Captain Roberto

Our last landlords were ar$eholes and the house was overpriced and they didn't repair broken stuff. But since we moved out the place has been empty (that's 15 weeks empty, - $15k - ha!) It's a bit pot-luck.

There are buses between palm beach and manly vale - so it's possible to get about up and down the coast. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Some people send their kids far away to school. Kids can commute to school on trains and buses. Many who live on the 'north shore belt' which is along the train line / pacific highway find this easy as the kids all get the train. Going east to west is more problematic due to the way the land looks (water, topography). Personally we find it enough of a hustle as it is without getting your kids to add to their day travelling long distances following a move to the other side of the world. So our family like the idea of the kids being nearer the school and their friends. The general happiness levels and day to day wellbeing is more important that 'grades'. But each to their own and a personal choice for you guys! NBSC is well rated but it's down towards manly/Brookvale over a few campuses and is selective or semi selective. Many people like forestville (Killarney Heights) and Davidson. This is inland but not too far from the beaches and closer to the city and better for a commute. Good luck! If you can get chance to look for yourself you should. Hard to know from googling! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

yes, it depends, many variables with schools. we moved to Newport 3 months ago, but my kids are still in school in our old suburb In Killara. (PS - this a quick/short reply as not much time) We can't afford private, and use state schools. The primary (public) schools are good I believe. High Schools are not too bad, hopefully 'good enough' but we haven't started yet. We found that they are very strict on catchment, so if you live in Narrabeen, you have to go to Narrabeen sports high. Our eldest is going to Pittwater (Mona Vale) and it's pretty ok I think, but only really rates in the middle of the the rankings of NSW high schools (whereas Killara, her current school) rates highly, almost the same as the private schools. you can research the pass rates: http://myschool.edu.au/SchoolProfile/Index/94105/PittwaterHighSchool/41333/2015 Barrenjoey in Avalon gets a slightly higher rating than Pittwater, but not a great deal in it really. Not too sure about Narrabeen! I heard it was ok, maybe not as good good as these two, but don't take my word for it. It's only bits others say at nippers etc. davidson is good i hear, but you will probably need to love in or near catchment to get a place Private schools that are popular include Pittwater House in Collaroy and places like Ravenswood (A girls school), and Knox (Boys school) as they do buses in ($$$). you can search these things as rated in HSC results: https://www.matrix.edu.au/2015-high-school-rankings/ and http://bettereducation.com.au/results/hsc.aspx There's many variables and depends where you will live Matt

Where to live, it's pretty subjective - if you have any way of not pinning yourself down straight away, you should take a look at a few places for yourself. If you can get some kind of 3 month thing set up when you arrive and can afford to spend weekends looking around, you'll probably be better off in the long run. You should get a better idea where to stay longer term after 3 months. (although if you have kids in school and all that jazz it's not too easy to do - as we found out) Not sure about the rest of Australia, but Sydney varies quite a bit from suburb to suburb. The way I see it, if you are going to move half way way the world, and go through a big upheaval, you might as well try and base yourself somewhere where you can enjoy your downtime. Otherwise, you could be anywhere. Commuting is a bit of a pain, it's not the distances. Just the traffic blocks up on busy routes - of which there are many!

Buses are more variable in general compared to trains, as there's a lot of traffic and it's not entirely predictable - but in general terms I'd say it could get there up 15 to 30 mins later than optimum time. I get the bus from Newport sometimes and it's pretty predictable until it hits those busy spots (in my case from the Spit Bridge to the Harbour Bridge). But I wouldn't sweat it. Tons of people get buses, and everyone is in the same boat. car parking in the city is expensive and/or short hours only, so public transport if just a thing that everyone does. I work with loads of people who live out Eastern suburbs way, and most of them get the bus. Some cycle, some run part or all the way, and a lot of people use a motorbike as you can park for free.

It's true. The traffic is well crap! I will be a bus commuter from January. Not as fast as a north shore train, but at least I can chill, compared to the car. We moved mostly because my wife got a job at Mona Vale hospital - so at least the rest of our clan will be able to have a relatively easy life in future. PS - to the OP, apologies for thread hi-jacking! Neutral Bay will be great, I reckon you'll be fine there.

Nice. We live in Newport now, so it's only 5 mins away. Those Northern beaches larking permits are handy too! The only downside is that it takes forever to get to the city, and even longer to get over the Mona Vale road to the North shore (which I do every morning to take my kids to school in Killara!). Traffic is the pits... Kids will be moving schools in January!

