Moving to Sydney

[HelloHouse]

Hi - really looking for some help/reassurance!!!
my DH has been offered a job in Sydney (based in the CBD) I will be working aswell as we work for the same company in the UK. We will be looking to sell our home in the UK and use some of the equity to pay off some debts we have and we are going to rent in Aus as we don't know how long we will be there.

My main questions is where to live?! We don't mind commuting, we aren't big on going out for more than a nice meal and a bottle of wine now and again so would like some nice areas within walking distance.
We've looked at Manly which I love but it's crazy expensive.
This leads to my next question - our joint income will be around $220k a year. In the UK it's around £140k so I'm wondering if we will have a similar lifestyle? We live in the midlands so cost of living relatively low.
Like others have mentioned - Sydney is crazy expensive and it just concerns me that we will be paying around $1000 a week minimum for a home which currently costs us £900 a month in the UK.
Any advice? It anything further to consider??

I am not sure. It might be one of the conditions. For us it didn’t really matter as my husband’s company was paying the health insurance so we never looked into this possibility. Your migration agent will know and be able to advise you. Just take the cheapest possible insurance and then use the reciprocal agreement. Unless you can ask your company if they pay for it, you never know they might say yes! We had Bupa

You can buy contact lenses online here. I get mine from clearly.com.au

Balmain is a v good shout...

Re medical insurance, I think you need to show you have cover when you arrive and until you are registered with Medicare. Your employer should know what the requirements are and advise you accordingly.

Well, so just to clear any doubt I went on the government page.
www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/visa-1/457-#tab-content-1 and it says

" Health insurance
You will need to have made adequate arrangements for health insurance to cover your period of stay in Australia and you must maintain these arrangements for the duration of your stay. You will be asked to acknowledge that you have done this in your visa application form. For advice regarding the level of insurance that would be considered adequate see: Adequate health insurance.
Your insurance must cover you and any members of your family who come or remain with you in Australia. "

and if you go on the link, it goes into more details:

If you cancel or terminated the health insurance you stipulated before applying for visa, the provider will notify Immigration

"By providing this letter to Department of Immigration and Border Protection you are also agreeing that may notify Department of Immigration and Border Protection if you cancel, or fail to renew, your health insurance policy, or if your health insurance policy is terminated. "

But as I said, there are different levels of health insurance, you can buy the cheapest .

Back to suburbs now.
Balmain is nice, Crowns Nest is also nice with a "village feeling" and a very nice bookshop (the Constant reader) and good Italian cafe (sparrow).
I like Mosman more than Balmain and love Balmoral beach, my DH loves Double bay but $$$$$ . Kirribilli is quite popular too.

This is how great Sydney is, there are plenty of nice places to live. It comes down to what you like to do .

And because it took me more than a year to find a great bookshop (one of the cons of Australia, the lack of beautiful big majestic bookshops) , let me point you to it straight away: Kinokuniya www.kinokuniya.com.au in the Galeries in front of Queen Victoria Building. No majestic in the European way but the best selection in Australia. I usually combine my trip to the bookshop to a lunch at the sushi train on the 1st floor (in front of Muji). As you can guess from my name (Stephen King + John Irving= KingIrving), books really matter to me.

Back to the houses. If renting in Manly and owning a car you must take parking permit and/ or parking space into consideration. Parking in Manly is very tricky at times especially weekends in summer. Queenscliff is usually oldish but because it is one of the last spots that are free it feels up quickly. Some apartment blocks have allocated parking spaces which would be ideal, otherwise you should try to convince your landlord to give you one of the two parking permits they receive from the council in many zones

Hit post by accident.
Even if parking is easy in your street, ask you landlord for the Northern beaches parking permit, it allows you to park for free for 12 hours in all beaches on the northern beaches from Palm Beach to Manly ( only 4 hours in manly beach front) .
Our first landlord wouldn’t give us the sticker ( they don’t have to) , our current landlord is great and even gives us two!

That ‘s it for now! Bye from a very windy and packed Freshy!

Thanks king I can't tell you how invaluable all your information is! I can see now from the photo I can actually see the other end of the beach
Back home tomorrow, leaving the hubby here for 6 weeks then I don't imagine it will be long until we are back! We are going to Airbnb until we find the right place. I didn't realise the healthcare was such a minefield! But we have got a contact now who is helping with the visa so they should be able to advise.
Enjoy the sun today!

I've got a soft spot for Coogee - worth checking out for the Coogee to Bondi coastal walk. Also Neutral Bay and Mosman - Balmoral beach is a gem. Kirribilli is lush for harbour views🇦🇺

There's also a FB group called "Grand Pair Rents" which links expats who are heading back to visit family with families who are visiting expats. We went home for 6 weeks and rented our place to a lovely couple who were here visiting their DS, DSIL and new grandchild.
Worth looking at if you are looking for somewhere for a few weeks when you arrive, as most people on there only want to cover their rent/mortgage, so can sometimes work out cheaper than Airbnb.

That's amazing lady thank you so much!

You need private health insurance until you get Medicare, but once you have Medicare this counts as sufficient health cover for 457 visa purposes.

Unless you have the immigration agent's green light on this, I would be very careful to terminate private health while on a 457. If your visa is cancelled for conditions breach you will be banned for three years.

I know of a family who did house sitter for 3 months while looking for a house. Because of the quarantine on pets, a lot of families put their houses on housesitting sites while away . If you google housesitting sydney you will find several website. In exchange of minding their pet you stay in their house for free.