Five months in Sydney
Nov 14th 2006, 9:36 am
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2005
Location: Wilmslow, Cheshire
Posts: 170
Five months in Sydney
I thought it was about time I did an update. I always enjoyed reading other people's threads on how they were getting on when I was back in the UK. So here goes:
We arrived in Sydney on 16th June 06 with Singapore Airlines who were an excellent airline - great service and entertainment system which makes all the difference when you're flying all that way. We got a taxi to some serviced apartments in Hornsby (Waldorf). The apartment was OK but nothing amazing. We wanted to be in a serviced apartment near to where we wanted to settle on Sydney's north shore. The first couple of weeks I would personally not want to repeat. It was all made more stressful due to the fact that we had little more than a week to find a rental to live in because all the serviced apartments were booked up due to the winter school hols. Anyway, we looked at a few places in St Ives and some were shocking - I just couldn't imagine having to live there. My six year old said the carpet was Doggy carpet whatever that is but gives you an idea as to the state of the place. In the end we found a lovely rental in North Wahroonga and so signed a 12 month lease. Also, in the first few weeks we had to buy a car, buy beds (we didn't want to end u sleeping on the floor), sort out medicare, get 457 visas evidenced in passports,sort out schools, sort out bank account and so the list goes on. We did get there in the end and life has now settled into some kind of routine. One word of advice though - try and get your Oz bank account sorted before you leave the country because you will have an address for them to post pins and cards etc to. We had ours left in unlocked mail boxes of the serviced apartments and were worried that someone would run off with them and empty our account.
Hubby started work after 2 weeks and then daughter started at the Bush School (Wahroonga Public School) 2 weeks after that. I started work another 2 weeks later. Life is now pretty much back to normal. Here are a few things that we like/dislike about Oz:
We love the weather - Uk was way too cold for me. I can now stand in a playground while my daughter plays in the middle of winter and not freeze to death. I love the way we can plan what we are going to do at the weekend and pretty much know that the weather isn't going to ruin it. I love spending many winter weekends on the beach.
we love the wildlife. we get kangaroos and wallabies on our Close not to mention all the lovely birds - parrotts, kookaburras etc. Haven't seen any poisonous or big spiders yet and we live right on the ede of Kuring gai chase park. Also, have yet to see a snake in the wild - seen quite a few big lizards though.
We love the choice of places to go at the weekend. we spend a lot of time on the central coast at the weekends. Manly is lovely and last weekend we went to Palm Beach which I thought was beautiful. Ku ring gai chase national park is lovely as well. I also recommend Sydney aquarium - best one I've ever been to and well worth the money. Botanical gardens in Sydney are also lovely.
We don't like being so far from our family but we are probably only here for 3-4 years so it's not so bad. We didn't see our family that much in the UK so it's not asbad as it could be. I think if we had family on our doorstep in the UK it would have made the move/settling a lot more difficult and would encourage people in that situation to consider that before making thee move.
I don't particularly like the supermarkets here. They seem to be very dated compared to back in the UK but maybe it's just a case of getting used to them.
I miss country pubs and national trust houses and gardens. But then again it was often too cold to walk around the gardens so we didn't go there that often anyway. We went to the Hunter Valley gardens last month and they were just amazing and the best thing is that you can pretty much visit any time of year and the weather will be OK.
I don't like the way the banks don't offer over draft facilities. It's not that I really need and overdraft - more for peace of mind if the salaries are delayed or something and the rent still needs to be paid.
All in all we love it here. I just miss my sister and I think if she could move out here (which she can't) then I would probably want to stay indefinately.
That's all for now.
We arrived in Sydney on 16th June 06 with Singapore Airlines who were an excellent airline - great service and entertainment system which makes all the difference when you're flying all that way. We got a taxi to some serviced apartments in Hornsby (Waldorf). The apartment was OK but nothing amazing. We wanted to be in a serviced apartment near to where we wanted to settle on Sydney's north shore. The first couple of weeks I would personally not want to repeat. It was all made more stressful due to the fact that we had little more than a week to find a rental to live in because all the serviced apartments were booked up due to the winter school hols. Anyway, we looked at a few places in St Ives and some were shocking - I just couldn't imagine having to live there. My six year old said the carpet was Doggy carpet whatever that is but gives you an idea as to the state of the place. In the end we found a lovely rental in North Wahroonga and so signed a 12 month lease. Also, in the first few weeks we had to buy a car, buy beds (we didn't want to end u sleeping on the floor), sort out medicare, get 457 visas evidenced in passports,sort out schools, sort out bank account and so the list goes on. We did get there in the end and life has now settled into some kind of routine. One word of advice though - try and get your Oz bank account sorted before you leave the country because you will have an address for them to post pins and cards etc to. We had ours left in unlocked mail boxes of the serviced apartments and were worried that someone would run off with them and empty our account.
Hubby started work after 2 weeks and then daughter started at the Bush School (Wahroonga Public School) 2 weeks after that. I started work another 2 weeks later. Life is now pretty much back to normal. Here are a few things that we like/dislike about Oz:
We love the weather - Uk was way too cold for me. I can now stand in a playground while my daughter plays in the middle of winter and not freeze to death. I love the way we can plan what we are going to do at the weekend and pretty much know that the weather isn't going to ruin it. I love spending many winter weekends on the beach.
we love the wildlife. we get kangaroos and wallabies on our Close not to mention all the lovely birds - parrotts, kookaburras etc. Haven't seen any poisonous or big spiders yet and we live right on the ede of Kuring gai chase park. Also, have yet to see a snake in the wild - seen quite a few big lizards though.
We love the choice of places to go at the weekend. we spend a lot of time on the central coast at the weekends. Manly is lovely and last weekend we went to Palm Beach which I thought was beautiful. Ku ring gai chase national park is lovely as well. I also recommend Sydney aquarium - best one I've ever been to and well worth the money. Botanical gardens in Sydney are also lovely.
We don't like being so far from our family but we are probably only here for 3-4 years so it's not so bad. We didn't see our family that much in the UK so it's not asbad as it could be. I think if we had family on our doorstep in the UK it would have made the move/settling a lot more difficult and would encourage people in that situation to consider that before making thee move.
I don't particularly like the supermarkets here. They seem to be very dated compared to back in the UK but maybe it's just a case of getting used to them.
I miss country pubs and national trust houses and gardens. But then again it was often too cold to walk around the gardens so we didn't go there that often anyway. We went to the Hunter Valley gardens last month and they were just amazing and the best thing is that you can pretty much visit any time of year and the weather will be OK.
I don't like the way the banks don't offer over draft facilities. It's not that I really need and overdraft - more for peace of mind if the salaries are delayed or something and the rent still needs to be paid.
All in all we love it here. I just miss my sister and I think if she could move out here (which she can't) then I would probably want to stay indefinately.
That's all for now.
Nov 14th 2006, 9:47 am
#2
Birds of a feather . . .
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: In my own home! Northern Beaches, Sydney
Posts: 1,788
Re: Five months in Sydney
Glad to hear you are feeling settled. Getting back into the routine of work / school etc definitely helps! And I know what you mean about the supermarkets - on the whole I find Coles to be a little more up to date but having said that, the Woolworths at Mona Vale is good. A lot of them seem to have narrow aisles and very high shelves which gives them quite a claustrophobic feel.
Anyway, summer is almost here - enjoy your first one.
Binbird
Anyway, summer is almost here - enjoy your first one.
Binbird
Nov 14th 2006, 9:56 am
#3
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2005
Location: Sydney
Posts: 190
Re: Five months in Sydney
Brilliant post Liverpool Girl. I've been living in the Northern Beaches for 4 months now and my experience of Sydney and those early weeks is very much as you describe. We're just about to buy our first house in Killarney Heights. Signing the contract kind of made, what has been a huge adventure so far, feel very permanent. It's still early days, but I'm feeling confident that we've done the right thing.
