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I’m also from the UK and looking to relocate to Sydney. I actually just came back from a 5 week holiday where I saw pretty much allthe major places apart from Canberra (Cairns, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney). I’m going to get an internal transfer with my current work and this will likely be on a 457 Sponsored Visa. I can begin a 175 (resident) Visa once I get there if I want. With regards to accommodation I was thinking of getting an apartment right in the Sydney CDB or North Shore CBD. This means I’ll be close to work and won’t have a long commute every day. Will look for anything up to $600-700 – I can go pretty high because I intend on claiming LAFHA (Living away from home allowance) which means my rent is basically tax-free. Appreciate any info about LAFHA Logan, I know I need to make sure I get it up front as part of my contract. I’m starting to research the things I need to have ready – Bank account, etc. Any advice appreciated. What’s the deals with cars out there? Appears that cars such as BMW’s are very expensive while home made cards like fords are not! I guess they want to keep the home made market strong but it’s crazy the price difference!
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Dec 27, 2009 11:21
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Outrail posted:I hate to admit to this but my girlfriend and I rented a Wicked Camper (google it) for a few days, and while it was a piece of crap it wasn't too bad and much cheaper than even renting a hatchback. I also had a Wicked camper when I visited a few weeks ago. I had the Cheech and chong one! Only had it because I late joining my friends and they all got a juicy camper. I had to get the last thing available which was the wicked camper! It was old but was reliable and ok to drive. I was warned about overheating but even doing 100-130 the thermometer never moved off middle.
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Dec 27, 2009 15:33
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unixbeard posted:Surry hills is a popular area with good bars/restaurants. Darlinghurst and Paddington also have some nice parts. If you're super into nightlife Woolloomooloo, Elizabeth Bay and Potts Point would be good, they are much safer now than 10 - 15 years ago now imo. I will be based on the North Shore CBD but a journey such as town hall to North Shore is easy (I currently do about 1.30hr each way in the UK!). I'm looking at a lot of nice apartments. I'm thinking a two bedroom (second bedroom for an office) in a exec-type high rise. This is because I like the idea of a gym in the building and also someone to accept deliveries (concierge). This will be expensive but I want to have 6-12 months living in the middle, in my own place. I'd consider getting a room in another apartment if it was a seriously plush one. Seen some crazy apartments, huge and fancy. I guess Woolloomooloo would be a bit cheaper than the CBD given it's slightly further out? I guess it'll be harder to get to North shore also given the lack of metro anywhere near.
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Dec 27, 2009 22:52
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Got my internal transfer! Should be in Australia by mid-August! I need for find a room for 3-4 weeks while I sort out my own place. I'll check out Gumtree for some short term rentals. What is apartment renting like in Australia? easy? nightmare? fast? slow?
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Jun 6, 2010 08:45
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2ndclasscitizen posted:Depends where you're going to be. There's a few places that have ridiculously low vacancy rates making it very hard. Fists Up posted:Very much dependant on what city you are going to and where you are working. Or if you are going country or smaller town. Yeah, sorry, I guess some additional info wouldn't have been to much to ask for  I'll be going to Sydney. I'll be looking to get an apartment right in the CBD. $500-650pw.
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Jun 6, 2010 19:20
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Good site 2ndclasscitizen, bookmarked. If I do stay in the CBD I like the look of some of these fancy apartments that include the pool, gym, etc. I do have one question though - they all seem to have front desks. Do they have any rules around friends and family staying for a few weeks or, even simpler, friends coming back after a night out? I don't know if the purpose of the front desk is pure security or to enforce some bullshit rules! I have a 'hotel' mentality when I see them and don't want to get into a super restrictive rental agreement.
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Jun 7, 2010 07:48
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Fists Up posted:If you are renting long term then no there would be no restrictions at all to how many people are sleeping there. Yeah I think this one in there: http://www.domain.com.au/Property/For-Rent/Apartment/NSW/Sydney/?adid=6267928 I love the modern look, dark wood etc. The above one is right up my street - one bed and a little area as a study. I get the feeling it's really small though! I'd be happy to get something similar in a suburb, especially as i'd get more for my $$$. I'm defo into the batchelor pad and not the family type apartment! Like I said, i'll be renting a room for a few weeks first so by then I might have decided to avoid the CBD.
