Looking To Move Down Under

[mwracing]

Hey everyone..

currently i live in vancouver BC canada..

And have been considering to move to Australia maybe around sydney.

Can some people give me a perspective on prices of living and monthly expected costs?

like rent in decent area, house or condo prices.. car insurance, food normal living prices...

also a link to local classifieds for apartment listings and suggested areas etc..

thank you all for looking.

I currently drive a 1989 Skyline GTR which i am doing a front and rear R34 GTR conversion.

(another reason to move to australia is to own a real r34 gtr.)

[Beer Baron]

sydney is great. check out www.domain.com.au for real estate in sydney.

as for living costs it's entirely up to what you can afford. and do you want to live in or near the city, or would you prefer somewhere out in the suburbs?

for about $500AUD per week rent you can get a nice 2 bedroom appartment in the city, or a small house in the suburbs.

car insurance for an 89 GTR depends greatly on your age and driving record but I'd say $1500 AUD per year is about right for somone mid 20s with fair history.

but we need more info on what you want.

[SECURITY]

www.realestate.com.au is where you'd be wanting to look first for a place to rent.

www.whereis.com.au and type in sydney in 'search maps'.

just pick out locations closer to sydney and work your way out for affordability.

booming areas are parramatta, bankstown (dont believe everything you read lol), burwood, leicharddt (sp), sutherland shire, chatswood.

places to stay away from: bankstown: if you're sensative, redfern: unless you like to sniff petrol and dont mind getting beaten up on the odd occasion for no reason, mt. druitt.

thats pretty much it.

[mwracing]

get beat up for no reason from who? street kids? gangs?

i am 23 years of age, my wife is 27.

500 a week AUS is somewhat expensive to Vancouver standards.

a nice place 2 bedroom is roughly 1500CDN which is 1650-1700 AUS / month and vancouver is considered to be one of the most expensive places to live in the world.

what is average income for a job ( obviously it depends on experience ) like a north american mechanic?

[TTT]

get beaten up by the natives in Redfern.

Tell us a few details.

where is your current location in relation to where you work?

what kind of work?

how many years work?

same for your wife.

Sydney is not cheap or nice to live in.

[msnismo]

Can always move north of Sydney and commute like the majority do! Rents around Hornsby & Central Coast ( eg Gosford) are alot cheaper!

I was paying $220 AUD per week for a 4 bedroom townhouse, lug, pool, tennis court etc at Narara.... 5 mins from freeway.. hornsby is a little dearer than the coast bout $280 - $350 AUD pw for something along the same lines....

Gosford to the city by train is about an hour and ten mins by train... hornsby around 40 mins from memory....

[TTT]

oh you said mechanic and you are 23.

so I will assume you've got 5 years experience of some sort.

to be honest with you, a mechanic doesn't get paid all that well unless they own the workshop.

it's a hard, and not so well paying trade.

I'm sure a mechanic on here could give you more of an idea of real income brackets.

$400 would get you a nice 2 bd apartment in the northern sydney suburbs of Lane Cove, Chatswood, Artarmon.

these suburbs are only 10-15 minutes away from the city centre by buss or train.

although, there aren't all that many mechanical workshops there.

for that type of work, the inner west seems to be the place.

$400 a week would get you a very nice apartment to live in in the inner west.

what does your wife do for work?

[mwracing]

i have also sold electronics for 5 years so customer service is A1.

manager position is not hard for me to achieve.

My wife works as a pharmacy assistant.

[GTR32GUS]

What wrong with redfern it just around the train station which is bad , waterloo is the bad place in that area

Anyhow come out for a look mwracing , i worked with heaps of canucks at the snow , all top people

Edited August 28, 2007 by GTR32GUS

[wizlb]

I MW

I moved here from NYC about 8 months ago.

The cost of living is equal to NYC in some respect.

But you can also make lots of money here too.

In Oz you have to go thur agency to get a job here.

If you come in COLD DEC, it will be blazing hot in Sydney, its summertime.

Do this MW, msn, international MSN Australia, JOBS, Renting,

Google BONDI under videos and under youtube.

[eugen_syd]

I would suggest you come first here and prospect...Might be a better ideea to like in places like Queensland or South Australia....come see and make your own minds. I would not move to another country unless I go and see first...you might just...HATE IT...

I hope make sense....

Eug

[wizlb]

I moved to OZ without even coming here.

AUstralia is a very nice place to live and the WOMEN.

From all over the world.WOW.

And the OZ girls are fine.

[Marsss]

I moved to OZ without even coming here.

AUstralia is a very nice place to live and the WOMEN.

From all over the world.WOW.

And the OZ girls are fine.

Umm.. i don't think selling the idea of great women in our country would stick in this case dude... just sayin...

aaaanyway, coming from Vancouver would mean that you're used to city living and of course have a fair understanding of the costs of such decision... i suggest you research both Sydney AND Melbourne as these are the biggest two down here.. Melbourne is a bit more like what you're used to weather wise but Sydney is much bigger and slightly more expensive.

