My mother is the best
She cooks delicious food
Like restaurant  make it

My mother is the best
She cuts all our hair
As barber and hair stylist

My mother is the best
She teaches driving all 4 sons
As the only female in the house

My mother is the best
She takes care our garden well
Orchids, tomato and mango grow

My mother is the best
She bakes like professional
Cookies, bread , cake? Piece of cake

My mother is the best
She fixes the plumbing at our place
Even not all the male can’t do

My mother is the best
She lectures accounting and finances in uni
Even she was an architect before

My mother is the best
She makes money while asleep
As the share pass profit target

My mother is the best
She loves kids dearly
Even my daughter adore her

My mother is the best
Now that she has grand children
She still as energetic as before
She is still my great mother
She is my super mother.

Happy Mother’s Day !

A few years back, after living in Australia for a while (I was born and raised in Indonesia), I and family have a chance to go visit Bali. And there sitting on the sand of Kuta beach, I left with my mind wondering: why fellow Aussie so keen to go to Kuta beach. I mean, compare to Bondi Beach, Manly or Coogee – the beach and surrounding itself – Kuta is not better than local beach at home. Some worse: no privacy (try to sit somewhere on the beach and every 10 minutes, people will approach you to sell something) and the beach is  not that pristine (check the sand and water). Yes, I am talking the public beach area – much better in private/hotel area.

But no later after walking around on those shops and hotels in Legian Street, I realized that much more is on offer at Kuta: cheap shopping, massage on the beach, dirt cheap rent a car, cheap beer, lively pub, extravagance traditional art and culture. So, just come with friends or family, it will be an unforgettable tremendous experience.

Travel to Indonesia

1. It’s much more crowded – get used to it

Comparing Sydney and Jakarta (both the largest city in the country): Sydney (4+ million population) is 5 x larger than Jakarta (20+million population), but have 5 x less people. So, if you go a shopping mall in Sydney and see 20 people on site, you would see 100+ people in Jakarta. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just something that you need to comfortable with.

2. Foreign tourists stand out from the crowd

If you are Caucasian, probably you would expect this. But this also apply to any race and color of skin. Indian, Malaysian or Filipino are probably the closest look with similarity to local, but remember item (1) above. Since it’s crowded and all of this crowd pretty much behave and act in similar “usual” way, any foreign tourist will stand out in the crowd.

3. Pricing: almost across the board 2 tiers pricing: for local and for foreigner. (But still cheap!)

It’s not fair, but that’s the reality. Try to go to a hotel and ask the stand by rate, say you are quoted US$40 (US$ is common denomination for tourist destination) per night – which is pretty much already very cheap for your standard. But try to ask a local to ask the rate for the same room, probably they will be quoted Rp 150,000,- which convert to just above US$15. Not only that, even at some local tourist destination where you need to pay “Entrance Fee”, do not shock if you see official price that different between local and foreigner. That $30 massage on the beach, the local will only pay $5. That cheap $15 Quick Silver T-shirt ? It’s only $3 for local. (Yes, even it was ticketed).

As resident in a country that have higher living cost, you should just accept this situation and consider that your money will boost the local economy more. Probably even proud that you contribute more to local businessmen/businesswoman. But if you cannot take this, my advise would be: get local that you trust (local staff employee, friends, or even your pen pal that you pursue especially for this) -or- get use to bargain down every offer (aim to get at least 50% or cheaper than the original offer) .

4. You have more money than local.

Probably related to item (3), but if someone is very friendly, the chance are they are after your money. Don’t take it all negative, only a very few criminal that all is actually try to rob you or rip you off in direct way, most of them is expecting that you trust them enough, then they can provide some service to you with generous tip – or similar at that ball park.

For example: just collecting your baggage at Airport, you will be greeted by troops of porter that offer their help to carry your bags. Just ask a firm price for their service before they touch or take your bag. Otherwise, you will need to pay whatever they want or your bag will not be returned. (Remember they probably have many supporting friend there)

If you study some sociology about Indonesia, you will know that the living standard of most the people is low. The disparity between the rich and poor is very big gap. 80-90% of the nation economy is controlled by only a bunch of people. So, the rich is super rich but the rest is not that fortunate. So, knowing that you are a tourist (see item (2) above) – the economical motivation can make people do anything at all if the price is right.

5. Driving? Just forget it

Not only requires International Driving License (or local license), you will be astounded by the amount of motor cycle on the street. Changing lane will be a huge task  as the more you give sign, the more people will not give way. The one who braver will get the way. So, it’s very easy to have minor accident. But because of item  (2) and (3) above, you will be end up paying (who is at fault will be determined by who shout louder).

