# Kicking off plans to move to Australia - Perth vs Melbourne!



## Emagotchi (Oct 10, 2011)

Hey!!
Looking for a bit of help and advice from anyone willing!

My partner and I are kicking off our plans to move to Australia in the next couple of years. I am Scottish but my mother is Kiwi so I have applied for my Kiwi citizenship/passport and my partner (Irish) is coming to Australia with me on a Subclass 461. He has been to Sydney and Melbourne before on a working holiday visa so we have a little bit of prior knowledge of the country!

We chatted about cities that might suit our personality and have concluded that it's a choice between Perth and Melbourne. We're in our 20's/30's with no kids so want a laid back, friendly lifestyle.. We're both IT professionals working in the Software Development/Analyst industry so want to make sure we can bag a good job when we move out there!

We plan on going out to Oz for a 3 week vacation next year to see the place and scope out where we feel more at home.

Does anyone have any advice or tips on how they chose their City, or if they live in Perth/Melbourne, how they have settled? *ANY* help would be much appreciated!!

xx


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## jaffarms (Aug 15, 2011)

Hi, if you both are in IT, then Sydney or Melbourne is the place where IT is happening. Would suggest Melbourne of your two choices. Check in Seek.com.au for the openings and get your linked in updated and add connections.

Using LinkedIn Groups to check out what is happening, a sample of groups for your reference.

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2799162&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr

Australian IT Industry group | LinkedIn

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1266207&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr

All the best...

Cheers
Jaffar


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## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

I can't give you a comparison between the 2 cities as I've never been to Melbourne. However, I have just moved to Perth and can therefore give you my take on living there.

Perth is very very small, however the city is very vibrant and there seems to be a lot of young people here. Generally, people are very friendly and say hello to you. I actually found this quite refreshing as it makes me feel a little bit more welcome. The city is multicultural and hence there is something for everyone. I've moved on my own and I feel completely safe walking around on my own (though that said, I'm not gonna try to walk around in the middle of the night on my own!).

Most of the activities are outdoors and there are enough green and open spaces to keep everyone happy. Perthites are super active and whilst I used to go to the gym myself, I felt superbly unfit next to all the toned bodies.

The transport link is excellent and the free buses are quite regular, so no need to fork out on bus and train fares if you are travelling within the CBD itself. For the very first time ever, I have the luxury of walking to work - this compares to a 3-hour round trek when I was in the UAE - luxury!! Funnily enough, aside from the Aussies on the plane, I've yet to meet one Aussie - met loads of Brits & Asians though.

The weather is also great - I love the sun and there's plenty of it here! I haven't yet ventured outside the city - still recovering from the jet lag and the change in timezone - however, there seems to be loads to do outside of Perth.

The only thing that I would say is a bit of a downside (I don't mind it but I'm sure there are many who will) is the distance - Perth is quite remote from other cities so unlike in Sydney when you can just hop on a plane and be in Brisbane in an hour, well, you have to travel a bit longer than an hour to get to another big city! Thou, you could always go to Bali instead or drive to one of the beautiful nearby towns - good excuse to explore!

I've only been here 2 days so the above is based on my limited experience only.


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## Mayhem (Sep 10, 2010)

If you want more money, move to Perth.
If you want more to do, move to Melbourne.

The cost of living in Perth is very high. Expect to pay $9 for a pint of beer in the CBD.
Shops are closed after 5PM most don't open at all on Sundays.
Perth is a big country town and that's the way the locals want to keep it.

There is a MASSIVE double-resources boom in Perth and Brisbane at the moment. Oil & Gas and Mining are going ballistic and it is having a knock-on effect in just about every other area (including IT).

I am moving back to Australia in Jan and after 22 years in Perth I'm moving to Melbourne.
If you like laid back and relaxed, however, you'd find it hard to beat Perth. The weather is fantastic pretty much all year round and there is LOTS of space. Melbourne can get very cold in winter.

Perth is very isolated, so be prepared to spend your holidays in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand as they are about as close, but much cheaper than Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane.


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## janer (Oct 20, 2011)

I haven't been to Perth but understand it to be a nice place to live if you want the beach life on your door step. It is very remote though compared to Melbourne.

I do live in Melbourne and can confirm it is a great city. It is very multi cultural and has a cosmopolitan feel to it. It has great bars and restaurants and is the sports capital of Australia with great stadiums. It has a great live music scene as well.

Melbourne has beaches but they are not very exciting but you do not have to go too far to be at really good surfing beaches.

I chose Melbourne because there is a lot to do in the city and its surrounds and jobs are easy to find. The suburbs are really nice as well.

I love snowboarding and a key criteria for me was nearness of Australian snow resorts and Melbourne's closest decent resort is only 3 hours away so great for weekend breaks. 

You get a mixed bag with the weather. We do have 4 seasons which I like. But what Melbournians call wintry weather is not what I call wintry weather coming from the north of England. We do get hot summers with temperatures reaching more than 40 degrees at times but it is dry air not humid which makes it more bearable. Spring and Autumn are very pleasant most the time with mid 20 temperatures.

