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Mr Chips posted:Should have a look at Adelaide too, it's a smaller, cheaper version of Melbourne. Plenty of international students end up there too. When I looked into where I should do my semester abroad, I was holidaying in Rio. I met an Aussie at the hostel and asked him. I wanted to do Adelaide from the whim, the name sounded interesting. He swore to me up and down not to go, and suggested Melbourne instead. Best decision I made.
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Aug 20, 2011 04:11
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HAIL LORD ZLATAN posted:Yeah thats what I'm planning to do, get a cert for a position in the skill shortage list and go from there. However one thing bothers me, 2 days a week only? In the case of your roomate, how often does he work? Legally on the visa for students you can only work 20 hours a week so your probably going to want to use them for your legitimate job for your visa. As for living you will have to find an under the table cash job. My room mate works 2 days a week at a mechanic shop and 5 nights for cash at a restaurant. He gets peanuts for the actual job he needs for his visa $10 an hour but he gets $16 at the restaurant. Electricity isn't that cheap here in Melbourne, guess it depends where you live in NSW. If you have a powersmart meter your hosed cause peak is like 40 cents per kWh but otherwise its only 20 cents cause the market is still regulated. Here in Melbourne some companies are charging almost 30 cents. I guess the only plus is there is more competition so some times things seem cheaper. If you have the choice Energy Australia is offering like 12% discount in NSW trying to gently caress the competitors. Think thats the best offer at the moment.
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Aug 20, 2011 04:47
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The Pillowman posted:He swore to me up and down not to go, and suggested Melbourne instead. Best decision I made.
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Aug 20, 2011 04:51
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Mr Chips posted:Feel like elaborating on that? It's not the best town if you're looking for long term careers prospects, or a hectic nightlife, but for what the poster I was responding to was after it's a sensible choice. Sorry, I didn't mean to be vague. Specifically, Adelaide is a bit lonely geographically. Yes there's stuff to do around there, but not too much and any travel becomes harder as you have to get to Melbourne, Sydney, or Perth first. While cost of living is lower, the opportunities and culture of Melbourne are just not present in Adelaide. I'm responding specifically to his international students aspect. A lager town like Melbourne is just going to have more things available. My visit to Adelaide was drab, although the locals were extremely kind. Basically, I was faced with the choice between Adelaide and Melbourne and after talking it over with this Australian guy and doing some of my own research, I chose Melbourne. Cost of living is slightly higher, but the opportunities/restaurants/experiences/night life/variety were exceptional, and the quality of my education was also very high (I attended the University of Melbourne).
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Aug 20, 2011 05:14
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Adelaide was the most boring piece of poo poo I have ever visited, it really is just as bad as all the stereotypes.
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Aug 20, 2011 11:41
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf2nU_KUEB0 Really, it's not that bad...
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Aug 21, 2011 04:00
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I think Adelaide absolutely gorgeous. I live in Central QLD, have lived here on and off my whole 27 years (spent a couple of years in Brisbane, a few months in London also) and I really love it - but that could be because my friends and family are mostly here. Everyone bags my town but I really like it and think it has heaps to offer. Anyway, Adelaide is amazing. If there was anywhere in Australia I'd consider moving (and I was seriously considering it after spending 2 weeks there last December for a wedding in which I was maid of honour) it'd be there. I am a big wine/food buff and there is just so much awesome wine coming out of the Barossa & Clare Valleys and great food as well. I mean, come on, Maggie Beer lives there! I like Melbourne as well, my bro lives there and manages a video gaming bar in Fitzroy. I am just more of a small-town girl, I find big cities a tiny bit overwhelming I think because I have a large personality so I feel a bit like an ant in big cities. Adelaide is more like a pretend-city, it's not super metro and doesn't have crazy traffic issues or smog like a lot of other cities in Australia seem to. I hated Sydney but I didn't spend much time there. I felt that it was very cold and lifeless (not in temp, in atmosphere). But then again when I did my 8000km road trip last December one of my highlights was Broken Hill in far outback NSW so yeah I'm not really one to be too much into cities. Anyway, great thread, would be happy to contribute, have seen quite a bit of QLD and had a boat growing up so we did a lot of travel up and down the coast in that, was a pretty glorious childhood actually. EDIT: TL;DR I love Adelaide but that's probably because I grew up in Bumfuck Beef Capital and also think that is a great place therefore I am not entitled to an opinion. Sharks Below fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Aug 22, 2011 |
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Aug 22, 2011 03:05
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Yeah well I've spent time in both Rockhampton and Adelaide and they both suck so take the above post with a grain of salt. Kangaroo Island, on the other hand, I would move to in a second.
