LSD Tips

[EEG]

Hi;

My wife and I are planning a LSD trip in October to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney (The cities are in order of preference). We have submitted our qualifications for assessment and are currently waiting for our results. If all goes well we will submit our VISA in April. The question – We will only be in Aus for two weeks and we have three cities to visit. Can anybody give us tips regarding the LSD for example should we look at house prices or go to employment agencies. Any tips will be appreciated.

[Mara]

I think perhaps a combination of the two would be ideal. I presume with a two week trip it is really twelve days you have in Australia. Well if you spend four days in each city, then you have two days to check on jobs, one day to check on areas, and the fourth day as a spare for anything that you absolutely need to do or just to have a break. Organise your flights from one city to the other for either early morning or late evening, that way you do not waste a day by having to travel at midday.

I would also suggest that you do a lot of research concerning the areas you want to check out. The cities are big and spread out, you could never cover all of it, at best, you may be able to check out two or three suburbs, and then they would have to be fairly close to each other. No idea how you plan to check out the areas, but having to find your way with a car and a map book would also not allow you much time. If you have a local to show you around, that would be absolutely the ideal situation!

[EEG]

Thanks;

It looks like you are in Melbourne. Could you perhaps recommend three suburbs / area that we can go and look at and if possible a rough estimate on house prices.

Ps. Do you gave any employment agencies that you would recommend in the Melbourne area. I doubt if we will go for interviews, but perhaps they can give us advice and help to get our resume into a Aussie format.

[Mara]

Hi Etienne & Elsa

Probably the two most popular suburbs amongst SA's in Melbourne is Doncaster and Templestowe, I believe mostly for the schools. You can check out prices yourself at the following site, that allows you to see pictures as well. You may also wish to check out Sunbury, we live there, in an area called Rolling Meadows.

http://www.realestate.com.au/

Choose either 'for sale' or 'for rent' and decide which state you wish to look in.

Unfortunately I cannot recommend any employment agencies, we do not use them for our own recruitment and have never applied for a job through one.

If you make contact with Ajay, or do a search on this site, you are sure to find links to examples of an Aussie format for your resume.

[Heather]

Hi, I live on the Gold Coast (love it). A good website for real estate and house prices is realestate.com and then choose your area of preference. It will give you loads of information. As for buying a house when in Australia, it is really quite simple if you know how. Most banks will turn new arrivals away as you need history but I am in the industry as a mortgage broker and we know how to work the system for new arrivals. So dont despair. When we looked in Brisbane, we found some good schools, boys only was BBC (Brisbane Boys College), st Aidens for girls, we also liked st Peters Lutheran school as that was a co-ed private school. Most of the state schools for junior years are pretty good. On the Gold Coast there are lots of great private schools and areas like Hope Island (Golf estate and on canals - good for boating) Sanctuary Cove, Monterey Keys and Oyster Cove are fantastic - schools St Stephens College in that area. Tallai - if you like acreage property - TSS (The Southport School - boys) St Hildas - girls or Emmanuel College (great school - co-ed), Kings Christian College and Somerset College if your child is an academic.

Pick my brain if you have any more questions - been here 6 years!!

[EEG]

Hi Heather;

I possible will you please give us some tips on what we should do in Brisbane for example go to the zoo or go for job interviews. Currently we plan just to travel within Brisbane but are not sure if there is any specific that we should go and see?

Please advice

[Mandz]

You must go to the Autralian Zoo when you have a "off" day ( not doing any job-interviews or looking at subburbs!). Its definately worth the trip! Its about an hours drive North of Brisbane in Beerwah and the Zoo that Steve Irwin built. The admission was quite steep I though- about $40.00 p/p but you get a whole days worth of entertainment! I'm not going to tell you what, because it is a surprise and you need to experience it yourself!

Make sure you take lots of photos when you go!

Cheers

Mandz

[Heather]

Hi Heather;

I possible will you please give us some tips on what we should do in Brisbane for example go to the zoo or go for job interviews. Currently we plan just to travel within Brisbane but are not sure if there is any specific that we should go and see?