I guess what you really need to do is think about what you want to spend your leisure time doing as jobs shouldn't be too hard to come by in either city.


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## Fazlan (Mar 23, 2012)

Hi All,

I came across this exciting post when I Google'd for Perth over Mel. I am facing the same scenario as Emagotchi was. Also, I have the same IT background ( Java/J2EE Software Developer) as Emagotchi, and I would like to know which would give me a best chances of grabbing a good job.

I am very excited about Perth as it's really booming due to resources sector.

I presume that Emagotchi is settled in either? If so, I would dearly love to hear your experience.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Fazlan


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## Emagotchi (Oct 10, 2011)

Wow, I love all these replies. It's really nice to hear everyone's views!
Fazian, we are still undecided and won't really make our choice until after we've visited both cities this November. I will definitely be updating this thread with our experiences once we get back,
When do you plan to move, Faz?


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## Fazlan (Mar 23, 2012)

Hi Emagotchi, how is it going? Hope you're doing great!

That was a very prompt response, I must add :clap2: Good to know this thread is pretty much alive...:clap2:

Emma, I've been granted PR, and I am making a move by the end of June-O12. I still have mix feelings over Mel & Perth. I have couple of my friends in both the cities, but they're non-IT professionals, and they're having their own opinion, which makes the decision making even tougher..:confused2: Hehehe...

Just to let you know about my status on job seeking, I have over 4 years of experience, and I applied for jobs in both Mel & Perth. However, I got a few responses from both quoting "Unable to offer a job whilst you're off-shore".

I know for a fact that both cities are lovely, and has their own finesse. But Perth is growing at a good pace compared to the rest, however, I am still cautious about the IT sector. I am fine with either as far as the job market is concerned.

I would love to hear from you and others. Most definitely, I'll share my own experience once I touch-down in downunder.

Cheers,
Fazlan


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## naoto (Jan 8, 2012)

I would say Melbourne:
-The pub culture is very similar to UK, people talk to each other and you make friends in Instance
- Much more non mining related jobs (Perth economy is built around mining, that's pretty much it all)
- Fantastic food and good shopping
- Extremely vibrant city with heaps to do (Perth is too small)
- So close to Sydney, with its absolutely incomparable festivals/Nightlife and beaches. If Sydney wasn't so expensive it would be the absolute utopia on this planet! A $49 (sale) ticket will fly you there in an hour
- IT industry is much more active in Melbourne than Perth


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## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

naoto said:


> I would say Melbourne:
> -The pub culture is very similar to UK, people talk to each other and you make friends in Instance
> - Much more non mining related jobs (Perth economy is built around mining, that's pretty much it all)
> - Fantastic food and good shopping
> ...


I agree partially with you in some respect. I am in Perth so will always be extremely bias but I also wanted to move to Melbourne previously, so on the other hand, I completely get where you are coming from.

- There are loads of nice pubs and clubs in Perth as well and come the weekend, the town is packed. I find that Perthites are incredibly friendly as well and to be honest, I think that this comes down more to the person as opposed to the city.

- Fantastic food in Perth as well and there is great shopping here as well. That said, when the major UK chains are choosing where to open their next shop, admittedly, they are more likely to head to Melbourne or Sydney as opposed to Perth.

- I think people need to give Perth a chance. Everyone says that there is nothing to do here but I disagree. There are loads to do. You most likely will have to drive to get to most places of interest but that's part of the fun.

- I agree that this is one of the downsides of Perth. It is isolated so travelling to other cities in Australia can be quite expensive. We really do not have the luxury of waking up and deciding to go to Melbourne or Sydney for the day. 

- Completely agree. The mining industry is booming in Perth but other industries are struggling. The salaries are high but you have to take FIFO jobs and unfortunately the trade off is that you have to live in the middle of nowhere for a few weeks at a time, work 10 hour days with hardly any time to yourself, on top of being away from your family. Even I refuse to work FIFO - the high salary was extremely appealing until I spoke to someone who told me what working FIFO really means - the attraction died pretty much straight away.

I've made loads of friends in Perth, so I am very settled, so I will always love Perth but for anyone thinking of moving to Oz, for sure, if you can, visit a few cities and pick the one that you like best and where jobs are also available.


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## Weebie (Sep 16, 2009)

Is there even an IT industry in Perth? Melbourne has got heaps to do but I wouldn't call it a global city like Sydney is.


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## Emagotchi (Oct 10, 2011)

Hey guys,

I just thought I would update this thread. My partner and I visited both Melbourne and Perth in November and although both cities were amazing, Melbourne was the clear winner. There is such a fantastic culture and each suburb is like a small city of its own. We are planning on buying our flights at the end of the month to move over in July/August time and hope to be living in the Yarra region.

Thanks to all for their input! Much appreciated 
xx


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