Bromney

There are NO wrong reasons. A good reason for someone maybe a wrong person for someone else, there is no universal 'right' reason fit.

Had my first ever car accident today, reversed into another car. The spare wheel on my Honda CRV managed to mount the bonnet of the Mazda Mirage behind me. Worst case, anyone know how much it would to replace the whole bonnet of the Mazda including labour costs? Thanks.

You are contradicting yourself. You state your sis-in-law mainly has old school friends and is closed off to making friends but then also state the majority of your friends are from school or uni!!! Its natrual people aren't that interested in making friends when they already have a circle of friends. Its not impossible to make friends, really depends on the effort you put in an the ppl you meet.

True story......I was suffering from appendicitis for sometime. I was taken to A&E on a Sat night by a friend, I was misdiagnosed and told to take some antibiotics. By Monday the pain was so excruciating I called my GP and got an appointment for 5pm the same day. Luckily for me a family friend (a doctor) living in Ireland was visiting and saw me and decided I needed to be taken to A&E. It took 7 hours and 5 doctors and a lot of arguing from my family friend for the registrar to finally agree to admit me into hospital. Within an hour of my admission I was rushed into surgery, spent 9 days in hospital to recover and I was told I was very close to septicemia which would have killed me. Moral of the story? The NHS is a big system, you have good and bad in it like any system. I could argue the NHS was crap in misdiagnosing me but then again it was the same NHS that saved my life (with some intervention from my family friend). I was lucky and some others maybe aren't so lucky, there is no magic fix for it. However the sooner the UK government clamps down on hospital tourists the better the system will be.

Kings College have excellent staff, my dad has been there a couple of times and has always been well looked after. Mayday on the other day is an absolute shocker and deserves it's moniker of 'may die'!

You're not going to get the best for everyone, not when there is the geographical challenge. I woukd say stay in the UK as it sounds like you'd miss your parents terribly. I don't know how strong your oh's pull is towards Aus but you guys need to have a serious chat. Be warned you're going to get conflicting opinions from people here. The only real sensible thing to do is talk to your oh and explain your concerns and take it from there. Maybe you can strike an agreement to trial it for a year or something? Good luck, hope you make whatever decision is right for you.

As above but also try the $2 shops, they sometimes have decent stuff.

Yep, very much depends on location for how good your GP surgery is. While I do think the NHS is struggling to keep up I think it's a great system in principle, I've been confused enough by Medicare to realise how great the NHS is. Trouble is for hard working tax payers in the UK the system is being abused by a lot of people, real shame.

Equally there's no shortage of humour amongst the Aussies, it all depends on who you meet and your personal experiences. Have you tried dating sites? Or googling meet ups to expand your opportunities to meet 'the one'?

I come from London and now live in Sydney. Both have their merits and it really does depend on your personal desires. For a single person looking to meet maybe London is better as one or two friends its hard to meet ppl in Sydney. Having said that i met a guy last week that meets girls very easily (in Sydney) so really depends on you and not the city. Both great cities, just remember how lucky you are to be in a position to be able to make the choice. Good luck in the decision! I'm happy in Sydney as a married guy but maybe London is easier to meet ppl especially when you can connect with the humour.

Fair enough, maybe I shouldn't be comparing GBP to AUD. I guess it's a little hard to not draw comparisons as the chunk of my savings are in GBP. Although I'm earning AUD it'll be some time if I have to purely rely on my AUD to save up for a place.

Congrats on the job and welcome to Sydney. I've been here 4 months and love it but luckily I have family (wife's family) otherwise I can see how I would struggle. Sydney CBD is fairly small compared to London or NYC so you'll quickly find your way around. Plenty of lunch time options around and depending on where you work there are some beautiful water views to be had while eating your lunch. Alternatively you can do sports as that seems to be a very popular thing to do. Good luck with everything.

Good question hence I'm in a quandary at the moment. Looking at to buy properties but the value placed on it vs the quality (imho) doesn't seem justifiable but then paying $500 a week for a 1 bed rental seems equally crazy! Luckily I have family willing to let me stay rent free but I think I'll most likely rent as I'm simply not convinced this bubble is going to keep growing.

I find it astounding that anyone could justify these prices. A 2 bed flat 9 miles away from central London can be had for around 250k (GBP) while a similar in Sydney (same distance from CBD) would cost you around 600k (about 414k GBP). Who on Earth can afford these places? Surely it all over valued and will decline at some point? I don't believe it's sustainable.

Its where my in-laws live, Marrickville is indeed good. Going through bit of a regeneration with the redevelopment of Sydneham station and some tredny new Coffe shops opening (Cornersmith, Coffee Alchemy)

Couldn't agree more as someone looking to get a place. We can afford the rent but it is so astrnomical for what you get.

The Aussie companies do seem to love online tests and pyschometric tests regardless of your experiences. It doesnt appear to be the same for contract roles, no tests involved there. Mind you, ASX didnt put me through any tests either.

Some great suggestions there, a couple more..... - tourist. Check out Sydney Sky tower, great views of the city. - shopping. QVB (near townhall), old school type of building, worth looking. Also, Haigh's (chocolates) have a branch there! - eating. Mamak (chinatown) for great Malaysian food. Pitt st mall food court is fantastic. Plenty of by the water dining on king street wharf. Cargo do a great $10 steak at lunchtimes mon - Wed. Enjoy Sydney!

I do believe Aussie consumers are, at times, simply ripped off. Take a look at what you get charged for some software, these are things you download on line (after paying) so there aren't even shipping costs involved! Until consumers vote with their feet not much will change. Huzzah for online consumerism! I recently bought a PS3 game from the UK via online, saved myself $40 with delivery.

Take the job, as you say guaranteed zero unemployment time. What are you basing your salary expectations on? Have you looked at salary surveys to see what kind of money you should be expecting for your role? Personally I think the IT market is doing quite well, definitely the case in Sydney.

That is so frustrating. Did they at least provide any feedback? What did the other guy have your OH didn't? Help him keep his hopes up, a mate of mine just landed a job after 16 months of unemployment.

Nothing really that different, same kind of questions and nothing that will seem to be discriminating i.e. are you planning to start a family? I have to agree with Rupert, a UK formatted CV works perfectly well and I don't really get having to retro fit your CV for the Australian market. I did this originally but then reverted back to my old format, it was my old format that ended up getting me 3 jobs.

Whilst I agree it's crap and not a good advertisment for a city, we don't actually know if anything prompted the abuse in the first instance. With so many Asians in Sydney why would he target these people in particular?of course, he could be going around abusing all the Asians on all the buses. It would seem public transport is dangerous anywhere in the world - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-21990788

Weather, food courts, friendlines, being with OH's family, beer o'clock at work. Oh and easy access to sports facilities.