Marisawright

some parts are nice, I really liked coogee. I'd probably like bondi and manly. But I just don't like the actual centre. I don't know wether it's because I constantly get lost lol

I loved living in Sydney but I never liked the centre either! The only reason I ever went there was to work!

I lived in Randwick but would have been happy to live in Coogee. Easy commute to the city on the bus, but actually when my niece was living in Randwick, she found it easier to find cafe work locally than in the city.

Anyway, please don't stay in Sydney just because you're scared of going anywhere else, that's a bad reason to be anywhere!

I'm going to go to Melbourne and visit the neighbours set. The taxi driver was laughing at me when I said that :laugh: I get a bit hesitant when local people here ask me if I like it but the ladies in the commonwealth bank told me to go to Melbourne because it's nicer lol

You'll find people who will say that. There's a huge rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney - Sydneysiders think Melbourne is grey and boring, Melbourne people think Sydney is brash. Maybe the ladies in the bank were transferees from Melbourne!

Personally, I'd say if you think Sydney is like Manchester, then Melbourne is even more so! A city is a city - if you don't like big cities then you're not going to like Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane CBD's, IMO.

And yes Coles has the "international section" that has cadburys, irn bru, tetley teabags. But I don't like paying $10 for 40 teabags.....although i might succumb as being british, good tea is like sex.....hot, delicious and voluntary in the mornings!

 

 

The secret is NOT to stick to brands you know. Think back - way back in time, you found your favourite brands by a process of elimination, trying various brands till you found the ones you liked best. You will now see lots of new brands you've never tried - so try them! Who knows, you might decide Dilmah tea tastes even better than Tetleys! If you never try you'll never know.

I found, when I got back to the UK, that I had to change my food buying/cooking habits, otherwise I'd have been paying out a fortune. In Australia, processed foods (e.g. fish cakes, meat with sauces added, ready meals, prepared veggies) are expensive. You'll save a lot of money by learning how to DIY with fresh foods.

Hi JockinTas,

 

What would be the average living cost/ week for single person?

Surely you have realised by now, we do not have any members of this forum living in that area, so there is no one here who can tell you that.

Bowral is almost a suburb of Sydney now. Wealthy Sydney people retire there, and some younger people commute to Sydney too, so it is very expensive (unlike most of the rest of the area you mention). Queanbeyan is also quite expensive because it is almost a suburb of Canberra. Elsewhere will be cheaper, but rentals in country areas are always expensive. Look on domain.com.au, realestate.com.au and allhomes.com.au to get an idea of rentals.

Report the agent to the registration body:

https://www.mara.gov.au/

Tell the agent you're reporting him and see whether he's more helpful!

I got Income Protection Insurance shortly after arriving in Australia with no problems, and I had a pre-existing condition as well. I don't see why you'd need trauma insurance as well? If you have health insurance, then that will look after your hospital costs and the income protection insurance will look after paying your salary while you recover. Also, if you get a lump sum from trauma insurance, your income protection may not pay out anything (my income protection had a clause saying it wouldn't pay out if you had already claimed for the same incident from any other insurance policy).

That's also a reason to check out what insurances your superannuation will offer. Insurance within your super is often cheaper than paying it yourself, too - and since you can keep the same super fund when you change employers these days, it's nice and straightforward.

You can (and should) choose your superannuation provider yourself - your employer will have a default fund but you don't have to accept it, you just fill in a form and give it to them. So look for one that's got the insurances you want. Here's one of the biggest funds which offers insurances:

https://www.australiansuper.com/superannuation/why-choose-australiansuper/insurance-choices.aspx

Thank you all.

 

I can feel that RRV is the last option, If I am late to move.

 

No, it is not. If you don't live in Australia at all in the next 5 years, then your RRV will be refused. It is for people who have made a home in Australia and needed to leave temporarily, not for people who have still not settled in the country. If you cannot show you have a home or close ties in Australia, it will not be granted.

