Wanderlust

Dear all,

Im only here for3 weeks to get my visa validated, but I thought I'd share my experiences with you ......

The flight was amazingly long. I flew with Japan airlines. They weren't too bad. There was a 4 hr stopover in Japan on the way, and the nice thing was that at the airport they have showers you can use for the equivalent of about four pounds. A great refreshment to break up the trip! All the chairs in the airport lounge are padded without arm rests too - so its possible to stretch out and give your back a rest too. Luxury - after 12 hrs in a plane!
The weather here in Brisbane is lovely at the moment. Around 28 degrees in the day and cooler in the evening. Just perfect to sleep comfortably with no covers on.
I'm staying with my brother for my 3 weeks which is very nice. Went into the CBD yesterday to visit all the banks and set up an account. Decided on the Commonwealth bank. They were extremely helpful. Yes - all the banks charge fees for everything, but theirs were very reasonable in comparison to the rest, and they have more ATMs than anyone. (important when you get charged over $1 to use anyone elses machine)
Next up will be getting my medicare set up, visiting estate agents and car dealerships to see whats out there.

Seen big spiders in the back garden (orb weaver), giant bats in the trees in the CBD at night, and a huge cockroach! Thankfully - after reading everyone else's posts - none of them came as a big surprise.

I guess the thing I've found weirdest so far is the fact that I feel homesick for the UK. Something I never expected as I've been looking forward to coming out here for sooooo long! I guess I'll see how I feel after the 3 weeks is up.

Anyways - my offer to find info for anyone is still valid. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Another update will be posted soon.

W.

irishmolly

Perhaps a silly question but....how did you find flying with Japan Airlines ? were annoncements in English as well as Japanese ? were there video / game consols in the seat backs and did they have English subtitles on the videos ? Food good or bad ? and cost of flight ?

Interesting to see someone flying to Oz using Japan Airlines instead of the usual Singapore, BA, Qantas or Malaysia.

Thanks for the posting.

Amazulu

All airlines have to make announcements in english. It's the language of the sky.

nikkers

Anyways - my offer to find info for anyone is still valid. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Another update will be posted soon.

W. [/QUOTE]



Hi

I'd be really interested in what sort of houses you can rent and

prices.Is it easy to get pools with rental houses?

Do they have aircon? Anything about buying and renting from

your visits to estate agents would be really interesting.

Thanks

Nikki

ABCDiamond

Heres a good link to check on rental prices.

It depends a lot on area chosen.

Centurix

It's funny, I haven't found too many places with RC aircons in Brisbane while on my hunt for places to live. A lot of ceiling fans. I can't imagine evaporative aircons working too well in Brisbane due to the humidity.

I've come across a lot of pools in my searches as well. There seems to be this threshold of about $320.00 p/w in Brisbane, above which gets you a much better choice of housing.

bondipom

I flew JAL last year and I found them better than BA/Qantas but worse than Singa/Cathay. Films etc are all in English (except for some of the Asian films). There is a western dish and a Japanese dish on offer and the food was good. Service was above average, especially when it came to dishing out the booze. I stopped over in Japan on the way back and had an excellent time spending 3 nights in Tokyo and after a bullet train ride another 3 nights in Kyoto.

Try and fly via Tokyo for seat back entertainment on the Sydney leg. I paid $1500 plus taxes flying end Oct coming back mid Nov.

ABCDiamond

Look what $320pw gets you round my way.
Redland Bay
But I agree not many with Air Con.

Centurix

$320p/w in Sydney will get you one of these

JaneandJim

We're sleeping with the duvet on now! Shows how quickly you get used to the temperatures.

Jane

karen p

If you're trying to rent somewhere, what sort of references
do landlords/agents want?

I think I remember people mentioning something about this
before, but as we won't have rented in Oz before, we won't
have references from previous land lords.

Also is it possible to rent somewhere while you are still
abroad, or do you have to wait until you get there?

Thanks

Karen

ABCDiamond

The problem with renting something 'sight unseen", is that you don't know how bad it may be, and you are then committed to a 6 or 12 month term.

It seems better to go for furnished accom for 2-3 weeks, whilst looking for something that you like. Most areas have unfurnished rentals available.

If you have bank statements with a decent balance, that should be a good reference

Some others who have come out recently may be better able to answer that point, but I dont think many have had problems with lack of references though.

ScuntoBris

If you have bank statements with a decent balance, that should be a good reference

Some others who have come out recently may be better able to answer that point, but I dont think many have had problems with lack of references though. [/QUOTE]

Money talks, a copy of our Australian bank statement was pretty much all the rental agent wanted to see, we did also have a letter from Abbey National saying we had kept our mortgage account up to date.

We had never rented previously.

Ev'n'John

We asked our UK Estate Agent to write us a "reference" saying they had acted for us in selling our property in the UK and confirming it was in good condition and had obviously been well maintained. However, the Real Estate people here were happy once they'd seen our bank statement and knew we could pay the rent!

ABCDiamond

Thats all us Landlords want, the rent and and the Bond

The bond can be used to fix it up if it needs it, afer departure

Although the Rel Estate agents are even easier to please, all they want is the rent paid so they can get their %

If anything is damage, they don't care, as they normally get a kick back from the Tradesmen called in to fix it up !!

How's it going over in Wellington Point ?