Then come the adventure when you got stop in a traffic’s red light. Beggars, busker with guitar, hawkers selling cigarette and newspaper – even drink will surround your car in almost every traffic light. If you are “”lucky”, some criminal with red axe will just crush your windshield robbing you out in the broad daylight.

I would suggest strongly to just use taxi that you book from phone to move you point to point. Bus, train and other transport , not only crowded, it carries more inconvenience and risk for foreign tourist. Better yet, indulge your journey by organizing a driver together with the car from your hotel for your maximum convenience – it’s not that expensive !

6. Some practical culture different

• Indonesia is tropical country (hot, 30 degree all around), so unless it is in high mountain, the locals is not usually drink alcohol. Alcohol is embraced mainly by the youngster who are not foreign with pub, disco and active night live. So, drinking alcohol and clubbing are not that common and wide spread and these club, pub and disco are commonly judged as “sin place”
• Although probably not in shopping mall and hotels, the toilet sometimes doesn’t have toilet paper. Water, soap and bucket instead. So, in your wallet: a facial tissue and wet tissue would be very handy if it’s always there.
• Don’t get offended if in some restaurant, they use toilet paper on the table (with some enclosures) as your serviettes.
• Kissing and romancing in public is kind of taboo – and starting 2008,you may get yourself charged breaking the controversial “anti pornography” law doing so – be careful with your swim suit as well.
• Eating is with fork (on left hand) and spoon (right hand) . Doing otherwise will be judged “silly” -  knife is only “there” in good restaurant  or available upon request.

And final item. Before book your ticket , or at least before go to airport, make sure to read the latest current affairs and advisory maintained by Australian Federal Government about Travel to Indonesia in here: Smart Traveler’s website.

This article is by no mean try to scare you, instead by knowing all of above, you will be more prepare and have more fabulous journey. Don’t treat this as rule, but when it happen you know why.
“Selamat Jalan !”

One of the negative effect if the living cost is relatively very high compare to other city in Australia. Although Sydney is still in top cities in the world to live in (rank 10 according to 2009 Mercer Quality of Living Survey), there are significant price that you need to pay to call yourself “Sydneysider”.

Beautiful Sydney Harbour

Note: all cost will be calculated to yearly figure (1 year = 52 weeks) then all converted to monthly figure.

The Biggest Continuing Living Cost: Accommodation

As bachelor (student included), you cheapest alternative is to “share accommodation” with other bachelor/family. This usually a bedroom for yourself and share everything else (share kitchen, share lounge room, share bedroom – if your bedroom is not equipped with bedroom) – all electricity gas and internet broadband usually included in the weekly rent.

A share accommodation near university or city will cost you on average about $300 per week (highly depended on all the “perks” included).

As couple with or without family, the cheapest accommodation arrangement is to rent 1 bedroom unit (“unit” means “apartment”) or 2 bedrooms unit. In Sydney, the common rental market will be “unfurnished” property – meaning the unit will be rented without furniture. The one usually included in the rental are: kitchen cupboard and stove, dryer, dishwasher(not always) and washing machine (sometimes) only. The rest, you need to buy for yourself and move it along with you as you move to new address. The contract is minimum 6 months (you cannot break the contract unless you pay the whole period or find replacement) – but usually 12 month is the norm.

A decent 2 bedroom units around 30 minutes drive from city cost you on average about $400 per week.

Fully furnished apartment is not common and if there is, usually you will pay premium – beside the hassle that you will be liable if you damaged the furniture.

One bedroom apartment is relatively cheaper than 2 bedroom, but they are harder to find, hence the difference with 2 bedroom usually only $20 – $30 per week which make you consider the 2 bedrooms unit more spacious and has more value for your money.

Renting a free standing house is generally will be around $150 per week more expensive compare to unit. But you have your own backyard/frontyard, can have pet (dog, cat), better lifestyle (you can have BBQ every week with friends), etc

To rent a property you will need to go to a real estate agent (exist almost in every corner of business center), fil some forms and provide 4 – 6 weeks rental as deposit/security or “bond money“. Some reference check and official ID. The payment is weekly or fortnightly in advance.

Buying an apartment/unit for migrant will be a more difficult unless you have the money to buy it outright or just borrow small portion of the money. Currently, thanks to the Global Financial Crisis, you will need roughly 25% of the price to cover for deposit and cost. Meaning, a $400,000 2-bedroom units, you need to have $100,000 cash in a bank and borrow the rest. Then you need to show proof of income (Australia’s employer), proof of saving, credit history, etc. And you need to be permanent resident or citizan. Otherwise your purchase need to be approved by FIRB (Foreign Investment Review Board) – means: more cost and paperwork.

