Perth

Far from everywhere, and closer to the life you wanted

A guide to living, working and settling in Australia’s western capital — written for healthcare professionals, by the team who help them move.

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15 chapters Updated August 2026 Free

Welcome

The trade nobody explains properly.

Perth asks you to accept isolation — a five-hour flight to the east coast, closer to Singapore than to Sydney. In return it offers the best beaches and weather of any Australian capital, and housing that still makes a family life straightforward.

Professionally it is a full tertiary system with newer facilities than most of the country, in a city small enough that you will know the people who run your specialty within a year. And it is the one capital classed as regional for skilled migration, which can open visa pathways the eastern cities cannot.

The cost is distance — from family, from the eastern states, from everywhere. This guide takes that as seriously as the beaches.

Welcome to the western capital.

Warm regards — the Ethicare team

London Court, a Tudor-style laneway arcade in central Perth — London Court · the city’s oddest laneway

Perth, in short

The five-second version

~2.3M

In Greater Perth

~19

Metropolitan beaches

~3,000

Hours of sunshine a year

100%

Of WA is regional for migration

Where

On the Swan Coastal Plain — the Indian Ocean west, the Darling Scarp east

Climate

Mediterranean — long dry summers, mild green winters, and the afternoon sea breeze

The system

Metropolitan health services with newer campuses, plus one covering the whole vast state

Getting home

Five hours to Asia, direct to Europe — and five hours to the east coast

Contents

What’s inside

Fifteen chapters in five parts. Nine are written for Perth; the rest are national and live once in Moving to Australia, so you only read them once.

Part one · Deciding

01 Welcome to PerthThe western capital in nine numbers — and six things you only learn once you’re here Read now → 02 Why PerthWhat the west offers, and where we’d point you instead Read now → 03 Perth at a glanceThe coast, the river and the hills — plus the clock that puts you on Asian hours Read now →

Part two · The city

04 Healthcare in PerthNewer facilities, a system used to international staff, and what to ask at interview Read now → 05 Where clinicians liveCoast, river, inner north, Fremantle and the hills — and what the sea breeze is worth Read now → 06 Getting aroundRail spines, short commutes and the best cycling city in the country Read now →

Part three · Money & home

07 Cost of livingWhat a clinical salary buys in the west, audited — including the flights home Read now → 08 Living in AustraliaRenting, utilities, banking and the practical first months — the national playbook Shared · national 09 Pay & conditionsHow awards, allowances and salary packaging work — and what to verify before signing Shared · national

Part four · Everyday life

10 Food, coffee & the everydayFremantle markets, Northbridge, the Swan Valley and the sundowner Read now → 11 Coast, river & the south-westRottnest, nineteen beaches and Margaret River three hours south Read now → 12 Schools & educationHow Australian schooling works — and the visa fee question every family must read Shared · national

Part five · Belonging

13 Finding your feet & your peopleCommunities, faith, sport and how friendship works here Shared · national 14 Eligibility & registrationAhpra, English evidence and assessment — the national process, once Shared · national 15 Visas & the moveWhich visa, in what order, and how the timeline runs Shared · national

Sophie’s insight

Perth is the city candidates dismiss on the map and then love in person. The beaches, the weather and the housing are all better than the east coast, and the health service is good at welcoming international staff. The question I always ask is about family — if you need to reach people quickly, the distance will wear on you.

Sophie Careem

Founder, Ethicare Resourcing

When you’re ready

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Read the guide, save it to your pack, and plan the move at your own pace — even if that’s a year from now.

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