I just moved to Perth...need all your advice

thisgirlkills

My husband and I moved to Perth about 3 months ago and are finding that starting a life here is very difficult. I'm 31, he's 37 so we're not exactly young spring chickens to be starting from scratch, but thankfully do not have kids we have to drag with us.

We are living in Ocean Reef with my family but really want to find a place of our own. Suburban living is not our thing. We were told to check out Mt Lawley since it has a lot more young people and things to do but found that pretty dead as well. We were on Beauford (sp?) St, so maybe we just weren't in the right spot? We love to go out for meals and drinks, have a fondness for craft beers and good live music (read: bands with talent). Due to our employment situation (that will come next), we can't really afford more than $400-$450 a week at the moment. My two strongest needs in a place to live are having 2 bathrooms and laundry. (Side note, why do most places not have dryers for doing laundry??)

What is the best way to get work here? My husband found a job within a few weeks, he's sound engineer but the job is far below my husband's skill level. They have him working 8-10 days in a row (with one day off if he's lucky) and for up to 16 hours a day sometimes. It's not easy and he's always too tired to do anything besides come home and go to bed. His job is making me miserable.

As for me, I have 10 years experience in the Digital Marketing arena, and have applied for every job I come across on Seek.com but have had only 2 responses. I've even had recruitment agencies be completely unresponsive to my CV's for jobs I am very much qualified and on-par for. I've started to apply for jobs over east and seem to get immediate call backs.

So basically what I need your advice on where and how we can Dwell/Work. My family has been living in Perth for 30+ years but seem to have no answers when we ask them where to go and what to do.

HELP and Thanks!

Peregrinus

You want to live in or near Fremantle. It can be done on $450/wk, but your choice of accommodation will not be great.

Best if you could sort out employment first, so as to ease the pressure on what rent you can pay. That's not so easy. If you could get a job, that would put less pressure on your husband to keep the not so good job he has. I know nothing about digital marketing, but all I can suggest is think laterally; is there any other area of employment where the skills you have acquired in digital marketing would prove attractive?

Xavi6

If you found Mt Lawley / Beaufort St too dead then you're not going to like Perth very much. As mentioned, Freo is your best bet but the rent is quite high unless you live in a suburb ten or fifteen minutes away.

Anywhere else is going to be quieter than Mt Lawley, especially if you don't like suburban dwelling.

Peregrinus

Suburbs just to the south of Freo tend to be cheaper - e.g. Hamilton Hill - but that's partly because the commute is a bugger if you're not commuting to Freo, but beyond it to Perth.

To echo what Xavi has said, Perth has a lot going for it but all-in-all it's a pretty suburban town. Perth has Freo, but Sydney has a lot-more Freo-type places. So does Melbourne.

But it's hard to rent two baths in any of them for $450/wk. I honestly think you need to sort out the employment thing first, so that (a) your lives are somewhat fulfilling, and (b) you'll have some sense whether, long term, you're going to be able to live in or near a fashionable quarter in any city.

catbear

If you live anywhere along the Perth/Freo line than you have the best of both plus beach. The trains run late so you can have your night outs and still live somewhere cheaper like Mosman park.
I've got replies recently from job agencies that I applied to a year ago, time bends in some companies. Best thing with your skills and experience is to skip the agencies and apply directly to companies even if they're not advertising.

Batgurl

All digital marketing agencies are on the east coast.

I'm sorry I know it's not what you want to hear but you will find it next to impossible to get into digital marketing in Perth.

Sydney is where it is at in that line of work. I'm not 100% sure on the reasoning but I'd say it's just too expensive to set up in WA. Wages would need to be higher and dealing with east coast clients would be too expensive having to fly across etc

jackbhoy

I would have to agree with Batgurl here and say with both your professions and interests you'd be much better off in Melbourne or Sydney.
You are always only a cheap flight from family and finding your own way our here is no bad thing.

thisgirlkills

Thanks so much everyone for your candid responses. It's very helpful to hear from others I'm not related to. My entire family has all managed to live within 20 minutes of each other and are all about as far north in Perth as you could possibly get. I've always had a feeling we'll end up over east (I lived in Sydney 16 years ago and LOVED it) but I wanted my last grasp at straws to see if there was anything I was missing. You've all been very helpful!

We have both been applying for jobs over east, so fingers crossed we land jobs soonish, but before we head that way, if you have any advice on great things to check out and do in Perth before we leave please let me know!

jackbhoy

thisgirlkills wrote: »

Thanks so much everyone for your candid responses. It's very helpful to hear from others I'm not related to. My entire family has all managed to live within 20 minutes of each other and are all about as far north in Perth as you could possibly get. I've always had a feeling we'll end up over east (I lived in Sydney 16 years ago and LOVED it) but I wanted my last grasp at straws to see if there was anything I was missing. You've all been very helpful!

We have both been applying for jobs over east, so fingers crossed we land jobs soonish, but before we head that way, if you have any advice on great things to check out and do in Perth before we leave please let me know!

Good luck! And if you decide on Melbourne I can recommend some very good local craft beers and bars that stock them, I've spent the last 2 years doing some pretty thorough research on this topic

thisgirlkills

jackbhoy wrote: »

Good luck! And if you decide on Melbourne I can recommend some very good local craft beers and bars that stock them, I've spent the last 2 years doing some pretty thorough research on this topic

We've been applying to jobs in Melbourne too and would love to visit there even if we don't end up living there, so please do recommend!