Booked my flights ! :-D

Dave!

Hey folks,

I finally worked up the courage to book my flights to Sydney for my WHV

Flying out on Thursday 4th March at 6.30pm Irish time, and I land in Sydney on Saturday :eek: 6th of March at 7.35am Sydney time ! 2 fookin days I'll be travelling ! Kinda

I'll also be taking 2 legs of the journey -- London to Singapore and Singpore to Sydney -- in styleeeee :cool: Airbus A380 plz !

So any advice from experience of what I should do for the next month? I'll hopefully have about $5,000 AUD by the time I leave.

Anyone know if and how I might set up an Aussie bank account before I leave?

I'll be flying over on my own and my mates won't be coming over til Paddy's Day. I'm trying to decide whether I should stay with my relatives in St Clair (bit far from the city) for the first few days until I'm acclimated, or should I just go straight for the hostels and get meeting people? hmmm

I'm excited and nervous !

wooo

jank

What you should have done is spent a few days in Singapore or Thailand or some place like that. Those places are as good if not better for travelling than OZ. Seems to me like you will be buming around the place for a few days anyway so just take it easy and settle in. Do you have a plan for work? 5,000 aint all that much if you dont have a job

hussey

Dave! wrote: »

Hey folks,

I finally worked up the courage to book my flights to Sydney for my WHV

Flying out on Thursday 4th March at 6.30pm Irish time, and I land in Sydney on Saturday :eek: 6th of March at 7.35am Sydney time ! 2 fookin days I'll be travelling ! Kinda

I'll also be taking 2 legs of the journey -- London to Singapore and Singpore to Sydney -- in styleeeee :cool: Airbus A380 plz !

So any advice from experience of what I should do for the next month? I'll hopefully have about $5,000 AUD by the time I leave.

Anyone know if and how I might set up an Aussie bank account before I leave?

I'll be flying over on my own and my mates won't be coming over til Paddy's Day. I'm trying to decide whether I should stay with my relatives in St Clair (bit far from the city) for the first few days until I'm acclimated, or should I just go straight for the hostels and get meeting people? hmmm

I'm excited and nervous !

wooo

st clair is near penrith, so about 1+hr away from city - maybe a day or two to see family (could be good to get over jet lag), but maybe best if stayed in a hostel for a bit of craic and meet a few people.

for a bank account you can open an ANZ from here
http://www.anz.com/aus/promo/internresaccount/
but I think it is just as easy to open in Aus.

a good option would

Doc

Dave! wrote: »

Hey folks,

I finally worked up the courage to book my flights to Sydney for my WHV

Flying out on Thursday 4th March at 6.30pm Irish time, and I land in Sydney on Saturday :eek: 6th of March at 7.35am Sydney time ! 2 fookin days I'll be travelling ! Kinda

I'll also be taking 2 legs of the journey -- London to Singapore and Singpore to Sydney -- in styleeeee :cool: Airbus A380 plz !

So any advice from experience of what I should do for the next month? I'll hopefully have about $5,000 AUD by the time I leave.

Anyone know if and how I might set up an Aussie bank account before I leave?

I'll be flying over on my own and my mates won't be coming over til Paddy's Day. I'm trying to decide whether I should stay with my relatives in St Clair (bit far from the city) for the first few days until I'm acclimated, or should I just go straight for the hostels and get meeting people? hmmm

I'm excited and nervous !

wooo

Spend as little money as you can for the next month so that you can take as much as possible with you every little bit extra you can bring the better.

Don’t know if you can set up an account before you get here (I think you can but I’m not too sure) but you don’t really need to .It took me about 20 minutes to set one up when I got here. I just brought in my passport and the address I was staying at to the bank (I’m with ANZ) and they opened it for me there and then no problem.

I would defiantly suggest staying for a bit in a hostel even if you do have relatives here. When I arrived first I stayed with an old flatmate of mine from London and although it was great for saving money and going out and meeting the locals on the weekends because she was working during the week I was left on my own all day most of the time until I found work and my own place. In the hostels everyone is in the same situation and it’s much easier to meet new people.

Hope you have a blast here mate!

mandrake04

Dave I flew on the A380 at Xmas with Singapore... not much difference in leg room than the 747 but If you can get an upstairs window seat its better as there is only a 2 seats on the side (rather than 3) and the window seat has a side storage bin under the window ....downstairs Economy is basically same as 747. you will probably find that travel time is only about 35 (including flying to and waiting in London) due to the fact Sydney is 11 hours ahead of GMT.

Like Hussey said St. Clair is 45km or about an hour from the city by train, St Marys station is the closest and then about 5 minutes drive to St Clair, I would hang around there for about 5 days to get your head together (and save your dough) and maybe then move to a Hostel... at least then you can leave some of your gear with the relo's and only carry what you need in the hostel.

For bank account try this http://www.visafirst.com/en/australia_bank_account.asp

They set up a bank account and you can transfer your cash before you go.... For me it was the ANZ on Cnr of King & George ...so once you get to Australia you go in with your passport and organize to get your bank card sent out.


St Paddys Day Parade is 21st March so I would suggest to get a good hostel booked for you and your mates and if they arrive on the 17th they should be refreshed by the Sunday.

mandrake04

Just remembered


This place http://www.travellers.com.au/ is very useful and its across the street from the George St ANZ in the Dymocks Building , you can have your mail sent here for up to 6 months if you would rather do that than send it to your relatives in St Clair. They can help you with finding Jobs and obtaining green cards. Also you can book stuff with them as well.

hussey

mandrake04 wrote: »

For bank account try this http://www.visafirst.com/en/australia_bank_account.asp.

nah man don't go near visa first, they just use ANZ that I posted above, so avoid the middle man, but as Doc said, only takes 20mins to open an account

m@cc@

mandrake04 wrote: »

Dave I flew on the A380 at Xmas with Singapore... not much difference in leg room than the 747 but If you can get an upstairs window seat its better as there is only a 2 seats on the side (rather than 3) and the window seat has a side storage bin under the window ....downstairs Economy is basically same as 747.

http://www.seatguru.com/

Handy link for look at the seat quality for most major airlines.

jaarius

Congrats on booking your flight Dave!

Good luck and all that.

j

mandrake04

hussey wrote: »

nah man don't go near visa first, they just use ANZ that I posted above, so avoid the middle man, but as Doc said, only takes 20mins to open an account

Yeah probably best to go directly to ANZ, I got my visa through visafirst 5 years ago and the bank account and Phone Sim was included in the Backpacker package.

m@cc@ wrote: »

http://www.seatguru.com/

Handy link for look at the seat quality for most major airlines.

Thanks for that link... M@CCA

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Singapore_Air/Singapore_Air_Airbus_A380.php

If you can get upstairs its far better... We were in Row 73... Good Entertainment System

I Flew back to Sydney with Air New Zealand (via US) they are the best and had far more leg room than on the A380.

BossArky

Dave! wrote: »

Anyone know if and how I might set up an Aussie bank account before I leave?

You can easily open an account within 7 days of landing if you have your passport.

Go around to 4 or 5 banks and ask them what account fees they charge per month/year. Some will require you to have a certain amount coming into the account each month before they waive the fee. e.g. Westpac charge 5 dollars per month unless you have 2000 AUD coming in per month.

If you wait longer than 7 days you have to come up with more supporting documentation to open the account.

Beachband

Dave! wrote: »

Hey folks,

I finally worked up the courage to book my flights to Sydney for my WHV

Flying out on Thursday 4th March at 6.30pm Irish time, and I land in Sydney on Saturday :eek: 6th of March at 7.35am Sydney time ! 2 fookin days I'll be travelling ! Kinda

I'll also be taking 2 legs of the journey -- London to Singapore and Singpore to Sydney -- in styleeeee :cool: Airbus A380 plz !

So any advice from experience of what I should do for the next month? I'll hopefully have about $5,000 AUD by the time I leave.

Anyone know if and how I might set up an Aussie bank account before I leave?

