Upon arriving in Sydney, there's a lot of things to do. Here's the
order they should be done in, followed by the full, complete list.
Note: all currency is in Australian dollars.
I've updated this with our actual experiences in establishing ourselves here. It was surprisingly easy and quick--to do the first seven items on the list took about four hours, which included stopping for lunch. One thing was that many of the travel books were a bit out of date; for instance information about mobile phones, the tax number, and the bank account were all slightly off. Nonetheless, all the clerks were very friendly and helpful, and pointed out little things we needed to know, like how to read an Australian bank account number.
The reality: Quite easy. We went to the post office at the end of Oxford St where it runs into Hyde Park. Originally, we walked past it, because it said "Private PO Box Rentals" on the sign out front. This was a handy place to get a box, as there is access from the street to the east, where you can fairly easily stop in your car, have someone run in, check the box, and run out--unlike most of the PO boxes in Sydney City. For some reason, it *was* expensive, at $100 a year. Oh well, we have one. It took about fifteen minutes to fill out the form, and they supplied us with two keys.
What we thought needed to be done:
Go to http://www.auspost.com.au/ to search for locations. Information on post office boxes can be found at http://www.auspost.com.au/index.asp?link_id=1.404. Box sizes and current fees:
- Large: 275mm X 130mm: $115 per year
- Medium: 135mm X 130mm: $72 per year
- Small: 90mm X 130mm: $45 per year
I love this quote on that page. Can I be a postie?
To ensure post office box holders get their mail first, it is delivered to the boxes as soon as it is sorted. This is usually well before the posties have left the office to start their delivery rounds.Other notes
Postal rates can be found at http://www.auspost.com.au/pac/int_letter_type.asp for letters, and xxx for parcels. Rates to the USA are:
Letter Rate to USA, air mail < 20g (postcards, greeting cards) $1 20g - 50g $1.50 50g - 125g $3 125g - 250g $4.50 250g - 500g $9 A postcard/greeting card is no larger than 240mm x 130mm, no thicker than 5mm and up to 20g
Anything larger than 260mm x 360mm, thicker than 20mm or heavier than 500g is considered a parcel
Get Tax File Number
updated: 6 Feb 2002
The reality: not needed. We went by, asked the clerk, she asked if we've just arrived. Yes. Thus, we didn't need one, as the banks would automatically know how to set up the account, and we're not residents and were setting up the account within 28 days of arrival.
What we thought needed to be done:
Need this to open a bank account. Get the form at a post office, fill it out. Take the form, passport, and two other pieces of ID (like driver's license and a credit card) to the Australian Tax Office. There's one at 100 Market St in central Sydney.
Resources
http://www.mq.edu.au/international/services/common/taxfile.htm
Get Bank Account
updated: 6 Feb 2002
The reality: Simple. Took 20 minutes; we went to the Commonwealth branch at the corner of Castlereagh and Market in Sydney City Centre. All that was required was a mailing address, passport and $1. There wasn't a weird point system. We got a joint account. Also, the clerk pointed out some things for getting money in remote areas: first, use EFTPOS at a service station and get extra cash back. Second, just show the ATM card at a post office to get cash. There's no need for an old-fashioned savings passbook account. She also set us up with Internet banking (it's free). It'll take about a week for the ATM card to be mailed to us, and two weeks for the Internet access stuff to be mailed as well.
What we thought beforehand:
Get Commonwealth Bank--and get a transaction (checking) account, a credit card, and a savings passbook account. The passbook account is important for real remote areas, as you can withdraw from this account at any post office.
Purchase Mobile Phone
updated: 6 Feb 2002
The reality: Simple and easy. Took 20 minutes; went to Virgin Mobile who uses the Optus network. This store was on the Pitt St Mall, a block away from Commonwealth branch in the Centrepoint Shopping Centre. We walked in, were steered to the most expensive mobile, then explained that we were light users, and went for the "basic" Nokia 3310 on a pay as you go plan. The phone does everything you want a phone to do: dial, address book, vibrating ring, SMS, even voice dialing. Chris likes it because it's larger and easy to hold. The phone and $39 call credit was $248, and with $100 in pre-paid calls (with no expiration date) the bill came to $348. (BTW, from the phone it costs $0.36 a minute to the US, and $0.44 to the UK.) On Virgin, it appears that pre-paid plans are about the same price for our light usage as the low-end calling plans, which is fine by us.
What we thought beforehand:
- Prepaid plans suck.
- Most contracts are 18 to 24 months.
- Sometimes there are good deals. For example, Vodaphone ran a 200 for $20 offer, where you can buy chunks of 200 minutes for $20... as many chunks as you like.
- Virgin offers 1 month contracts, with a free phone. Worth checking Virgin out. There's a store at Centrepoint mall on Pitt St, Sydney.
- Dingoblue has low prices too, though you do buy your own phone.