Ah I quiet like it. It's a bit of 'urban' up on the NB - I guess Dee Why/Brookvale is the economic heart of the region really. As the beaches go, they are all kind of similar! Nice, clean, big waves, surfers, and rips you can drown in. Shelly beach is my favourite chilled beach up this way. Lovely

FWIW Bondi is a very nice beach. They all are mostly, the ocean beaches here. We've not been to a bad one from Palm Beach to Cronulla - Some are nicer than others, but they are all very good.

Yes, Balmoral is sweet. A great spot, plenty of places to hang. Lots of people get married there. Lovely chip shop too, and places to eat. When you are at Balmoral you can see the Manly ferry go past. Just do a google search for balmoral beach sydney and look at the images. Pretty ace.

Just double check stuff about Ahpra - you need that to be able to work (at least this was the case 2 years ago when we were prepping our move). It'll be on here. Diploma Nurses were getting a harder time getting Ahpra registered, but degree nurses could get that sorted easy. My wife's a nurse here Not sure about the rest of it. Call an agent, just for a preliminary chat, they should be able to answer some for free just to give you a rough idea what's what.

PS - Just noticed you were looking for a 4 week holiday place, as i only read original post after I wrote the post above. It might still work. It's groovy enough, and you can get around. Maybe if you just want to do the 'Sydney thing' I'd go for Manly or Bondi (or Coogee, Bronte etc - Eastern Burbs beach places) - find a bit of extra cash, get right where you want to be and enjoy it. Sydney is great, but some places are just suburbs. If you want to make the most of it, just go for the 'best rated' places that you think will be what you are looking for.

It's all very subjective, so you really need to take what people say here with that in mind, but there's lots going on in Neutral Bay and lots around there. It's all the stuff North Shore Pom said ^, and it's close to lots of other places too. So Mosman is the next suburb, and Military Road has a ton of cafes and restaurants. Pleases like Crows nest are quite nearby and Kirribilli, all nice suburbs. The Zoo is in that area, and you are close to Balmoral and Clontarf beaches (harbour beaches). It feels like the city, but less full on/business/grind than the CBD and places like Surry Hills. It's not too far to the Spit bridge, and the other side of that is the start of the northern beaches area, so easy to get to Manly or any of those ocean beaches by car or bus. I can't imagine you'd be bored. I guess if you want to be nearer Bondi, then just go live there or around that area. Many people say it can take up to 40 mins to get in and out of the city from Bondi, so it's not necessarily quick. It's not a massive deal getting over the harbour, but I would imagine if you lived on the North side you'd hang about there more often. For work commutes, distance doesn't always mean a longer commute. Places that look easy to get to can be a hassle (like Walsh bay, Harbour end of Pymont etc) - but there are tons of buses that go through Neutral Bay. you can jump on a bus to Wynyard and get a train if needed. Darling harbour is easily reached by car as a road goes straight in off the bridge to that area and onto the inner west. If you don't have any massive ties, kids to get into schools etc, then you could try it, and move if it's not right after a while. That's not uncommon around here. People I know seem to have lived here and there. Like most places there will be pros and cons. It's a desirable suburb, and that's reflected in the rent and real estate prices (but that's pretty much a Sydney wide thing anyway) http://www.homely.com.au/neutral-bay-north-sydney-sydney-greater-new-south-wales

It's very true that different parts of Sydney are totally different. We lived in a couple of different places and I've worked around the city a bit, loads of different places and different people. It's really subjective. Avoid the suburbs with nothing to do... you'll wonder why you moved there. None of this place makes a ton of sense financially. I don't think that's why people move here. You should try and get somewhere with people you could get on with, and a place that has things to do when you are not in work. Dare I say it, somewhere with more poms will probably work well! Probably not great answers, and others might disagree too, as they often do on here (everyone has an opinion! - everyone is different) - so that's my 2p worth. Mosman is very nice, and Balmoral is a lovely place. It's a bit poncey and snooty but I always enjoy it there. I think I'd rather be there than Sans Souci. Other than that, it's hardly any distance from Sans Souci to Cronulla and the Shire. It looks like it is on Google maps, but it takes no time in the car, or the train. So if you do go down that way there's no real need to be in Sans Souci - lots of nice parts down there, Bundeena, the National Park etc Also - if you like the idea of Mosman, there's lots of nice parts to the north and East of there. The lower Northern beaches etc