Please advice

I agree with Mandz - Australia Zoo is a must - its great to see, I would do a trip down to the Gold Coast as well as you might find it quite suprising. Job interviews are a bit of a waste we found as they are only interested in you once you land as most companies dont want you to ask them to pay for your removal costs but are happy to see you when you arrive, thats with agencies - however if you have specific businesses targeted then you could do that. My husband is in construction and we were told to come and see them as soon as we arrive for good. He started work with them the day after we arrived, so it depends on the nature of what you do.

I would definitely do a trip on the river on the citys ferry system called the micat if you have time, it is really breathtaking seeing Brisbane from the water.What line of work are you both in?(We came for our looksee in Brisbane, took a drive up to Noosa then one down to the Gold Coast and fell in love with the Gold Coast and thats where we headed - no regrets)

regards

Heather

[EEG]

Hi Heather;

It looks like we will have to adjust our traveling plans. We do not like Sydney (heard too many bad things for example it is expensive and is like JHB). We will only go to Melbourne and Brisbane. We have family in Brisbane and property is also more affordable as in Melbourne and Sydney i.e. Brisbane it the favorite at this stage.

My wife is an accountant and will hopefully be a CA in Feb 2008. I am an Internal Auditor although I am not a CA. I have the other Internal Audit qualification for example CIA, CCSA and CISA.

At this stage we will start in Melbourne and drive around or use the public transport to see all the places etc. After 5 days we plan to go to Brisbane and leave for SA from there. I think we will just enjoy our self and make a holiday of the LSD.

We will go and see some employment agencies (not to get work but rather to get a feel for the market and other requirments). We will also look at the areas to estblish if there is any areas that we prefer more then others. Othewise we just hope to enjoy our self and to meet some people (SA and Aussies) that will be able to give us some advice regarding settleing in etc.

[Heather]

Hi Heather;

It looks like we will have to adjust our traveling plans. We do not like Sydney (heard too many bad things for example it is expensive and is like JHB). We will only go to Melbourne and Brisbane. We have family in Brisbane and property is also more affordable as in Melbourne and Sydney i.e. Brisbane it the favorite at this stage.

My wife is an accountant and will hopefully be a CA in Feb 2008. I am an Internal Auditor although I am not a CA. I have the other Internal Audit qualification for example CIA, CCSA and CISA.

At this stage we will start in Melbourne and drive around or use the public transport to see all the places etc. After 5 days we plan to go to Brisbane and leave for SA from there. I think we will just enjoy our self and make a holiday of the LSD.

We will go and see some employment agencies (not to get work but rather to get a feel for the market and other requirments). We will also look at the areas to estblish if there is any areas that we prefer more then others. Othewise we just hope to enjoy our self and to meet some people (SA and Aussies) that will be able to give us some advice regarding settleing in etc.

You guys should find work easily ...let us know if you come to the Gold Coast, perhaps we can meet up and you can ask as many questions of us as you want.

[Rudolph]

Hi

I have been here in Brisbane for the last two weeks on an LSD trip. Fascinating world and just to share some of my thoughts and experiences, I created a blogspot with some information and photographs. Take a look here.

Brisbane is a great place. I am temporarily here in Kenmore, just west of the city. Many South Africans are settled here in the western suburbs. Very similar to Durban, Pinetown.

The public transport system is unbelievable. One can buy a Daily ticket and then you can travel for the entire day on any bus, train or the CitiCat. Truely fascinating.

I will post some more photographs to my blog.

[EEG]

Hi;

We are planning to move our LSD trip to May 2007. We just have a few questions:

1. How's the weather in May in Melbourne & Brisbane?

2. Can you swim in May or is it to cold?

3. Is it cheaper to travel in the winter to Aus or are the prices the same through out the year?

[matman]

Hi Guys

Personally I love Mel in Mar/Apr as the weather is not to hot and only starting to get a little cooler. You can still swim in May, but you will have to pick your day - May is starting to get cool with max temps of 17degrees - refer my link below on weather temp by month in Mel

Try this website for great ideas on what to do in Mel Visit Melbourne it also has a travel planner wizard tool

Try this for a guide on Melbourne weather

Rgds

matman

Hi;

We are planning to move our LSD trip to May 2007. We just have a few questions:

1. How's the weather in May in Melbourne & Brisbane?

2. Can you swim in May or is it to cold?

3. Is it cheaper to travel in the winter to Aus or are the prices the same through out the year?