For more detail estimate of your particular area/suburb, you can start with http://www.domain.com.au/ or http://www.realestate.com.au/

Utility Bill: Water, Gas, Electricity

If you rent a property, the water bill is paid by landlord (so you don’t pay water bill) – but you still need to pay electricity and gas. Some older unit don’t have gas service which will be a disadvantage as gas is cheaper than electricity. Mainly during winter where you need to have heater. Gas heater will have significantly lower running cost compare to electric heater. The same applies to stove for cooking. Choose unit with gas if possible.

Gas and Electricity are billed per quarter (every 3 months). For gas it would be about $100 per quarter (depends really on usage) and For electricity is around $300 per quarter.

For more detail about Electricity and Gas you can start with AGL., Energy Australia or Integral Energy.

So here is the comparison so far:

First Capital Expenditure

Now that you have a place to live, then you need to look at one off capital expenditure that you need to buy.

First of all will be furniture: bed, dining table, some chairs, study table, cupboard and sofa. That’s basic item that you need to have. For 2 bedroom apartments, you can fill out your empty units with as low as around $2000 (check out Fantastic Furniture home starter package) but the quality will not the very best. You can buy more decent basic furniture for about $5000 for 2 bedrooms.

Next to furniture is some electronic basic item that you will definitely need them: TV, Fridge, Vacuum Cleaner and some kitchen goodies.

The other item that really important considering Sydney is a very big place and the public transport – although much cheaper than last year now – thanks to new myzone ticketing system – is still not up to scratch. Having a family car is not a luxury in Sydney – perhaps more a necessity. To see more detail about having a car in Sydney, read: Sydney Living Cost 2010: Car Ownership Expenses

Food & Groceries

If you cook most of your meal by yourself (or your spouse), then family of four (with 2 school kids) will need at least around $500 monthly. Dine out will cost you around $10 – $15 per person. More fancy restaurant can cost you around $25-35 per person. So, with 2 dine out a month you need to spare at least $100 extra.

In Australia, although duo-poly from the 2 major supermarkets: Woolworth and Coles Supermarket still a dominant factor, many smaller player especially Aldi (soon: Costco) have already giving consumer much cheaper grocery prices.

Transportation Cost

If you have a car , the cost of transport is roughly around $6000 per year – see Sydney Living Cost 2010: Car Ownership Expenses – The public transport has been quite overhauled for the last 3 month or so – now with around $48 per week (or around $2000 per year) per person, you can basically do unlimited travel around Sydney metropolitan area. See MyZone ticketing system. Of course it could be cheaper depending on the method of transport and area that you want to travel.

For this article, I assume within a family a parent will drive a car and the other one use public transport.

Entertainment

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Next Page >>>

Entertainment

The fact that Sydney is quite expensive should not prevent you to enjoy live. Go out to the beautiful beach such Bondi, Manly, Coogee, and many other will be the cheapest option as probably you just need to pay for the parking and your lunch. Going to the cinema to enjoy the latest movie will cost you around $20 per person (not including beverage/snack). Kid go to “playland” (Lollipop, Clown Town, Jitterbug, etc) will set you back about $15 per kid.

I suggest to spare at least $150 a month for your family fun.

Internet and Mobile

Internet connection is getting cheaper. With $50 you can get unlimited download (it’s actually 130GB full ADSL2+ speed and 1Mbps shapping after that – 1Mbps shapping is practically very fast , hence can be consider unlimited – see TPG). For mobile phone, there are literally hundreds of plan out there, one of the value is to have post paid contract for 24 months with $29 cap per month that will be more than enough for most people. Three have such plan with very good handset free.

Education Expense

For you with kid on school age education expense is something that you need to be considered. While public school is free, Catholic school will charge around $600 per quarter and private school can charge much much more than that. So, beside the school fee, be prepare to spare at lease $500 per kid per year for uniform, stationary, excursion, etc which is extra from school fee.

For you with kid under 5 years old, you need to pay the expensive child care service to look after your kid while you are at work. Or alternatively one of the parent need to be at home (not working) to look after the kid. The rate of child care center is about $75 a day. The government will refund 50% of them (until certain limit) – so, you need to have enough cash flow while waiting for the quarterly refund. For the calculation on table I will put one school age kid and one under 5 kid.

Additionally, you might need to pay about $25 “after school care” per day, if you cannot pick the kid about 3pm (15:00) from school. This service is also 50% quarterly refunded.