Probably quite long. 1 hour on a bus to Wynyard then on train Possibly 45 mins by car if you leave really early. It's most likely not the right place for an eastern suburbs commute. Maybe try Randwick, Kingsford, Coogee, Little bay, eastlakes, woolharah, Bondi junction area (there's nicer bits around there). That way you'll be much closer to where you need to be. There's a @NickyNook on here who will know a lot more about these areas and will be able to guide you better than I can. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's not simple. And I wasn't saying 'this is a good place over that place'. It's pretty hard to buy for sure. Most people I know who bought started years ago. And I am sure if you buy you will also reap the benefits, If you can survive the first 10 years. The way I see it mortgages are very expensive. But rents are too. It's all expensive. sydney is the 'money' place with lots of opportunity. Not sure how it all adds up yet Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If it helps - despite liking it here, we kind of wished we had maybe looked at Brisbane too as its very hard to buy in Sydney - the kind of house we'd need comes in around 1.3million + Whereas you can get the same or better for half the price in Brisbane. I might not get as much work there though, which makes sydney a good place for us. But Brisbane is a good place. And even in sydney it can take an hour and more to get to work. Not sure if that's an option - or whether you plan on staying long term. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We live in Killara (north shore, 3 stops up from Chatswood) until Wednesday, then we are moving to Newport (northern beaches) Killara has great transport link by train and great schools but is very reserved and conservative in most ways and there isn't much to do especially in the evening and weekends. It's not really for us - hence the move. Northern beaches are very nice but it's takes longer to commute as its buses. It's all very subjective - I'd say Sydney has a wide range of places to live, all the different flavours. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

aha! Well without meaning any upset to other posters on PIO, but I tend to find that most comments and advice on here to have a generally cautious/negative tendency. I'm sure these people mean well, but it's not that helpful in my experience. I haven't lived anywhere else in Australia, but I'd agree with @Rallyman and say that Sydney does has lots to offer. In our case it takes a little while to get things moving, but we seem to do ok here. It's hard to explain really. Some things are expensive (rent/mortgage/property) - groceries are probably a little more expensive for soem things (vegetables out of season etc), but some food is cheaper. But loads of things are way cheaper, including all forms of transport (trains, buses, fuel). Cars are maybe equal. Wine is cheap! They have H&M. To cut a long story short, it should feel like everything is more expensive, but once you get into the swing of things, we feel like we do ok here. It all seems to somehow balance out, I can't say how exactly, but it works. We never had spare money in the UK and we don't have loads here, but we get by, and we eat out more here. My wife is a clinical care specialist (Nurse) and I am a designer/animator and we do ok (although it probably works best when we both work full time). We are also from North Wales and feel that life has a whole lot more to offer here. Summer is coming, it's warming up again. We think it's good. Our kids do more outdoor stuff, and my eldest went to a gig with her mates last night with her mates in the train. That would never happen in Wrexham... They al have mates in school from all over the place. Their parents are from Singapore, India, China, Hungary, Iran, Manchester. There are even a few Australians! This is our perspective coming from a not so exciting town in Wales. Sydney works well if you think positive, get your head down and get the work done and just get on with it. Also if it helps, our income this last year has been maybe a bit more like $130 - $140 - but should go up by $20k this year as we are now both in a better place workwise. So I think $150k would be ok. I have mates who have quite 'fancy' higher paid jobs, but they have young kids and their wives don't work, and they do ok too.

Here's a couple of recent studies: http://www.domain.com.au/news/domain-liveable-sydney-citys-555-suburbs-ranked/ and http://www.domain.com.au/news/for-the-most-liveable-sydney-areas-for-families-head-north-20160812-gqoetj/ I wouldn't take these exactly at face value, but there's some tips there, There's loads of places here, all with a slightly different flavour, and different cost of living.

this may or may not be useful - a couple of recent studies: http://www.domain.com.au/news/domain-liveable-sydney-citys-555-suburbs-ranked/ and http://www.domain.com.au/news/for-the-most-liveable-sydney-areas-for-families-head-north-20160812-gqoetj/ I wouldn't take these exactly at face value, but there's some tips there, There's loads of places here, all with a slightly different flavour, and different cost of living.

Here's a couple of recent studies: http://www.domain.com.au/news/domain-liveable-sydney-citys-555-suburbs-ranked/ and http://www.domain.com.au/news/for-the-most-liveable-sydney-areas-for-families-head-north-20160812-gqoetj/ I wouldn't take these exactly at face value, but there's some tips there, There's loads of places here, all with a slightly different flavour, and different cost of living.

You'd get by on that ok I think. Can't say for sure with rentals - but if there's only 3 of you you can get by on a 2 bedroom place. So you could probably live around the eastern suburbs. Coogee is really nice. Randwick has nice bits and prices drop a bit towards Kingsford. The girls school at Randwick is meant to be quite good. Many use the catholic schools as it means you have more choice where you live (although we couldn't afford that with 3 kids!) No solid answers but there's some ideas to look up. I think the high school at Rose Bay is also pretty good. When we looked into it the high school near Marubra was best avoided There's others on here who live over that way who can be more specific for sure. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks so much! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk