Alex Hall

Well it took me a while (received Visa in March 05, Validated Aug 05) but I have now arrived in Sydney to live :-) YEAH!!!

I've been here just under two weeks having spent a month in Hong Kong and Thailand while my container was chugging across the Ocean. My container arrived on the 15th Aug, now I am just awaiting for it to clear customs.

Yesterday in the tree just opposite my balcony there were 18 lorakeets squawking away. Today I managed to coax an Australian Magpie and a Noisy Miner bird onto my balcony and feed them. During the day it is around 20 degrees+ with quite a few people sunbathing on the beach (and it's winter!!!) I love this place :-)

I was very lucky on finding an apartment quickly. I'm living on Clifford Avenue in Fairlight. 2 Bedroom apartment, big balcony, sea view, 2 minute walk from beach, 10 minute walk to Manly ferry, quiet neighbourhood and a garage for the car and motorbike. Managed to find it (was the first one I looked at) on my 3rd day here (Wednesday) and had moved in on the Thursday (3 months rent in advance). So I missed out on all the fun some people have had running round properties to find somewhere to rent.
Location, price were perfect. I had to have a garage, and the sea view was just a splendid extra!

Currently travelling around on the buses and having family give me lifts. Bought a push bike as well which is good for exploring the neighbourhood. My car arrives in 4 weeks time and I can't wait!!!!!

Just about to start job hunting and fingers crossed should have something sorted before too long as have a number of contacts, so it is looking good at the moment :-)

Been busy sorting out bank accounts, insurance etc etc. Have a 2 week wait to get broadband so I'm using a Telstra/Bigpond wireless broadband card which is very very good!

I'mn sure I'll have a few downers once in a while, however I am lucky that my family is here. I'm going to join some clubs/classes to get out and meet more people as I think that's one of the best ways to ensure you are busy and having fun.

Anyway, that's it for now...

If anyone wants to meet up drop me an email,

take care..

Alex

christinabell

Hiya Alex

Congratulations on your move and welcome to Sydney. You picked a beautiful part of the city to live in and Im sure u will enjoy ur time here.

Cheers,
Chris

Hutch

Glad to hear you're settling in - that apartment sounds great. Not looking forward to the two weeks downtime on our Internet connection when we move into our new place either - going to have to shuttle back and forth between the new place and my parents until the line goes live.

poppet

Hi and welcome. You have certainly picked a lovely part of Sydney - we are just down the road in Manly and love it here. Even better for you that you have your family here as well. Hope you sort everything else out as quickly and painfree as you did your accommodation!

PS. Thanks for the useful info on your other post about private health insurance.

Sue2

Hi Alex

Glad alls going well and all the best with the job hunting.

Sue

suzimc

Hi Alex,

Sounds like you have fallen on your feet with that apartment - I'm corssing everything for the same sort of luck when we get there!

Enjoy settling in to the beautiful city.
Suzi

iPom

Welcome to NSW Alex.

I hope you'll take a trip up to the Blue Mountains real soon. Ask me about the best bits.

Swerv-o

Welcome Alex,

Glad you made it. I've only been here a month myself, so if you fancy a newbie beer then drop me a line. I'm in Newtown, but don't mind trundling about for a beer or two.

S

I'll PM you too eventually - But I'm snowed under with stuff to do until tomorrow afternoon.

seang

Thumbs up Alex. Enjoy

Jockstar

Congrats. Glad you made the move? I'll be there soon aswell. October the 13th we arrive. But i have been there before. The wife is excited as she has never been there.

GinaUK

Hi Alex,

congratulations on making it over to the other side . Glad to hear that all is going well.

Take care.

Gina

herrchook

Isn't Fairlight great? I used to live in Lauderdale Avenue, Fairlight and the view of the sea was spectacular.

Hope you have a great time in Sydney. Best of luck.

Gill

Alex Hall

Thanks everyone for the responses!

Fairlight is a great place, quiet and peaceful, a 10 minute walk to Manly for the night life and shops. Great views of the harbour and boats. I'm hoping that when it comes to the summer it won't be overrun with tourists as is Manly....

Busy sorting out all the usual things:

Bank - St George. (I opened an account when I validated my visa and had the address set to my sisters apartment. My bond matured in Mar 06, so I put it into the PowerSaver account. Not sure if having the account has helped with the credit search but I passed one no problem on Saturday for a contract mobile phone.)

