Been in Sydney a Week

[Vee]

First of all, the Jet lag is bad, it’s a direct flight for 11 hours, and you leave SA at about 18:00, it’s hard to sleep on a plane, and you arrive in Sydney at 15:00 the next day, then it’s clearing customs, and quarantine. This is no joke. Seriously. Get some sleeping tablets the minute you land, or bring them along, alternatively I have found that a bottle of wine a day works.

Don’t even try to bring rooibos, biltong, a springbok skin, or anything like that into the country, they have sniffer dogs, X-rays the works. Clearing customs and Quarantine takes at least an hour… AT LEAST!

Your only allowed to bring in 2lt of alcohol, and 250 cigarettes, so don’t attempt to shop til you drop at Duty Free.

If you would like to bring excess luggage, contact Jonen Freight, it’s very simple, youo book your stuff in, its R30 p/kg, and an admin fee of R285. Have the luggage, or good there 2 days before your flight, but the “things” arrive with you in Sydney. Although it takes about a day or so to clear. You can contact Jonen Freight at 011-391-1113 speak to Johannes Radebe. If you do not pre-book your excess luggage, your looking at about R201 per kg at the airport.

American Express offers the best exchange rate, well they did when I was there, but the trick is, they can only give you FOREX if you have a return ticket, so, if you booked through IOM you have to go to Absa, and we all know what they are like. Have your E-ticket with you at all times. You’ll need it to prove the 40kg’s allowance, and also for your forex.

Get to the nearest information desk at the airport to get a bus routing schedule, and the train schedule etc. otherwise you might find some of the bus drivers about as helpful as Simpiwe working at the Spar checkout counter when you ask him to solve a trigonometry equation.

You can get pre-paid phone starter packs if you brought your cell, but it’s not as simple as in SA, you need to phone and activate it, they ask you a couple of questions (address being important) and then ask you to switch it off for about 30 mins, only after this is it activated and your ready to roll, oh and when you switch it on you will get the mobile number assigned to you.

Post codes are widely used, get familiar with yours ASAP

There is no formal agreement on tipping in restaurants, but don’t leave your bill on the table in the little folder, you need to take it to the cashier, they will then have a bottle or a tipping jar if you wish to add something. Unlike in SA the waitrons here actually do get wages.

IOM – The ticket is about R5600 all inclusive, one way, and allows you 40kg’s, you need to send a fax request, along with your passport and visa, as well as proof of payment into their bank account before the E-ticket will be issued. It’s important to telephonically follow up with them.

What I needed for my 457 Visa, a copy of my Passport, a copy of my ID, my CV (for the basic information about yourself), 2 reference letters from bosses, colleagues, customers etc. If your studying your university transcripts. They generally want 5 years working experience. This all gets mailed to your immigration attorney in Oz, once everything is in you will receive a visa tracking/reference number, then go to Dr. Ingham in Arwyp, or to Dr. Siniger in Edenvale they will do your medical, and organise your Chest X-ray for you. They will also courier everything up to Oz for you. After this is done, it’s about 2 to 3 weeks. If you are or have been in the army, get the necessary documentation to prove you are no longer in it! And if you have a child that has finished school, get their matric certificates as well, they will ask for it.

Sattelite TV is about $30 per month…

Financing a car, a house, or anything if you are not a permanent resident, is a bit hard!

Still trying to figure that out. www.carsales.com.au is generally good. Also all their used cars come out on a Friday in a paper called the “Daily Telegraph”

Rental units all come out on a Saturday paper. Get to them ASAP.

The rental market is very good, and to get a place is very hard. The agents are quite rude, and not big on customer service, because they know there’s a line of people waiting for the place. Generally speaking check www.domain.com.au and check properties daily, be sure to tick the “Today’s ad’s only’ flag, this will allow you to see whats available immediately. Check it often as well!!!

If you see something you like, contact the agent, or check on the ad, they will tell you a time to come i.e. 31 March from 10:00 to 10:10. Make sure you are there on time, and you have all your paperwork ready. You also have to come up with about 4 weeks rent up front. Everyone then goes into the applications pool, and may the best man win! It’s not an easy game. Being single I was lucky, I got a room mate and then just figured I’ll do that until I see something I really like. A lot of the buildings are really old, and not exactly the modern sophisticated look you might be used to in Sandton, but eventually you accept.

Join a site like www.rsvp.com.au this allows you to meet new people, yes it’s a dating site, but can also be used to meet friends and so forth.

Taxi’s charge by time not by kilometre, so some of them do take chances to go the busier, or longer route, the same trip can cost you $20 with one cab, and $30 with the other.

