Bromney

Does anyone have any ideas on what you can do in Sydney with a 14 month old? Looking to do more outdoor things and wondering if anyone has any good recommendations?

Hi. Has anyone attempted to sound insulate their house in Sydney? Was it effective and if so are there are specific recommendations you can make? Maybe company or brand of material? I live in a semi detached and our bedroom backs on to the neighbours lounge. The tenants living next door have a loud TV and a tendency to stay up late!

Don't forget you also have to pay stamp duty on used cars in Australia, about 3% the value of the car. If buying from a dealer try and negotiate this off the total price. You'll find more competitive price points with private sales.

Most companies and agencies are not interested unless you are already in the country and you have working rights. There are a lot of candidates available locally so they only consider off-shore people where they require a niche skill-set.

I'm a PM and didn't think the rates were great in Sydney. However I've just landed 2 jobs in the space of a week with both offering the same rate I was getting in the UK, even with the AUD being almost 2:1 against the GBP. A lot depends on the agent as I think they end up taking a bigger share so you end up being paid less. Generally though London does offer better rates but then it is a bigger market with a lot more opportunities, especially in the finance sector.

Thanks for the replies guys. Decided not to say anything as there isn't a whole lot they can do. They are not being unduly noisy, unfortunately I think the build isn't of a great quality. If it gets any worse I will have words, am also going to look at putting in sound insulation if there is a cavity between the two sides of the wall.

We bought a semi-detached house in Sep. The guys next door were a quite couple with a young baby, much like us. Unfortunately they have bought elsewhere and rented their place out. The renters are a family with 2 older kids, around 10 or so. Their lounge backs on to our master bedroom and although it's a double brick wall we can hear every word of their conversation. We can't understand it as they speak Spanish. They can be very loud and they seem to sleep late so it goes on for a while. They are not making excessive noise so doubt the council can help. Has anyone faced anything similar and have any ideas how we can reduce the noise? I intend to speak to the neghibours tomorrow as its bothering me. I can hear the parents and at least one kid right now, it's 11.30pm!

Thanks all. I suspect it's expansion and contraction but am surprised by the amount of noise, it can be very loud and I guess I'm just concerned that it appears to be getting more frequent. I'll get a roofer in just to check it out to make sure there's nothing else happening. It should be OK as the extension was only built in 2007. Cheers.

We bought a house and moved in at the end of September. It's semi-detached, built in the 50's. It has a fairly large extension, this is Brick veneer and has a flat metal roof i.e. not enough of a gap between the roof and the ceiling for a person to get in. The front of the house has a tiled roof and plenty of crawl space. We've been hearing a lot of strange noises pretty much since we moved in. There is a lot of 'popping', 'cracking' sounds that can be heard through out the day and in the evenings. Don't really hear at night (past 10pm), there is occasionally a noise or two. We've ruled out Possums and have thrown up a lot of rat poison (through the downlights in the ceiling). We've also had pest control around and the noises continue. Interestingly pest control couldn't find any evidence of Rats but since they can't get into the flat roof they can't be certain we don't have Rats. Now I'm thinking it's something issue with the roof rather than pests. Does anyone have any experience of metal roofs where they are cause a lot of noises? I'm thinking of getting a roofer in to take a look but will need to wait until after Xmas now. The noises seem to getting louder and more frequent which is a real concern.

Singapore all the way for me, simply can't fault them. Never known Emirates so can't compare, from what I've heard Emirates are pretty decent too. If you can get a flight straight from Glasgow then I would just choose to go with Emirates, why go through the hassle of getting to Manchester when the trip is already long enough?

Bring everything you possibly can. We regret having left behind/giving away lots of stuff. Some of the prices are comparable some cheaper and some more expensive but if you already have the things you need bring them and save yourself time and effort shopping for it again. Unless of course you want something newer.

We used Anglo Pacific about 2 years ago, can't fault them. Very reliable and reasonably priced.

Pest control say they will just lay bait externally which I can do myself. There is no crawl space in the roof so it's not possible to get a visual. I'm contemplating buying a snake like video camera from eBay and trying to have a look through the downlight. Yeah I think I will try another bait but would feel so more confident if I knew what the h*ll was making all that stupid noise!

