Ask Josem about visiting/living in Australia

[Josem]

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ill be in melbourne/sydney starting jan for about 6 months.

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let me know when you're in melbourne.


i know of a handful of other 2p2'ers who are going to be in melbourne, especially through january.

here are some events that may be wortwhile - it's a calendar showing sporting events, other events, and poker stuff: http://www.michaeljosem.com/JanuarySchedule.xls

[greg nice]

thx josem

yea ill be there for the donkament. arriving on the 7th or so. id like to check out that great ocean road and a federer match

[Idiotex]

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Well I'm officially going to be living in Bondi Beach from January 5th to mid-April as I have both my ticket there and my apartment. Not 100% sure of plans after that though.

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Bondi probably won't be the greatest spot for surfing Metetron. But I believe there will be plenty of good surfing beaches within close proximity. Bondi also has a good vibe about it, depending on what you're into. It's quite touristy, but not so bad in the sense that there are usually plenty of topless European girls lying on the beach. I think the pubs around Bondi would be good for a drink in the afternoon sun.

I think they run some surfing competitions at Manly beach, and Manly is generally quite a nice area. You can get some decent food out there too.

And yes Sydney rent is generally fairly expensive. I have a mate that is my age (24) whose net worth is already around $3 million (he's an investor), and even he rents with 2 other people at all times. He is kind of a crazy nit though (thus why he has accumulated so much so fast).

I also lean towards Melbourne being a better overall city. But you can still have plenty of fun based in Sydney. Great weather. Hopefully you will make time to see Melbourne, Queensland and Perth too though. Actually all the cities are worth visiting imo.

Josem is right about the beer too. I personally drink "international" beers on most occasions. The actual Australian owned, developed and brewed mass produced beers are pretty terrible imo. But there are lots of great breweries making great beer that you will probably enjoy.

Oh and btw: It sickens me that you can beat 5/10+ for 8BB/100+. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[greg nice]

im having trouble finding a furnished apartment. ive looked at those realestate.au sites listed earlier. ive been looking in coogee and bondi area.. any advice?

[Josem]

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im having trouble finding a furnished apartment. ive looked at those realestate.au sites listed earlier. ive been looking in coogee and bondi area.. any advice?

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phone a couple of real estate agents in the area and tell them what you're after.

[EuroMetetron]

Yeah I just went the get ripped off furnished apartment route. Sure there are better ways to do but it isn't worth the hassle for me.

greg_nice,

I'll be in Melbourne most likely for the tournament at some point, then back to Sydney afterwards. We should definitely get together down there.

Probably taking a side trip to New Zealand for between 1-2 weeks if anyone is interested in February or March.

[greg nice]

yea id def be interested in NZ trip.

also i want to go to a federer match during the australian open if anyone knows how to get tickets for it. it seems like you can only by passes which allow you access to the arena. but how do you know who plays when?

[Josem]

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also i want to go to a federer match during the australian open if anyone knows how to get tickets for it. it seems like you can only by passes which allow you access to the arena. but how do you know who plays when?

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In the leadup to the event - after the entrants are decided - a draw will be held.

This is like every other tennis event in the world (except the Davis Cup, LDO).


The first round will typically go over the first couple of days. Short of some truly remarkable events in the tennis world between now and then (unlikely) Roger Federer will almost certainly be playing his first round game on Centre Court (Rod Laver Arena). So, get yourself a pass for that for the first few days and you'll be right.

Alternatively, get yourself a men's final ticket (final sunday of the open) and go see Federer play there.

[zasterguava]

Josem helped me with some questions I had before moving to Melbourne from the UK, though I don't recall ever reading this thread before. Perhaps I can contribute a little by adding my experience of Australia so far.

I moved smack bang into the middle of Melbourne CBD in September and ended up selling my lease after two weeks to a crazy Indian guy because I was not keen on the accomodation and I fell in love with St Kilda.. I moved to St Kilda which is a beach suburb 10-20 minutes tram journey from the Crown Casino/ centre of Melbourne. Its a pretty awesome place and the first time I came here shown around by an old school friend I knew this is where I would rather be; for some reason it felt like home. The advantages are, but not limited to; cheaper rent, easy to get a job (i got a job within 3 days of moving), young people everywhere, plenty of clubs, bars and restaurants, lively atmosphere on fri/sat nights, whilst still being a walk away from the beach, nice long cylce routes overlooking the sea, and little parks etc. Last Tuesday I went for a swim at 8am and had the beach to myself apart from a few dog walkers, here is a pic of the beach that I took in September;



So my advice would be to avoid moving to Melbourne CBD and look for one of the suburbs close to the beach and transport where it will feel more like being in Australia whilst still having the option of easily getting into the centre of the city.

St Kilda gets a bad wrap for being full of prostitutes, homeless people and druggies. I would be lieing if I said this was without some justification; there is always a prostitute outside my apartment, after 9pm I ofen get offered ecstacy, and earlier at 11pm whilst in McDonalds a guy clearly on drugs attacked a innocent guy and smashed up the windows, which was pretty entertaining. Despite this I think its safe; Im a white 18 year old kid and have never felt intimidated or scared at night time.

I will be visiting 3 different parts of Victoria before heading back to UK including the 'Great Ocean Road', Ballarat and Portland so may report back with how that goes. But yeah everything Josem has said so far is correct. With regards to racism; if your living in Melbourne or its surrounding suburbs your just not going to experience much, if any. The majority of people in Melbourne CBD are Asian and Indian and St Kilda is pretty diverse with a mix of Australians, Indians, Asians and it has a large Jewish population too. I heard a guy driving a truck have a confrontation with a couple of Indians which he shouted "coons" at and I heard about a racially motivated fight occring at the same McDonalds as spoker of earlier, but thats it from my experience which is pretty tame compared with experiences in the UK.

So all in all I recommend everyone to come to Melbourne, but advise you to stay in St Kilda/ suburbs where you can get best of both worlds; beaches/seclusion and the busy city life a tram ride away.

[greg nice]

im pretty sure the visa stipulates that you DONT work while visiting..