Health and Tax, Health Insurance (Optional but highly recommended) and Other Insurance

Australia is one of the country that has high tax. Average Australian will pay at least 30% of salary to tax office. The maximum is 45%. So, if you are employed with $60,000 p.a salary, expect only take around $40,000 home.

But with the high tax, come the benefit: if you are permanent resident that live more than 2 years in Australia – with some condition, of course – you will be eligible for social security payment (or “dole”) if for some reason you are unable to work. And the best part is: medical facility is generally free.

If you feel sick and need to see a doctor (General Practitioner), just go to a clinic that do “Bulk Billing” and you will pay nothing for your visit. The same thing apply for more serious matter as operation / surgery, etc. Just show your “medicare card” – Medicare also over delivery and other hospital services such blood work, etc. Unfortunately medicare did not pay for your medicine (although some is subsidized). So, prepare to spend around $200 per year to all this cough syrup, panadol, some ointment, etc…

For non resident, say tourist – expect to pay around $150 to visit a doctor and thousands of dollar just to spend a night in a hospital.

So if all medical bill will be generally free, why we need to purchase private health insurance ? Some of the important reasons:

1. If you don’t have private health insurance, the government will charge 1.5% extra from your income as “medicare levy”. So, with $60k p.a you will pay $900 extra tax. If a health insurance for family is $200 per month, total $2400 – then you don’t have to pay that $900. Yes, you still have to pay additional $2400-$900 = $1500 per year for insurance, but rather than giving $900 for government, it is better spend it for your own benefit.
2. You are covered for emergency transportation. The medicare will cover your hospital bill, but if you need helicopter to transport you in emergency you need to pay that helicopter bill – as well as normal car ambulance. If you have private health insurance, you don’t have to worry about this.
3. You have additional “benefit” for day to day health related expenses such as: spectacle or contact lenses, remedial massage, physiotherapy, podiatrist, chiropractor and dentist cost. Although highly depended on the “plan” that you sign up with, these “perks” is quite worth it if you use some of the mention above. For me, since both me and my wife wear glasses, go to remedial massage from now and then, occasional physio due to sport(mostly golf) injury, some chiro treatment for bad sleeping position, regular dentist visit, etc, this “perks” value to more than $1000 per year.

Other insurance that you might want to consider are income protection insurance and trauma/life insurance (especially if you have mortgage) – but as starting point, just use income protection ans life insurance you can pay with your superannuation account. (Your employer will pay 9% – soon will be 12% – compulsory contribution, you just need talk to the superannuation company to start your insurance under the account)

Summary

Above is the summary of all discussion in this article. Note on the last row is the salary projection that you need to ear to cover the expenses assuming 30% income tax.

If you just arrive in Australia for the first time, expect 2-3 months before getting decent job. For some reasons, if your experience was just from overseas, it will be quite difficult to find similar job in Australia. Usually it takes 2 step behind to go 1 step forward. So, in term of money, prepare at least 3 months full cost plus the capital expenditure on your first arrival.

Once arrive in Sydney, first thing you do after a good night sleep in hotel is: go to bank and open account there. The big 4 banks in Australia are: Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and National. Where you open the account is immaterial as you can withdraw and do any other service on different bank. The 2nd step will be securing your home – find a rental place !

Yes, it’s not that cheap to live in Sydney – considering also Australian Dollar is now almost in parity with US dollar. But it’s better to prepare more than living miserably in a great city.
See you in Sydney, soon !

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To tell you the truth, I am not a die hard football fan. I mean I did not follow English league, Bundesliga, or even Australian own A-league. But I will not miss the world cup for the world.

So, mark your calendar, the first match will be on Friday , 11 Jun at 23:00 and the Final will be on Monday , 12 July 2010 on 03:30.

Watching World Cup On TV

The great news is, at this 2010 world cup, all 64 matches can be watched live on TV without a need to subscribe for Pay TV. Yes, it’s free to air TV at its best. Thank you to SBS station. (For international friend, the “main” TV station here in Australia is Ten, Seven and Nine – SBS is more on niche market – confirming soccer or football is still not on the main core)

Here is the full schedule from SBS: SBSWorldCupTVSchedule.pdf
(print it out and stick it on your fridge!!)

Make sure your TV at its best, at least, make sure you can receive the Digital Transmission – the HD (High Definition) version is preferred for best quality – (buy a HD set top box if you have not). For you that in the market for nice new bigger TV, forget the Plasma, forget the LCD TV, you should aim for LED TV (In general: as bright as plasma, but as reliable as LCD – the best of both world) – some of this LED TV is also 3D (3 dimension)-TV, but I doubt SBS will broadcast in 3D.

