Yeah I just went the get ripped off furnished apartment route. Sure there are better ways to do but it isn't worth the hassle for me.

greg_nice,

I'll be in Melbourne most likely for the tournament at some point, then back to Sydney afterwards. We should definitely get together down there.

Probably taking a side trip to New Zealand for between 1-2 weeks if anyone is interested in February or March.

yea id def be interested in NZ trip.

also i want to go to a federer match during the australian open if anyone knows how to get tickets for it. it seems like you can only by passes which allow you access to the arena. but how do you know who plays when?

In the leadup to the event - after the entrants are decided - a draw will be held.

This is like every other tennis event in the world (except the Davis Cup, LDO).


The first round will typically go over the first couple of days. Short of some truly remarkable events in the tennis world between now and then (unlikely) Roger Federer will almost certainly be playing his first round game on Centre Court (Rod Laver Arena). So, get yourself a pass for that for the first few days and you'll be right.

Alternatively, get yourself a men's final ticket (final sunday of the open) and go see Federer play there.

Josem helped me with some questions I had before moving to Melbourne from the UK, though I don't recall ever reading this thread before. Perhaps I can contribute a little by adding my experience of Australia so far.

I moved smack bang into the middle of Melbourne CBD in September and ended up selling my lease after two weeks to a crazy Indian guy because I was not keen on the accomodation and I fell in love with St Kilda.. I moved to St Kilda which is a beach suburb 10-20 minutes tram journey from the Crown Casino/ centre of Melbourne. Its a pretty awesome place and the first time I came here shown around by an old school friend I knew this is where I would rather be; for some reason it felt like home. The advantages are, but not limited to; cheaper rent, easy to get a job (i got a job within 3 days of moving), young people everywhere, plenty of clubs, bars and restaurants, lively atmosphere on fri/sat nights, whilst still being a walk away from the beach, nice long cylce routes overlooking the sea, and little parks etc. Last Tuesday I went for a swim at 8am and had the beach to myself apart from a few dog walkers, here is a pic of the beach that I took in September;



So my advice would be to avoid moving to Melbourne CBD and look for one of the suburbs close to the beach and transport where it will feel more like being in Australia whilst still having the option of easily getting into the centre of the city.

St Kilda gets a bad wrap for being full of prostitutes, homeless people and druggies. I would be lieing if I said this was without some justification; there is always a prostitute outside my apartment, after 9pm I ofen get offered ecstacy, and earlier at 11pm whilst in McDonalds a guy clearly on drugs attacked a innocent guy and smashed up the windows, which was pretty entertaining. Despite this I think its safe; Im a white 18 year old kid and have never felt intimidated or scared at night time.

I will be visiting 3 different parts of Victoria before heading back to UK including the 'Great Ocean Road', Ballarat and Portland so may report back with how that goes. But yeah everything Josem has said so far is correct. With regards to racism; if your living in Melbourne or its surrounding suburbs your just not going to experience much, if any. The majority of people in Melbourne CBD are Asian and Indian and St Kilda is pretty diverse with a mix of Australians, Indians, Asians and it has a large Jewish population too. I heard a guy driving a truck have a confrontation with a couple of Indians which he shouted "coons" at and I heard about a racially motivated fight occring at the same McDonalds as spoker of earlier, but thats it from my experience which is pretty tame compared with experiences in the UK.

So all in all I recommend everyone to come to Melbourne, but advise you to stay in St Kilda/ suburbs where you can get best of both worlds; beaches/seclusion and the busy city life a tram ride away.

im pretty sure the visa stipulates that you DONT work while visiting..

Im an Australian citizen so can work as much as I like. My friend from India has a 20 hour per week max work visa.

doh oops

This is pretty standard.

The default visa work limits are:

Tourist: None
Working holiday: Unlimited (max 3 or 6 months with one employer)
Student: 20 hours per week

just got approved for a 1-year working holiday visa.

what sort of jobs would be available for someone with a history major? i assume it's probably similar to canada...not much.

i guess i could work in a bar, or something along those lines. are there any decent office type jobs for foreigners. not a call centre please.

www.careerone.com.au

www.mycareer.com.au

www.seek.com.au

www.google.com


unemployment is at a 30 year low of something like 4%, so you shouldn't have much trouble.

