Since my family shall be moving soon to Australia and I shall be leaving this beautiful land I was wondering if any expat from Australia can share beneficial sites like here we have Englishforum, sbb.ch, zvv.ch, Deindeal, Groupon, homegate etc for Australia.
These sites were hugely beneficial in surviving my stay here and giving beneficial pointers. Any help or right direction should be very much appreciated. Thank you very much for your help.
Regards
Eva
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=54
There isn't really any equivalant to SBB - each state runs its own rail network (often with different gauge rail lines ), connections are expensive and take time and the views are a bit dull (at least between Brisbane & Bundaberg) so you're better off flying (see www.jetstar.com , www.virginaustralia.com.au & www.qantas.com.au )
Depending on which city you are going to, do a search for public transport links in each city. Brisbane has trains, buses and "citycat" ferries; while Melbourne has all that plus trams.
It really depends on where you are moving to.
To be honest...... I don't know of anything like the Englishforum in Australia because Australians generally like to talk (unlike the Swiss), and you won't have to look too far to find someone that could help you (government departments excepted).
Another thing, Where exactly will your family be moving to in Australia?
This would largely influence any advice someone could give you.
Public transport in Australia is terrible by the way.
Trains and busses are only "OK" in the major cities, and yes as the previous poster mentioned, it's cheaper to fly between the major cities than to drive (Perth to Sydney is a flight between 4-5hrs, East cost cities are between 1-2hrs).
ALL public transport timetables are a work of fiction, so I'd save yourself the hastle looking for that information.
Unlike Switzerland, you will need to consider getting a car at some point.
For a car purchase, I'd recommend doing your research on:
in conjunction with:
Carsales have excellent filters to sort out a car that you maybe looking for, while Redbook will help you identify what the original purchase price and trade in values for the car you are looking at.
Government websites are all excellent in Australia.... it's just the staff that are annoying.
Using GOOGLE will be enough to help you track down anything you need to know.
Real Estate:
Renting etc. these are the top two websites for renting and buying:
and
both websites are super easy to use. You can't go wrong.
As I mentioned at the start, the best thing you could do is get involved with your community, and unless you intend to live somewhere dodgey, say "G'Day" to your neighbours.
People open up to you a lot more there than here so any questions you may have will make for an excellent conversation starter.
But in the end whirlpool is a good platform, and there is a groupon.com.au website.
You will find that free-to-air TV is still very popular in Oz as most people dont have a cable TV account, which means there are a lot of good shows that will make you laugh and keep the vibes positive.
News wise
http://ninemsn.com.au and http://www.news.com.au
were my staples.
Whirlpool is awesome for tech advise but I would be careful to research the site for existing information before posting a question - they can get a bit brutal on there.
carsales.com.au and gumtree are definitely the places to go for cars, and gumtree also has pretty much a ricardo type selection of stuff to buy.
For hotels and places to stay - wotif.com (this is also international)
Throw a steak on the BBQ for me and make sure that you go to Bunnings Hardware on a saturday or sunday. Not to buy anything from the store, but to indulge with a Sausage Sizzle from out the front Aussie Aussie Aussie!!!
In addition to the above wotif.com for hotels, there is also:
(although I do usually find Wotif better)
One more thing with the Gumtree website - tread with caution.
Yes, it is useful, but there are a few scammers who post there.
I remember when I was buying a car, and some nice cars were ridiculously cheap..... stupidly cheap.
Out of curiousity, I opened another email account and enquired, and sure enough
"Oh, I'm about to sell it, but if you send me $1,000 I can hold it for you"
..... yeah..... sure
It seems that these people just take photo's of random cars and say they are about to get divorced or another lie and need to sell the car quickly.
Gumtree is good though, so don't get me wrong, just try to recognise a scam when you see one.
"If it's too good to be true, avoid it"
Someone named "SwissAussie" complains that nobody speaks German, French or Italian, and that people don't like his smoking and wanting to pay for bottled water.
Bunnings is MAN HEAVEN .
The feeling of walking into a Bunnings is the only comparison I can draw to what it must feel like for a woman to walk into a shoe shop.
Another thing for the OP
Coles & Woollies
These are the equivalent of Coop & Migro's here.... except good.
Woolies, is actually "WOOLWORTHS", but you will soon come to realise that Australians have a compulsive obsession with abbreviating everything, or adding a "y, o, or a" to the end of a word.
eg.
'bottle-o' - The shop you go to buy beer wine and spirits
arvo - afternoon
servo - Petrol service station
Barbie or BBQ- Barbeque
tallie - a 750ml bottle of beer
Sydney - ..... not sure what that's short for actually
Saying how wonderful a country is just to be a complaining bitch, and ACTUALLY providing something useful are two different things entirely.
Try also:
This is an excellent platform to find jobs in Australia.
sessh-drinking session
footy (foody) Australian rules football
troppo- going mad
and if you are in WA, dont go asking for a tallie, ask for a long neck instead
or try saying this at the bottlo
givesusacupplakingbrownswuudamate ? ( I will have two large beers please)
For our US brethren or those who studies US English
More words
Muddy - Mud Crab (this is an absolute MUST)
Chuck a U-ey - U turn (whether legal or not)
Thongs - these are worn on your feet
Cuppa - Tea or Coffee
Tinny - Small aluminium boat
Budgie Smugglers (speedos) - small and tight swimwear for guys who like to let it all hang out