Alternatively: FIFA Fan Fest – Darling Harbour, Sydney

But for you that want MORE than just watching it on TV, there is a special treat from FIFA and NSW government, it’s call FIFA Fan Fest.

FIFA Fan Fest in Darling Harbour (digital impression)

The first time of its kind, FIFA chooses 6 cities in the world: Berlin, Paris, Rome, Mexico City, Rio de Jaineiro and Sydney (Do you see that all those cities has hosted world cup before, except Sydney – so it’s a clue perhaps… .

And on those city FIFA extends the invitation to come and celebrate the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa to more football fans around the globe with: a giant screen in secure environment with FREE admission to watch LIVE all the match with fellow fans.

And in Sydney, the FIFA Fan Fest is on the beautiful Darling Harbour (see the digital impression above). Yes, a giant floating screen to watch football with friends and family.It’s free and secure! So, how awesome !

It’s predicted there will be 30,000 fans each nights for the whole months (maybe triple on the final day!) – the police has express concerned already that it gonna be a big if note huge task – considering alcohol is available. Take this as good aspect, now that the police and organizer cannot really under estimate this huge event, everything will be more prepare and more resources thrown in into the event. Australia has been a very famous with making huge event a family friendly one – so this will be one as well !

For more info about FIFA Fan Fest ^tm, click here. or here. Official info is here. If preferred you can book Ibis or Novotel on site for your super indulgence football experience.

Just come to Darling Harbour at the scheduled match and you might see me there !

One caveat: it’s winter in Australia – temperature will be 5-10 degree Centigrade in the early morning!!

If you are interested to become a volunteer to this great event, hopefully the registration is still open at here. You will be given meal voucher and cool uniform to watch the big screen at super premium location.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

The Darling Harbour Fan Fest has 2 big screen locations: Cockle Bay and Tumbalong Park. Each hold 10,000 crowd. Once the number is reached, you will be denied entry!!
It’s for obvious reason: prevent overcrowding, in case of emergency. Hence come early ! If you have been denied entry that’s mean you are late, just come a little bit earlier, especially popular game.

(In Cockle Bay in particular, the site will looks like still got a lot of space, but remember the screen is on the water (floating), there is quite a  gap between screen and water – furthermore, if you know darling harbour, there is spiraling decorative fountain in the middle that is now closed with wooden platform – cannot hold unlimited number of crowd.)

Socceroos Chance

Being in the hard group with Germany, African Champion – Ghana, and Serbia – the Australian team is quite the underdog. But the OZ has been known to do the unpredictable…. I hope 1 win and 2 draw can bring them to the knock out stages like previous cup. With Cahil and Kewell on the team, these seniors will ignite the spirit of the team!

Draw with the German as it’s just the first match for both, one win against Serbia and another draw with Ghana – that’s my prophecy…

What is “Socceroos” ?

For international friend, the Aussie loves to name their National Team with national animal or Australian unique word as nickname.

“Socceroo” is “Soccer” and “Roo” (short for Kangaroo – an animal unique to Australia).

You can see other similarity with The Wallaby (a small kangaroo) as nickname of the Australia national rugby union team, The Kookaburra (a bird native to Australia) as nickname for Australian national men’s hockey team while the ladies team nicked “HockeyRoos”. “Boomers” and “Opals” for basketball national team, etc

2010 Socceroos Jersey

The dark and light color version of Socceroos Jersey 2010

Available for purchase at NikeStore.

To show your support for Australia to host FIFA World Cup 2018 or FIFA World Cup 2022 click here.
To check out Football Federation Australia (FFA) click here.

Enjoy the festivity of  2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa ^tm in June 2010 !

Buying The Car

Sydney has wide range of car running on its road. Any brand or model car you want, the chance is it is here in Sydney (although sometimes it has different name).  Some tips when you buy your first car in Sydney:

1. Set you budget/maximum price
   First thing first, define how much you want tospend on a car. Once you get soaked to it, it’s hard to really limit your budget. Better start with this. There is a car for every budget. Even for $1000.  Around $10,000 will get you a very decent car.
2. Buy from dealership.
   You can buy car from private sale or from dealership. Buying privately will give you better price, roughly $1000 – $2000 cheaper than buying from dealer, but it has no protection for buyer. Buying from dealer will give you 3 months warranty where the dealer need to fix/replace any faulty item – giving you peace of mind.
   Another factor to consider, there is a lot of stolen /rebirth car that being sold via private sale, unless you do thorough title check, you may end up with stolen or non-genuine car.
   Shop around, visit 3-5 car dealer before even consider any car – check some online pricing before start. Beware: Sydney’s car salesman is very very good at its job.
3. Don’t buy brand new car.
   Buying brand you car will cost you premium money. Try to buy a car and as soon as you drive it away from the parking lot, the price has dropped maybe 20% if you re-sell  it immediately. In other word, it has worst depreciation. Also especially if you need to borrow money to buy the car.  It’s much better buy smaller/older/cheaper car but buy  it outright with your savings.
   My recommendation would be buy those 3-5 years old cars with low kms on the odometer. It will last at least another 5 years with proper maintenance and you have the biggest bang for your money.