[DJ Brave]

Hey mate,

My brother lives in Vancouver with his Canadian wife plus the 2 kids and i visited him over there for 5 weeks from December 04 to January 05. Personally mate, i think the cost of living in Vancouver is much higher than here in Australia. Depending on where you choose to live over here depends on how affordable that place is or isnt. I've lived here all my life and there are definately places I know i cant afford to live, especially in Sydney. Which works out kinder good for me because i wouldnt live in Sydney if you gave me a free place to live. Trust me, this is a bloody big country bud and there are much better places to live than Sydney.

Do some research mate and you will be surprised at what you will find. I live about an hour and a half drive north of Sydney and we still have the beaches you will be after (alot less crowded), we still have plenty of jobs and the cost of living is much, much cheaper. I'm a real estate agent too so if you want some help with information email me at [email protected] and i'll help out if i can.

Cheers mate

[funkymonkey]

vancouver is exactly like melbourne. sydney reminds me of seattle. lol move to brisbane if you want a change of scene.

If I were you I'd sell your 89 GTR before moving to australia. there's absolutely no point as our streets are overflowing with 89's n 90's. If you can buy a 92 model car, own it for a year and bring it over and sell it for good money, then buy your R34 or Chaser or S15 or whatever else grabs your fancy... I'd suggest an NSX... something you can get over there cheap under the 15 year rule that you can't over here.

[mwracing]

vancouver is exactly like melbourne. sydney reminds me of seattle. lol move to brisbane if you want a change of scene.

If I were you I'd sell your 89 GTR before moving to australia. there's absolutely no point as our streets are overflowing with 89's n 90's. If you can buy a 92 model car, own it for a year and bring it over and sell it for good money, then buy your R34 or Chaser or S15 or whatever else grabs your fancy... I'd suggest an NSX... something you can get over there cheap under the 15 year rule that you can't over here.

can you please restate the part where i buy a 92 car and keep it for a year and bring it over and sell it?

keep it in vancouver for a year then import it into australia as a personal car, and sell it to someone in OZ?

doesnt OZ have a 25 year rule? and if it does how can i bring mine in and sell it?

this might help the cost of living;)

[funkymonkey]

well this is assuming you aren't coming to australia for a year. there's 4 ways to import a car into australia:

1. car has to be built in or before 1988

2. car has to have not been available for sale locally through a manufacturer and be listed on the Specialist & Enthusiast Vehicle Scheme registry

3. Car is imported for race use using a national race/rally license (although you can't road register a car with this import permit)

4. own the car for a year in the country you live in prior to moving to australia.

now what applies to you is number 4. Don't bother bringing in a skyline because every 17 year old here owns one newer than what you can get... however there are some cars which cannot be imported as they don't fall into 1 or 2... cars like the NSX, FD RX7, and pretty much any RHD euro's... because they were sold locally by manufacturers they can't be parallel imported from japan.

I wouldn't bother importing any LHD cars as it'll cost a fortune to convert it to RHD and our laws don't allow for you to drive a LHD car on the road unless its over 30 years old. And if its over 30 years old it falls uner rule 1, so we can import it ourselves

[mwracing]

hi everyone...

I just wanted to post again and bump this thread up.

I still am interested in moving to australia.. what part.. i still dont know. but now im asking for information about how long i can move to Oz with/without a work permit/visa and how long can i stay or apply as a dual citizen.

legal stuff, not location or quality of living.

anyone with past experiences would be great.

[funkymonkey]

if you're a citizen of a commonwealth country, then you should be able to get a travel visa to australia pretty easily. 12 months is the maximum period. You do have to keep in mind on a travel visa you don't get any benefits... you're also not allowed to work locally.

A work visa allows you to get part time or casual work here to supplement your stay. If I were you I'd get a 1 year work visa, canadaians are eligible for subclass 417 work visa's which allow you to work and study locally.

http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-ho...y/417/index.htm

[mwracing]

if you're a citizen of a commonwealth country, then you should be able to get a travel visa to australia pretty easily. 12 months is the maximum period. You do have to keep in mind on a travel visa you don't get any benefits... you're also not allowed to work locally.

A work visa allows you to get part time or casual work here to supplement your stay. If I were you I'd get a 1 year work visa, canadaians are eligible for subclass 417 work visa's which allow you to work and study locally.

http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-ho...y/417/index.htm

with a travel visa, can i still have a bank account, get a international drivers licence or Australian drivers licence, and work a Cash job like server or some normal jobs with no paper trail? hah even construction or something..

i really dont care if i have to get a 1 year work visa, aslong as i can live a normal life enjoy my stay... work maybe 3-4 days a week.. and have fun the reason of the time.

One year? thats it? can i fly home, and come back a week later for another year? how does that work/enforced?