Caz said: "I would seriously head to Perth if not for my obligations here. Truly. I would leap at the opportunities over there; would have packed my bags and gone a couple of years ago. Still worth going, the boom is not over yet." The boom may not be over in Perth/Pilbara, but the gas crisis and the housing situation are seriously hurting the West at the moment and it's likely to get a lot worse before it gets better.=20 Housing prices are astronomical and rents are similar - if you can find somewhere to rent. According to the media (I know, not a reliable source!), sometimes 100+ people are vying to get the same rental property, pushing prices up even further. With Perth getting a net rise in immigration of tens to hundreds every day all coming here for the 'boom', the state's services are at full stretch. Add in the gas/power crisis and you'll find that several large industries here may be laying off a LOT of people in the next few weeks/months. It's not all gloom and doom, but there are some serious infrastructure and living issues in Perth right now. Rhonda Rhonda Bracey=20 rhonda.bracey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.cybertext.com.au CyberText Newsletter/blog: http://cybertext.wordpress.com Author-it Certified Consultant ************************************************** To view the austechwriter archives, go to www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject field (without quotes). To manage your subscription (e.g., set and unset DIGEST and VACATION modes) go to www.freelists.org/list/austechwriter To contact the list administrator, send a message to austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **************************************************