Some websites to start: RTA website,  http://www.carsales.com.au/, http://www.carpoint.com.au/, http://www.drive.com.au , http://www.autoweb.com.au/

Cost of Car Ownership

Cost of Car Ownership

1. Registration Cost

This is the money that you pay to the government for owing a vehicle. The exact value varies from car to car, but normal family sedan will be around $300 mark. To register, for car that have more than 5 years old age, a safety check call “pink slip” is also compulsory. But the price is not that expensive: around $35 mark only.

You need to own a driver license first. Currently the fee is $47 for a year. (5 year license is $151, but depends on the number of year you have driven, you might not be able to get this one) – The cost to get the driving license (Driver Knowledge Test+ Driving Test) is $83. For for information check RTA website.

2. Compulsory Third Party Insurance (CTP / “Green slip”)

This insurance is compulsory to cover medical cost if you injured somebody on a accident. The cost varies according your driving record, but it will be around $600 – 700 mark every year.

3. Service/Maintenance Cost

Most of the modern car (made at year 2000 or above) will have the requirement to be serviced every 10,000km or 6 months. Unless you drive very long distance, you will only need to service your car twice a year.

The cost of service will vary according your brand of the car and the type of service needed (major service, minor service, 100,000km service etc). But be prepare to pay around $300-$500 for each service. It becomes around $1000 per year.

4. Comprehensive Insurance Cost

This insurance is not compulsory. This basically only to cover the cost of repairing if you have accident for both your card and the other party. It also cover some other liability that may arise from accident. For example: if you hit a house and the house collapse, you are liable to fix the house with all the content. Usually this insurance give you upto $20 million legal liability.

The cost of this insurance is roughly around $800 – $1500 (depending on your driving record, type of card and your address).

It’s actually a small price to pay for your piece of mind. Without insurance, a private car repair (panel beating, painting, etc) can cost you at least $5000. Remember, if you are the driver at fault, you need to fix 2 cars. I strongly recommend this insurance

Some big insurance company that can provide you online quote: AAMI, NRMA, GIO, Budget Direct, Bingle

5. Petrol Cost

Cost of petrol will depend of the type of car (the bigger machine the higher the cost), the way you driving the car, the traffic that you drive and the distance you travel.

But for the purpose of this article, say you have a car that consumed on average 10 liters for every 100km (or 10km for each liter) and travel around 15,000km per year (around 40km per day). The price of petrol is now around $1.10 – $1.40 (vary each day, let use $1.25 as average)

Then, each year cost of petrol =  (15,000 / 10) x $1.25 = $1,875

6 Unexpected / Other Cost

Driving around Sydney with car could induce you with some unexpected cost such as parking fine, speeding camera fine and other infringement. For new driver, it’s very common to het these fine if you are not extra careful.

Also, some big ticketed item for your car from time to time will need replacement: shock absorber, tyres,etc. And although you are insured, every accident you need to pay the “excess” roughly around $600 or more.

You may also consider to become a member of Road Side Assistance at $92 per year. See NRMA motoring website.

Parking ticket also something that you need to consider. Although most shopping center will give you free (or at least 3 hours free) parking, some other premium places such Sydney CBD, Darling Harbour, Airport, Bondi Beach, etc will charge you parking fee ranging from $2 per hour to $15 per hour.

So, prepare to spend at least additional $500-$1000 on average per year.

Summary

So as summary, see below table for your cost of ownership:

Remember, the cost above is after you buy the car itself.

It’s not that cheap to have a car and drive in Sydney, but at least you have prepared.

See you on Sydney road !

For me, the toughest year as parent is when the child is between 1 and 2 years old (12 – 24 months). This is the period when the child start to gain his/her independence: start talking, walking, running and interacting with his/her world.

Before this period, the child is practically 100% dependent to the parent and the interaction will be limited to feeding the milk, carry them around and put them in bed.

