Moving to Sydney - 27th Sept

Tucker688

Hi,

I am moving to sydney in the next few weeks and would greatly appreciate some advice on hostels to stay etc. I am travelling alone and will not have a huge amount of money €2500 circa. I have a good few interviews lined up nonetheless. Its a bit daunting at the minute but any help would be great.

pete4130

Look at AirBnB too. Where are your interviews happening? Where will your work be? All this will help give you answer as to where you'd be best to start looking.

Gumtree is big over here for looking at places to live. Other sites like www.flatmatefinders.com.au but I think you have to pay for that site and www.realestate.com.au

€2500 is about $4000 at the minute with the weaker Aussie $. hostels can be about $20-$25 a night.

Tucker688

Interviews are happening in Sydney city Centre and thats more than likely where the jobs will be situated too, (Finance jobs).

pete4130

Anywhere along the train lines would be a good place to look to live.

Inner West has a good vibe, close to the city, buses, trains. Rents can be high for what you get. It's a trendy area in demand. Eastern Suburbs have nice beaches but lack decent train lines as a whole. Restricted to buses in some areas.

Head further out west and rents are cheaper but a bit more bleak in regards to where you live. Not much to do, sprawl of houses but some areas well serviced with trains.

The CBD (city centre) is expensive of course but close to work.

There is a decently priced hostel in Newtown, in the Inner West on one of the major streets called Billabong Garden I think. close to trains, easy to get to the city, plenty of nightlife, bars, cafe's restaurants, parks, near the Uni.

Tucker688

Thanks Pete.

Do you think I will struggle badly with only $3000. How long do you think that will last, if I dont drink etc till I find a job?

pete4130

€2500 is about $4000 with the current exchange rate, and it seems its only going to get better for you the later you exchange.

$4000 is a decent enough to get by if you break it down.

Train fare from the airport to the city is about $19 unless you make the 15 minute walk to Mascot station and catch a bus for about $4.

Say $25-30 a night for hostels/AirBnB

Say $10 on food a day if your eating out at least once with supermarket food cooked in hostels the rest of the time. Bring bottled tap water to save money on buying drinks while out in the city, using drinking fountains to refill (bottled water/coke/soft drinks can be $2-$3 or more in the city centre convenience stores). Less if you do it cheap on noodles, rice etc if you really wanted to.

Trains will be at least $8 a day without an Opal Card.

So you are probably looking at a $50 a day max. Some days less if you aren't travelling into the city and back. Less again if you buy food at supermarkets and stick to that. You will want to go wandering, seeing some things, etc so $50 a day is sort of realistic.

How old are you and what other experience do you have work wise? Sign up with as many agencies as possible, hit up gumtree the minute you arrive looking for any work. Sydney seems to be very busy at the minute compared to most places in Australia.

If you are prepared to take any work you can get once you land here initially, you can use that money to live day to day and not have to worry so much.

One thing to be aware of is that applying for jobs and hearing back for an interview/rejection can take longer than back home. So you have to constantly apply for work in your sector until you hear something back. Being on a WHV might limit employers willing to take someone on due to the 6 month limitation rule too. It can put you at a disadvantage compared to others. If you have interviews lined up already, then thats a positive.

Tucker688

I am 24 years old and have 4 years experience in Fund Accounting with Citco (biggest in the industry) and I have an honours degree in Finance.

I have several interviews with 4 or 5 different recruitment agencies the week I land.

Thanks very much for the detailed reply, I really appreciate it

pete4130

Don't rely too much on the recruitment agencies. Still apply directly and hound the agencies every day or two asking them whats going on.
They will just talk to you, see what you can do, your experience and see where they can place you. It may not be the role you are looking for as the agencies take a nice premium from the employer so they'll be keen to get you in anywhere they can. It's usually good money through an agency.

Look at sites like www.seek.com.au and see whats out there and start applying a week before you arrive saying you are available after the 27th. Give yourself a head start.

End of September shouldn't be too hot to get used to either. It'll be starting to warm up so expect mid 20's to maybe 30 degree weather. Bring t shirts, shorts, skirts etc with you from Penney's and the likes. There is no real cheap clothing equivalent over here. Same goes for interview clothes/shoes.
Bring a cheap/lightweight rain jacket too. It can rain pretty hard here.

Sim cards for your phone are free/$2. Vodafone isn't the greatest at all here. Optus are cheap enough and do good value deals. Telstra has the best rural coverage but not the cheapest. Other good value options are the ALDI sim cards, Amaysim that use either the Telstra or Optus network. There are several phone shops in arrivals so pick one up straight away. You'll need to provide a licence number or passport number to activate your sim card too.

Sydney is a relatively safe city too, people are friendly if you need to ask for directions.

Tucker688

Brilliant thank you