Bondi is overhyped yeah, iconic beaches generally are (think about Venice Beach in LA for instance).

No problems gambling. Online poker is legal to play but it's illegal in theory for companies to offer it to people located in Australia. The law is not currently enforced but some gambling sites do not accept Australians because of this.

Yeah but compared to the online gambling situation in the US I would say you guys have it pretty damn good by comparison Any idea roughly cost for a one bedroom apartment and food costs in Byron Bay? I'm currently paying $1150 USD/month here in san diego.

www.domain.com.au
www.realestate.com.au

to at least get a sense for pricing. though if you're just going for a few months then you will ultimately probably want to use gumtree or flatmatefinders i imagine.

I'm assuming the prices will be in Australian Dollars correct?

For a one bedroom somewhere half decent in Byron you'd be looking at about 300/w

Yes, Australian property prices are expressed in Australian Dollars.

Thanks for all the suggestions and guidance, guys. I headed over to New Zealand yesterday and will be here for a month. Enjoyed my time in Australia and I'm thankful to have received so many good tips in this thread. Cheers!

two things i thought of about NZ that i didn't mention to you:

- i think in one of your posts somewhere talked about not doing a bungee jump due to bad looking safety precautions. check out the nevis in queenstown (i doubt you would have missed the existence of this anyway).

- there is a white water rafting place in rangitata which is supposed to be really good. this would probably be something to hit at the very end of the month on the way back to christchurch, and may need some slight planning in advance (from memory it sells out)

tyvm to both you and Yeti for the advice.

I landed in Christchurch, picked up a hire car for a month, bought a tent and some camping gear, and started a counterclockwise circuit around the island. Currently up north, somewhere east of Nelson in a tiny town.

I'll be going to all of the above, along with Punakaiki, Arthur's Pass, Franz Josef/Fox, Te Anau, Manapouri, Twizel, and a bunch of less well known similar outdoorsy places.

One week in as of now after a drive up the NE coastline, have three weeks to cover most of the above. Then a flight back to Sydney, then probably either Malaysia or Singapore.

Arthur's Pass was a bit whatever when I was there. It might be better in summer but I think it's pretty skippable considering it's out of your way. See how you're doing for time.

btw, Mt Cook I would considering springing for a helicopter ride into the Alps if you have the cash, again I'm not sure whether it might be a bit boring in summer otherwise? It's not far out of the way from Tekapo anyway.

Can I ask if online poker is legal in Australia ?

Legal to play. Illegal for overseas companies to offer gambling services to people in Australia. The law is not currently enforced but a few companies voluntarily obey it.

I now interrupt your regularly scheduled Australia Q+A thread for an advertisement for how great the southwest of Western Australia is. These pics were all taken on my trip there about a year ago.

At the summit of Bluff Knoll, WA's second highest mountain:





Little Beach, near Albany:



Sunset, Esperance:



A German backpacker travelling with me chatting to a kangaroo, Cape Le Grande National Park:



Hellfire Bay, Cape Le Grande National Park:



Really underrated part of the world, get amongst it bros.

Heading to Australia 20 February. Any PokerHouse available? Send PM ASAP

And two speeding tickets finally showed up. Both in Victoria. One is 65km alleged in a 60km, the other is 67km alleged in a 60km. Both on the same day, within a two hour span. $190AU each!

Looks like the Victoria police have something set up where you can request infractions <10km over be turned into official warnings. I don't know if it's available for me as a foreigner, doesn't seem to restrict it to just Australians. From what I've read, you write them a letter, say you're sorry and that you have a clean record, and then they decide to have mercy on you or not.

Doesn't hurt to give it a try, I guess.

Yeah. Victoria is particularly brutal enforcing speed limits. 65 in a 60 zone would not typically result in a fine in other states.

The reason they overturn the infractions below 10km is that they can't successfully support them in court if challenged. It's not because they want to do you a favour.

Sorry to hear that. Those speeding fines to be over by just 5kph and still get pinged is a joke.

I want this to be true, but I've read in my research that some people (definitely the minority) were denied a warning on <10km tickets. You think I should challenge them and they'll be automatically tossed due to being under 10km? I've been googling this but haven't found anything to support what you're saying yet.

This morning I made a call to the Civic Compliance Victoria office to verify I'd be eligible to request a conversion to warning. I gave her one of the ticket #s, she looked it up, saw both, and said I could apply to have one waived. She also automatically extended the due date by a month (it was due next week, didn't get the notices until a few days ago due to international snail mail) without me even asking. She also said I could apply via email instead of dealing with sending in a physical letter, which is great news.

So unless you guys think I should go the challenge route, I'll just write up the mea culpa email and ship it in. I was hoping to get both tickets converted to warnings but the way she immediately said "I see there are two infringements within 24 hours, you can apply to have one waived" makes me think that isn't going to happen.

It's true that they generally don't want to take them to court (it's a pain) but in this instance they know it's a pain for you too and might call your bluff. It's luck of the draw who you get to review them. If you can get one waived without hassle I'd probably call that a win and pay the other one.

I sent in my mea culpa email today. Will report back on how it goes. I'm expecting based on my conversation with the VCC person that one will get converted to a warning, and I'll have to pay the other.

After some googling, it looks like the camera that tagged me (same camera for both infringements) is pretty notorious for being one of the highest earning cameras. I guess that means that a lot of people get nailed there. The location was along the GOR near Skenes Creek.


I stuck this on the end of my email, hopefully I get an Aussie with a good sense of humor, which I figure is a pretty safe bet:

That's my Hail Mary to get the second one knocked down.



Still seems kind of crazy to get a $190AUD ticket for 65km in a 60km. That would happen exactly never in USA#1. I recognize you have to play by the rules of the country that you're in, and I'm cool with that. Just seems pretty lol.

It's just revenue raising. Everyone knows it but this country can be pretty sanctimonious at times and people pointing out how lol the fines are tends to be met with HURRR IF YOU DON'T WANT TO GET FINED DON'T SPEED.

Worth noting that the Australian Standard for speedometers is +/- 10% tolerance, so in theory your speedo could be showing 60 and you could be doing 66. Pretty ridiculous. In practice speedos tend to show a slightly higher speed than the car is actually doing.

chopstick,

Welcome to the nanny state; we hope you enjoyed your time. Please delete your criticism of the country or further prosecutions may apply.

Sincerely,
Australia

Is it safe to do a direct cashout from online poker room to an aussie bank account via bank wire? Is it completely legal by the law/banks?

Completely safe. International sites offering gambling services to Australians online is illegal, but even that is not generally enforced. The law does not make activities of individuals (i.e. playing poker) or banks (accepting money from sites) illegal, the onus is entirely on the site.

---

btw chopstick, I once got a $400+ fine for doing 123 kph in a 110 zone on the Sturt Highway, a very smooth, well-maintained four-lane road in the east of SA. The double fine is because my speed was more than 10 kph over the limit. The police officer followed me at distance in an unmarked car and waited until we were going down a gentle hill and my speed maxed out. He was very apologetic about the fine. I had the impression he hated himself for having to do the job.