In my first year of marriage, I asked my wife to move to a beach destination. It was either Port Dickson or Langkawi, Aisyah didn't like either. Both were hot, until we came to Perth in 2018.
Since then, we made money and grew it so we can afford a migration visa.
The whole migration, visa, airline, relocation thing costs around RM50k.
Perth was going through housing crisis. There was more demand than houses to shelter people.
Initially in 2019-2020, the houses were $250 per week. That's not so bad if you were to convert RM to AUD.
Now it went up to $500 per week. Crazy if you multiply by 3 to get RM.
I went early, leaving my family behind for 3 weeks doing house hunting.
42 house inspections! Then we finally landed an offer.
Why it took so long?
Which we had none.
We settled for a place in Wellard, far from City, and I love it.
Kids got into school mid of Oct 23 and we were burning through our pockets quickly to furnish the house.
Thankfully, there's Facebook marketplace. We got most things second hand, of course, our car too.
The hottest day of the year went to 45ºC. Remind me again, why beach destination?
We had our fun at the beach. The water stays 20-24ºC all summer.
Coldest day was 4ºC. Thankfully that happened once. Snow? Never.
The weather is overall nice.
I'd be frank with you. I still earn in RM. I didn't bother to find a work here so we're pretty much tight.
Grocery is about $500-700 per month. Which was comparable to Malaysia.
Fuel is $1.80 per liter. Malaysia is RM1.50 or lower. We didn't drive much so it's ok.
Dining out. One of the luxury we no longer have, is dining out. On average, per person is about $20. One time dining out sets us back $70~80. Steep, yeah I know.
I live by this simple rule
You live by your own definition.
I don't limit myself to others point of view, perspective (other than target market) and other nonsensical expectations.
Is it worth it? Yes.
We're all travellers. The difference is we choose our own challenge.
Do you like it here? – Yes
People are nice. No racism. No crazy texting driver. No mat rempits and everyone look after their own business.
I have/ made friends. Mostly through mosque which I frequent on weekends for kids class. Fantastic bunch of people. Which made us less lonely.
Do I ever miss Malaysia? – Yes. And that's okay.