The noises aren't restricted to night time, they occur during the day too. In fact they are probably worse in the day than at night, them seem very active in the morning around 10am. I've just been hearing them now but it's the odd 'thud thud' here and there. I've also laid traps outside but nothing has been taken so far. It's the not knowing that makes this frustrating.

We moved into a house we purchased a few weeks ago. It's a 3 bedroom semi-detached place with a large extension. The extension's roof is a flat metal roof, there is no crawl space. We've been hearing something in the roof, a lot of random noises at all kinds of hours. We suspect it's roof rats but unable to confirm as we can't actually access the roof. After reading various sites I put ratsak in the roof by pulling down the downlights, idea being they'd eat it and die. It's been 10 days and I can still hear the buggers, it's a lot quiter than what it was so it's possible one or more of them have eaten it and the rest have become wise. Has anyone else had to deal with something similar? Do you have any advice on what else we can do? If it was a roof with a crawl space this would be much easier!

I have been resident in Australia since Dec 2012 on a PR and converted my UK issued drivers licence to a full Australian licence. I am going to the UK on holiday and want to get temporary cover on my sisters car, should I state I have an Aussie licence even though it was originally issued by the UK? Does anyone recommend any insurer? I've just looked at DailyInsure and am being quoted 122 (GBP) for 11 days cover on a Nissan Micra!! I used to insure my more powerful Golf for 350 (GBP) for the entire year, fully comprehensive!

I don't know about the PS4 but I found out last year some games for the PS3 are region locked. Check the game carefully before you buy. It is true games are more expensive here, I just ordered mine from Amazon UK and paid the postage cost and it worked out to be cheaper than buying locally here.

That is no excuse, there simply isn't any excuse. They are less than cowards. Why do bullies always pick on people below their size?!

I work in IT in Sydney and have been here for 1.5 years on a PR (Aussie wife). Here are a couple of things to understand in the Sydney market. 1) If you come from a finance IT background be warned the finance market is much much smaller here when compared to London or other big financial centres. This means there are less jobs especially in the Investment banking side. Having said Wealth Management, Pension funds and Insurance is pretty big. Only downside is they expect experience and a lot of the times they expect specific experience within the Australian market i.e. an understanding of FOFA. I would strongly suggest you do some background reading and at least understand the basic concepts, this will impress. 2) There are some that believe you should be able to 'double' your pay in Australia, this is NOT a general rule. Personally I am on a par with what I was on in the UK but with the cost of living being higher I am actually worse off. A friend of mine working in application support has increased his pay in moving from the UK to here from around $60k to $85k, this certainly isn't double. The real killer is the high exchange rate so invariably when you make a direct comparison it doesn't look as good. 3) IT consulting services are very big in Sydney. If you have vendor experience or client experience you really shouldn't have a problem finding a role. 4) Look up salary surverys to get a feel for the market, there are plenty around. Here's one example, http://www.roberthalf.com.au/technology-salary-guide 5) Recruiters will lie the world over, Sydney is no different. Don't be afraid to apply for jobs directly to companies, I have landed 3 jobs in my short time here and two were direct applications.

yep, meant a jog. Walsh bay is near circular quay. I ended up going for a run past opera house, into the botanical gardens and around Mrs. Macquarie ' s chair. The views never cease to impress me.

Going to our first auction on Saturday to bid! Any practical advice to offer from anyone that has attended auctions and bid? I know not to get emotional but it's difficult to contain the excitement!

Glorious day today, perfect for a run down by Walsh bay.

The list of OPAL card retailers is only shops where you can top up your OPAL card, I'm pretty sure you can't actually buy one there. However there are pop up kiosks opening up at most major train stations between now and the end of September so you could pick up one here. Check out this link for a list of stations and times the kiosks are open. https://www.opal.com.au/en/transport-info/find-an-opal-card-kiosk/ The Oyster card was far better rolled out than this OPAL farce.

No, not been to picnic point but no desire to move there. We've short listed our preferred areas for various reasons including needing to be close to trains as the OH doesn't drive. We've decided to go for the Bev Hills place. It's on auction this coming Sat, wish me luck!!

No thanks necessary, happy to share some thoughts on something I know about. The train timetable was changed at the start of the year, peak trains don't stop at Kogarah. This only puts more of a strain on Hurstville station, that place is heaving. How you've recovered well from your hernia.