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Jun 7, 2010 19:02
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I Am Hydrogen posted:My brother lives in an apartment with a front desk in the CBD and it's the most annoying thing in the world. I stayed with him for less than a month when I first moved here and they gave us so much crap for it. We got into a number of arguments with them. It got to the point where they were threatening to fine/evict him. Now when I come to visit they make everyone sign in and then wait at the front desk for the person living there to come get them. It sucks. Shame to heat that, probably the most off putting thing about these apartments so far......
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Jun 7, 2010 19:03
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So i'm going to be out there end of July and apartment hunting. I'm looking on Gumtree for a place to stay short term (2-8 weeks) from about the 26th July. If any of you Sydney peeps have a spare room and want to make some cash please consider letting it to me. Please ask your friends whom have a spare room! It's just me and a suitace, no containers of stuff, and i'm a sensible professional.
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Jul 5, 2010 14:32
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Additional question - what's St Leonards & Crows Nest like for living. Company will be absed there so it would be easy to get to work, north of the river (desirable as much of my work will be North, so I should avoid the bridge). Looks like a nice area, probably quiet at weekends but still a good amount of bars.
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Jul 5, 2010 22:11
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Need a small favour from you Aussies out there! I'm trying to reply to some gumtree adverts around short term accomodation for when I land on Friday. However, because i'm located outside of Australia my messages don't get through at all! (good ol gumtree!) If I give you the advert links and the text to cut and paste could someone assist by spending 2 minutes filling out the forms for me? All replies should then go to my email addy... Thanks Edit: it's only 3 fields, email, message and verification code. Very easy! Vanilla fucked around with this message at 10:35 on Jul 26, 2010 |
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Jul 26, 2010 09:51
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What places are good for short weekend breaks around Sydney? We've already checked out the blue mountains, Jervis Bay and soon Nelson Bay. Wondering what other places to consider?
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Jan 2, 2011 07:08
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What websites are best in Australia for booking holidays? Looking to book an all-inclusive package to Fiji for 4/5 days
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Jan 4, 2011 03:23
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Macintyre posted:I will be heading to Australia for a month here shortly. One thing I found out is that my cell phone will not work anywhere in the Country. So I was looking into getting an international phone and I found these guys: If you just need the phone for Australia access just get a pay-as-you-go SIM card when you are here. These can cost as little as $2 or $30 if you want some minutes (Optus). This will allow you to make Australia calls easily and just use skype for calling home.
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Mar 25, 2011 07:09
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Shnicker posted:Just to let you know, if you're doing the Working Holiday visa (or Work and Holiday visa), you don't only have to bartend, wait tables, or pick fruit if you don't want to. When I was there, I signed up with some of the big temp agencies and I got work through them. Mostly call center stuff, but it wasn't too bad and it paid pretty well. Indeed, as long as your employer knows that you can be with them for only six months you can do whatver you want. I know a few highly skilled guys who got jobs with top companies in Sydney. They had the skill sets and they were cheaper than hiring contractors.
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Jun 8, 2011 00:09
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brendanwor posted:Yep, very good market for developers especially in Sydney. 50k would be the absolute minimum you'd earn. Have a look at seek.com.au which is our main jobs site if you want to specifically see what's out there. This and push for more $$$. 60k isn't a lot over here, especially not in Sydney. Do your research into rent costs, etc. For example, a female friend is on a temp working holiday visa. She has a job as a PA doing menial office stuff and she's on about $60k with no real qualifications.
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Aug 4, 2011 11:32
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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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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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mitztronic posted:
That's not right, it should be about 9 hours BNE > BKK.