Not horrible at all...bloody lovely. 30d now at 6pm. Feels amazing.

See, this is my dilemma @HappyHeart. Living back in the UK has made me realise how much I love Australia - but the weather just hates me. Anything over 30 deg makes me feel physically sick, and I sweat so much it's dripping off my nose. It wasn't a problem for the first 20 years in Oz, but ever since I hit menopause I just can't handle heat.

So really id be paying loads just to live somewhere that I'm not that keen on anyway. But I'm scared to move on incase there's even less chance of me finding work

As you say, why on earth pay a fortune to live somewhere you don't like? You are perfectly entitled not to like Sydney, don't let people sway you into staying just because they love it, everyone's different.

Don't let people scare you about not finding work elsewhere. It's coming up to Christmas and summer, so it's absolutely the best time to find work in the holiday areas - probably just as much as Sydney if not more.

@Tina2 and @Collie, if you want to continue discussing the family court, I've opened a new thread for you here.

The OP is still a long way from having to deal with the Family Court and let's hope she never needs to, I think major discussions about that prospect are only likely to be depressing for her, so let's not get bogged down!

A good tip to find something useful to do while you're "stuck". We're not happy in the UK but for various reasons will be sticking it out till some time next year. In the meantime, we're focussing on taking our ballroom dancing to the next level, and I'm working on my fitness at the gym.

I've just had a quote from a company to take 200 books & documents, 2 big toolboxes with tools, and loads of clothes from London to Perth.

£366 is this good?

 

I'm interested to know what you shipped over?

 

How much it cost?

 

What did you replace once in Australia?

 

Did you regret not taking anything with you?

That sounds pretty good to me.

We recently came back from Oz to the UK and I must say, I'm sorry we didn't ship more of our furniture and belongings. Although none of it was new, most of it had several years' life left in it - and not having had to buy new furniture and kitchen stuff for a while, I was shocked at the cost of replacing it.

More importantly, though, I hadn't thought about the time and hassle involved in traipsing round the shops to buy all the stuff, especially if you're new to an area and don't know the retailers.

Of course, if you ship everything, then you have the juggling act of when to send it and how to manage until it all arrives!

We were in your situation and eventually we decided and came back to the UK in July (for the same reasons).

Just to clarify, were you the one homesick for the UK or was it your oh? Do you think you (or he) will suffer from homesickness again if you go back and how will you deal with that?

When I send gifts over to Australia I now just send gift cards either Westfield cards or Target as post for sending gifts over is getting sometimes more expensive then the gift. Sorry I can not be of any help, like previous poster I do remember Lush as I nearly ordered a gift off there for someone.

That's what I mean - I don't send any gifts "over" any more. If I'm in the UK and I'm ordering for someone in Australia, I order it from the Australian site and they send it within Australia, meaning the postage is a mere fraction of the cost. Same if I'm in Australia and ordering for someone in the UK - I order from the UK sites.

As far as my husband's side of things go, he simply does not want to move. ...He absolutely has a great life - he works two jobs one of which he adores, has a hobby he loves and has a good social life. Everything we do is based around his jobs and hobby which has a massive impact on our lives(

So, not only does your husband have a great life that he doesn't want to leave, HIS wants and needs dominate you and the entire family? I trust he minds the kids sometimes so you can get equal time on your hobbies and interests? If not why not?

I suggest this is something else to talk over with the counsellor. You may always long for Wales, but perhaps it would be more bearable if you had a real life of your own in Australia, as an independent woman with your own identity and purpose, instead of being tacked on to your husband's lifestyle.

You're certainly not alone in being in that situation - many women to do everything to support the man they love and and his interests, and fit their own needs into the free time left. Then the children come along and suddenly there's no free time for you to be you, the woman not you, the mother.

When I was living in Australia, I just went to google.co.uk instead of google.com.au, searched for gifts and ordered them from UK stores.

People in the UK can do the same for Australia - how about:

Lush.com.au - same as Lush in the UK.