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Aug 22, 2011 07:54
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teacup posted:Adelaide was the most boring piece of poo poo I have ever visited, it really is just as bad as all the stereotypes. My three housemates come from third world countries and all say how terrible Adelaide is. They don't like the public transport (or lack thereof) and find the place pretty boring. As a Melbournian I'm inclined to agree with them.
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Aug 22, 2011 08:09
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HookShot posted:Yeah well I've spent time in both Rockhampton and Adelaide and they both suck so take the above post with a grain of salt. That's kind of what I was trying to say in my TL;DR edit but more graceful. Thank you  I've never been to Kangaroo Island. I have been to many other islands though and find them delightful. Except Curtis Island, gently caress that place, loving sandflies up the wazoo.
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Aug 22, 2011 08:32
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Another Adelaide hater here I've been around a good bit of Australia. lived in Sydney for 13 months, been all the way down from Cairns to Brisbane on a slow tour. Gone from Melbourne and driven all the way to Adelaide. I just found it really boring. Looked at the trip advisor touristy things to do and it was all parks, botanical gardens and really boring museums. I didn't expect anything more but that doesn't make it a good experience!
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Aug 22, 2011 12:06
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And wine. All of the wine.
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Aug 22, 2011 13:12
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I was born in Adelaide, I have family over there, and its as boring as gently caress. Its fairly clear that the list of cities is Perth > Brisbane > Melbourne/Sydney > Hobart > Adelaide > Darwin > Cooper Pedy > Canberra
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Aug 23, 2011 03:23
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Visited Hobart recently, it was awesome. Went around Tasmania in a motorhome for 10 days. The food was incredible. I don't really like Brisbane that much. It's okay I guess.
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Aug 23, 2011 03:31
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Frogmanv2 posted:I was born in Adelaide, I have family over there, and its as boring as gently caress.  You must be working from a very odd set of criteria.It's got all the small town drawbacks of Adelaide (insular, parochial, bugger all going on most of the time), combined with the sprawl, poor urban planning and warped cost of living of Sydney. It does seem to have milder winters than Adelaide/Melbourne. I've lived for more than a year in Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth, and if you were bored in Adelaide then you're more than likely going to be bored in Perth.
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Aug 23, 2011 04:01
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Mr Chips posted:Perth is the best city? Yeah I live in Perth. Bored shitless in Adelaide, love Perth, and am not bored here in the slightest.
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Aug 23, 2011 04:09
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A lot of people who don't spend much time in Adelaide think it's a miserable place to live. They're wrong. It's a great place to live, but it's not a great place to visit.
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Aug 23, 2011 10:25
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These debates are stupid and subjective.
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Aug 23, 2011 12:16
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Frogmanv2 posted:Yeah I live in Perth. Awesome! As I posted a while back I'm moving to Perth in October for about 2 years. What are some fun things to do / cool places to hang out? Also, open question: is it cheaper for me to buy a Blackberry in the UK and buy a data plan in Australia, or to just buy everything over there?
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Aug 23, 2011 12:21
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What sort of stuff are you into?