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Sep 8, 2011 21:34
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1000010 posted:Long thread, read some of it, but didn't find any specific info on migrating agencies I was looking for. I'm specifically interested if there is some way to hire an agent or agency that arranges the whole package: visa, job and apartment? Looked around the internet and all I found was agencies that get you a visa. I don't believe there is. Agencies used to be able to sponsor you on 457 visas so they used to be able to do this kind of thing but now an employer needs to sponsor you. The exception is seriously skilled people like senior doctors and surgeons, they can easily have everything done by the agency. So order of business is -- Find a job with someone who is willing to sponsor you (hard unless you've got a skill set people are looking for) -- Let them worry about the visa (quite a lot of companies are used to the process as a lot of the australian work force is on visas) -- Get your rear end over to Australia, stay in a room somewhere until you find an apartment. Have you considered a working holiday visa?
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Sep 16, 2011 06:20
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Womens Jeans posted:I'm an Australian citizen but currently not living in Australia. I have an American drivers license and I'm heading back to Australia (NSW) for a month in December. Can I legally drive on my US license, or are there weird laws requiring Australian citizens to drive on Australian licenses? I've tried googling this and it seems to be that if you have a non-Australian license then when you get pulled over by the cops for a RBT then they'll ask to see your passport/visa to make sure you're only staying for a short period of time, and if I whip out my Australian passport, then I'm unsure as to how that will go... Advice? I've looked through rta.nsw.gov.au but it's been pretty useless. I'm not 100% sure, it's a strange scenario but I think you're correct in that only temporary visitors to the country are extended the right to drive on international licenses. They want to see a visa with 'temporary' on it whether than be a 457 visa or working holiday visa (I have my visa in the car for just this reason). Chances of getting stopped are remote but you can always try your best fake american accent and explain your passport is back at your hotel or something. I doubt they'd be too bothered.
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Oct 15, 2011 03:46
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Womens Jeans posted:Ahah! Problem solved. I emailed the RTA: Nice, keep you flight itinerary and US proof of address with you then. Also keep the RTA email. Don't expect the police to know or care about the above, the creator of this thread had a similar issue and they tried to fine him thousands if I recall.
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Oct 15, 2011 09:11
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Heading up to Nelson bay next weekend, anyone been up there? Hopefully gonna get a fw dives in and head up to Stockton Bay / Beach to do some 4x4 or dune buggy driving!
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Oct 17, 2011 07:37
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Eden posted:Aussie here living in Brisbane, trying to convince my boyfriend to go up to Fraser Island over the summer. A while back we said we'd go camping around the island over summer though I wouldn't mind staying some nicer places for a couple days too. Lake Mckenzie is an absolutle must do. It was amazing. Also check out Stradbroke Island, supposed to be a great time also.
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Oct 29, 2011 22:39
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Montalvo posted:
As fists said, it depends what you're into. I stayed at Wake Up hostel when I was in Sydney on holiday. It's right by the central station. Good crowd, lots to do during the day (things like the arranged city walk always has 20+ people and is a great way to meet peeople and then follow up with beers).
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Dec 5, 2011 10:11
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Dj Vulvio posted:Anyone with working holiday visa experience? I don't have it personally but lots of friends do. I may be ble to help, what's the question?
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Apr 1, 2012 13:13
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Dj Vulvio posted:Thank you. Basically I'm looking for some up to date first-hand experiences from people who actually did it, considering how PIIGS Europe is falling apart I'm willing to give it a try as long as my age allows it. Best cities and time frame to settle in looking for jobs, success chances and stuff. So I have one very good piece of advice from first hand experience. The WHV can last for two years if you do 3 months of agricultural work at some point in Australia. *Do this agricultural work as soon as you land*. There's nothing worse than having to go and do this work after the first year as it means you have to up and leave the city you are in (breaking rent contract, selling stuff, etc). If you do it up front it just means that after the first year you send the evidence in and get a second year. It's also a good idea because you earn a little bit of money, meet some people early on, etc. - You can only work for a single employer for a 6 months in a WHV. After 6 months time to find a new job. - All the major cities are ripe with work - Brisbane, Sydney, Preth, Melbourne, Adelaide. - Try to avoid trying to settle in around summer time as that's when everyone seems to arrive but it's not that big a deal. There are generally lots of jobs and opportunities. Pick a city you'd like to live in. Are you educated and with work experience? Are you looking to get fully sponsored?
