Living in rural WA

David6330

Been offered a job with the potential of sponsorship in small country town (pop 2000) 2 hours NE of Perth.

Salary on offer is $65000 with company vehicle phone and laptop working in agri industry.

I have never been to Australia so was wondering, can I live comfortably off this?

From my research avg house rent is $150 a week. Working as mechanical engineer, 3 years exp, single male.

I am aware engineers can earn double this in the mines but I'm not interested in the mines

aido79

David6330 wrote: »

Been offered a job with the potential of sponsorship in small country town (pop 2000) 2 hours NE of Perth.

Salary on offer is $65000 with company vehicle phone and laptop working in agri industry.

I have never been to Australia so was wondering, can I live comfortably off this?

From my research avg house rent is $150 a week. Working as mechanical engineer, 3 years exp, single male.

I am aware engineers can earn double this in the mines but I'm not interested in the mines

In a rural town you should have no problem living on $65,000.

Are you eligible for a working holiday visa? This would be a much better option than moving to a rural town on the other side of the world not knowing how you are going to settle into both the job and the lifestyle.

Small rural towns would definitely not be everyone's first choice for a place to live in Australia and are usually just seen as places to spend 3 months to get a second year visa so make sure you do your research before moving there. Can I ask what is the name of the town?

David6330

The town is called Moora. The plan is to start the job on whv and switch to 457 visa after 6 month trial.

There is limited info online about the place.

observed

I think a lot of this would depend on your own circumstances. I grew up in the country at home, I live in Sydney but do a lot of work in rural areas. I only ever have to spend 3-4 days out there at a time so it is not the same but I like these areas. The country people are generally down to earth people and the really like people who are comitting to live in these areas.
I lived in Sydney for my first two years on about 65k and had a ball of a time so country areas should be a lot easier to survive on that money (lower rent, beer etc.) The fact you have a company car would be a bonus too as I was putting petrol in mine to the tune of about $60k/week at the time.
Also the fact you are just a few hours outside Perth means that it is not that far to travel to actually get to a city.

Doc

Are you single or will you have a Wife / Girlfriend / Kids going with you $65,000 should be enough to live on comfortably if your single with Kids it would harder but doable.

TheLongRun

I lived just outside Moora for 4 months - I know the town very well. Do you have any particular questions?