It turns out, besides standing for ‘Western Australia’, WA is also short for ‘Wait Awhile’. Everything moves slowly around here and customer service sucks. In my opinion, this is largely due to service not being rewarded by tips. It seems the service industry pays really well (an effort to keep everyone closer to middle class I’m sure), and as a result, services are expensive and people don’t tip. Consequently, good service is not rewarded, thus not exercised. So besides the already sleepy, slow moving culture, there is also nobody seemingly interested in going out of their way for you.
* My wife couldn’t help but laugh at me when I sat on a park bench frustrated with the lack of service we had been receiving from property management companies while looking for a rental apartment. I was justifying our need to stand up one apartment viewing for another. I said something like “**** it, nobody is looking out for us …“. 
This lack of customer service has made finding a place to live especially difficult. All rental properties are managed by property managers (not sure if there is some sort of legal requirement motivating it), and the property managers are managing several properties each. As such, they tend to have mass viewings where anyone who is interested is invited via email to see the property during a 15 minute time block at the discretion of the property manager. Property managers do not return phone calls, are never in their office, and are generally not helpful at all.
I’ve only ever rented one place before, but there are definitely some significant differences in the process over here. Rental rates are per week. I’m not sure if this makes rates appear to be lower than they actually are, but I am convinced that at the very least it makes rental increases appear to be less significant than they are. By law, rates can go up every six months and when they do go up they increase by nothing less than $50 / week, which is actually $200 / month and is quite significant. Also, washing machines and fridges are considered furniture, so unless you are renting fully furnished, do not expect to find either of those appliances included with rent.
On a positive note, Perth is a beautiful city. The city itself is very clean and often sunny, even though it is their wet / winter season right now. We have been staying downtown and walking pretty much every where we go. During the hunt for an apartment we were walking 5-10 km each day. There are a lot of shopping options downtown. They also have a great public transportation system here with free buses within downtown and high speed trains going out to all of the surrounding suburbs. The apartment we have lined up for July 3 is in South Perth and is a short ferry ride (also a part of public transit) across the swan river. We have made our way outside of the core on 2 occasions, and plan to make it a weekly occurrence. Most of Perth’s attractions are actually not downtown, but in suburbs closer to the ocean (Coastal Perth).
Technology seems to be somewhat advanced here. As I mentioned above, the transit system is pretty impressive. Their website and many others, including banking websites, government websites, etc. have all been quite impressive. The company I have been interviewing with has quite the operation in the works and is full steam ahead with incredible growth potential. All of the appliances are more intelligent with many environment-friendly features. Toilets all have a half flush vs. full flush option , and dishwashers / washers / dryers all have power saving features.
All of this considered, the communications industry seems to be somewhat behind the times. Like Canada, there are a few local giants and no real competition driving the market. It seems mobile phones, high speed internet, cable television, and home phone are all going to be extremely expensive and very lacking – much more so than Canada even. It sounds like billing is a combination of flat fees and usage fees. So for phone you are looking at a monthly plan + usage fees for each phone call (even from a land line). For internet, a monthly plan + usage fees for downloads. My low-priced, feature rich Extreme Speed Internet / Long Distance Telephone / Cable Television package via Shaw is non-existent here. Nothing similar at all.
Other interesting things about Perth: Crosswalks are a free for all because walk signs light up in every direction at the same time so pedestrians just randomly walk in any direction (including diagonal) across the intersection; Pedestrians legally have the right of way within crosswalks, but that rule is not abided by at all; J-Walking is illegal but seems to be most common (and probably safer); Outdoor shops are much more common than malls; Fast-food is almost non-existent (unless at a found court in a mall); Cafes are the substitute; Breakfast is the most popular meal here; Cafes serve breakfast all day; Coffee is always instant / expresso style; Coffee options include long black and flat white (long black with milk); Coffee creamers are non-existent; Ketchup is called tomato sauce; Aussies prefer a yeast-based spread called Vegemite that tastes awful; Aussies manage to make most statements sound like questions which is really confusing.
All in all, I can’t complain too much. A few things to get used to, but it is certainly nice winter weather (18-24C), and the beaches are going to be great. We landed a pretty sweet, spacious apartment with nice views, and the job hunt is coming along nicely.
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