Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

From this…

…to this!

Introduction

Now that the Phase 1 students have been informed of their Phase 2 attachments I thought I’d blog about my (and my wife’s) experiences on initial move out here to Perth.  I actually got my wife to write this after being here for a few months so it will not discuss any John Holland work related aspects.  If anyone does actually end up in Perth on a John Holland project then I will be happy to discuss any specifics separately as the likelihood of working with some of the same people is very high – there is only one new project in Perth that John Holland are currently tendering for.

Despite being the second most isolated city in the world; after Honolulu, Perth really is a wonderful place that has something to offer for everyone no matter your interests or preferred life-style.  We have had a wonderful time so far and thought some of the things we have learnt in this first month may be of use to others.  Firstly, there are some things you can do from the UK that will make your trip that bit easier.  The main one would be to organise an Australian bank account – we went with Commonwealth Bank [they have a very handy smartphone app and have lots of branches doted around].  This can be done from the UK and all you need to do when you get here is head into the nearest branch and finalise some details.  Make sure you take your passport for this as UK driving licenses and Military ID are often not accepted.  [All this information and more can be found in a PowerPoint presentation on the PEW SharePoint].

Travelling

You won’t have too much choice on airlines but you will be able to decide if you would like an overnight stop.  It is important to remember that unless you have children you will have to pay for this out of your own pocket. [Qantas has announced a non-stop flight by 2017, see link below, but to be perfectly honest a few hours transfer in Singapore is no drama at all and I can recommend Singapore Airlines].

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/11932941/Non-stop-flights-from-UK-to-Australia-within-two-years.html

Great airline and easily within the Army allowance.

Weather

We arrived in autumn [March] and the weather was gorgeous.  Locals grabbing for their coats but you won’t need anything more than a thin jumper in the evenings.  [Hot enough to call it a British summer that’s for sure].

Initial Stay

We were put up in Quest Apartments for the first month.  It is worth doing a little research before you leave so that you can suggest where you would like to be living; coast or city, dependant on distance from site of course.  We were in Scarborough (on the coast) and although it was a little far from work [I wasn’t working for the first 3 weeks] it was a lovely vibrant place to stay with plenty of restaurants and a stone’s throw from the beach.  These apartments provide a charge back service so that we could eat out and charge it back to our room where John Holland picked up the bill – very handy and definitely recommended.

Driving

Although the buses and trains are relatively good in Perth it is preferable that you have a car as things are quite spread out here.  There is very minimal traffic on the roads even in rush hour but you do need to stick closely to the speed limits, which are significantly lower than in the UK (on avg 50 and 60 kph on main A-roads), as the police are very vigilant and like to set-up mobile speed cameras; camouflaged and hidden behind bushes not like the easily seen yellow boxes in the UK.  Make sure that you check with the car hire company [Hertz in our case] that they have your correct arrival flight times (we were delayed slightly) so after the long journey over you have a car ready and waiting for you and don’t have to wait 45 mins like we did.

Parking

Although site specific, on-site parking is between AUD $20 – $25 (£10 – £13) per day, so cycling into work was preferred and made more enjoyable by the predictable sunny weather. Perth has some great cycling paths and on rainy days there are always the buses or trains that work well.

House Hunting

Finding a house was much harder than we thought.  Our biggest issue was that 95% of rental properties out here are let as non-furnished.  Back in the UK we thought furnished would be much easier – but be aware this dramatically limits availability.  You need to weigh-up whether you think it’s more hassle to ship furniture over/buy some when you are here and use the Army buy-back scheme or spend longer looking for a fully furnished property.  We have been persistent/lucky and stuck with looking for fully furnished and have found an awesome three bedroom house 8 min walk from the beach.

Finding Work [for the wife]

Being a teacher we thought it would be easy finding work; on the contrary, it was extremely difficult but mostly due to the education system here being set-up differently and there is definitely a clique of looking after their own first.  Make sure that if your partner intends to work that they do extensive research into the requirements of that profession.  Bring all your original qualification documents in case you have to send off copies to prospective employers as they will have to be officially certified.  There are plenty of schools though just not that many jobs.  Relief work, managed through an agency, is the best foot-in-the-door way to secure a full-time position.

Fitness

If you are into fitness [which you should all be] you will be spoilt for choice in Perth.  We fully intend to try everything [and have had a good stab at most things so far] and have already fallen in love with stand-up paddle boarding.  [Being a tri-athlete there are some great clubs in Perth, mine being Stadium Triathlon Club.  This also extends to purely swimming (my wife is a member of Claremont Masters) and cycling clubs; which are all plentiful and very well attended. To that end, if you are a cyclist or think you might like to cycle out here, and I’d suggest you do as it’s a great way to explore Perth, then definitely ship your bike(s) over.  Fitness is part of the culture out here and everyone goes to bed early so they can get up early for a pre-work session; massively helped by the utter rubbish that is on what they call TV.  Even at the weekend you will see a lot of people up at 0600 walking dogs, running, cycling and swimming – it literally is a Mecca for sports!].

If anyone on attachment to Oz would like any more info please drop me an email franrizzuti@hotmail.com

State to State will vary somewhat for which it will be best chatting to the others out here once you know exactly where you’re going but any general questions are very welcome.

In Other News

This is what happens when a neighbour reverses onto your driveway to let another car past but accidently puts his foot on the accelerator instead of the brake!