What I like about Sydney, Australia

It has awesome beaches and many of them in every direction.

I can get up at 6am with a t-shirt and be bathed in sunlight.

The trees where I live are filled with noisy parrots, fearless kookaburras, crows and whatever else it is that makes tke worst racket at 7pm and 4am.

I have been here seven months and have only tapped the tip of the iceberg in terms of things to do.

It has many many different place to live in. Sprawling suburbs, beach areas, quaint towns, mountainous regions and young and upcoming areas filled with young people and lots of restaurants and clubs and cafes.

The awesome infrastructure.

My short train journey (compared to London).

The blue mountains.

Its Cosmopolitan with many people from around the world.

Its economy is booming.

The endless leafy suburbs.

The fact that I had a job offer before I came and another after I arrived.

The beautiful endless waters ways in Sydney.

The yachts, boats, ferries, tinnies and fishing.

My wife and kids.

Swimming.

The Schools.

The health and  emphasis on sport or outdoor actvities.

The TAFE colleges.

The excellent universities.

The myriad of malls.

That big bridge over the Sydney Harbour.

The Safety, no burgler bars, double guard/pet dogs, open car doors.

The safe driving and enforced rules.

The endless forests and rivers (in the suburbs).

Scotland Island.

How I got my visa, Life, Lumps and spirit, Hate your new country? Your not alone! A good Furniture Rental company in Sydney,Why do immigrants leave Australia?, Sydney - Scotland island - hidden gem, Malls in Sydney, Living in St Ives, Arriving in Sydney, Driving through Sydney - first day, How expensive is Sydney

St Ives wives in Sydney - should one trust them? I think Not! (its a true story)

Well it was a calm humid and hot Sydney morning...well it was.
It all started with my eleven year old daughter asking for money(again) for SIMS( a pc game). Who, on hearing my answer, decided she needed a paper round. This is how we got to her fetching the post.

Well, said post, which was made up of a newspaper and some advertizing pamphlets, sat on our lounge coffee table for about half an before my wife started reading through it all after morning coffee.

Now at this point it should be noted my wife is sitting about 3 meters from me.

I'm in shorts and quite sleepy....

NEXT thing, theres a loud, petrified, wailing banshee shriek! Now, my mind works pretty fast and on a subconscious level is processing about 4 things at the same time. Something heavy has hit my chest, my wife is moon stepping/bounding in the opposite direction(still screaming) out the lounge, the suspicion that something evil has hit my chest, sudden anger at my wife(who is defining "every woman for herself") and the fact that I need to take evasive action of some sort.

At this point my manly defensive reactions kick in (which consists of my doing a sort of epileptic fit and accomplishing zero gravitational floatation abilities and a monkey dance(my wifes description)). At some point I look down to register whats going one, and this is the thing, I cant quite remember as its all a haze, but its a frikking huge giant hairy spider! Which has just gone from somewhere about my chest region to the floor between my legs and is on the move!

The spider is about 8 centimetres across and seems about a meter wide. So I take off after my wife(with whom I am still pretty angry).

Well my little eleven year old girl has a fit, after seeing this and finding she has carried it in the house. Basically my wife found the spider by leafing through an advertising pamphlet(which makes me pretty happy for some reason). Perhaps she will never read adverts again?

Safe to say, the house is now in deathcon 4 mode, screen doors shut, everything sprayed and every item inspected suspiciously before handled.

See picture of monster below. (I had quite a few but they were all blurry as I was quivering)

Gaurd your post boxes people!!!

Ok I found the next two while gardening the same morning. Had to shrink the photos a bit to reduce file sizes. These are all over my St Ives garden.

Have a good one people!

Oh yeah just swiped this from one of my favorite forums. Apparently this spider was shot in Queensland.

How I got my visa, Life, Lumps and spirit, Hate your new country? Your not alone! A good Furniture Rental company in Sydney,Why do immigrants leave Australia?, Sydney - Scotland island - hidden gem, Malls in Sydney, Living in St Ives, Arriving in Sydney, Driving through Sydney - first day, How expensive is Sydney

Cheapest 4 bedroom new build houses in Sydney, Australia

Hi, so you want to know which areas are cheap or in-expensive in Sydney? I think many of us that immigrate to Sydney Australia will be looking at the option of building a new house.

