Our Little Jaunt

Ten Things Wot We Now Know About Sydney, Australia

Our pearls of wisdom imparted to anyone who will listen about our experiences in Sydney, Australia thus far.

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• Sun cream, Sun screen, Sunblock!!! We have now discovered that if you buy a $29 1L Cancer Council Sunscreen its a lot cheaper than the smaller 200ml ones and just refill the little ones when they run out. We looked on their website and they wanted $15 delivery so we just got the same thing at the chemist/pharmacy in town.
  The hole in the Ozone layer is that big over Australia, that you have to wear suncream even when its cloudy! We have been uber careful since we got here due to our “pale and interesting” complexions. (the Aussies love pale?) – Thank You Phil J. & @ScottRhodie

• As the venerable Mr B. Gilhespie (of Primal Scream fame – MUM) If they move… kill them – because if you don’t there is a relatively high liklihood that it will be able to do you quite a lot of damage. These ones are just in the harbour… You wouldn’t want to be killing the Jellyfish by the way – it is only that I haven’t got close enough to the spiders to photograph them! - Thank You Phil J.

• Two Part Shopping Advice – a) Don’t buy ANYTHING from 7/11 or convenience stores… They are extortionate. Find a Coles Supermarket – it will be about 1/3 or 1/2 the price. b) Don’t buy meat or fish from the Supermarkets – go and find a butcher or go to the fish market – the quality difference is MASSIVE. Paddy’s Market in the city centre is apparently a bargain, but you never really know what you get. Fruit and Veg seem to be pretty dire over here – but we haven’t found a grocery shop yet – only Coles.

• Internet in Australia is bloody USELESS!!! Don’t expect to get a decent skype call unless you are on a corporate network – even cyber cafe’s are dog slow connectivity, and bear in mind that we haven’t left the city yet. We can skype call ok – but as soon as you go to try and do video… it just doesn’t like it. This does kind of tie into the Vodafone post on the end – with the maxi deal. You can use your mobile credit to call home!

• Swim between the flags – they are there for a reason… and the likihood of dying in the sea is significantly reduced when you have the Baywatch boys on standby. Thank You Phil J.

• Don’t faff about trying to pay for each journey on Ferry/Bus/Train – get a weekly travel pass – you can even extend it for $3.45… The best value and some fabulous sightseeing – doesn’t include the Manly Ferry. The nice chap at Kings Cross told us we’d be daft not to get one!

• Get a Medicare Number!!! Its really simple… Go with your Visa, Passport, EHIC (new E111) to a big medicare centre – we went to the one above the Bondi Junction Station. It is free, you get a temporary number immediately – it means that you get free healthcare from bulk bill doctors surgeries (look this up as it is important) and should anything happen to you – it is free from the beginning when you hurt yourself. I suspect that you may need an address – but don’t let that put you off. There is a reciprical health agreement between the UK & Australia AS LONG AS YOU GET A NUMBER. Thank You Sue J

• Get a Tax File Number – It is again really simple: Do it online here

• Get a Vodafone $49 Maxi  pay as you go Sim card and top ups – it gives you about $350 dollars of credit that includes UK calls – it only lasts a month, but god-damn you can hammer it for all it is worth. Most shops sell them – but here it is online – Vodafone $49 Maxi. Thanks to Miss Tickle

• Banking – Well where to start – it isn’t like banking in the UK… it is blooming expensive to do anything. We have worked out that it costs about £25 to send money from the UK from our HSBC account to our account that we set up with Commonwealth. We were recommended them by everyone that we spoke to – and basically were told to avoid HSBC like the plague. We ended up taking money out from the cash point rather than transferring it over here. We are getting the worst exchange rate in recent memory, and at the moment, it is only sensible to send big lumps over over £1000 from the UK to make it worthwhile on the costs front. We have friends coming over and have had them send us their money to our account in the UK so that we can bundle it with money that we are sending over to save the charges. If you are coming out to see us – let us know as we might be transferring money over here and you could share the charges… Don’t use the cash points unless you have to.

Some others that nearly made it:

• Advertising Rules over here seem to be quite erm – lax… Eg: The picture above about Americans and calories…
• Beer is hard to find in pints… you buy a schooner – and that is a glass, not a measurement – so it can vary as to how big the beer is. Beer is pretty expensive – drink local – its really weak and won’t give you a hang over (unless you sink a ship) – Drink local – Carlton Draught is the one I have been sipping.
• Bondi Beach isn’t a dive – a few people have said that its not that nice – it is lovely from what we have seen.
• Coogee is the beach to go to – its just blooming miles away.

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• There are 6 Million Rivets in the Bridge!!! More Bridge stuff here: Sydney Harbour Bridge
• Those “big birds” that you see flying over the city in the evening… are BATS – flippin’ mahoosive Flying Fox Bats. They fly from the Botanical gardens to Centennial Park to dine every evening.
• Some of the spiders can live underwater for over 24 hours… don’t presume that they are dead!!
• Mosquitos here can be evil – get something called paraderm if you have a reaction like V!

We hope that this is useful to you lot who are going to follow us out here.

Himself & Herself

Related posts:

1. Starting hunting for Jobs In Sydney, Australia
2. Sydney Festival First Night

Tags: 10 Things, Australia, Sydney

2 Comments to Ten Things Wot We Now Know About Sydney, Australia

Kathy
December 22, 2009

those bats sound like the ones we saw in the Maldives – mahoosive!!! and scary the first time you see them – difference being that they were flying about from fruit tree to fruit tree in broad daylight.

glad you seem to be having fun and learning lots about Oz and it’s peculiarities!!!

K x

W Davies
December 22, 2009

You look like a dodgy private eye in that photo :-p

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