On this period, the child starts to develop and explore its curiosity. They want to touch it, they want to hear the sound it’s making and they want to play with it. What make this period a little bit tough is not the curiosity itself, but the limited conversation that can be done with the child.

With the independence of movement and their curiosity as fuel, what a children can do is quite limitless. And actually, the amount that they learn during this period also enourmous. Therefore, what we do or act on what they did become very important as that’s what they will learn about the parents.

What most parents forget is:

the rule and custom as you know it are not embeded into the DNA. They have to be taught and learned by the child.

A little lab experiment...

For example: see the illustration above. That’s a box of tissue being experimented by my 1.5 years old. Imagine what they have in mind, “Oh, cool, a piece of soft paper with nice smell. Let me have one… and oh, there is another one beneath it, let’s take it as well, and another one, and another one… so many… let see where is the bottom of it…”

They don’t know that they supposed to have only 1 piece and leave the box alone. How do they know ? Who teach them? So, screaming and yelling to this little child will not help as they don’t know what’s wrong with it. What they see was that “daddy or mummy often yelling, screaming and say ‘No’ all the time, – almost to all that I did, I don’t know what so specaial about it so that they just say it over and over again”

And the problem for parent is, you cannot really give reasoning and giving lecture to them. What we can do is just to show the correct one. “Monkey see, monkey do” is a good phrase to illustrate it. Try to tell them that that is wrong probably a bit harder. Just try to show the correct one and they will follow you.

Remember, on that age, the child will just follow and mimic anything and everything that they see and hear. So, it is better to reduce that yelling and “No” and show the better way of doing it based on your custom.

Below is some examples of the experimentation done by mine:

• Pouring the whole bag of Doritos (corn chip) all over the carpet. Hmm…imagine the crumbs !
• Turn off the computer while I am on it. Oh, all of those unsaved data…..
• A snake of toilet paper around the home. Yes, I need to roll it back…
• Licking the shoe. Yuck..
• Paste that sticker to TV, computer, wall, table and chair. As long as it stick…
• Pouring that chocolate milk all over the carpet. Lucky I got brown carpet…
• Insert the book into the DVD player. Just like daddy does with the DVD, right?.

Tough, but just laugh it off and give them a lesson of life by showing the correct one, without punishing them.

Enjoy your child, once they pass that period, they will never come back ! Happy parenting !

Located just across Sydney Harbour, Taronga Zoo can easily be reached with short ferry trip from Circular Quay (they even have discounted admission and return trip for it: ask for ‘Zoo pass’). But being near in the central hub of Sydney transportation is not the major advantage. The big advantage is the background that Taronga Zoo has is no less than below:

Magnificent Sydney Skyline as the Zoo's Background (click for bigger picture)

Girrafe at Taronga

I bet, not many zoo in the world is lucky enough to have that magnificent view of beautiful harbour city like Sydney.

Opening Hours and Admission Ticket

The zoo open every day all year (including Christmas) thanks to the troop of volunteer that they have. They open from 9am to 5pm. For the most bang for your buck, come as early as possible cause there are too many to see and too little time you have.

Adults ticket is $41, children $20 and family of 4 (2 adult and 2 children) will need to spend $103,70. It’s magnificent but not cheap! But never pay the full price cause online prepaid ticket will give you off 10%, so does the usual NRMA 10% discount. The easiest to get discount is trough this website: just click here, print the coupon and present it on the cashier boot. I did it before and a significant 15% discount was in order. (Let me know if the link is no longer working!)

Sky Safari, photo: Taronga Zoo's website

Your Day At the Zoo

Although not to big compare with its sister zoo “Western Plain Zoo” in city of Dubbo, 21 hectares of land in the middle of the city is quite challenging to be walked off. So make sure you are at your good condition to walk. Visitor at the zoo can have their complimentary map for free to guide there visit. But usually this map will overwhelm many of them. Not only with so many display, exhibit, keeper talk, and show to attend to, but the route to cover the whole area with the most efficient walk will not be resolve without careful plan.