I'm going to focus on the North to North West areas of Sydney for now.

Lets get this clear - there is very little new house building North of Sydney. Its built up in a wide circle that encompasses the beach areas, Hornsby, Glenhaven and Baulkham Hill, Castle Hill,  and so on.

Outside of that area to the West and North West you can find new house builds. I have been primarily concentrating on four bedroom homes.

The price range is, from the worst areas - $460000 to about $650000 (the better). Obviously there are houses that are way more expensive, but I am focusing on the average persons needs herev(like me).

Builders charge from about $245000 to about $350000(upmarket spec) to build and you have to come up with the land. The cheapest land I have seen is about $250000. You can probably get cheaper, but this will be out of a suburb - sort of rural. i.e. no schools, buses etc. And long commutes.

If you head further west to Penrith you can get Land for about $200000 but then the penalty is the long commute to Sydney(1.5 hour by train.)

Even Further to Katoomba its cheaper - but its far - Its also really really nice out there.

There is a lot of land for sale and new houses springing up around Rouse Hill, Glenwood, Quaker Hill, The Ponds, Beaumont Hills, Kellyville Ridge, Dural, Acacia Gardens and around the Stanhope shopping mall. A lot of these houses are small and close to each other. Not too leafy.

For me so far, Rouse Hill has a very nice local set of shops plus a Big Mall one click away. It has a primary school and a High school but its new and only has years 8,9 and 10 so far. Its all new housing. Its quite far out though and there is a lot of public busses. There is a "bulletbus" which is privately run with tea and coffee and this takes between 40 and 70 minutes to get to Sydney(depends on the traffic or time)

Kellyville is very nice too - slightly more up market than Rouse hill (only slightly) and this is between the Stanhope and Rouse hill shopping malls. Not a bad option too. There are a lot of builder display houses here. Slightly soul-less as its a new suburb - but has huge potential.

All the above areas are developing and are nearby to lots of shops and furniture stores etc.

Hope this helps someone - drop me a comment or question or even subscribe for my bits.

My most commented post on the blog is here - Why do immigrants leave Australia?

Don't forget to comment!!

Cheers!!


How I got my visa, Life, Lumps and spirit, Hate your new country? Your not alone! A good Furniture Rental company in Sydney,Why do immigrants leave Australia?, Sydney - Scotland island - hidden gem, Malls in Sydney, Living in St Ives, Arriving in Sydney, Driving through Sydney - first day, How expensive is Sydney

The secret of finding a place to stay in Sydney, Australia

So, your moving to Australia (Sydney maybe?)

You want to find your new Home right? I dont mean house, I mean HOME - the place you settle, the place you grow up in, the place you become familiar with.

You want good schools, good transport routes, good shops, night life, etc.

Well you CANT do it from oversea's. I guess you can if your lucky, or have friends and family in an area, or even money.

But thats still no guarantee. Even a holiday trip is not going to do it.

Here's how you do it. Do your internet homework, (forums, blogs, contacts, websites),

THEN,  DO - NOT - COMMIT long term when you come. Get a rental - get it central and then give yourself 6 months to a year to explore the region. Dont rush it.

You can spend three hours everynight researching on the net from some far off land and never get it right... You have to be here.

Get a rental, open your mind that you will have to move (and your kids), and... relax.

I have been here 7 months and still know very little. It takes trip after day trip to see suburbs, towns, coastal regions and finally to "feel" the region.

Part of the secret of finding a place to stay in Australia is to see it as a long term adventure!

Once here in Australia plan your sight-seeing to include suburbs (on the way). Theres nothing better than discovering a hidden gem of a suburb on a random day trip.

Anyhoo, ciao for now


How I got my visa, Life, Lumps and spirit, Hate your new country? Your not alone! A good Furniture Rental company in Sydney,Why do immigrants leave Australia?, Sydney - Scotland island - hidden gem, Malls in Sydney, Living in St Ives, Arriving in Sydney, Driving through Sydney - first day, How expensive is Sydney 6D47KRNKX8CT <-technorati code

How to help your child make friends at their Australian school

Is your child fitting in at their new Australian school? Are you worried about him or her coping at a new school? Do you want to help your child to integrate to his new Ozzie school?