Private Health Insurance - NRMA (they rebadge one from MBF. However because I will have my car, greeen slip and house insurance through NRMA I will get 12% discount). Basic policy will cost me about $11 a week (will change/swap/check again once I have a job as it may be included in the package).

Home Phone / Internet - IInet.. seems to be a reasonable deal. Telstra(BigPond) are now doing combined packages as well. Takes a couple of weeks to sort out. All ISPs seem to have download caps and the cost depends on what you set the limit too. Have a large limit for the first month then will switch to a cheaper plan. Assume I will be on the internet a lot for the first few weeks. No bond required.

Mobile Phone - unlocked my UK mobile and put in a pay as you go SIM from Optus (TurboCharge - have to put $30 a month on and get $120 of calls). May switch to contract phone once I have sorted out a job and settled a bit.

Apartment - Clifford Avenue, Fairlight 2094. 3 months rent paid in advance sealed it. $450 a week. Good price for what it is. A couple of problems I reported to the estate agent were fixed the next day.

Container - awaiting release from customs... possibly up to 2 weeks. Was an addition ~$350 charge at this end from Kent Removals (PSS) for customs to process the container...

Gym - Joined Fitness First on a "Passport" membership.. Means I can use any FF gym in Oz.. Useful as I will be using the one in Dee Why and the CBD, and whatever job I end up with will include travel. $40 a fortnight.

Car - Arrives in 3.5 weeks!!! Currently being built in Japan. http://www.carpages.co.uk/mazda/mazd...5_20_06_06.jpg Car Insurance will be about $900 a year fully comp (33yrs old, garage, full no claims)

House Insurance - $80,000 cover costs $550 a year. Additional cover for my watch and laptop outside of the house bumps it to ~$650 (12.5% before discount for multiple NRMA policies)

Note: A number of places (estate agents etc) here won't personal cheques or cash. So you either have to go to the Post Office and get a money order (max amount is $1000 per money order, charge is $3) or go to the bank (max amount unknown but much higher, charge is $10). The post office money orders work out cheaper for amounts of $3000 or less, otherwise it's the bank. Also the post office ones clear instantly, the bank ones I believe take 3-5 days to clear.

Banking - Unless you take out a loan/mortgage the chances are you'll be paying ~$5 a month for the privilege of banking. This may change over time when the four pillars come down (who knows when!!). Otherwise you are limited to something like 2 over the counter transactions, 8 ATM transactions for free then after that $2.50 or similar per transaction. This depends on the bank and account type you have. What makes it a bit of a con though is that Direct Debits etc count towards your transaction count. So if you have 6 direct debits on your account then that means you only have 4 free transactions left (unless you pay the ~$5 a month or have mortgage/loan etc)

Electric - Sorted out by Estate Agent and a company called Connect Up. I am through TRU. Not sure on costs yet. No bond required.

White Goods. Go to Bing Lee for a look around. Then check out http://www.theelectricdiscounter.com.au/ . There advertised price for my fridge freezer was $200 cheaper than Bing Lee's discounted price and included free delivery. It arrived and is happily purring away.

Medicare - Sorted when I validated my visa, just go into a Medicare centre and apply.

Tax File Number - You can apply over the internet or walk into an ATO office. Sorted when I validated my visa.

Driver's License - Walked into RTA office and exchanged my license. Eye test is the only thing (in NSW) that I had to do. I have a Gold license (meant to mean driving for many years and no fines etc... Supposedly very good to have!). Needs to be renewed (i.e. costs) every 1 ,3 or 5 years depending on how much you pay.

E-tag - Will purchase from RTA once I have a car. Needed for the tolls unless you want to pay cash each time.

Motorbike - Currently deciding which to go for. Was down to Sportsbikes (a Triumph Daytona 675 and a Suzuki GSX-R750). However an Ozzie has recommended looking at a BMW GS650 and do some trail riding.

Job Hunting - Just started. Sending CV off etc.

Weather - great!

Summary - Loving it.

:-)

Alex

chocaholic

Good luck Alex - life on the insular peninsula is great. Love FF gym at DY but parking on weekday mornings, early evenings and Saturday mornings can be a challenge. Don't say I didn't warn you!