Kyle,

lists of affiliated BJJ clubs

AFBJJ clubs
some more

How bout a balla NYE Sydney Harbour cruise?

pm me if you're interested in something like this

Josem--

Cool thread. I was wondering if you could expand on your knowledge of working visas. I currently work in NYC at a large advertising/marketing agency (they actually have a Sydney branch, iirc), but I'm considering moving oversees for a year or two. I blew it in college and didn't study abroad, so I want to get the full experience of living oversees. Australia is one of my top three choices. The only stipulation is that I want to be working, not vacationing, and I want it to be related to my career. This plan of mine is currently a pipe dream and I haven't done much research yet, so pardon my ignorance. I'm 23, fwiw. A few questions:

1. How difficult is it to obtain a working visa without a specific company approval? I suppose I could try to transfer to my company's Australian branch (and in turn, ask for help with the visa), but this is far from guarenteed. I'm basically entry level, so it would likely be hard locking up a transfer. My plan is try to get a working visa without company assistance, so I'm just wondering if you know how difficult this is.

2. Who do I contact about this visa (or better yet, do you have any contacts you could hook me up with to make this process easier )?

3. Which city do you suggest for a 23 year old marketing major, Melbourne or Sydney? Feel free to answer this question in terms of social life/fun stuff/etc., as well as the city with better job prospects for my specific industry.

Once again, I apologize for my ignorance, but I figured asking you would likely be a better option than trying to find all this info on the net. Likely more questions to come in the future, if you don't mind. Thanks for your help.

Sure, but I think you'd be better off browsing www.immi.gov.au

I am not a lawyer nor a migration agent. For expert advice, look elsewhere.

Many people do it; depends whether you want the working holiday-style visa (a recent and new agreement signed between the US/Australia) or the more permanent styled visa which has a pathway to residency and citizenship.

www.immi.gov.au

If you get into that and get stuck, email me.

In terms of job prospects, I suspect both would be pretty similar - Melbourne has a population of around 4million, Sydney has a population of around 4.5million, and both have unemployment at 30-year lows.

Social life: My views in this thread are that I prefer Melbourne, but then again, that's where my family & friends are. Others prefer Sydney. I'm confident that a coherent mainstream 23-year old would not have much trouble either way.

Once again, I apologize for my ignorance, but I figured asking you would likely be a better option than trying to find all this info on the net. Likely more questions to come in the future, if you don't mind. Thanks for your help.[/QUOTE]

Hi Josem,

Me and my buddy are going to Australia next year. I'll be living with my aunt and uncle in Perth for probably the first month, and we want to go to Sydney after that. We want to stay there for at least half a year, maybe even a year. Do you have any idea if it's hard to find a decent apartment in Sydney, and how much it'll cost? An indication would be nice

Yeah, I understand that it's tough to find an apartment - the other folk in this thread and who have contacted me directly have said this.

www.realestate.com.au
www.myhome.com.au
www.domain.com.au
etc.

are probably good places to start.

I expect that for $200/wk you could get a very nice, unfurnished two-bedroom apartment in inner sydney.

As someone who lives in inner Sydney, I'd say that's wishful thinking. Also depends what you call inner Sydney. You're looking at least in the high $200's, if not low $300's for something half-decent.

A colleague of mine just moved up from Victoria, and they got a one-bedder in Annandale (or somewhere around there) for $310, unfurnished (2 months ago).

aussie rhino is right

Josem-- Which city is generally less expensive to live in, Sydney or Melbourne (in terms of rent, general expenses, etc.)?

Melbourne would be less expensive to live in than Sydney.

Melbourne will be cheaper.

This Melbourne business site has a "cost of living index" centered around Melbourne=100.

It suggests that Sydney is 3% more expensive than Melbourne, and Brisbane is 5% less expensive than Melbourne.

Josem,

Do you call McDonald's, mackers? Also, have you ever been to a Laurent bakery?

Maccas.

But same thing, yeah.

Yes. At the Como Centre, on the corner of Toorak Rd and Chapel St, I think, in Melbourne.

That maccas **** drives me insane.