I'll be flying over on my own and my mates won't be coming over til Paddy's Day. I'm trying to decide whether I should stay with my relatives in St Clair (bit far from the city) for the first few days until I'm acclimated, or should I just go straight for the hostels and get meeting people? hmmm

I'm excited and nervous !

wooo

Good luck mate! Have flown with Qantas and Emirates before, thinking about booking the A380 when I go, heard that its a fairly quiet plane in the sky, and also the cool fact that its a double decker(never thought I'd say that about a plane!)

Also I fully understand the 'nervous and exited bit' - but hey!....he who dares!

woolymammoth

Fair play Dave, best of luck to ya on the travels.

Like the lads said above, don't need to bother going through the agencies to have things set up for you. You'll save cash and give yourself something to do by doing it yourself. Shouldn't have any issues if you do it straight away.

Don't forget to apply for your Tax File number, and get a medicare exemption certificate for when Tax time comes.

sarahb82

I have also just booked my flights, heading out on the 30th of march but wont be arriving to oz until the 2nd of may, stopping in asia for a bit first. So excited about it all now that it is booked

Standard Toaster

*subs*

Fair play to you Dave. I hope to be doing much the same in the next few months...although I'll be a lone ranger once I land in Oz.

@sarahb82
Nice one \o/
Are you heading over on your own?
You'll love Asia

I've been a lurker on the Australia\New Zealand forum for a while now, very helpful.

Dave!

Ah cool, think you subscribed to another one of my threads on the subject This forum is great, loadsa people have helped me out with planning the trip

Wish I had enough money to do a bit of Asia before Oz... I know it's cheap as chips, but I'm looking at having about $5000 bang on, so I don't really wanna take anything out of it. I'll try to see Thailand on the way home at least.

sarahb82

I am also another long time lurker and I must admit it has been very helpful. I'm heading over with a mate of mine from school, Couldnt built up the courage to go by myself. Prob wont be doing much of thailand as my mate has travelled there before but we are aiming for vietnam cambodia and malaysia. Yea looking for to seeing asia alright. Experience something different to our little island.

hussey

When ya get to Aus suggest a boards beers.

Sarah - May will start to be cold, best time to get jobs and accommodation in big cities, good time to hit the east coast too.

Dave - Sunday the 21st March is the Paddys day festival - one of the best days of the year http://www.stpatricksday.org.au/
they have a big stage in hyde park and lots of stuff going on. Great fun.
Also Saw Doctors are playing Paddys Day too!

there is also a sydney comedy festival http://sydneycomedyfest.com.au/
from 9th April - 9May
Tommy Tiernan $50
Jason Byrne $36
Des Bishop $36
David O'Doherty $32.50
are all playing as well as international comedians

Dave!

Cheers hussey Yeah I'll defo attend/organise a boards beers at some point ! Paddy's Day should be good craic

Can't fookin wait now

Dave!

Looks like the rellies are pickin me up from the airport and taking me to St Clair ! Probably for the best while I sort myself out. I'll only be there for 5 days max I'd say, offload some crap if I need to, and then onwards and upwards

Reading the Lonely Planet guide today, it's like porn for me at the mo

mandrake04

Dave! wrote: »

rellies

Its Relo's mate.... it has to be rounded with an 'O' same as most things.


Service Station .. Servo
Bottle Shop... Bottlo


You need the lingo or people are gonna think you are from another planet

sarahb82

Dave! wrote: »

Looks like the rellies are pickin me up from the airport and taking me to St Clair ! Probably for the best while I sort myself out. I'll only be there for 5 days max I'd say, offload some crap if I need to, and then onwards and upwards

Reading the Lonely Planet guide today, it's like porn for me at the mo

Me also!
Thanks for the tips Hussey,

I think I must also try and get the lingo down, had a mate whose been over there for 6 months trying to help me out with some of it.

Dave!

Was at my mate's leaving party on Saturday

He's heading to Thailand with his girlfriend in a week !

Just over 2 weeks until my own departure Just gonna get a few things in order before then

Anyone got a suggestion as to how much cash I should bring with me? Obviously I'll need to have a few days' worth until I transfer money to my Oz account

The Sweeper

Mmmmm...

