markb28

A short post. I have always hated the sausages from the supermarket here but..... I then discovered Jamie Oliver Cumberland pork sausages in Woolworths. Can confirm a genuine English pork sausage experience. Bit expensive at 8 bucks for 5, but totally worth it. Give them a try. Mark

I'm moving house, specifically 500 meters away in Newtown. To get broadband, Telstra want $300 up front for cable, Optus $150 and $100 a month. Internode etc all expensive also. Origin want to charge me $45 to read the electricity meter here and another $90 for reading the meters at the new place Also $500 for the removal costs. I could get broadband for the whole year back home at less than the startup costs. Good thing I don't have Foxtel also. All the companies charge for absolutely everything, even for existing customers. It's sickening

Oh dear, it's a real dilemma. I'm a Londoner out here with a Sydneysider. Been here nearly 2 years now but the push/pull of home/Oz is a continual pressure. I don't have the same pressure however as my partner would happily follow me back to London (she loves it but hates the weather). This does give me peace of mind. Agree with some that the new baby may have brought this to a head. I don't know how long we will be here, maybe a few years or forever, who knows. However after 8 years your partner has certainly given it a go, however doesn't appear to have let go and the yearn for home is still strong. As for where is best to be I'm unsure, culturally UK, weather Oz, opportunity Oz, exciting lifestyle UK, relaxed lifestyle Oz. It never ends. I think it will probably come down to a selfless act to move on your part mate to keep the family together. You seem like a good bloke and I'm sure you'll make the right decision.

Yeah I've got one - however its not really saving me anything yet - make sure you tap on and off or they charge you $8.10 and the trip doesn't count towards your free travel after 8 rides.

Good BI people are in demand here and the UK, some BA skills would be useful as well. You've got a broad base there. With a couple of months to go, may be worth changing your Linked in profile to Perth - then the jobs tab will start populating with similar job titles to your skills set. I notice that IBM have hooks into a lot of outsourcing contracts here, so getting some Cognos skills would probably be useful (conversion skills wouldn't be too hard with your BO background). The Telco I work for offshores a lot of the BI however which is probably the most concerning IT trend in Oz. Be careful with the seek ads when you arrive, a lot of the ads are fishing and the agency doesn't have any special relationship with the firm recruiting (who may well be recruiting the role themselves and be seeking to save commission). Bare that in mind when you are asked to go to a meeting - make them Skype you if they are serious

Hi all I rent my property out in London but it's been hammered with damp this winter and needs a fair bit or work. I'm in the non-resident tax scheme for landlords. The quote I received is 2700 + VAT. Do I have to pay the VAT element upfront and claim back or do I not pay it at all - asking for a zero VAT invoice to pay? Been looking around, this is not really a home improvement more rectification works. Thanks Mark

As quick as that. That's awesome. Will get on it as soon as possible. Cheers all!

Hi all 2 years since applying for my partner visa is coming up, my partner has been given a heads up by email (not me strangely). Will be putting the paperwork in shortly - anyone know how long this currently takes to turnaround - think our case is very straightforward as no major changes. Thanks Mark

A good website that details all the options is http://www.eyeondemand.com/ Streaming over VPN is usually poor quality due to the distance from the UK. Smart DNS mentioned above is much better and you could use Filmon via that service. I'd suggest that you bring over a Now TV box from the UK which will give you iPlayer, BBC News, 4oD, Demand5. It's only 10 quid and Smart DNS will cost about $12 a quarter. https://shop.nowtv.com/

SBS (free to air) has exclusive rights and will be showing all games live.

Moved out here (from London) in Oct 2012. Live in Sydney. Had all the trials of homesickness, cant find a job etc, no friends. Overcame all these issues. Was back in London at Christmas for a week. I do miss aspects of home but in truth they are all minor and I can afford to go back whenever I like so I am pretty fortunate. I have a standard of living that is much better than I had in London. Now I am a bit more settled, have steady work and live in a nice place but do feel occasionally I am losing my edge, Sydney is a small city in respects. Never hated London, quite the opposite and may well move back someday. My partner is Aussie and she feels the same. For all that, sometimes I look at the harbour bridge/opera house from Circular Quay station and remember why I came. Similarly when we drive for two hours and have an unspoiled beach to ourselves or hang in a beer garden on a beautiful day without fighting for a seat. Or the friendly service at (most) pubs and the fact that I can wear t-shirts and shorts for 10 months of the year and realise most of my day to day problems are utterly trivial. Will be hard to leave...

Two wives, a hot one and the homely one that can cook and likes ironing? What's not to like?:yes::yes::yes::yes::yes::yes:

Hi all Heading back to London for a couple of weeks commencing Xmas eve, however my UK passport is expiring in March 2014. Thinking of getting the same day passport replacement while there, however my 309 visa is on my current one. Would travelling back on the new passport cause any issues, assume I will have the expired one with me for visa checking purposes? I will need a new one for March when my processing for a 100 commences. I don't want to get stuck at Heathrow/Sydney on the way back if I haven't got a valid visa for Aus entry. Anyone been in this situation? Thanks Mark

There is less channels on Foxtel, however most of the best stuff in the UK (and on Aus TV) is the UK FTA stuff. Sky has a bit more variety and is cheaper than foxtel ($150 to get it installed for a start).

