Hi,

We are a family of father, mother and a 6 year daughter arriving in Sydney in Jan 2010 as migrant.We will be looking for job after arrival. We have decided to live in Ashfield. We plan to rent a 2 bedroom apartment, which would cost us approx 300 AUD / week(correct me if I am wrong). I have a few questions:
1) How much would taxi cost us from Sydney Airport to Ashfield?
2) Till we find a apartment to rent, we have to stsy in a temperory accomodation. Pls suggest in ashfield any serviced or hotels which economical,safe and decent.
3) we are not bringing any furniture along with us. What would be good initially, buy used furniture or Rent furniture.
4) How much it will cost us monthly to live in ashfield? The obective is to budget the expenses.
5) Do we need to book ahead the temperory accomodation for at least two weeks before we rent an apartment?

Pls advise
Many Thanks

Santhosh

Ashfield is quite a bit closer to the International terminal than the CBD is but no real direct route in that direction so it could be about the same as a taxi fare into CBD depending on traffic, so allow about $50.00 .

If you have got your $300/w rental estimation off a site like www.domain.com that is as good as I could do but you could find that getting a reasonable rental flat could be quite competitive for Sydney has been renowned for rental shortages and stories of hundreds of people turning up to do inspections, especially for inner suburb places that reduces transport time/costs.

Ashfield Motor Inn | Ashfield, Sydney NSW Australia seems to me to be a reasonable temporary option and they offer a weekly rate, usually based on seven nights for price of six, so about $600/w.
And yes, I'd book ahead.
A little further out but possibly dearer is Town & Country Motel: citysearch

I'd be checking out secondhand or factory seconds auction places for furniture and you could check sites like Trading Post Online Classifieds & Auction Website , Classifieds ? Gumtree Sydney Free Classified Ads ? Gumtree Sydney Online Community and even Ebay.com.au and you can pick up some quite reasonable condition furniture and white goods for a fraction of the new price.
You'll find a lot of Auctions advertised in Saturday Sydney Morning Herald Newspaper and go and have a look first and you'll get an idea of prices and then if you went to an auction place with the intent of buying a number of items, you ought to hire a little 1 tonner flat top vehicle we call them, a mini truck and buy yourself a bit of rope from a Bunnings Hardware store and you can transport stuff yourself.

If you have a drivers licence not in English, see about getting yourself an International Drivers Permit and if you do not have a drivers licence, you'll have to pay someone to pick things up and for that have a talk to Auction house people when you go to visit as they may have people that do that, or know of people.

Monthly living costs in Ashfield:
Rental [$?] + food/other household things, say $200 + electricity/phone/internet/transport, perhaps another $200 -300/m
medical insurance $100/m, schooling $100/m basic but a lot lot more for private schools.
All as a rough guide for it can vary quite significantly depending on individual life styles for dining out, entertainment etc.

Make yourself familiar with the various travel passes 131500 Transport Infoline - Home and there are some special weekend or Sunday travel deals for as low as $2:50 , a cheap way to have a trip on the harbour and over to Manly
hotdockets - Vouchers, Coupons and Dockets from Shop a Docket is also a good way to cut costs for eating out and Food Halls in Chinatown are good value too as are a number of older style hotels around the Central Railway Station area with meals under $10.00

Awesome.

Thanks a lot wanderer

__________________
Regards,

Santhosh

Hi

I have UAE driving License and Indian Driving License.
At Australia, would I be required to appear for a test or I can get the driving license based on my existing licenses


If I have to appear for test then do I have to take driving classes or I can directly appear for the test.


Pls advise.

__________________
Regards,

Santhosh

Sorry, missed getting back to you on that last one Santhosh and if you have a DL in english language, just go to a RTA Office and present it within three months of arrival, a form to filled in no doubt and you should be able to be issued with a NSW licence - details: International drivers
You'll find more general info @ Things to do First

So you say that my Dubai issues license which is in english can be converted to NSW License. Thats Good... Thanks

__________________
Regards,

Santhosh