gemma1

Hey, Jewel on the bay in Rose Bay is pretty good - like everyone says it isn't like you would get back in the UK but the food is pretty decent! I think it is BYO as well, and reasonable prices. Good luck!

Hey everyone, I haven't been in Sydney for long and struggling to meet new people. Just wondering if any like minded people fancied a girly meet up in the city/eastern suburbs anytime soon - or if anyone had anything planned? I am 28. Would love to hear from you all.

Hey guys, We are in the same boat just moved here from Manchester but can't make it out tonight, would love to be kept up to date on any future plans to meet up though! Hope you have fun tonight x

Hey everyone, Hoping that someone might be able to help.... Moving to Sydney with my partner on the 30th Aug.......very scared! We have accommodation sorted for the first two weeks with the company that I am going to work for, but not 100% sure when we are best contacting agents to start looking at properties?? Any advice?? Some people seem to have contacted them before they left and then others say wait till you arrive..... I've had a look at the domain website (on an almost daily basis) and seen a few furnished and unfurnished properties that are within our budget ($500-$550 pwk 1 bedroom). We have a good idea of areas that we would consider living in...(Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, Paddington, Newton) and have a list of other areas that are slightly further away that we would also consider if we were struggling in the locations we like best. We have also looked into cheap furniture packages and rental of white goods etc....so quite clued up with a lot of it just need some advice on when to start annoying the rental agents??? I was thinking of trying to arrange viewings (from the UK) for our first weekend in Sydney but have now started to panic as there are some lovely apartments available for the week that we would have to move in and they are doing viewings on them this weekend! I am now worrying we will be left with something really rubbish!! Do they always view on set times or are there some that you can view by appointment? Thanks!!!

Hi Julie, I am moving over to Sydney with my partner (I'm 27, he is 30) early September and we both know nobody so would be keen to know if you do manage to arrange anything! Feeling quite nervous about the move but fingers crossed it will all be fine! How did you find sorting out accommodation and whereabouts are you based?

Hi everyone, I'm hoping to get some advice please. Moving over to Sydney at the beginning of September on a business visa and starting to stress about sorting out accommodation. We have our first two weeks accom sorted and good references from previous rentals in the UK etc and I am going to make up a pack with all documents for easiness, however I am starting to panic that two weeks won't be long enough to secure a long term rental for us. We arrive on a Saturday and I have noticed that a lot of the inspections take place on a Saturday so just worrying that it will be a week before we see any apartments and will need to move in the following week which doesn't seem like a lot of time to me.....? We have seen a holiday rental that is available for 6 months that looks really nice but seems quite expensive for what it is. Can anyone give me an idea of what we should be looking at cost wise fairly close to the CBD? Looking at areas such as Balmain, Coogee, Newton, Rozelle, Surrey Hills etc. Just looking at one bedroom apartments/units. Any help/advice is much appreciated!

Hello :biggrin: Just looking for a bit of advice/help please.... I've been offered a job working for a company in Sydney starting in September this year. I will be coming on a 457 sponsorship visa with my partner having the same conditions on a spouse visa. He has worked in the UK in the betting industry as a shop manager/relief manager for the past 10 years and this is the only real experience that he has. What are the job prospects over there for people seeking work in the betting industry? I have heard that there are loads of TAB betting shops in bars/hotels over there. Does anyone know how you would go about applying for this type of job? He is hoping to line up interviews or a job before we go but I'm not 100% about how to do this from the UK. We have also heard that the UK betting industry is well respected over there so shouldnt struggle to get a job - but this could be hearsay. Also does anyone know roughly what salary level he could expect in this type of role?? Thanks!!!

Awww that's good....I've heard that they are coming back to people really quickly at the moment so you should be fine with 4 weeks, especially if you are moving internally with work. I'm not actually sure why ours is taking so long but we are not going until the end of August so at least we have a bit of time before we start biting our nails. I would really like to book my flights ASAP though so I can start feeling like it is actually real. How much is it costing you to take your cats? We have a cat but he is going to live with his gran for 12 months until we decide whether to bring him out or not. He is an indoor cat at the moment and I just don't know whether I can put him through flying all the way over there. He freaks out even going anywhere in the car..... we will see. I am devastated to be leaving him though - my mum thinks I'm more upset leaving him than I am about leaving her! He will be able to go outside at their house though so I am sure that he will enjoy his new life as much as we will enjoy ours!!!

Thanks.....I think it might just be a case of suck it and see.....but I just needed to know I was on the right track. With us I guess it depends on what kind of job my partner gets....either hes on minimum $20 an hour or he gets something a lot better and we will be sorted. With comission it does count towards your taxable income so I dont think I will even look into the low income allowance as I should be earning comission pretty much after about 3 months I would say. They have told me that realistic com is circa $80k so it seems like we will be fine money wise. I just wanted to understand the whole LAFHA thing a bit more and work out our worst case scenario! How are you finding the whole relocating thing? What are you going over to do? Have you had your visa back yet? We are still waiting......8 weeks tomorrow

Hi, Thanks.....I've been reading up on it loads but just can't seem to get my head around it. So if the max I can claim is $7520 I guess it doesnt matter what the rent costs and food costs come to then does it? Does this mean that it would be the following for me then..... $47480 after LAFHA deducted Tax = $4350 plus 0.35c for every $1 over 35k plus medicare at 1.5% - 712.20 total income after tax - $46193.80 monthly $3849.48??????

Sorry the $6895 is per month not annually. Any help would be much appreciated!!

Hi all, I am new to Poms in Oz and have to say that reading all of the posts on here has answered a lot of my questions and helped a lot so a big thank you! Sorry for yet ANOTHER LAFHA question but I am slightly confused by the whole thing. I am moving out to Sydney in Sept with my partner and have been offered a job working in the city paying $55,000 AUD per annum plus super on top of this. My partner works in retail management so should be able to get a good job fairly quickly and my job is comission based, but I have done some basic calculations on a "worst case scenario" and wondered if someone can let me know if I am missing anything or calculating this wrong.... I have calculated the LAFHA based on $42 per adult per week food and $500 per week on the rent. ME - Salary-LAFHA = $26,968 taxable income Medicare Levy @1.5% - $404.52 Tax payable (15c for every $1 over $6k) - $3144 Total take home pay - $51,451.48 per annum PARTNER Salary based on 35 hours per week @ $20 per hour (most of the casual/retail bar jobs I have seen are around this level) - $36,400 Medicare levy - $546 Tax $4560 (15% - 15c for every $1 over $6,000) Total take home - $2607.83 So our combined will be $6895.45???? Can anyone help with this??? xxx:wacko::wacko:

Hey everyone! Just joined today, hoping that some of you might be able to help me... I have a job in Sydney starting early Sept and the company have offered to sponsor myself and my partner on a business visa. The application was logged on the 29th march and we are still waiting....impatiently! Does anyone know how long it normally takes? Also, any tips on how much £££ we will need to get started? We are hoping to rent a one bedroom apartment somewhere like Surrey hills, coogee, darlington...pretty close to the CBD. It's just really hard to work out from what people say on the net about costs etc. I will be starting my job straight away and my boyfriend is pretty flexible with what he does. We are hoping to get a furnished apartment..And have accom for our first 2 weeks..do you think about £6000 in sterling will be enough to get us started and sorted with accom and everything we need? Or flights will not be included in this. Any help or advice would be much appreciated....finding the whole thing a bit daunting!!