The legal drinking age is 18

The legal driving age – You can get your learners at 16, and your licence at 17. Go to the RTA for more information. Which reminds me, you can’t buy a car in NSW if you don’t have a NSW licence, well, you can buy it, but you cannot collect it. So get that done ASAP!

Bring adaptors for power with you, it’s easy to find a 2 point plug adaptor, but not a normal 3 point plug that we’re used to, thus charging your camera and things could prove difficult. Most shops have the adaptor for Australia to SA, but not SA to Australia.

Alcohol – Ek’s ‘n doos wyn drinker, hee hee, it’s about $12 for a 4 litre. Things like Smirnoff spin etc. is very expensive. A bottle of Vodka is about $33.

The first 2 numbers of a phone number is the state code.

They do have daylight savings, and this comes into effect around end of March.

You need a Tax file number, this is very simple, just go to the website at www.ato.gov.au right click in the top right hand corner, enter in 1457 and search, just follow the links from there.

Banking charges are quite good, it’s about $5 through Westpac with unlimited withdrawals and deposits, also internet banking. NICE!

But you need a address for them… and your passport.

You choose your own superannuation fund, to what I have heard from the locals, the best one to go through is MTAA, your HR manager usually handles this for you. Superannuation being your pension fund!

Carry a police certified copy of drivers licence, passport, ID, proof of address in SA with you at all times, just in CASE!

If you land and walk straight into a job (recommended, cause people at work are supportive, and very helpful, cause they are familiar with your circumstances) then I recommend you leave SA on either a Wednesday or Thursday, then you have the weekend to relax, get used to things, check out the scene, etc.

Dress code at work, In my particular job is quite formal, suits is the norm for women, and the men, a dress shirt, trousers, AND A TIE!

There aren’t always take away places close to where you are, and there isn’t a “Twisters” that comes around with lunch, or Sandwich ladies. So, I recommend you pack lunch!

Car financing, your looking at about $30 per $1000 you finance, per week.

Ok but that’s all from my side….

Vee

[Queensland Girl]

Great post Vee. Thanks- I have forgotten 2/3 of all these things 5 years down the line!

[matman]

Dont forget if you have kids - to get there immunizations up to date and bring all doumentation of this.

On the topic of Customs and why it take an hour - there is a very GOOD reaosn for this and I know it can be a painful expericence, especially when it is your first experience arriving in AUs. However you will be thankful and understand it better later on. Australia is most probably one of the safest places to live. For example one of the reason why on the Incoming card they ask if you have been in Africa/South America. These places have very high incidents of TB. It is a red flag to officials to look out for symptoms of TB.

Why are they so hung up on wood, not bringing in biltong, egg products, fruit etc - all these items can bring in pests that can ruin the natural eco system in Aus - You may bring in a pest that animal or plant life in Aus may not have a natural resitance to or you bring in a pest which in Aus may not have a natural predator to it.

When the world was running scared because of the Foot&Mouth epidemic, bird flu, various flu viruses etc - we were aware of all of this in Aus, but did we see any of this in Aus - No - because customs and quarantine do an awesome job to prevent things like this getting past our borders.

Sorry if this sounds like I am on my soapbox, but thought it may help other new arrivals when they are hot, thirsty, hungry, have the crying kids and start cursing Customs as to why it is like this

Rgds

matman

Edited March 29, 2007 by matman

[LiezelM]

Thanks for the wonderful post Vee! I'll definitely return to it time & time again! Wow, the IOM tickets really are cheap! Tell me, how long before hand do you have to book the tickets??

[Barnone]

Thanks for a most informative post Vee

Your experiences (& solutions) are most helpful to those of us who will be following.

Just to add that it is possible to "open" the bank a/c online & make deposits & transfers prior to arrival, then you can present yourself upon arrival & collect your card etc.

Also I can attest that you can bring up to 10 kgs of "dried peaches"(don't ask ) if you go down the red channel & declare them & have them examined by the AQIS inspector but it is best to check everything on their website here.

Regarding daylight savings this is quite confusing as the dates are diferent for each state I found this site very helpful for times & many other daily things .

I look forward to next weeks episode.

Have fun

[Barnone]

sorry found a better website on daylight savings (& lots of other interesting govt. dept. links ...)

Here

Edited March 29, 2007 by Barnone

[sa2auz]

Well done Vee

Wow thanks so much for that wonderful post, good job you are single that must have taken you a yonk to write.