This is one of the most important things to do when immigrating. Your childs happiness may make or break your stay in your new country. Everyone can struggle after a major move, and watching your child struggle at school can be a very large straw on the camel's back.

Help them catch opportunities.

Make sure they never miss an opportunity to link up with their new school friends. If theres an invite, help them to be there, take off work early, pull a sickie, beg, borow or steal the money! Make it happen! If they are asked to go to the mall, let them go (give them money! Its as important as your grocery budget if not more so!). Offer to lift them. (Even if your tired).

Is it a new dress your kid needs? A skateboard? Watch for the signs that they are doing stuff to get into the crowd. Help them sagely and silently.

I cannot stress how important this is. New invites or opportunities only come once. If your child misses the initial invite or outing, he will soon be passed by, and left to be a loner. MAKE IT HAPPEN. This should be your priority for the fist six months at least.

If you kid spirals into being a loner or retreats to his computer and this becomes the norm, you will have lost the opportunity and it will take forever to get them out of it, if ever.

Integrating your teenager is the most important as kids that are eleven and under are more resiliant/innocent and less prone to the huge teenage anxieties. (Even though your attention on them should still be the same)

Get those horrible new kids over, let them mess up your rumpus room, dont panic! All teens are idiots! ;)

Prompt him or her to ask someone over, or to phone someone up and visit.

Intoduce them to an activity, club, youth group. Activity is key. Gym or karate.

I hope this helps you and your children survive the move.

Later everyone - remember to please leave a Post :)

My most commented post on the blog is here - Why do immigrants leave Australia?


How I got my visa, Life, Lumps and spirit, Hate your new country? Your not alone! A good Furniture Rental company in Sydney,Why do immigrants leave Australia?, Sydney - Scotland island - hidden gem, Malls in Sydney, Living in St Ives, Arriving in Sydney, Driving through Sydney - first day, How expensive is Sydney

Tired in Sydney - can you believe it?

Well, its typical, its my own fault I'm tired.

In the UK, I commuted for four years from Bedford to London. This involved 2 hours each way and 3 different trains each way. Two tubes and one train actually. I was so tired. I refused to sleep early as I resisted the shortening of my me-time, only to be bleary eyed an dzombie like.

It amazing that I could program computer programs at all. Somehow I figured out how to shower and dress and get to work without really waking up until I got there.

I am now in Sydney and just as tired... Why? because I stay up too late blogging, playing CSS and trying to figure out how to get rich. :) Figures huh.

Think I would be more successful in life if I got more sleep (or is it self-discipline(yeah it's that))

I have another "shits 'n giggles blog" which explains the game I play to relax. Two links below.

click here : a counter-strike story. Some gut who played on one of the famous local UK servers.

click here : The most serious game of counter strike in history (an summary of  a team match betrween Scotland and England)



How I got my visa, Life, Lumps and spirit, Hate your new country? Your not alone! A good Furniture Rental company in Sydney,Why do immigrants leave Australia?, Sydney - Scotland island - hidden gem, Malls in Sydney, Living in St Ives, Arriving in Sydney, Driving through Sydney - first day, How expensive is Sydney

Manly - North Head - worth the visit

Hi guys,

well today we were just up for a short drive from our place in St Ives. We decided we had not seen Manly yet so got the address and drove to North Head in Manly(Sydney).

This is the closest piece of land to the sea of the Northern side of the Sydney waterways.

It took us a while to get to seeign this and I wish I had done it before as one really needs to see the scenic views of Sydney. Sydney cannot be appreciated from inside it really.

Here is a small map I embedded from google.

View Larger Map



Its worth the view. You can walk, cycle and bus it so theres plenty to do. There are some nice beaches in Manly and seems very relaxed and festive. You can see all the yachts and ferries in the harbour from the head, so we are going to take the ferry tommorow.

That should provide us with an awesome view of Sydney from the water and we might go up the tower in Sydney once there.

Forgot my Camera so nicked this picture off the net...;)

Have a good one!

How I got my visa, Life, Lumps and spirit, Hate your new country? Your not alone! A good Furniture Rental company in Sydney,Why do immigrants leave Australia?, Sydney - Scotland island - hidden gem, Malls in Sydney, Living in St Ives, Arriving in Sydney, Driving through Sydney - first day, How expensive is Sydney