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Hi, Am currently considering a job offer based in Penrith (on a 427 visa) but have no sense of how far my salary will go in this area. I'm in the UK at the moment and the move would mean bringing over two young children (1 and 3) and my husband. Initially, we would be looking to rent and would probably be living off my salary alone for the first 3-6 months. My salary would be in the region of $114000. Have been looking at lots of information about the area and house rentals etc., but it's hard to gauge what price rental bracket we should be aiming for without having a real feel for how far my money will go. We will potentially have some savings to bring with us, but we want to keep that fairly intact in the hope of buying our own place in a year or two if we decide to stay. Leonay, Emu Heights, Glenbrook, all look like nice family friendly areas, but what are the costs of living in those areas? I'm also interested to know what the primary schools/preschools are like there. I should be able to get discounted child care places at my work for the children, so am less concerned about that. My husband will also probably only look for part-time work at the start, to be at home with the children and ease the transition, so initial child care costs will hopefully be minimal. My husband's currently in IT, but only new to it and still doing some studying/training, it's a bit of a career change for him at the moment. What is the job market like for IT in that area? Is it an easy-ish commute to inner Sydney if that's where most of the jobs are? Would be grateful for any advice. Feeling very daunted at the enormity of the decisions we have to make! Anne

Hi there, recently moved to Sydney from UK. My Mum is coming out to visit & I would like to take her to the Blue Mountains. Is is better to take a tour and if so does anyone have any recommendations for companies or ones to avoid? Or is it relatively easy to find your way around as we can take the train to Katoomba. Am happy to find our own way, just don't want to miss out on seeing things a tour may take us too. Many thanks for any help! :biggrin:

Hi chaps, My parents are coming to visit in October and we want to spend 2 nights in the Blue Mountains. We're undecided whether to stay in a B&B or a cottage, so recommendations for both would be great, as we've never been! So if anyone has any secret hotspots they'd be willing to share, that would be fab! Thanks very much!

Hi All, Were planning on moving to Melbourne in around 18 months, one of the reasons that we decided on Melbourne was the close proximety to the mountains in Victoria. I have only been snowboarding once but I loved it and we are planning on getting the whole family involved for winter holidays when we land in Oz. I was just wondering if the snowboarding and/or skiing in the mountains of Victoria is any good? As I said I have only been once before which was in Austria, the mountains were absolutely breathe taking, does anyone now how Oz will compare? Will we get there and be a little disappointed, possibly meaning more expensive skiing holidays further afield??? :unsure:

I loved this area whne we went out for a visit in July, it was just me, more than the beach, but only spent a short time there, it just seemed to have a small town feel and since we're coming from a village outside a market town, (although originally from a large town) it didn't faze me...............but what's it really like living there, any websites you would recommend to look at thanks Cal:daydreaming:

So since being here in Sydney these past two months we have been trying to explore a bit during our weekends. This past one we took a trip out to the Blue Mountains, approx 50 min drive from Sydney, to Katoomba. Here you can see the famous Three Sisters rock formation and a great view over the Jameson Valley. The best way to do this is the Scenic World ride, a combination of cable cars and railway rides, you can spend all day and get absolutely stunning views! We can thoroughly recommend a day out here for couples or families, the railway ride is really exciting!!!

If you were moving tomorrow to Sunny Coast..... Where would you go? Coast or Hinterland? Why?

Hi all Im hoping to fit in a whirlwind road trip from the Blue Mountains to Melbourne when I go over in a few weeks. If anyone could share their experiences or suggestions for the best route or unmissable things to see on the way? (Please no negatives about the blandness - I need to discover this for myself :biglaugh:) Gill x

Police Searching For British Backpacker Jamie Neale Missing In Australian Bush | UK News | Sky News Another missing person in Aus.

hi does anyone live in cooma or the surrounding area?? Does anyone work for snowy hydro ???? we are thinking of moving to this area and would love to know more about it

Hi Well we have just spent a long weekend at the Bunya Mountains, I would reccomend this, a long weekend was enough for us as your miles away from anywhere, but what beautifull scenery and the wallabies are everywhere, also the parrots i was feeding them from my hand, we stayed in a friends holiday home in the national park and didn't take supplies with us, Big mistake, if we go again will stock up of food n drink as theres no shop for miles, you pass through little villages with 1 pub i little grocers shop and maybe a small post office and very old fashioned, lovely to see tho. Take loads of mozzie stuff as your at one with nature and they had a feast on me. Karen x