On the move, Sydney

c0rk3r

Hi Folks,

Im currently residing in brunswick in melbourne and have been offered sponsorship with my current company but it involves moving to Sydney. Well i could of taken a position in Melbourne but theres a greater possibility for career progression in Sydney so ive decided to make the move. I've done a bucket load of searchs on the forum to get the information i wanted but can;t seem to get specifics. My first question is about accomodation. The company is located in Kings Park which is on the North Western side of Sydney. From my searches ive got the impression that the west side should be avoided so ive been looking more towards epping, ryde and parramatta. What are peoples impressions of these areas ? ideally id like to spend between 200-250dollars on rent per week, the job may subsidise rent so that figure could double. As i said above im living in Brunswick which is mainly inhabitied by mid 20's professionals, hipsters, people with ironic moustaches and amy winehouse like tattoos. I love the area as everything is on one street, its hip-cool and theres no children, families with kids or teenagers. Ideally id like something similar in Sydney.

Secondly; Whats traffic like in Sydney? Am i looking at an hour journey for a 20km commute ? Because ive decided to drive i need to buy a car. Just got my drivers licence so am looking to buy something like a peugeot 306 / a first time car. Im gobsmacked by the price of second hand cars over here. for the above car im looking at 6-7k for a 2001 car with 180kms on the clock! Is it better to purchase the car in Melbourne or Sydney? will i have to transfer Vic roadworthy certs etc to NSW equivalents when i cross the border ? If you've some information on the process that im all ears. Im currently looking for cars on carsales.com.au and gumtree.com.au is there anywhere else i should be looking ?

The move wont take place until late April or mid May but the more information i gather the better.

Cheers in advance

lg123

traffic in sydney is bad compared to melb.

buy the car in sydney, re-registering and all the different crap will cost. my gf paid about $1300 to get her vic commodore on the road up here.

re time for the 20km commute, depends on the route. i commute 52kms and my gf commutes about 20km to work. i usually do my commute quicker, about 50 mins.

i think you will struggle to find a suburb like brunswick in sydney, newtown is probably the closest.

statina

Wouldnt recommend Ryde, Epping or Parramatta to be honest. IMO, there's nothing particularly nice about them. Parramatta is pretty rough as well. A few of my friends live in Balmain and drive to Blacktown. It takes them about 45 minutes in morning, 1.15 in the evenings. Depends on how long you want to commute and your starting hours. Traffic is sh1te in Sydney no matter where you live!

If you really like living in Brunswick and that general vibe, Id recommend the suburbs of Newtown, Enmore, Glebe, Balmain, Rozelle and Leichardt. Theyre close enough to the city and have a cool vibe. Balmain, Rozelle and Leichardt would be closest/handiest to the M4 which is the road you would be driving to Blacktown.

Yeah decent cars are an outrageous price, the joys of Australia!

Medme

+1 for Newtown, Balmain, Leichart, Enmore, St Peters even. I lived in Newtown for a year and loved it. Very alternative, funky scene. I commuted from Newtown to Camden (South-West) for work and found traffic was doable that direction, you'll be going contra-flow going out of the city in the mornings and back in in the evenings.

I wouldn't be super keen on living in Parra, I stayed there initially for 2months and it was ok but definitely rough as everyone has said. If you wanted to live near work I'd probably go to Castle Hill or somewhere in Balkham Hills area. They're not funky or alternative areas, nothing like Brunswick, more like nice suburbs, but they are safe, relatively clean and a million times more pleasant than Parra (in my opinion anyway!).