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Apr 1, 2012 21:53
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Dj Vulvio posted:Thank you so much, this is exactly what I wanted to know. Yeah I have family in Italy. Tough to get a job right now and even then it's often jobs for friends - xyz is a friend of xyz so he gets the job. You can either consider Australia to be a bit of fun where you find any job and enjoy it or you can actively go looking for jobs in your specific area to boost your CV. Be warned that not many people will take you on in serious roles due to the working holiday visa - companies don't waste serious jobs on people who can only be there for 6 months. This means many people join temping agencies just to get anything because Australia is an expensive place to be living and not working and you'd need to get something quick. My friends joined temping agencies and got jobs that way. One works for a bank is the fraud department, the other is an executive assistant to a CIO at a medium size IT company. You can direct recruiters towards specific industries, for example if you are a finance student then get them to aim for the big banks. It may not be your dream role but it's still CV experience. The pay can be pretty good for temping. Both are on $70-80k if they a little overtime. This is some 54k Euro! It's all relative though as the cost of living is higher. If you are looking to stay for 2 years (recommended) then this is the link my friends used to find out about the 3 months agriculture work: https://www.wwoof.com.au
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Apr 2, 2012 12:42
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Montalvo posted:I need to hang out in central Sydney from about noon until 6PM on Friday. I've got a large rucksack that I'd like to leave somewhere for the day -- does the Central train station have left luggage lockers? I'm also willing to spend some coin at a youth hostel if they're willing to hold onto my bag for me as well. There are lockers at Wake Up hostel near Central station for sure.
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May 8, 2012 05:56
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imnotinsane posted:Check out https://melbourne.gumtree.com.au for share houses. It's great to find a place to live in and you can find pretty affordable stuff provided your happy to live a little outside of the CBD. Just a tip about gumtree for those abroad. I found that when I tried to send messages to people from the UK that my messages were not getting through (no message around them being blocked, I just did not get any replies ever). Gumtree confirmed they block messages from outside Australia so you may want to get an aussie from this board to help you by sending the messages for you.
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Jun 19, 2012 07:15
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Frankston posted:
In that you've already applied or you're learning a skill in order to apply?
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Jun 26, 2012 08:48
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Fists Up posted:I've got a friend from Germany who I met overseas coming to Australia in a few weeks. If he has a working holiday visa he can get a job doing anything. Admin, data entry, etc. Fruit picking and such is hard work. If he really wants to do it then check out this site: http://www.wwoof.com.au/ This site, monthly book and forum is what many people on working holiday visas used.
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Oct 3, 2012 22:06
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plasmoduck posted:After a couple weeks in hostels I'm finally moving into an apartment next week. I tried to set up internet (200GB, 90$ per month, 24 months) with Telstra (through directconnect), but it was declined because of "issues with my credit rating" - what? I never had any problems with bills/credit cards. The Telstra guy said I could opt for a lower rate (5GB, 80$ per month) and switch into the higher one after 6 months, but that just looked like a ridiculously bad deal to me. I had no issues and I was new to Australia myself. I was with internode naked. Naked means that I don't need an active telephone line and I can cancel at anytime, month-by month rolling. I was paying $130 AUD a month for up to 500GB down/up. Speed was 22mbps (about 2.2MB download).
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Oct 5, 2012 17:29
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Aquila posted:So I'm leaving for Australia in less than a week now and still have one week unplanned. I'll ostensibly be based out of Brisbane for this week and already have one week in Port Douglas and another week around Alice Springs / Uluru booked, so I need to figure out what to do. I'm thinking either a few days in Sydney then rent a car and check out the surrounding area, or jumping over to New Zealand, costs look like they would be nominally the same. Does anyone have any recommendations of cool things to do that I may not have considered? If I had a week spare and the cash to get to New Zealand I would go to the South Island in a second. Amazing place, will be a highlight of your trip.
