Western Australia

The sunset side — the easiest good life, five hours from the east

A guide to living, working and settling in the west — a third of the continent, one extraordinary city — written for healthcare professionals, by the team who help them move.

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15 chapters Updated August 2026 Free

Welcome

The deliberate choice.

Western Australia is a third of the continent with one city holding most of its people: Perth, the most isolated capital on earth and one of the most pleasant — the country’s best city beaches, its sunniest capital climate, and the only one where the sun sets over the sea. The south-west corner adds wine capes and karri forests; the north is another world entirely.

The public system splits the way the map does: metropolitan service groups running Perth’s complete tertiary network, and a single country service spanning the largest health geography in the world. Registration is national; hiring is service by service — and the north recruits with the strongest incentive packages in Australian healthcare, verified case by case.

The cost is the flight line: five hours to Sydney, a time zone of your own, and every east-coast family event a commitment. This guide prices that plainly — and takes the north as seriously as the city, because gone into deliberately it is the fastest financial reset in Australian healthcare.

Welcome to the west.

Warm regards — the Ethicare team

A four-wheel drive on a red dirt road through the Kimberley — The Kimberley · a state built for the long drive

Western Australia, in short

The five-second version

~2.9M

People in the state

90+

Public hospitals & campuses

3,200

Sunshine hours a year in Perth

~12,500 km

Of Indian Ocean coastline

Where

The west — Perth on the Swan, the green south-west corner, the Pilbara and Kimberley north

Climate

Mediterranean Perth, green south-west, tropical north — and the Fremantle Doctor every afternoon

The system

Metropolitan groups plus one country service — the largest single health geography in the world

Getting home

Perth flies nonstop to London — and Bali is closer than Brisbane, which reshapes the map

Contents

What’s inside

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

Part one · Deciding

01 Welcome to Western AustraliaThe west in nine numbers — and six things you only learn once you’re here Read now → 02 Why Western AustraliaThe arithmetic, a typical week, and where else we might point you Read now → 03 The state at a glanceThe three wests — and what the Doctor, the wildflower spring and the wet season mean Read now →

Part two · The state

04 Healthcare in WAThe city groups, the country service, the strongest remote packages — and what to ask at interview Read now → 05 Where clinicians liveThe coast, the river, Freo and the hills — plus the south-west and the north. Fourteen places compared Read now → 06 Getting aroundA modern rail spine, zero toll roads — and the flight map that explains the west Read now →

Part three · Money & home

07 Cost of livingThe easiest big-capital budget in the country — and the flight fund it needs 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, shopping & the everydaySunset-side living, Freo weekends, and the Swan Valley at twenty-five minutes Read now → 11 Beaches, forests & the northRottnest, the wildflower spring, Margaret River — and the Kimberley once a year 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

The west is where I ask about the east-coast family first, because the flight is the only thing people regret. For the right family, Perth is the easiest good life in Australia — and a Broome or Hedland chapter, gone into with open eyes, resets finances in a way no eastern posting can.

Sophie Careem

Founder, Ethicare Resourcing

When you’re ready

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