MichaelD

Looks like they are on a roll this week. Lovely little email this morning. Direct grant 6 weeks and 2 days :-)

Hey OP Just been having a nose on Domain, Seems if the commute is not to much bother Campbeltown may be worth a look?? There seems to be 3 bed houses that look really nice from as little as $450k on Domain.com.au Its an hour or so from there to the city center by public transport, I used to do similar in the UK as did my wife for work so might be worth looking at!

Collaroy, Deewhy, etc. etc. http://www.domain.com.au/Property/For-Sale/Apartment-Unit-Flat/NSW/Brookvale/?adid=2010728629 3 bed luxury unit in brookvale. all you have to do is look

Heya, On the agency front dont forget your linked in, My wife is a BA with ACCA from back in the UK and the head hunters have been emailing for months now lol, they do the same as in the UK and search linked in for the higher paid jobs! Recruitment is big buisness and big money here so they will come looking for you rather than waiting for your CV to drop into there inbox! I was so shocked when i read your first post saying how reasonable everything here is price wise compared to back in the UK right until i remembered the exchange rate has got soooo much better since we arrived in April lol. We found it a shock on the UK funds but about on par once we had Ausie income, A months wages last the month just like they did back home lol. If your still exploring a few of our favorite haunts are as follows; Manly Beach, for sun sea and surfing lessons!!! Surfing is my new favorite thing in the whole wide world lol Manly Beach, Take a right and follow the toe path along the sand to a hidden little cove called Shelly Beach. It is beautiful!!! there is a few hours worth of walking behind it up through the national park, again truly beautiful. DONT take the manly ferry from circular quay, it is packed on any day with sun! Instead go to the captain cook wharf at the other end of the quay, pay an extra $3 and take the fast ferry!! 20 min not 30min trip, Licensed bar, Never packed no matter when you catch it!! The Rocks are great for an explore, Weekend markets have some nice food and craft stuff to browse, Pick a bar any Bar. Botanics are amazing, nip into coles or woolies for some tapas and take a picnic!! If you like fresh sea food take a walk through to the fish market in Pyrmont, You wont find better anywhere!! Pop into Darling harbor for a Saturday night! Fireworks every Saturday from 20:30, We watch from our balcony most weekends lol Try the Bondi to Coogie walk, looks stunning, take water its a trek lol Paddy's Market, worth a look about!! Hope you are loving the city as much as we do :-)

Oh Dear the fear mongers are at it again. Saw an article or 2 on these little fellas the past few weeks. They are a little bit poisonous but nothing to worry about unless you have an allergic reaction. Might as well post up pics telling you to seal your doors and windows when the honey bee's are out. Far far far more people killed by those cute little guys every year than any other animal in the world!!

Hi and welcome to the forums. Congrats on the visa, you must be over the moon :-) As far as where to look for property, its a big big place with every option on area covered. Within a 30-40 min commute of the CBD you can have buzzing nightlife on the beach, or miles of open sand and no one around for miles. City living or a sleepy little suburb. Or anything you can dream of in between!!! First thing to do is get an idea of what you want then look for the where! Beach, City, Urban, Rural, Country and allot will depend on where you will need to get too for work and how much of a commute you are willing to consider! My boss comes in from near Newcastle every day and our office is next to the harbor bridge (Google maps it! its a long long drive lol) With the $650k budget its all a matter of what you want and what kind of area! Beach and City are at a premium as are some of the more popular suburbs, the 1 bed apartment next door to us just sold for $680k, but thats Darling harbor! I would consider getting a short term rental in the city and go explore for the first few weeks!! I say to go for the city as it makes getting out to places so easy! Everywhere has transport to the CBD so you can allways get a direct link out when house hunting rather than having to bus or train into town then swap to head out the other way! Plus all the touristy bits you will want to do are in the city lol Hope this helps a bit :-) if you can give some idea of what kind of lifestyle and environment you are looking to find im sure you will be bombarded with suggestions

Hi and welcome to the forum, My wife and I sorted a meet up a few weeks back in Sydney and are planning another round in a few weeks. We have a friend over from the UK and a birthday coming up but after that I'll get another thread going. If you fancy a few drinks one evening or on the weekends before that we would love to meet up. Just drop us a message, we live down on king street wharf so nice and central lol

Hey Bevan, Congrats on the job and welcome to the forums. If theres anything you need to know drop me a message. My wife and I moved out in April on a 457, We live on Darling Harbor, Came over on very similar circumstances and initial income (My wife took a job transfer on similar wage to what you mentioned and i had to find work) and by the sounds of it from your posts you will be looking for much the same kind of life as us. There's a few bits with prior posts that i dont agree with, medicare being a biggy, we were told we HAD to have private medical cover as a condition of the 457 visa, also medicare wont cover an ambulance and they will charge you a fortune without cover!!! Bills costs etc etc, My wifes put a few big posts on here about this recently, keep an eye out for clairebear82's posts and all should be covered there lol, we lived on $80k for the first 3 months and got by fine, much much better now we have my income too but you can deffo live on the $80k. Housing wise, if your budget is around $650 a week then you can pick pretty much any suburb you like. We pay that for a 1 bed on king street wharf (Doesn't get more central than that) which is just short of 100 square meters with a "study" that does nicely for a spare room, with pool gym and sauna in the building too. As i said, don't want to bore you with details straight off but if there is anything you want to know give me a shout :-)

Hi Paul, sorry you had to miss out this time round. Im going to give the liver a week or two off then we have friends over but as soon as it quiets down a touch i will get another plan going for a night out.

Thank you so much to every one who made it out tonight, It was a great night and so good to meet you all, I will of course send a far more eloquent message once the nights frivolities have worn off. Those of you who grabbed numbers feel free to get in touch, if not pm me. Have a great night all and i look forward to our next big night out!!!! have a great one to all

An hour and a half to go..... Look out for the yellow kangaroo!!!!!!!!!! See you all in the beer garden at 7

Hey there everyone, Well its Friday, only 24 hours to go to our big night out, Thank you to every one who has been in touch on the post and by PM, Cant wait to meet you all tomorrow night!! I will be putting on an update tomorrow day time just to get the final details set down in stone. As is we have settled on The Slipp Inn on Sussex street 7pm start, We will be early but anytime after 7 is great There WILL be something to help you find us, not sure what yet but Im sure I can find something tacky enough down at paddy's market tomorrow. Have a great night everyone and check back tomorrow for any final details

Nearly the weekend again, And nearly time for our first big meet up in Sydney!!! If your planning to come on Saturday please drop a post on here! You never know it might even get a few others interested Cant wait to meet you all, Its going to be one hell of a night!

Hi and welcome to the forum, Right only got a mo before I leave for work so short and sweet answers lol. Bank:- Westpac will let you open from the UK then go in with ID when you arive to finalise and collect cash card. Mobile phone:- Get your UK handset unlocked or buy a cheap unlocked one from CEX or somewhere then get a payg sim when you arrive. $30 on telstra gets you about $300 of calls 400mb of data and 30 days to use it, much cheaper than contract! Travel and health insurance..... I Dont know lol we got private medical but are here for the long hall so we just used our existing Virgin travel insurance which has seen us proud for years. I remember Elephant being good too???? Best/ Safe places to stay ................... Not a clue, get on the forums and find some backpackers :-) as i said we moved so that sides been a bit different for us Hope this helps

Our oven blew in our rental about a week after we moved in... Turned on, fan worked lights came on, But no heat.. Was a simple fix, just needed a new element which was a 10 min job for the repair guy, if its just the element it will be as simple as that!!