On 28 March 2010 19:10, Jake Anderson wrote: > Denominational means a religious school. > Truthfully the public system in Australia isn't bad. There are selective > high schools (at least in NSW) that you have to pass a test to get into, > I went to one of those and it was a fairly pleasant experience. There > were 2 fights the whole time I was there (7 years) and I was involved in > neither, well actually only one was a proper punch up the other was one > guy getting a whack in the face after taunting another for 40 minutes. > Other schools it seems to be more of a problem. > The universities seem ok, though I'd recommend steering clear of UWS at > least the Penrith campus. Unless you are doing something that they value > (teaching or the like). Try to stay away from science there, engineering > might be ok. > Usyd and UTS are much more highly regarded. > University of Wollongong is regarded highly and seems to have quite a > reputation amongst students as a nice place to live on campus its 1.5 > hours out of sydney, so kids can live there "away from home" but still > close enough to get mum to do the washing. Good tips, thanks Jake. > Our "dream" is to move out to Bega/Merimbula, where my better half's > family is and half of mine, ~450 or 600km away depending on which way > you go, both take the same time, 6-8 hours. Live on a property there > whilst the kids are in primary school, (still a ways off yet), as that > seems to give a nice grounding and appreciation for life. Then move to > Sydney when its time for the children to enter high school. So they can > have the social interactions and facilities that they need. Sounds like a plan! (I keep hearing this in my head after watching countless hours of Oso special in Disney's Playhouse Channel with my daughter...) > Also if you say that you intend to move into a regional area of > Australia it would be looked on very favourably when you are trying to > immigrate, there is a real migration of people from country to city at > the moment and there is some call to mandate that international migrants > be made to live outside cities for some period to combat this. I'm not > saying its a good idea, but if you volunteer that you plan on doing > that, it might help with your application. There are already schemes > pushing doctors and teachers to first serve in regional Australia before > they come into the cities. Sounds reasonable. > My father fell over at a job site recently, basically removed the ball > from the bone in his shoulder/arm. > He has private cover but was admitted and had most of his treatment > under the public system. He had the operation to put a steel ball in > done privately, but if he didn't have private cover it could have been > done in the public system. It was all done at a public hospital > He spend just over a week in there and most of that was due to them > worrying about his heart (which was the healthiest one they had seen). > If not for that they would have done the operation on the day or the > next day they said. Great! >> So you would need to have around AU$100 =96 170K as =93first payment=94 = (I >> don't know the english term, in spanish is called =93initial=94) and the >> rest through a bank credit, right? >> > Typical deposit is 10-20% so on a 200K house you would deposit $20k. > We got a 220k house and repayments are $700 a fortnight. > We were quite lucky, we got the second worst house in the street, its > 90% asbestos, the paints peeling off, I've seen walk in wardrobes bigger > than our kitchen, but our feeling is after we get the asbestos removed, > renovate the inside of the place (who puts carpet in the bathroom!?) and > put a small extension on we should sell it for ~$350k or more likely > rent it out for around the mortgage payments. As per usual, if you put down a bigger deposit you could lower the $1400 monthly payments, right? I don't want to sound stupid but I believe that its better to have "too much" information than to hesitate later. > We are living in Penrith (well Cambridge park) though which is well west > from the city. Regarded as a somewhat lower class area. > This is our "castle" > http://www.vapourforge.com/jake/general/cambridge-ours.jpg the inside is > starting to look better though ;-> > This is a view from our front verandah > http://www.vapourforge.com/jake/general/cambridge-street.jpg I wish you the best results in your duties! > We are 10-15 minutes walk from a highschool, a primary school and a > private high school. > I think theres also another 2 schools a bit further away. > 20 minute walk to UWS university penrith campus, 10 minute push bike or > go to the uni and catch the bus to get to the tafe. > Small strip of shops 10 minutes walk up the road but we always wind up > driving 5-10 minutes to the major shopping centre in Penrith proper. > Trains are 10 minutes walk away, then its an hour to the city. Between > 40 and 120 minutes to drive to the city depending on what time of day > you want to do it. Is it too necessary to go frequently to the city? Or you could get by with minimum travelling there? > Large cars are really cheap in Australia at the moment. > I got this http://www.vapourforge.com/jake/general/hotness_scaled.JPG > for $5500, its a 1999 model Au falcon 4L straight 6 with 230,000 Km on > it and manual which dealers add ~$2000 to the price for, cos us boy > racers like it. > mint condition inside, some fading of the paint on the outside, but then > red will do that. 14 seconds even on the 1/4 mile (measured at WSID) > If your going to be cruising on the highway its not too bad on petrol, > and its a common LPG conversion. > When used as taxi's they seem to hit 800,000Km without too much trouble. > I've replaced the door locks at $180 each (2 of) and a radiator bottle > also $180. It looks like they are the most common failures on this model > as none of the wreckers have any. > > Don't buy Holden, those are what the peasants drive ;-> > (although I might be biased, being a "ford man", If you come to live in > Australia you'll understand, Ford Vs Holden is a national past time) > > An old (late 90's) laser or corolla or something (small/mid size car 4 > cyl 2L) can be had for ~$2500 and they are typically ok, if you can do > the maintenance your self. > If you get a corolla there's a fair few parts available, hell there's so > many of them you will probably find the bit your looking for on the side > of the road before the duct tape wears out. Thanks for the tips. > There is also a world class robot wars competition running here ;-> > http://www.robowars.org/forum/ > which should keep you entertained lol And now you have ruined my day, I will be reading from the site and stop working all day long! :) Regards, Carlos. -- = http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist