inozwriter

I would reccomend moving to bondi, Sydney there are heaps of expats living there same situation

Have a walk down to Kirribilli whilst your there, you'll find north sydney very empty and business like. Sprawling during the day and complete ghost town on weekends and after work hours.

Try looking around the inner west there are heaps of nice houses. I used to love living in Five dock, great restaurants, leafy community, it is also between the west and only 10mins to the city. Balmain and Drummoyne are also nice, I found my place through the local real estate agent there http://www.wwre.com.au/

Try looking on flatmates or Gumtree for share accommodation.

You could get a one bedroom in Kirribilli right next to the harbour bridge from $550-600 easily. Secret Gem

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirribilli,_New_South_Wales

You could get a one bedroom in Sydney for that price

Watch out I've seen most of the ones they sell at the supermarket contain radioactive materials. I bought these family friendly smoke alarms non radioactive ones from Bunnings.

First make sure that the course is recognized by immigration, best to stick to TAFE or public universities for this.