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Aug 23, 2011 13:58
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Fairly standard things, I guess. I like to socialise, go out to pubs (occasionally clubs), see live music, dine out, etc. I've been told there's a pretty good blues festival in Perth ever year that I am definitely going to go to. Freemantle sounds pretty awesome too. I'm also seriously considering taking up scuba diving while down there. I'm going to be working in an academic setting and I guess I just want to be able to make friends outside of my workplace so I don't spend all day every day with the same people talking about science and work.
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Aug 23, 2011 14:44
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imnotinsane posted:
Insider tip... I used to work for EA and you can actually haggle with them over the discount rate. Ring them up, tell them you wanna switch providers, and whatever discount they offer you ask for at least an extra 5% off and you should get it. They have a company policy which says that rather than argue with people over money on the phone, it's better just to throw some at the customer to make them shut up and go away. So use this to your advantage Editted to add: No one has mentioned Newcastle! It's definately better than Canberra! Beautiful beaches, thriving art scene, some pretty decent restaurants out near the vineyards.... etc etc
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Aug 24, 2011 00:09
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Montalvo posted:Fairly standard things, I guess. I like to socialise, go out to pubs (occasionally clubs), see live music, dine out, etc. I've been told there's a pretty good blues festival in Perth ever year that I am definitely going to go to. Freemantle sounds pretty awesome too. I'm also seriously considering taking up scuba diving while down there. Main nightlife precinct is Northbridge, which is north of the city center itself. Its full of pubs and nightclubs and restaurants and drunk people. I tend not to go in there, unless its for a specific reason. Im too old and have been doing out for too long to put up with that many drunk jackasses in one place. There are a whole buttload of smaller entertainment areas like west leederville, subiaco, fremantle that are good to go to and there are pubs spotted around the place. Get urbanspoon to check out where you can eat. There are a lot of music festivals around, mostly electronic, but yeah, southbound and the blues and roots festival sound like they are up your alley. If you want more info on festivals check either inthemix or teknoscape. they have most of them covered, but are both slanted more towards electronic music. Scuba diving I dont know much about (im about to go up to bali to get my padi ticket) but I do know the the back end of rottnest has a couple of good sites, and you can always head up north to ningaloo reef, which is small then the GBR, but apparently has a higher concentration of life. Plus its not as well known, so it isnt as damaged. Perth is exactly the same as everywhere else for making friends. Find an activity you like doing and go do it and talk to the other people who are doing it with you. edit : Everyone should go down south to Margaret River and stay a weekend there. Also, if you like driving, take a week to go up north and drive around there. Katherine Gorge is spectacular, the pinnacles is a nice diversion on the way, monkey mia is fun, shark bay if you are into that sort of thing. NPR Journalizard fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Aug 24, 2011 |
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Aug 24, 2011 00:48
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bee posted:Insider tip... I used to work for EA and you can actually haggle with them over the discount rate. Ring them up, tell them you wanna switch providers, and whatever discount they offer you ask for at least an extra 5% off and you should get it. They have a company policy which says that rather than argue with people over money on the phone, it's better just to throw some at the customer to make them shut up and go away. So use this to your advantage Haha I am not surprised, I work for one of the tier two retailers and we don't budge on the discount percentage, we have given up on the NSW market at the moment for that reason....
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Aug 24, 2011 08:49
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Frogmanv2 posted:Main nightlife precinct is Northbridge, which is north of the city center itself. Its full of pubs and nightclubs and restaurants and drunk people. I tend not to go in there, unless its for a specific reason. Im too old and have been doing out for too long to put up with that many drunk jackasses in one place. There are a whole buttload of smaller entertainment areas like west leederville, subiaco, fremantle that are good to go to and there are pubs spotted around the place. Get urbanspoon to check out where you can eat. Fantastic, thanks so much for the information! I quite like electronic music too, so I'll keep an eye out on those sites. The scuba diving stuff is good to know too, as I'll be going into it as a complete newbie. edit: Another random question: what are some good internet service providers? Montalvo fucked around with this message at 11:33 on Aug 24, 2011 |
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Aug 24, 2011 09:59
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Montalvo posted:Fantastic, thanks so much for the information! I quite like electronic music too, so I'll keep an eye out on those sites. The scuba diving stuff is good to know too, as I'll be going into it as a complete newbie. Internode and iiNet are the best. TPG is the cheapest.
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Aug 24, 2011 12:29
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Internode is the best but you pay the most for it. I rather like TPG for the price. Every now and then (say once a fortnight) I get a drop out but it only lasts 30 seconds.
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Aug 24, 2011 13:05
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I'll probably get bagged for this but personally, I like BigPond. I've actually gotten good customer service from them when I've needed it (our current place wasn't wired for internet or phone service at all and so we had to call their customer service line a lot) and since they own basically all the lines they can't just tell you "oh it's Optus' fault" or whatever.
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Aug 24, 2011 14:31
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HookShot posted:I'll probably get bagged for this but personally, I like BigPond. Actually, same. We have the 200GB ADSL2+ thingy and it's really really good. Never have any dramas with it and for a regional area that's saying something. It's ridiculously fast.
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Aug 24, 2011 22:26
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Bigpond have came a long way recently, I don't not like them now. They're in a weird price point though. If you're willing to pay $70-90, go with Internode and iiNet. If you're wanting to go budget, go with TPG.
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Aug 24, 2011 22:36
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Montalvo posted:edit: Another random question: what are some good internet service providers? As others have said, IInet, but im with amnet, because they have free waix traffic.
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Aug 25, 2011 00:56
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I dont know how but Telstra have certainly pulled their finger out in a number of areas. Their mobile coverage/service is the best I've found. Around me my friends Optus coverage has a terrible black spot and drops out in his bedroom. Where I pretty much have 5 bars with 3G all over Sydney. Never had an issue so luckily haven't had to go through their customer service. Everyone knows how poo poo Vodafone is though
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Aug 25, 2011 02:17
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Yeah gently caress those guys. I have Optus and it's great in most places but I went days without service in Tasmania driving around, I had some service in Hobart and Launceston but apart from that it was basically none. Telstra had full 3G most places though - my friend had her iPad with a Telstra SIM.
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Aug 25, 2011 02:29
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I had an optus wireless card as well until we got broadband installed and it was balls. I'd constantly get little-no connection, even during real off-peak times. And I'm pretty much on the Gold Coast so it's not like I live in the middle of nowhere either. Friends of ours who DO live in the middle of nowhere have a bigpond wireless card and their works really well. I can sometimes barely tell the difference between their and ours.
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Aug 25, 2011 04:38
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HookShot posted:I had an optus wireless card as well until we got broadband installed and it was balls. Optus is the worst for everything. Case closed.
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Aug 25, 2011 05:23
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Another thumbs up for Internode here. I use Telstra NextG for my mobile, as the coverage shits all over just about every other provider.
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Aug 25, 2011 14:48
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Lizard Combatant posted:Optus is the worst for everything. Case closed. Yeah this. I'm on Virgin (re-branded Optus) for my mobile but I'm thinking that'll I'll probably switch to Telstra when my contract is up. Virgin's plans and service are good, but Optus' internet is just plain old unacceptable. So. Much. Lag.
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Aug 25, 2011 14:56
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Again, thanks for the suggestions. I was prompted to ask because of one my colleagues that moved down to Perth early was complaining about not being able to get decent uncapped internet for a reasonable price at his house. I am going to start packing this weekend; exciting times!
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Aug 25, 2011 15:21
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Internode area great. Been with them for a year now with ADSL2+ on the 600GB plan. No drop outs at all really. Optus suck - I live and work in Sydney CBD and there's so many places where Optus has awful reception & drop outs. Telstra is the only way for much of Australia (don't even think about Vodafone).
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Aug 25, 2011 15:45
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Im not Australia (nor live in australia) however, this is interesting http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/ Its a guide for all ISPs based on region. Its pretty good me thinks
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Aug 26, 2011 00:38
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