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Nov 2, 2012 20:02
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BCR posted:* If you have a full manual driving license you can convert it to an NSW one. While you can drive on a foreign license for three months it opens up more jobs if you have an Australian license. If you are going for a job that involved driving this is good advice. If not DONT do this. They can't give you points on an international license
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Nov 26, 2012 15:10
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Gloomiebat posted:I can't drive and all year I've been like 'oh I'll book lessons soon' because I figured it'd be useful at some point obviously though I've never planned on buying a car but I never got around to it, it worth getting lessons/licence (no idea on cost at the moment but assuming it's not cheap!?) in Australia or not really worth it if I'm not specifically intending on getting a job that involves driving (well, for starters anyway)? Would it be worth it purely for the job opportunities it might open up? Not that I'm booking lessons in advance or anything but it's something to think about. If you are going to learn learn in your own country. Australia is not a good place to learn. By this I mean it has great standards but it will be very expensive. There is also a gradual system to the license. First year you can only do x speed and not have anyone in the car, second year you can only do y speed, etc. this means if you learn here you may be unemployable for car work anyway! If you have time to learn to drive where you are then do it. it's good to get it out of your way in life and it means you can rent cars in Australia. It's a big country. Neither my cousin or his girlfriend could drive. Didn't have any effect on jobs, just made their life harder in terms of transport. I'd only bother with the RSA if you are specifically going to work in a bar. The courses are everywhere and even online. If you like retail stick with retail.
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Nov 26, 2012 23:51
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Pompous Rhombus posted:I axed my Aussie (and foreign friends still living there) friends on FB this morning, but wanted to get some other opinions too: what's a good bank to open an account with? I'm not looking at arriving until... around this time next year at the earliest (possibly the year after that) to start grad school, but I'm currently working in Japan and have decided I'd rather not keep my money in yen. Something with no monthly fees for non-students, and relatively friendly for international stuff (wire transfers, ATMs, etc) would be great. I'm currently looking at Hobart, although I might wind up in WA, SA, or QLD. You should be able to set up a NAB account early. I set my account up while in the UK. I was able to transfer my funds into the account but not access them until I arrived, collected the cards and activated the account. I was pretty happy with NAB. Edit: Also. DO NOT USE A BANK for money transfers. You get poor rates. If you are transferring money use a specialist like Ozforex. You transfer it from your Japan account to Ozforex, they send it to your NAB account so it is waiting for you. Vanilla fucked around with this message at 12:49 on Nov 27, 2012 |
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Nov 27, 2012 12:47
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NoArmedMan posted:???? Agree with this. In Aus I paid with card for everything. Cabs. Coffee. McDonalds. Clothes. Everything with card.
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Nov 27, 2012 20:11
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Gloomiebat posted:Does anyone happen to know if Qantas (or other airlines, I flew with Qantas last time and really liked them) do any sort of 'January sale' type deals on flights (UK to Aus)? I'm going to book my flight very soon but a few people have told me I should hang on and see if I can grab a deal, but if there aren't actually going to be any I'd rather just get the thing booked now because when I checked the other day for the date I wanted to fly a lot of the flights were either sold out or low on spaces, and I don't want to wait too long and screw myself over cost-wise. (I had a look at the current offers or whatever it's called section of the Qantas site but it seems to just be deals on flights from Germany which aren't of use to me.) Wow, I just had a quick look for January flights and it's as expensive as ever. $3000 SYD > LHR! This may be of use to you for the future (not for January). http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=653462 I've not flown economy UK/AUS for the last two years. Business or first for LESS than what Qantas want for economy. I remember Xmas last year Qantas wanted something like $4000 to get me to the UK over xmas. I did it first class for about $2600. Flying back to Sydney this january in first as it happens
Vanilla fucked around with this message at 12:31 on Dec 28, 2012 |
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Dec 28, 2012 12:28
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NoArmedMan posted:Where did you find this? One way flights Mel > LHR are $1485 nearly every day in January with Qantas and are the same price as most other airlines. Sydney was only a few dollars more expensive. I just went to the Qantas website. No one mentioned one way. It was $1500 for one leg and $1500 for the leg back! Edit: i guess i should have clarified RETURN in my post! Vanilla fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Dec 29, 2012 |
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Dec 29, 2012 00:18
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