Moving to Sydney for 7 months. Best way of finding new nursery & au pair. And house. Etc.

[pinotgrigio]

OK. Because I'm a fool who hates an easy life, I've accepted a 7 month contract in Sydney. DP will have to stay in the UK for a couple of months, so I'll be doing it on my own.

I finish in Germany on the 30th June. By the 11th July I need to be in Sydney complete with a new au pair or nanny, a house, and a new nursery for DD (2.7) 2 days per week.

So, does anybody have any advice at all on finding a nursery in Sydney (I'll be working in Rosebery, maybe living in Coogee?). Are there state and private nurseries and how different are they? Are there huge waiting lists (if I can't get a nursery place then I will have to recruit my nanny/au-pair differently as they will have a longer working week).

In fact, any advice from anybody would be great. I don't even know what to pack - I know it's winter, but still warmer than London I think.

Is Coogee a nice place to live? It's so hard to tell when you've never been there.

Thanks all.

bump for the Aussies.

bumping this for you, as we are thinking of moving to sydney in a couple of years.

I am in Queensland and have no experience of Sydney - sorry. Guess you could do a search via sensis.com.au

this site I have found useful...

here

You could also try Sydney's Child

does anybody know anything about state schools in sydney - cannot find anything on the net - are they generally good, bad, etc

pinot - from what I've heard coogee is lovely!

Was just wondering what sort of contract you want your au pair/nanny on? BM is looking for a new position, she's montessori (don't know if that would interest you) and she'd liket to go to Australia, she's just got back from Hong Kong. Let me know if you are interested!