I use skype when calling the UK, however I top up with credit for when I need to call mobiles. It's about 15c a minute for a mobile or 1.5c for a landline. Worth trying it out.

If I was you, the cheapest way to get set up would be: Hola's OK but has loads of problems, can't be relied on but free. Get a DNS service (not VPN - performance is bad as UK is too far away for a reliable VPN service). That's unotelly, unblock-us or overplay service. About 12 bucks a quarter isn't expensive. This will get access to BBC iplayer, ITV player, Filmon, 4od (about 20 UK channels streamed). Will also give access to Netflix if you want it and will ensure that ipads, phones can all stream also. I use a PS3, laptop, ipad and mobile using this method. It's easy to get most things with the above method - although live sport remains the one area where streaming isn't great. Sky Now TV box (gives you the option of paying 10 quid for 24 hours of Sky sports streaming). Bring one with you and use it with a DNS service. If you have a relative with Sky in the Uk, ask for their Sky Go credentials and use it with unotelly or other DNS. Foxtel is nowhere as good as Sky, big setup costs (although the premier league coverage is better than the UK).

Just moved to Newtown a week ago (not far from Waterloo) but loving it so far. However would question why anyone would live here if they had a driving commute to Penrith as King Street is a nightmare most of the day and chokes traffic in streets around it. I'm at the St Peters end of King Street but also walking distance to Enmore and Newtown station. We had a housewarming the other day and 4 visitors managed to park, even though streets are busy. Fortunately I work at Town Hall, so the commute is easy (10 mins from St Peters station). There is a load of shops, cafes bars and restaurants on this side of King Street, Marrickville metro shopping, loads more in Enmore. When I arrived a year ago we looked at Newtown rentals but they had loads of competition and are cheaper now. We managed to get a 2 bed single floor terrace with garden for $560 pw. It's older, doesn't have a dishwasher and internal decor is old but it really feels like home compared to the mod con unit we were living in previously. As a Londoner, many of the suburbs in Sydney lack character but I definitely feel at home here, got a Camden Town feel about it with less tourists . Also while moving in many of the neighbours said hello - a nice start on a stressful moving day (another story). With so much going on in the area (Newtown and Camperdown festivals coming up), the focus is really shifting away from the CBD for us. Unless you are in the early 20's and like to get drunk and fight, the nightlife in the CBD is crap, tons of it in Newtown/Enmore with a great small bar and music scene. It's also very diverse, gays/lesbians, goths, tattooed types, hipsters, trendies, families, lefties and laid back people in general set up home here. The best place for a pub crawl is definitely right here. In short, get a decent property and if you accept the weekday commute will be difficult then Newtown is a great place to live.

Kensington is full of students, shared accommodation is advertised everywhere in the area. Lots of cheap (and pretty good) Asian restaurants. It's not a great place for public transport - just buses in the vicinity really. However a long course of drama study is in all honesty likely to lead to years of debt, rejection and disillusionment. I'm all for following dreams but I know many "creatives" who have high levels of debt. Acting is super competitive and the industry is so hard to get a break. Has your daughter shown any particular talent or is this a whim? If I was being cynical it sounds like a way to shirk responsibility for study, hard work and a career. Man, I sound like an old fart but the levels of self-entitlement in kids these days drives me nuts.

Hope the weather in Sydney is better this year on Xmas day, was torrential rain all day last year!

I struggled when I got here, but since getting some local experience I'm finding it easier, now on my 3rd role since arriving in Oct last year. No one gives a toss about your nationality, the big companies have a very international workforce with Asia, Europe (including Spain, France, Ireland, UK) and NZ all well represented.

Quality of goods is poor as is price, however I've found the customer service to be fine in most places. There will always be clueless teenagers working in retail - they are on the whole friendlier here than in London, probably because they are paid more fairly here.

I'm going for some birthday drinks in Surry Hills later, but this coincides with an early QPR kick off (for once) on Setanta at 9.15pm. Anyone know any nearby pubs around the Oxford Street end of Surry Hills that has Setanta? Don't mind how crappy the pub is. Cheers

I'm on TPG, ADSL2+ (get around 20MB down speed), unlimited allowance, line rental $60 per month. There is a setup cost of about $100 I think. It's been a good service so far 4 months in.

They can fume away all they like, not only are the stores overpriced with poor quality merchandise and outdated fashion - the online offerings are non-existent, and where they exist often have high P&P (some of them charge as much as shipping from the UK). Bought some adidas trainers the other day, 60 quid from jd delivered. I can get them from Hype or Footlocker for $140. Not as bad as it used to be but the price differential was 70c to the pound 6 months ago. Instead of moaning about it, the Aussie retailers should have used their strong $ to offer a solid online offer with good prices - they stuck with overpriced bricks and mortar and it will be hard to catch up now with the dollar now heading towards 2 to 1 with the British pound. The quality of clothes from the low priced retailers are very shoddy. When I was looking for a job I bought a couple of pairs of cheap shoes from Target/K-mart. They lasted about 3 weeks.

Only wear glasses at home, -3.5 in both eyes. I wear daily disposables which are very easy to use and cheap 50p a day. After years of wear I can put them in 30 secs without flinching. They are cheaper direct from UK to Oz.