South Africans In Perth | South Africans Migrating To Perth

Shipping Household Goods To Australia - What to Bring and What to Ditch

Shipping Household Goods To Australia: What To Bring & What To Ditch

One of the most common questions I get asked relates to shipping household goods to Australia – what should you bring and what should you ditch?

Everyone seems to have their own opinions on this, and let’s face it, it’s quite a personal thing.

I’ve spoken to countless people about this topic and overall people have mostly regretted bringing too much stuff, rather than not bringing enough.

As houses can be so big in South Africa, they’re easy to fill with furniture and ‘stuff’. Stuff that is really not essential to everyday life.

So when you get a quote to ship it all to Australia, you may just want to fall off your chair!

If that happens, you’ll probably want to start working out a list of what you want to bring and what can be left behind. But where do you even start?

Let’s take a look at what you could ship to Australia and what you could consider leaving. Continue Reading

9th March 2019

How To Choose Where To Live In Australia

How to choose where to live in Australia can feel like the first big decision you make after actually deciding to move to Australia.

Given Australia is such a big country, doing a ‘look see decide’ trip (often called an LSD trip!) just isn’t practical for most people. Or indeed affordable.

When we were trying to narrow down where to live in Australia, the main concerns for us were where we could find employment, as well as sunshine! Coming from damp and dreary England, there was no way Melbourne was going to be on our list. Our ideal choices were Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth.

We decided on Perth because there was more going on in terms of employment in the construction sector and because we got an extra 5 points for state sponsorship from WA. And of course because it has amazing summers and fairly mild winters.

There are so many factors that can influence how you choose where to live in Australia. Here are just some of them you need to consider while making this life-changing decision.

1st March 2019

The Australian Equivalent of South African Shops

One of the hardest things to get used to when you arrive is how different the shops are. I always see people asking what’s the Australian equivalent of South African shops like Game, Dischem, and Edgars.

So I thought it would make a great blog topic! Here is a list of the Australian equivalent of South African shops.

Now bear in mind sometimes equivalent shops are subjective – there has been much debate about whether certain shops have an equivalent at all (I’d say Woolworths in South Africa has no real equivalent in Australia – the UK has Marks and Spencer but we have nothing).

So take this list as a good guide to get you started, rather than the gospel truth. Basically, don’t blame me if you get here and don’t agree!

8th February 2019

The Cost Of Living In Dubbo New South Wales

Because of the huge demand from potential migrants to know exactly how much life in Australia will cost them, I’m continuing with this series of posts on the cost of living around Australia. This post focuses on the cost of living in Dubbo, in regional New South Wales.

Dubbo based Chipo and her family have kindly shared what the cost of living in Dubbo is like for their family of 4.

Chipo and her partner have lived in Dubbo on a regional visa since 2016, when they moved to Australia from Newcastle, KZN. She is an admin officer and her husband is a fitter and turner.

Dubbo is around 400kms inland from Sydney, in New South Wales.

1st February 2019

South African Acts At Fringe World Festival Perth 2019

If you haven’t been to an event at Fringe World Festival Perth, where have you been? You’re missing out on one of the best annual events in Perth. From comedy to music, from theatre to magic, from cabaret to pretty much anything arty you can think of, you can find it at Fringe World.

As soon I get the program, I scour the line up for any South African acts performing each year, as there are always a handful and sometimes we get some pretty amazing ones (see my posts on the 2017 Fringe line up of South Africans).

Here are some of the South African acts at Fringe World Festival Perth 2019.

17th January 2019

Living In Australia: Expectation vs Reality

You might dream of moving to Australia and living a life filled with sunshine, beach days, and barbeques, but what will it really be like?

Let’s take a look at what you can really expect when you’re living in Australia.

12th January 2019

Galaxy Drive-In Perth

One of my favourite memories from my childhood in Durban was heading to the drive-in. We’d pack the snacks, or buy some treats from the shop at the drive-in, and settle in for a movie (or 2 if I was allowed to stay awake!).

Did you know that we have a drive-in right here in Perth? I was so excited to find out there was one here, the Galaxy Drive-In in Perth, and it was one of the first things we did when we arrived. My husband is English and going to the drive-in was not something he had ever done. Hardly surprising given their atrocious weather for most of the year!

5th January 2019

What Is The Trades Recognition Service?

The Trades Recognition Service (TRS) is a domestic skills assessment service offered by Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) for tradesmen actively engaged in various engineering trades.

For many years prior to October 2013 thousands of tradesmen migrated to Australia and underwent a skills assessment provided by Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) and attained a trade qualification known as the Australian Recognised Trade Certificate or ARTC.

At the time the ARTC was widely accepted by Australian employers and Industry Groups as an accepted benchmark that the tradesman had been assessed to industry standards. However, the ARTC was never the equivalent of the nationally-recognised AQF Certificate III or IV trade qualification.

Subsequently, as Workplace Health & Safety (WHS) and insurance liability became increasingly stringent for employers, particularly large national employers, many migrants found to their surprise and frustration that they required re-assessment to achieve the AQF national standard.

31st December 2018

Chapters Bistro Currambine

**Please note that South African head chef Sherry is no longer at Chapters Bistro, however, it is one of our favourite restaurants in Perth now and we’ve eaten there several times for breakfast, lunch, tapas, and dinner since this blog was written.**

Earlier this year I noticed that one of our favourite restaurants in Perth, Basq, has closed down. But in September, a new restaurant in the same location was born – Chapters Bistro in Currambine.

I started following them on social media and one day I was browsing their menu on their website when something caught my eye – koeksusters on the dessert menu! My eyes nearly popped out of my head; I’d never seen them on a restaurant menu in Perth ever.

Not only did they have koeksusters on the menu, but they also had peri-peri chicken and biltong too. There had to be a South African behind this, right?

Quickly, I messaged the restaurant and asked if they were South African. The owners were quick to reply that they were from the UK but their head chef, Sherry Phillip, was from South Africa. After an email chat, I was invited to try out their new summer menu and spread to word to other South Africans in Perth.

19th December 2018

The Hidden Expenses Of Moving To Australia - Proudly South African In Perth

The Hidden Expenses Of Moving To Australia – 10 Things You Didn’t Know To Budget For

When it comes to migrating to Australia, if you do the research, you’ll know exactly what you need to budget for. Usually it’s the big ticket items – visas, medicals, English tests, skills assessments, agent fees, flights, and shipping are the common expenses associated with moving to Australia.

But what about the hidden expenses of moving to Australia? The things you didn’t know you even had to budget for?

Here are some of the hidden expenses of moving to Australia so you can make sure you plan for them well in advance.

4th December 2018

Older Posts