Monday 5 May 2014

1st Purchases

We spent yesterday looking at cars in the car yard before moving on to private sellers. D told us that it was necessary so that we could have a rough gauge of what the market is like. In the end, hubs decided on a Lancer which narrowed down our search. Looked at another 2 cars today & we'll be parting 2.5k tomorrow for a 2001 Lancer with 180+ km mileage. Seller was asking for $2850 & we offered him 2.4k (knowing that he'll surely haggle with us), citing the need for water gauge, timing belt & rear view mirror replacement. D certainly knew what he was doing. Engine & exterior condition was the best among so many cars that we've viewed. I've learnt some on life in Perth from D & J though this is just the beginning. We feel so paiseh having to rely on them so much, to drive us around, to pay for meals (they refused to let us pay) & to give us a room to stay. 

It's stressful having to part with money when we've got no income coming in. But necessities are unavoidable. I'm hoping that I'll get a favourable respond from a hospital 30 mins away. They've been frequently posting on Seek even till  now so I take that as they were unable to hire anyone since the phone interview they gave me in February. From the interview, I suspect that their staff from different disciplines are not on good terms. Hubs told me to quit that if they hire me & I hated it. I understand where he's coming from becoz I was really very unhappy in my previous workplace & he didn't want me to go through it again. I told him that if they do hire me, I'll stay on for at least 2 years for the working experience regardless of how bad the situation is. If I could put up with my previous workplace for almost 6 years, 2 years should be nothing to me. We definitely need the money so this is no time to be taking emotional well being into consideration. I've already prepared myself to slog it out when we made the decision to come here. 

The temperature is usually in the teens but I find that I can go without a jacket most of the time & that's wearing shorts & short sleeve t-shirt. I'm such a freak. J told us that we'll put on weight in this cold weather as we tend to feel hungry easily. But I find that on the opposite, I'm hardly hungry & even when I do, I get filled really fast. Hmm... if this carries on, maybe I'll really be able to ditch the extra 20 kg. I shall dream about it. LOL.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Missy Jo

    Greetings from Singapore! =)

    My husband and I will be moving to Perth soon (he managed to get a transfer from 1 Mar onwards!) and we are planning to fly a week or 2 prior to that to settle down before he reports for work.

    We have obtained our Australian PR a few years back, and have already set up our bank accounts, medicare, tax reference number etc. So essentially our to-do-list for now is quite short,

    1. Securing a Residence (rental)
    2. Purchasing Furnishing (if necessary)
    2. Conversion of Singapore Driver's License to Western Australia
    3. Purchasing a Car

    May I know what is the common mode of payment for car purchase? Are we required to produce any documentation (e.g. converted WA license) or such for car purchase?

    Would greatly appreciate any information =)

    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jun! Congrats on the move with a job already lined up. At least that's 1 thing less to stress over.

      I hope you have someone to stay with until you secure your rental. It shouldn't be too hard coz it's renter's market now. That's the 1st thing you need to get done. Rentals usually don't come furnished so it's more likely than not you'll have to buy your furniture & appliances.

      Once you have a mailing address, you can go down to any of the licensing centers to do the conversion. They'll give you a slip of paper as temporary WA license which you can use until they mail the actual 1 to you. So you can use this temporary license to buy your car.

      For car purchase, it depends on what type of car you're buying. If it's a cheap 2nd hand car, you can pay by cash or eftpos. If you're buying brand new & require finance, the dealer will sort it out for you. Hope that answers your question. Feel free to ask me if you require more information. :)

      Delete
  2. Hi Missy Jo

    It's been a while =) apologies for the long silence since my last post.

    Just a quick update, we've managed to settle down pretty well (got a rented place and bought a 2nd hand car!) and signing up for all the FOC supermarkets' cards to get as much benefits as possible for our daily expenses.

    I've also just requested to join this fb closed group, Singaperth, pending the group's acceptance =)

    Hopefully my husband and I can have a chance to meet up with both your husband and yourself (of coz not forgetting your lovely dogs)!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jun!

      It's so nice to hear that you've settled well in Perth. Really happy for you. It's not easy to uproot yourself & start afresh in a foreign country. But I'm sure it's worth it in the end. Hope to meet you & your hubby someday too! ;)

      Delete