Perth , Southern Australia

[dukas68]

Hi there, I have the chance to emigrate to Australia to either Perth or Southern Australia..I would like to hear anyones tips , recommendations ,warnings , wheres the best place to go etc?




thanks

[jno]

Perth's quite a big town, a million or so people; good beaches for thousands of miles, wineries, great climate, pretty port (Fremantle)... but it's extremely remote, even from the rest of Australia. Said to be full of white racists who've fled South Africa but I don't personally know how true this is. South Australia is more mainstream, within reach of Melbourne and Sydney etc.

[Buenchico]

(2-part post):

For me, Perth is the 'real' Australia. As soon as you drive outside of the city boundaries, there are kangaroos bounding alongside (and frequently across) the road. There are beautiful birds everywhere and you soon get to see why Western Australia is known as the 'wildflower state'. There is stunning natural beauty everywhere you look. The city itself is also quite attractive and the beaches are fantastic.

Perth is also one of the few places where you really will meet men, with corks hanging from their hats, who 'go bush with a dry blower' every weekend. (Translation: 'go into the outback with equipment for gold prospecting'). Don't be fooled. These guys aren't the local simpletons. They're probably multi-millionaires!

Perth is a wealthy city, with a far higher percentage of millionaire's than anywhere else in Oz. The standard of living is generally very high. (I visited a small village community, outside of Perth,with a population of about 200 people. They had a large sports centre with floodlit, all-weather tennis courts, a swimming pool and loads more facilities. It's just accepted as normal, around there, that even small villages will have such facilities).

[Buenchico]

The population of Perth is predominantly made up of families with their roots in Western Europe. (Compared with other Australian cities, there have been relevantly few immigrants from south-east Asia). As Jno indicates, you're possibly more likely to hear racist views expressed in Perth than in other Australian cities. (These are more often directed against the indigenous, Aborigine, population than against immigrants). However, I doubt that there are any more people actually holding racist views in Perth than elsewhere. It's just that the citizens of Perth don't subscribe to 'political correctness' and tend to speak their minds. (For example, you're probably far more likely to be told 'a woman's place is in the home' in Perth than elsewhere in Australia but that's only because those people who believe it aren't afraid to say so). NB: I should make it clear that I don't agree with either the racist or sexist views!

As Jno indicates, Perth is a long way from anywhere. The distance to the nearest main centres of population is roughly the same as from London to Morocco.

Cities like Adelaide are pleasant enough but, for me, they don't come anywhere near to matching up to the delights of Perth. Away from Perth, the city dwellers are much the same as anywhere else in theworld and you lose the feeling of 'true' Australia. For example, I met a couple from Sydney at a wildlife reserve near Adelaide. They were in their fifties and were overjoyed that, for the first time in their lives, they'd just seen a kangaroo. For the residents of Sydney (and most other Australian cities) kangaroos are only something you see in zoos and reserves. For the citizens of Perth, they're a daily traffic hazard!

If you want the security of a familiar lifestyle, go to Southern Australia. If you want an entirely new, mind-blowing experience, go to Perth.

Chris

[dukas68]

Thanks , its beginning to look more like Adelaide.........

[jno]

Chris (and dukas), just to expand on my earlier post, there's been some talk in the papers recently about how the South African cricket team underwent crowd abuse in Perth from people calling them kaffirs and kaffir-lovers. As was pointed out at the time, this isn't an Australian term of abuse at all (they have plenty of their own, but kaffir isn't one of them), it's South African and almost certainly came from migrants. Monty Panesar may face the same kind of thing, sad to say. I don't know what colour you are, dukas, but if non-white you might want to take it into consideration.