Get Internet Access
updated: 6 Feb 2002
The reality: Not simple. We went by Dick Smith and picked up CD starter kits for Optus, OzEMail, and Telstra BigPond. Only the BigPond CD was actually up-to-date, the others were four to six months old. None of these starter kits could deal with dialing out from a hotel phone (where you dial a 0 to get an outside line), so I had to change the text file the scripts used to dial up. It helped immensely that I worked on the Internet Explorer Admin Kit when I was at Microsoft, and which all of these CDs were based on.
The first I tried installing was OzEMail. That adventure took an hour, and ended when I couldn't find their signup page, though I was able to dial in. The file was missing, and I couldn't go anywhere else but their one signup server. Then Russel called, and said that OzEMail had gotten quite horrible with service, so I decided to dump them and use BigPond.
Next was BigPond. Like OzEMail, I had to edit the text file to gain access to their signup server. They really wanted to know my physical residence address and a fixed telephone line, too--so I gave them the hotel address and fax number. Other than that, signup went really well, though I did have to capture the configuration file that they sent down to the PC and pry the dialup connection and mail settings out of it. Again, it helped that I worked on the IEAK. One great thing about BigPond: their dialin number is the same around the country, it has a (01) area code which means it's a nationwide local calling number. (Kinda like 1-800 numbers in the US, but you pay the local call rate. Australia doesn't have free local calling like the US, Canada, and New Zealand too, I think.) This means no hunting for access numbers in remote locations like Bourke or Normanton.What we thought beforehand:
There are three ISPs with decent countrywide POPs:
AOL Australia, http://www.aol.com.au/
Summary at http://www.cynosure.com.au/isp/aol
OzEMail, http://www.ozemail.com.au/.
Summary at http://www.cynosure.com.au/isp/ozemail
Telstra Big Pond, http://www.bigpond.com.au/.
Summary at http://www.cynosure.com.au/isp/onaustNote: Seumas says that DingoBlue has some interesting features, such as large download amounts.
Get Health Insurance
updated 6 Feb 2002
The reality: Simple and easy. Took about 15 minutes waiting in line, and about 15 to setup the account. We went to Medibank on George Street, a block away from the NMRA office. All we needed was a passport that showed we'd arrived recently so that we didn't need to go through a waiting period. Oddly, there were no questions about age or preexisting conditions or a six page 'previous medical history' questionnaire to fill out. Just name, mailing address, passport were it. No problem being a 'couple' either. We got the superdeluxe plan and prepaid for six months, which got us a 4% savings and let us avoid (for a bit) 13% rate increase that Medibank is proposing for the next year. Medibank will also refund unused portions of your health insurance, curiously enough, so that if you don't use your whole year up you can get it back. All in all, compared to US medical insurance, this was super easy to get. One great thing: this was quite inexpensive. The top of the line plan we chose was only $39 more a month than the bare basic plan. And for six months of coverage for two people, it came to$1614, or US$68 a month each. By comparison, to continue the Aetna US Healthcare coverage I had at my last job would be US$330 a month for each of us.
What we thought beforehand:
http://www.medibank.com.au/productandservices/overseas/visiting/intro.asp
Medibank retail storefront locations in central Sydney:
- 317 George Street Sydney, near Wynyard Station
- Shop30, level 6, MLC Centre 19 Martin Place
Join NMRA
updated 6 Feb 2002
The reality: Simple and easy. Chris showed his AAA card, which got us the discount. This will give us breakdown service, and free maps at the Touring desks. The maps are really going to come in handy, as they list service station locations in rural areas, and places where you can get diesel. Sadly, they only offer insurance to residents. (basic insurance for liability comes with the car, but that doesn't cover property damage or the car getting stolen.)
What we thought beforehand:
- http://www.nrma.com.au is the website.
- Retail location in Sydney city is 74-76 King Street, Sydney 2000. Mon-Fri 9am -5pm, closed Sat. (Insurance inspections/valuations not available.)
This branch has an NRMA Traveland branch.- Other locations: http://www.mynrma.com.au/member_centre/contact_us/index.html
- Bring AAA membership card.
- They offer insurance as well--get the insurance after we buy the car.
Buy Car
updated: 1 Jan 2002
New cars bought from a dealer in NSW (i.e. Sydney), if less than 10 years old and under 160,000km, have an implicit warranty good for 3 mo/5000km. See this NRMA page for details.
Used Car Websites
Other Resources
Get Car Insurance
updated: 19 Jan 2002
One choice: http://www.nrma.com.au/. Just do it.
See this local HTML page for more details.
Get Driver's License
updated 15 Jan 2001
The RTA gives these out. http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/ is their website. Here's RTA info for overseas drivers, and a special page specifically for vistors, including a handbook for overseas drivers at Driver's from Overseas
Probably not needed--warning: the RTA may invalidate your previous (California) license.
The Road Users Handbook is at http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/licensing/ruhjan01.pdfStill, it may be worth having for identification purposes only, as well as being required for auto insurance. Need more investigation.