Danners

My three (soon to be four) year old is missing his pals back home. Anyone around the Northern Beaches want to meet up at a park for a play date? Dan damnit, typo in the header - Elanora Heights!

thanks, this is probably what they were talking about

I'm moving on a 457 - someone mentioned that I might be able to offset my rent against my income tax. Are they barking up the wrong tree? I can do it in Hong Kong, where I live at the moment. cheers

Where are you going to be? Could do with meeting some people in the same boat as us!

Elanora Heights for the first month ... then who knows! Hoping to find something around Frenchs Forest / Forestville

We arrive on the 15th!

Less than two weeks to go. Anxiety levels are through the roof. This time in less than two weeks I'll officially be a PIO.

When we arrive we are staying in Elanora Heights for a month so I'll get a sense then for what the commute will be like from there. I'm not bothered at all about living in the city - that's exactly what I'm trying to get away from, in fact. But I will need to go to the office at times and <1h commute door to door is preferable. Otherwise, I just want a modest house with nice neighbours and places to run!

We stayed there too on our recce in July! Say Hi to Nicky!

Your arrival date in Oz was pretty much my arrival date on Earth! I hope that in 35 years I'll be able to look back on my decision to bring my family to Australia with no regrets

I'll be working in the CBD but with plenty of opportunity to work from home. I'm just looking for somewhere quiet, green, with a bit of space, and a reasonable commute. I spent some time recently around Dee Why and drove about a wee bit. Thought these 'burbs looked nice and are in budget. I have places lined up at schools in these areas for my son ... No other particular reason than that to be honest. I just want a quiet life

Hi, similar situation here. I'm moving with my company - also starting Jan 13th and looking to live North Sydney! My visa was taken care of by my firm (fairly large multinational with offices in Sydney). Approval process took 4 weeks from start to finish but this was all locked in back in July. My family and I all needed medicals before they were approved but it was a pretty painless process. In terms of temp accomodation, we found a one month let through North Sydney facebook groups. Then it's going to be a mad dash to find somewhere longer term when we get feet on the ground. All agents I've been speaking to are telling me the market is very fluid and there's no point even looking really until a couple days before you arrive as places go super quick. Would love to know how you get on - feel free to PM me.

I'm aiming for Forstville/Belrose when I arrive in a few weeks

Thanks, the bus does seem like a really good option. Maybe I'll just get a scooter for running around Cheaper and more environmentally friendly option than a second car!

1) Fine bars for selling alcohol to drunk people. I can't stress this enough - in the same way supplying alcohol to minors is illegal, selling more booze to already drunk people should be too. 2) More tax on booze aimed at specifically at youngsters (alcopops etc). 3) For people that are D&D, give them a choice of a) hefty fine, or b) mandatory alcohol education classes. 4) repeat offenders: mandatory civic service (cleaning streets on a Sat/Sun morning) or, last resort, jail. If only I were PM of the world...

I bank with HSBC and have an account in the UK and one in Hong Kong. I tried to open one in Oz but there customer service in HK is terrible making it a royal pita. So I opened an NAB account online - which was a DODDLE. I may open an HSBC account when I arrive as transferring money between HSBC accounts will be easier, but I'm going to use NAB for my day-to-day stuff and if their service holds up I may end up moving everything to NAB. ninja edit: finding an HSBC branch when I was there in July was a major chore

thanks guys. I guess option b could be to cycle/scoot to my nearest train station. I'm just trying to figure out the logistics of working in the city but living as far away as is practicable

Mine are a little younger; our boy will be nearly four and our girl will be 18 months. Can't wait to get there and get stuck in

thanks vicky, much appreciated. Keen to find out about parking etc ...

Hi, I'm arriving in Sydney with my wife and two young children in December. I may have to pick your brains nearer the time as we'll be going through the same thing! How old are your little monkeys?

Ditto Hong Kong. Two year max and you're moved onto the next place because of crazy rent increases or because the owner sells the apartment to cash in the crazy property market. I can't wait until I can buy a place ... sadly it will be at least a couple years before I can apply for PR. Meantime, I'll just do what I've always been doing and save as much as possible towards the deposit.

100% agree. Also, as someone that has rented for the last seven years, I just want a place I can make home. Not have to ask about putting up shelves or whatever. Because I've not owned the property I live for ages, I've never really felt compelled to make it homely...

For me, coming from Hong Kong, I have a much better chance of being able to afford somewhere in Sydney. And out in the burbs the prices aren't too crazy. Back in the UK I lived in Essex and commuted into London for work. Prices seem broadly comparable in Sydney, for a similar commute.

Anyone do this? I'm looking to live around Forestville, Belrose sort of way and considering transport options. Cheers

Hi, I absolutely don't have expensive tastes I'm hoping I've aggressively overestimated, to be honest. For the car insurance (likely a 3-4 year old safe family car) I've tried to account for registration and everything (someone told me it's 400 on top of the fully comp insurance, or something) plus insurance for a little scooter. just realised two things. 1) I've double counted the reg fees, 2) I've grossly overestimated the train fare. Sweet, that brings it down to about 8k