I’ve been offered a job over there – can anyone give me a quick overview of your experience with moving over & living there? Would be going over with my wife and 3yr old son.

Cheers

Rich

I lived there for a year back in the 90s. Absolutely loved it. It’s a really fun city and although I haven’t got any children I’d say it’d be great for them too. The beaches are fantastic – especially a couple of hours north of Sydney. I didn’t do much biking there but I’m sure there’s lots of opportunites. The best thing for me was being near the sea, and I don’t mean dirty, muddy, grey-looking sea, I mean the bright blue kind that you just want to jump in to. It’s a reasonably hilly city and every time you reach the top of a hill you get a new view of the sea. Then there’s the sky, as blue as a blue thing that’s just eaten a blueberry 🙂
I tried to emmigrate a few years ago and couldn’t get in. Doing a new course now which would give me enough points (just by coincidence, I’m not doing it for the points!) and am seriously considering going. If only I could convince the gf!
Go, you’ll love it I’m sure.

Thanks Pilot – it’s a harder than you think to make the decision when an offer is becomes a reality…..

Moved to Adelaide about 4 years ago – a general Aussie perspective is available if you want it.

Like Sydney though; lots going on but doesn’t feel overwhelming.

Bondi = joke imho; like blackpool with nice weather; yet a few beaches along its near empty. Queenscliff, Manly, Marobrah, etc way better.

Due to expansion, not masses of riding in the city that is not cheeky/’illegal’. Having said that, plenty of riding to be had within a bit of a drive.

Overall, Aus is enough like home to feel comfortable pretty quickly. However, put some real effort into getting work sorted out for your wife (presuming she works?) before you get here; so many people hang out with school friends forever more – can make it hard to make friends if you don’t have an ‘in’

The way it’s going we need to arrange an Aussie based STWer ride somewhere…

my 36yr old brother lives there-Tempe a suburb of sydney. Moved there 4 years ago after back packing and meeting a local girl.
Best thing he ever did.

Went for a month in April for his wedding.

Maintenance engineer in the UK but hit the glass ceiling, he then got a job as a maintance manager in OZ, now development/continuous inprovement engineer, equiv to £70-80k so opportunity/money/promotion far better than here.
Rode bmx, brilliant skateparks/bmx tracks in every municipal park if you’re into that, now caught up in the massive fixie/alleycat scene in sydney (so not all good news!). Good general LBS based cycling scene

Props-Great beaches-(Manly etc), nice clean city, good night/social life/food, beer,
Negs-expensive to get there, cost of living higher for visiting brits/family, house prices are V.expensive and massively in demand unless you start looking at an hours drive out of sydney. Its a long way from home should anything go wrong with ageing parents which is why we havnt gone.

according to google 4.2 million people live there…

I live there for 2 years, it’s pleasant enough, gets a bit dull though. Riding is ok, generally fire-road type stuff unless it’s cheeky or you travel a bit.

lived there for 6 months in ’97-’98. brilliant place! everything you could want right on your doorstep. you want city stuff, bars, music, theatre etc – check. you want outdoors, you have the beaches, ocean, great national parks and beautiful coastal trails. you even have a ski resort within a days drive!!
sydney is the perfect size too. you can live in the suburbs with all the benefits that brings but still be within an easy bike ride of the CBD.
do it – you can always come home if you dot like it

It’s a city.

But it gets you to Oz and that’s a good thing.

I was there for a while many years ago – as a city i liked it. Better than most cities but it sprawls a long way

Can be a bit of travel involved as Sydney is quite a sprawling (travel wise) city – ie commute can be a hassle – I had a 45 min drive on a good day that could be 90 plus mins if there was a crash on the freeway. Eastern Suburbs nice to live in as is the Northern Beaches…house prices correspondingly high. Better if you can live close to work. We started out living in Coogee at the beach, moved inland slightly, then into Blue Mountains (great MTB) and now in Canberra. About to ride in the World Solo 24hr at Mt Stromlo next weekend. I have been in Australia since 1978 (13yold) and the UK is a nice place to visit the rellies…but you have a decision to make. It will be expensive to move, but will the company be assisting? You can always move back if it does not work out and will have had the experience of some real sunlight 🙂 But I am a bit biased!

Thanks for the info all. Company sponsored and assisted to get there, so no massive outlay from the off – limits the risk a bit.

if you like beaches, cafe culture & shopping, no real change in seasons, pubs & road riding you’d love it. I was other there in april & lots of mtb trails are now highly illegal with rangers handing out spot fines. yes theres still illegal trails (wakehurst parkway- oxford falls, karingai etc). bike stuffs pretty expensive. for mtb its far from ideal. UK has way more choice.
sydney gets more rain than london, but it tends to be compressed into 1hr torrential downpours & dry most of the time.
okay place to visit (I still prefer new zealand), but I’d never want to live there again.