment outcomes once they arrive.

Getting a WA drivers licence

If you are a visitor to Western Australia you may drive on your overseas licence until it expires.

But, if you have a permanent residence visa and intend on living in WA you must obtain a WA drivers licence within 3 months of getting your visa.

You must carry your licence at all times when driving and comply with any conditions (where reasonable) that are endorsed on the licence.

To transfer your UK license to a WA licence you simply need to attend a licensing centre complete a form, show your UK licence, have your photo taken, prove your identity, take an eye test and pay a fee.

From our experience I would advise getting to the licensing centre early as queues can get very big later on in the day.

The dpi.wa.gov.au give the following advice:

To transfer your overseas driver licence you must personally attend a licensing centre (payment by Cash, Cheque, EFTPOS or credit card) or a licensing agent (payment by Cash or Cheque only) between the hours of 8:15 am and 3:45 pm Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays).

When attending a licensing centre or agent to transfer your licence you must take the following documentation with you:

• your current overseas drivers licence.
• proof of your identity, one primary document and one secondary document (originals only).
• proof of your WA residential address.
• one document that shows your signature.
  

You must also pay an application fee of $ 36.20 together with the standard $ 36.60 (1 year) or $ 116.00 (5 year) licence fee. (current at July 2009)

You will be required to have your photo taken which will be displayed on your new Western Australian licence.

As the UK is a recognised country the only test you will have to undertake is an eye test, this is taken at the centre at the time you apply for your licence.

Please note that regulations vary state by state and the above is only applicable to obtaining a licence in Western Australia.

To hire a car with competitive rates we have teamed up with AutoEurope to give you a quote.