Bottle of beer in a city centre pub: $6-7 Pint of lager up to $9 depending where you're drinking.

Meal in any one of the chinese style eateries in the cheap streets: up to $10 including a drink usually.

Takeaway cup of coffee: in and around $3 in a cafe, up to $6 if you're going for Gloria Jeans.

Toiletries are expensive - e.g. shower gel, shampoo - they can be dirt cheap if you buy random brands or find a warehouse shop, or they can be fifteen bucks a bottle.

The biggest tip I have for anyone staying in a hostel: Check the free food cupboard before you go to the store.

Do you have a card you can set up before you go, instead of bringing cash? E.g. can you get a visa debit card that you can use with your Irish account to supplement whatever cash you have, save you risking losing what you're carrying?

mandrake04

Can you get prepaid Visa & Mastercard in Ireland before you go? I used a prepaid when I was in US last month. You can use it to withdraw cash like a bank card or use it like a credit card.

hussey

mandrake04 wrote: »

Can you get prepaid Visa & Mastercard in Ireland before you go? I used a prepaid when I was in US last month. You can use it to withdraw cash like a bank card or use it like a credit card.

Yeah called visa/MC debit cards over here, most if not all major banks have them

mandrake04

hussey wrote: »

Yeah called visa/MC debit cards over here, most if not all major banks have them

Yeah I know I got a Commonwealth one. Different to a debit card tho its not attached to an actual account (doesn't have you name or anything on it) they give it to you straight over the counter activate it and you just load it up with cash via BPAY.

Debit card debits money from your bank account, this is like a prepay phone card.

hussey

mandrake04 wrote: »

Yeah I know I got a Commonwealth one. Different to a debit card tho its not attached to an actual account (doesn't have you name or anything on it) they give it to you straight over the counter activate it and you just load it up with cash via BPAY.

Debit card debits money from your bank account, this is like a prepay phone card.

sorry misread! Yeah those cards can be got from service stations & Aus post
http://www.prepaidshop.com.au/ that is anz's version

mandrake04

hussey wrote: »

sorry misread! Yeah those cards can be got from service stations & Aus post
http://www.prepaidshop.com.au/ that is anz's version

I bought one out of a service station called a Canvascard visa, they are good for buying stuff online... you can load it up by BPAY and if it gets compromised just cut it up.... Stops your bank account getting cleaned out.

ballooba

mandrake04 wrote: »

Yeah probably best to go directly to ANZ, I got my visa through visafirst 5 years ago and the bank account and Phone Sim was included in the Backpacker package.

Waste of money in my opinion. The visa is simple to do yourself and more reliable and cheaper. I don't know why you would use them to set up mobile/bank account either. Three are cheaper than Vodafone and they are effectively the same company with the same network.

mandrake04

ballooba wrote: »

Waste of money in my opinion. The visa is simple to do yourself and more reliable and cheaper. I don't know why you would use them to set up mobile/bank account either. Three are cheaper than Vodafone and they are effectively the same company with the same network.

This post make no sense... who mentioned anything about Vodafone?

Zambia

mandrake04 wrote: »

This post make no sense... who mentioned anything about Vodafone?

You mentioned a Phone Sim it was probably assumed you meant Vodafone ?

Dave!

Alright lads I'll look into that, thanks :pac:

Gonna go get my backpack outa the attic now...

2 weeks, 2 days.....

mandrake04

District_9 wrote: »

You mentioned a Phone Sim it was probably assumed you meant Vodafone ?

No.. I mentioned that 5 years ago I got visafirst backpacker pack (around 80 euro)

They done my visa, setup an ANZ bank account and supplied a telstra sim card.

I know now that you can do the visa yourself (but 5 years ago I was unsure)

I know now you can setup a bank account yourself online and then transfer the money before you go (I just didn't know if you could do that 5 years ago)

I got a Telstra sim card before I left so I could give my phone number to my friends and family before I left.

Well if I had been a member of these threads then.... I would have probably saved myself 80e... hindsight is a great thing..:)

ballooba

mandrake04 wrote: »

This post make no sense... who mentioned anything about Vodafone?

