Kiwi RN moving to perth

howdy ange, here is some general info i made up for the an site.

if u want to know anything specific, let me know.

cheers. caz

i have just left perth (for various reasons), and it is an absolutely beautiful city. i wished i could have stayed but left due to unforseen circumstances.

the rents everywhere are expensive in every city in oz, but in the outer suburbs are quite good in perth. you can get a reasonable place for a decent price. perth is so spread out, in the suburbs it's like country living, beautiful eucalyptus trees, lots of native birds (the black cockatoos with red crests are absolutely stunning), lots of parks, nature walks and the swan river is gorgeous. there is heaps to do for couples and if you ever do have kids, they won't be bored. the public transport is excellent - the best in australia apparently - and heaps of work for nurses. there are free buses in the city everywhere - i travelled round for a whole day once and didn't pay a cent!! and public transport is cheap. there are freeways (highways) literally everywhere, doesn't take long to commute anywhere.

petrol just went up there , but it's the same round the whole country ($1.45 average for a litre of petrol).

people in perth are so friendly, they will just start chatting to you about anything or smile at you for no reason!

food is a bit more expensive, and much of the meat and other products etc is trucked in from over east, so it costs more to transport.

perth is booming - literally building going on everywhere. i highly doubt ur hubby would be out of work at all - when i was there, they could not get enough builders and labourers and were desperate for them.

i worked at hollywood private hospital, a very exclusive hospital in the heart of perth. contact all the nursing agencies, i worked for cpe group and they were fantastic. their web address is: http://www.cpegroup.biz/

i would get the registration and visa sorted first. if you have a passport it's easier, also try to get a police clearance as well, i don't know if you can get these through your aust consulate but it's all done through australia post here, you can look online re this.

in wa you need to pass a working with children check. also a word of warning: nursewest control all the hospitals and nurses who work in wa, if something goes wrong, they can ban you from working in every hospital public and private. nursewest also require their own police check as well. i had problems with a real pita patient who complained re me (found out later in my shift no-one wanted to care for this patient, and he c/o everything and everyone), and nursewest decided to 'ban' me from some of their hospitals. they are the absolute power over there. i got work eventually but they can make your life really, really difficult. and with me i did nothing wrong but there was no enquiry, etc, they just told me i was banned from certain hospitals, so it is a very unfair system. wa is unique in this, as far as i know no other state has one ruling body for nursing (not counting the australian board of nursing or anf).

i don't think you would regret coming here at all. our economy is booming in most states. we hardly felt the recession here from what most people have told me. i even met people who didn't even know we had been in a recession!!

here are some websites for jobs and real estate:careerone.com.au and realestate.com.au

good luck!

add: ange, as nursewest controls all the hospitals etc over in perth, if you accept a shift and cancel less than 5 hours before the shift is due to start, they will fine you $50 (they take it out of your pay). i've never worked for an agency who did this before, perth is very different from over east. i told them to stick it just before i was leaving anyway as they were going to take $50 out of my pay (couldn't go to work due to unforseen circumstances), and they didn't end up taking it out. stand up to them if you go thru an agency! they only fine people cos we as nurses let them!

here's some other info:

hendercare - http://www.hendercare.com.au/

mediserve - http://mediserve.com.au/

drake, australia - http://www.drakeintl.com/au/home.aspx

ramsay health care - http://www.ramsayhealth.com.au/default.aspx. they operate many hospitals all around australia, employment info is on their website.

st john of god (for perth, wa) - http://www.sjog.org.au/. sjog also has hospitals in other states and territories as well.

hmns (health management - www.hmns.net.au/[color=#0e774a] (for south australia and country regions). now called yna, your nursing agency

nursewest (control all the public hospitals and recruitment through nursing agencies for all of western australia) - www.nursing.health.wa.gov.au/nursewest/index.cfm

[color=#0e774a]nasa, nursing agency of south australia - http://nasansb.com.au/[color=#0e774a]. on this site, there is a site for international nurses to visit. also down the bottom, it lists all the other main nursing agencies for other states and territories. you can click on them for more info.