I must say we were really lucky with customs and we were through on our way to hour new home within an hour of landing. I do think it is worth going to the "to declare queue" there are usually fewer people and I just declare all the medicine and sweeties etc even though I know they are okay, better save than sorry.

I would also suggest that if you are going to rent register on a site like realestate.com.au so that you get an idea of the prices and areas and availability before you come you can also log on each day and see what is new. Also we had a pack ready with copies of our passports, visas, reference letters, employement letters etc ready for any house we liked so that didn't hold up the process and we were lucky we got the first house we wanted.

Vee I am sure you will find loads of places to eat might just take a while, in the city the underground foodcourts are amazing and the aussies love their food and the variety is amazing but it can get pretty pricey so you might want to stick with your packed lunch.

Another thing is the coffee culture here is huge and everyone walks round with their coffee so that can add up pretty smartly so best not get into that habit too quickly wait till you have been earning dollars for a while.

Another thing for all those with PR and those that need tax forms etc the post office is a great place and you can get applications for Aussie passports etc and it only takes 2 weeks to get it (a bit different from SA home affairs) The post office also has little reference books for all the creepy crawlies like a spider book and animal book and bird book etc.

I would suggest that everyone buy a UBD (map book) the minute you get off the plane, they have the postcodes of the suburbs and it is like my bible I can find out the schools and ovals etc

one last thing is Taurus is a company run by an ex SA and I believe only has ex SA's working their and they do finance, tax, relocation, visas wills, insurance so it might be worth having a look at their site too.

I am sure you will all love Sydney it just takes some adjusting to finding your way around and setting down roots.

Good Luck

[Vee]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the responses. I need to wire money from my account in SA to here, any clues on what needs to be done? I'm with FNB there and Westpac here.

So far the experiences have been good, I've met a couple of nice people, some really rude ones and even met ones that gave me box tickets to a warratah game with free booze and food on Saturday, really nice of them isn't it?

Around which areas are most of you living in Sydney, I'm not sure where to look and where not to. Never felt so lost in all my life. I must be honest there are days that i think I made a mistake, when I compare what I had in SA to what I have here, but hoping that will get better, really soon. It's just when you take your monthly budget, i had the car, the dstv, the house, the maid, and then still savigns and now I don't have any of that, and it's hair raising. Especially when you think whatever you save you'll be spending on holidays home. Also, I didn't show any sad emotions when leaving SA cause I kept thinking "you made the decision now, be strong and stick with it" so it might be catching up cause I surpressed it.

[Guest spacefowl]

Vee what was your real motive for coming. not what you may think others what to hear but your real motive?

[matman]

Hi Guys,

Around which areas are most of you living in Sydney, I'm not sure where to look and where not to. Never felt so lost in all my life. I must be honest there are days that i think I made a mistake, when I compare what I had in SA to what I have here, but hoping that will get better, really soon. It's just when you take your monthly budget, i had the car, the dstv, the house, the maid, and then still savigns and now I don't have any of that, and it's hair raising. Especially when you think whatever you save you'll be spending on holidays home. Also, I didn't show any sad emotions when leaving SA cause I kept thinking "you made the decision now, be strong and stick with it" so it might be catching up cause I surpressed it.

hi Vee

Hang in there it does get better - remember Rome was not built in a day and it does take time to rebuild.

Not sure if you have seen these postings, but the feelings your are having are not unique - we have all been through it - for some it is easier and for some it is worse.

Just remember why you made the decision to leave and remind yourself of that - write it down on a post-it and place where you can see it every day. "I left South Africa because ................"

7yrs down the road

Great Expectations

Rgds

matman

[Vee]

My real motivation for coming...

1. To save as much as possible

2. To see another country

3. To get international business exposure.

See I went to school in the states for about 3 years, matriculated in SA, climbed the corporate ladder for a while, I was on top form at 23 with a brand new Rav4 a house, and pretty much everything else, now, I'm homeless, lost, and alone.

i'm sure this all gets better.... it's just a matter of settling in, and getting used to the way things work. I'm very sure everyone has had their time in questioning what they did, and if they made the right choice.

Right now my colleagues are a great help, and I'm holding onto that.

Vee

[Springbok]

See I went to school in the states for about 3 years, matriculated in SA, climbed the corporate ladder for a while, I was on top form at 23 with a brand new Rav4 a house, and pretty much everything else, now, I'm homeless, lost, and alone.

Vee,

Remember you are still VERY YOUNG and can easily afford to start all over again. This is the best time of your life to take risks, in your 20s. Many people, myself included, are already in our 30s when doing this big move. So don't lose hope, you will get there in time!

Cheers!