Visa First currently use Vodafone.

Dave!

tick tock tick tock

I picked up $500 today to keep me goin for a few days

3 days to go :eek:

I'm making a list of things I need to bring/do over the next few days, I think I'm pretty much in order

Any suggestions for how many pairs of shorts to bring? The weather doesn't seem terribly good I'm thinking 2 pairs of jeans and 3 pairs of shorts (plus swimming shorts).

stevveyg

Fair play Dave, any nerves yet??
im planning on going myself to sydney in may, have a few mates out there at the moment pipe laying and say work is plentiful. Did you go through usit or plan you're own trip? i am still undecided, i hear usit is handy as they do everything but if i shopped around i could save a few hundred quid.

Dave!

I'm a bit apprehensive, mainly at the idea of not finding a job and having to come home Should be alright though

I did it all on my own, most people don't bother with usit, etc. The visa takes about 5 minutes to order through the Aussie immigration website. There's no real benefit to ordering through an agency.

woolymammoth

Dave! wrote: »

I picked up $500 today to keep me goin for a few days

3 days to go :eek:

fair play to ya!

Dave! wrote: »

I'm making a list of things I need to bring/do over the next few days, I think I'm pretty much in order

Any suggestions for how many pairs of shorts to bring? The weather doesn't seem terribly good I'm thinking 2 pairs of jeans and 3 pairs of shorts (plus swimming shorts).

probably don't need to bring much to be honest. I came over in Jan last year, landed at the start of 2 weeks of 40 degree heat! :eek: I brought 3 pairs of shorts with me, and never wore a single pair! Bought some cool boardies when i got here instead. so unless you have nice shorts you probably don't want them all, bring your jeans though.

This might come in handy for you: link, change the settings to Temp & Wind and your set!

Dave!

I'm going tomorrow :eek: :eek: :eek: (it being after 12 midnight :pac: )

Can't fookin wait

wicklowwonder

Dave! wrote: »

I'm going tomorrow :eek: :eek: :eek: (it being after 12 midnight :pac: )

Can't fookin wait

enjoy dude! The flight is very very long. Drink a few beers then fall asleep, the five times I have done it its worked. Are you stopping anywhere on the way over?

Dave!

Have to stop in Heathrow and Singapore, but not staying anywhere

Only 2 hours between all my connecting flights :eek:

Will that be long enough?!

I think I land in terminal 1 in Heathrow and fly out of terminal 3, I can walk between those two, am I right?

Also quick question -- do I get my boarding passes for all the flights in Dublin airport, or will I have to check in again in Heathrow and possibly Singapore? The Dublin-London flight is with Aer Lingus, the other two are with Singapore Airlines (Airbus A380 baby :pac: )

Thanks !

wicklowwonder

You should be able check into all your flights in Dublin, you are with Aer Lingus and Qantas-BA. You dont have to worry about bags or anything will be all looked after I imagine. 2 hours is plenty of time its only a short walk in Heathrow and less time you spend in that kip the better however Singapore airport is fantastic! So much to do around the airport shopping eating even have leisure facilities and hotel in one of the terminals, real easy to navigate also so you will be fine. Enjoy!

Dave!

Cheers lad !

I won't be able to sleep tonight !

I'm gonna watch a couple of episodes of the West Wing now to help me along

Doc

Watch loads of episodes of boarder control and then the movie Wolf Creak. That should put you in the perfect frame of mind for coming over.

Standard Toaster

Fair play Dave....been a long time coming for ya!
Best of luck tomorrow. May see ye over there yet for a few swills!

(Singapore is brill btw!)

Zambia

Dave! wrote: »

Cheers lad !

I won't be able to sleep tonight !

I'm gonna watch a couple of episodes of the West Wing now to help me along

I am on shift for the next few nights then of camping. I will check your blog some time next week to see how you got on.

Enjoy Australia.

I read your blog you sound well organised, you should be well set.

P.S When you get here you may want broadband on the go. For a price estimate I use Virgin broadband 34 bucks a month.

Beachband

Best of luck Dave, rock n roll mate.