Australia for a year?.

doctor evil

What do I need to do and prepare?. This is very much info gathering so all replies appreciated.

How much money would I need altogether?. How is it to get work, any particular places I should go to. Would also like to travel to New Zealand for a bit.

Willing hopefully go in October if I can get the funds together.

september18

Hello Dr.Evil, one of the best things to do is prepare a decent cv on email and email it to numerous agencies in sydney. Manpower is quite good and skilled engineering (another agency), Adecco is another. tell them your situation, it would be helpful to have an address in sydey as well for them and for u. Email a few banks as well as it would be wise to open an account. Two good banks are ANZ and the Commonwealth. This will speed up payment and impress agencies and will show that u are keen:) let me know if u need more info. I lived there for 4 and a half years so I know what I'm talking about

rabbitinlights

Ill be going to Australia in March (after 5 months in SE Asia!) Im still undicided on which city to live in? I think I would prefer Melbourne, but ive heard there winter is pretty crappy and it rains alot? Obviously Sydney would be a good choice, but ive heard that its too easy to get stuck in a rut and forget to leave! Brisbane has been popping up in conversation latly aswell, ment to be better for sports/sufing and its defo hotter?

Any ideas?

september18

rabbitinlights wrote:

Ill be going to Australia in March (after 5 months in SE Asia!) Im still undicided on which city to live in? I think I would prefer Melbourne, but ive heard there winter is pretty crappy and it rains alot? Obviously Sydney would be a good choice, but ive heard that its too easy to get stuck in a rut and forget to leave! Brisbane has been popping up in conversation latly aswell, ment to be better for sports/sufing and its defo hotter?

Any ideas?

For anybody travelling to australia, a very common regret by people is that they wished they done more travelling and not spend as much time in Sydney. When you hear that sydney is one of the most beautiful places on earth they are simply telling u the truth. Put it like this , its like going to a wedding reception where you jump straight to the baked alaska and champagne. Everything is too good to be true. Ok so there are some dodgy areas..(redfern, sydenham, central) but every town has this. Do go to Melbourne (its got a very european feel to it) Brisbane is not as nice but again pleasant to visit.BUT nothing compares to Sydney.

pucan

Sydney is a great base. It has everything you could want in a city, lots to do and easy to get around. And if you put in the effort to find one theres plenty of decent jobs. While it is slightly more expensive than the rest of the country its definetly cheaper than dublin and either on a par or cheaper than Galway/Cork. Also since you mentioned Melbourne and Brisbane as places to visit, Sydney is the Transportation Hub for the east coast. Between cheap Quantas Blue flights to the major cities and a very good bus service it is easy to hop up or down the coast for along weekend or a week.
The main bit of advice i would give to you is to decide ASAP on a date and book your flights. The difference in flight costs between booking now and in 2/3 months can be up to 7/800 euro.

Derek B

Cheers for the advice lads. Would people recommend going into usit/sayit and booking a 'round the world' ticket with them, or doing the booking yourself for the different flights etc. Any good or bad experiences of either??

rabbitinlights

We will be travelling for more than 12months, so a single "round the world" ticket from usit was out of the question (you have to be home in 12months). We got a one-way ticket to Australia, with a stop in Singapore to allow us to travel around SE aisa for 5 months off our own back, and then returning to singapore to continue ono Australia. it was €775 (Total) with singapore airlines and we can change our singapore-australia date for free. We missed out on the same deal with malaysian for €622, but a date change was €100 and we heard Singapore airlines is a big step up in comfort, and as im 6'4" I hope it was worth it!

ml

I am travelling to Australia in March.
I registered with an Irish company who set me up with a Bank Account, a Tax File Number and an Australian SIM card (for a fee).
Now they are advising me that I need to transfer money (€3300) into my Australian account for when I arrive in Australia. They will do this for me, again for a fee.
So I was just wondering what have other people done in the past in relation to showing evidence that they have enough money to support themselves?

Do I have to have this amount of money in an Australian Account? Can I not just show a statement from an Irish Account with this amount?
Also, Can I not use a credit card with a limit of over €3300 as proof of funds?