Hampers with Bite - Christmas hampers

Kogan Australia

Red Balloon - for "experiences"

Then of course there's Myer, David Jones, any store that has an internet site.

It was decided for us, because the only state hiring teachers overseas was Victoria. Unfortunately one of the conditions was that you had to work in a rural area and we soon found out that country life didn't suit us. The Dept of Education wouldn't allow a transfer to a Melbourne school - even if the alternative that my oh would leave their service - so we had no alternative but to look for work in the private sector. He applied for several jobs and got one in Sydney, so that's where we went.

We were babes in the woods then with no idea how different each of the capital cities was. Nowadays I'd be looking at things like housing costs, job opportunities, weather, lifestyle, pests and diseases, culture and trying to weigh up which one would suit me best.

I think that the views (and bushwalks) are better from Blackheath .. Blackheath has a bit going on too doesn't it? (I've not been up there for a long time.)

Yes, believe it or not we actually thought of moving up there at one time. You should take a $2.50 trip up there one day! A nice main street with cafes and restaurants plus TWO pubs with reasonable food and a friendly crowd. It's a fairly arty place too.

There is also a 1-year option and if all else fails a 3-month option as well.

Makes no difference though - he still needs to accumulate his two years' residency.

He shouldn't re-apply right now, he would have to wait until he's finally ready to move to Oz to live - otherwise he'll just find himself in the same dilemma again eventually.

Then next week at some point im going to do a trip to the blue mountains because I've wanted to go for ages and I might suss out if there's any jobs in katoomba

There's lots of cafes and a few restaurants in Leura (which is the village before Katoomba). It's a small place but almost the whole main street is eateries!

The Mountains might suit you better if you're not a city girl. The nice thing about the Blue Mountains is that you can get easily from one village to another on the train and it's not dear. I really like Blackheath but it is a very long way from Sydney town!

I think I'm going to move to a new hostel for my second week and then just stay in Sydney for the second week like planned but job hunt and go around different areas away from the CBD that i might like better. Then if I'm not liking it by end of my second week then I'll definitely move on if I think I'm as likely to find a job in Melbourne or somewhere like that

If you think the CBD is like Manchester, I'm afraid you won't be that impressed by most of the suburbs either - they're just family suburbs like anywhere else, on the whole. The Eastern Suburbs is where most of the backpackers and WHV holders congregate because they're the lively, fun suburbs, but they are also by far the most expensive to live in so that's your dilemma.

Guess we're all different. One of my daughters supports her family ( husband doesn't work and hasn't for 12 years) on a modest income but they have paid off their mortgage, have 2 kids at private schools etc. BUT they live very, very frugally

Definitely do-able if you've paid off the mortgage - the problem for the OP is that they'll have to find around $30,000 a year to pay rental costs, and that will punch a huge hole in a $75,000 salary.

That's one way of looking at it, but perhaps your niece might have had more of an Aussie experience staying in Sydney, maybe meeting plenty of Aussies, as opposed to seeing more of Australia, but in the company of other overseas backpackers.

She did have a good time - but the point is, SHE regretted it in the end, because she felt she had to rush through other places that, in hindsight, she would've liked to stay in for much longer.

Everybody here seems to be running off to places like Byron bay and cairns

I feel bad because I know you've read my posts (and others) about hating the heat and I think it's made you more worried about that than you need to be.

The heat gets wearing if you're living with it year after year - if I had friends in Cairns who invited me to stay, I wouldn't hesitate to visit them even in the height of summer - I know I can cope for a few weeks. Especially if they're close to the coast so you can get some cooling breezes.

We did our application ourselves, but that was long ago and it was an awful lot simpler.

The big risk with doing it yourself is that if you make one little mistake, you're stuffed. They don't come back to you and ask, "did you mean....?", they just reject the application and you've lost your application fee.

Whereas if you use a MARA registered agent, it will cost about twice as much but at least you know it will be done properly - and they won't advise you to apply unless they're pretty sure you've got a good chance of approval.