Several questions about migrating to Perth from USA

First off, please forgive me! I know how annoying it is to help out people from out of town. But, if you happen to have time to respond, that would be greatly appreciated lol.

Well, I currently live in the USA (in the process of relocating to Phoenix, Arizona from New Jersey) and I plan to continue living here at least until 2010 or 2011 (need to finish college/university before I could move to Australia). But, as you may have noticed, I have a keen interest on moving to Australia, in particular Perth. My reasons for moving would be purely personal (climate, environment, people, weather, attitude, location, alternative and more laid back style in contrast to the US, no fears of being drafted into the military!! lol etc) Overall, I'm an open minded, friendly, and independent person and im looking for a better quality of life. For example, my favorite american city is San Diego...which is why you might see why i'm interested in perth!

But, I just have a few basic questions..not anything too specific. and they are:

1) For any of you who have also moved such a huge distance (16,000 km from or more from 'home'), how do you cope? Are you able to keep in regular contact with loved ones, friends, etc. taking into account the time difference, etc.? How often do you visit them? Do you think moving to Perth would be worth it?

2) What are the job opportunities/educational opportunites like in comparsion with the US (this can account for australia as a whole)? Are they reletively the same, or different?

3) Are there any significant "sacrifices" one has to make when moving from the USA to perth/australia? As in, is there anything important in particular that an American might take for granted that an Australian doesn't have? My general understanding is that the US and Australia have a fairly similar quality of life, but I could be wrong I suppose.

4) In your opinion, which of the two countries would you say is the better one to live in overall? And to those of you who live in Perth...how do you like it in comparison to other areas youve been to? All I'm asking for here is an opinion...nothing more, nothing less!


Well, any input from you guys will be very appreciated. Thanks in advance!