Rabies

Are you using Visa First. Check the threads below this or on the next page, people have posted their views.
If you are using Visa First, I think there currency rate are no where near as good as regular banks. You may possibly lose more than you planned.
Can you transfer the money yourself and avoid using the company?

ml

Thanks Rabies, You're right, there's already a thread about this.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=52806883#post52806883

Guess_Who

doctor evil wrote:

What do I need to do and prepare?. This is very much info gathering so all replies appreciated.

Buy yourself a good guide book, read up on different places & plan a route and approximate amount of time you want to spend in each place. While you most likely won't stick to the exact plan the fact that you have it means that you are less likely to get stuck in a rut somewhere.

I got my visa through visa first but set up my bank account & Tax File Number when I got here. Both of which were free & very easy to do.

doctor evil wrote:

How much money would I need altogether?. How is it to get work, any particular places I should go to.

You're supposed to have AU$5000 coming over. Some people get away with bringing the bare minimum and still have a great time. Others bring more it just depends on what you want to do & how long you are planning on working for.

There are two companies that specialise in recruitment for people travelling, Goeffrey Nathan & Freespirit. The way they work is that you register with them and they send your CV to hundreds of recruitment agencies for you.

Guess_Who

rabbitinlights wrote:

Obviously Sydney would be a good choice, but ive heard that its too easy to get stuck in a rut and forget to leave!

Yes a lot of people do get stuck in a rut in Sydney. I've been here 6 months which is a lot longer than I had planned to. But as a bonus, it's very easy to find work here & the pay is good. If you don't want to get stuck in a rut here you won't. I generally find that the people who do are the ones who live in Bondi, only drink in Irish pubs and only hang around with other Irish people. If you're coming here just to drink & lie on the beach then yeah you could get stuck in a rut here.

If you want to travel (as well as drinking & lying on beaches ) you will. While I'd say I've spent too long in Sydney, staying here so long means that when I leave here (on Monday) I most likely won't have to work for the next 6 months and can concentrate on just travelling & enjoying myself.

Guess_Who

ml wrote:

Do I have to have this amount of money in an Australian Account? Can I not just show a statement from an Irish Account with this amount?
Also, Can I not use a credit card with a limit of over €3300 as proof of funds?

No you don't have to have it in an Australian account.
What I did was tranfer my money onto my credit card & brought the statement with me. When I got here I withdrew the money & lodged it into an Australian account.

rediguana

ml wrote:

I am travelling to Australia in March.
I registered with an Irish company who set me up with a Bank Account, a Tax File Number and an Australian SIM card (for a fee).
Now they are advising me that I need to transfer money (€3300) into my Australian account for when I arrive in Australia. They will do this for me, again for a fee.
So I was just wondering what have other people done in the past in relation to showing evidence that they have enough money to support themselves?

Do I have to have this amount of money in an Australian Account? Can I not just show a statement from an Irish Account with this amount?
Also, Can I not use a credit card with a limit of over €3300 as proof of funds?

I was there in 2002/3. I got a co-worker to lend me E3,000 a couple of months before I went. I lodged it in my a/c, and she waited in the car. I asked for a statement. After I got that a few seconds later, I withdrew the money. The cashier wasn't particularly happy, but she did it. My faked balance did fine for my entry to Australia. They've probably clamped down by now on this type of caper. Incidentally, I took E8k worth of debt back from Oz, which has since morphed into E13k over three years. I try not to think about it. Watch your cash.

doctor evil

When I do go (funds and unfortunatley things have come up) I want to avoid other Irish as much as possible!. No offence or anything but I don`t see the point of travel if you stay within your own nationality.

Guess_Who

doctor evil wrote:

No offence or anything but I don`t see the point of travel if you stay within your own nationality.

Then I don't really see you having a problem with getting stuck in a rut in Sydney. Steering clear of the whole Oirish abroad scene here is the best thing I've ever done!

That said I've still to see the other cities so can't comment on how easy or difficult it is to find jobs etc.