I would recommend two signature shows as your anchor: The Bird Show (12pm and 3 pm) and The Seal Show (11am and 2pm). You should not miss any of them on your visit. Each show last less than 1 hour but don’t expect to do it consecutively (e.g:Seal at 11 and Bird at 12) because not only there is distant to cover, but the waiting crowd will already fully occupied the viewing platform. Come at least 15 minutes before hand and enjoy the time eating ice cream or take a group photo

Plan for the Zoo Visit - click for bigger image

Once you select your preference, I guess the rest of your day need to be arrange around it. On the right is one of my suggestion how to make the most of your day:

• If you come with car, instead of park at the main parking space, you can driver further down to the end of the road near the ferry wharf. If you are early, you can park just beside the cliff whole day for free (save 415 parking fee)  and then start your zoo journey on Sky Safari. In fact you will start and finish the day with Sky Safari, a wow factor for you and your family.
• Once arrive on the top of the hill at about 9am, start with the black path to visit: Rainforest Aviary, Australian Nightlife , Kangaroo, Emu , Wombat and Platypus and make your way to Kid Zoo where a lot of farm animal and display just for your young one.
• Around 10.30am take the purple path to make a quick stroll or just pay that train ride to make a quick travel to Seal Show.
• Seal Show 11am. You can enjoy your meal while waiting for the show or during the show. Or otherwise buy your lunch after the show in the food market. Don’t forget to visit Luk Chai and the elephants gang just across the food court. You may want to visit the Chimp, Gorilla , and Giraffe doing your blue path.
• From 1pm, you can now follow the red path to visit the Seal, Penguin, Tapir, Deer, Condor, Tortoise, etc before ready for the bird show.
• Bird Show 3pm. Come early to pick you best spot while eating ice cream !
• Follow your last yellow path and to visit Meerkat, Red Panda, Snow Leopard, Tiger, Lion, then African waterhole and its animal such as Zebra, Sun Bear, hippo, Camel before back to Sky Safari terminal on the top.
• Go back to your car with Sky Safari and treasure the day !

Tiger at Taronga Zoo

The above suggestion is – I have to admit – a little bit tiring and require some level of fitness from everybody. For more relax and easy going schedule, you can cut of some of the routes to suit your condition.

Must dos:

• A pram is a must for your young one. Even 5 or 6 years old will love the strolling wheel!
• The best is to choose an overcast day, not raining, but not too much sun shine either. Temperature will be perfect at low 20°C. If it’s too hot, not only will drain your power and spirit, but the animal also will take a rest under shade and not much for you to see.
• Bring your own picnic food and beverages, not only save you from overprice not-so-special menu and its crowded queue, you will save some time to explore more exhibition and display.
• Prepare your trip carefully to make the most of it.

Sydney born elephant, Luk Chai

Want More?

• Become “Zoo Friend” for $102.50 per year (first, adult, additional adult:$92.50, children $50) for unlimited zoo entry for 12 months. (A family of 4: 2 adult 2 children, will significantly save money if go to the zoo more than 3 times a year by becoming Zoo Friend)
• Spend the night at the zoo on a luxurious tent ! Check the program call “Roar and Snore” on Taronga Zoo Website.

For current information, latest map and schedule just visit here: Taronga Zoo Website.

Enjoy the trip !

Christmas Stress Among Us

Christmas Stresses Among Us

Here are the most common Christmas Stress in no particular order:

1. Financial Stress: extra budget for those gifts, go out and everything else.
   With Christmas literally about giving, there will be upward pressure on your budget to buy gift for colleague, family, friend, neighbor or even someone you don’t even like. Can you imagine how stressful it is if somebody buy you a present and you don’t do the same ? And not only that, with all those party and gathering, there will be extra transportation cost, extra laundry for clothes, extra parking, tips or even you need to buy that extra party dresses… Fine if you have extra money to spend, but if budget is tight, this can be quite stressful
2. Psychological Stress: burden to always looks happy.
   In the office, school, party or function, during this special holiday season, there will be expectation that people need to be happy. Well like it or not, that the “norm”. So rather than take the risk to get into awkward conversation about what’s wrong with you, some people will just have to put a fake happy face and attitude. Of course this is quite a stress…
3. Convenience Stress: habit that need to be temporary changed.
   Human is a creature of habit and in general will have some resistant for a change. One of the convenience that give you a problem will be child care center / day care. They are closed during the season, either 2 weeks, 3 weeks or few days, the old good child care that you go to every day to drop your young one is no longer there. Or nanny or friends that can help you baby sit for some errand or quick movie time, is not there at these time, they are having their holiday as well. How can you survive without them ?
   And in Sydney in particular, there will be (almost) no shop open on Christmas Day. You have to make sure you have everything you need at home.
4. Fitness Stress: pressure to looks good and fit in Christmas
   Especially in Southern Hemisphere, where Christmas is in summer, everybody want to look not too fat, not too thin and everything in between. Well, depper than that, you recognized that there will be “extra Christmas kilo” that you will pickup along the holiday. And whether you do it preemptively or do it later, you remember how hard to chuck that extra kilos away. Adding the extra stress on your shoulder.
5. Environmental/Cultural Stress: those cultural or environmental pressure that make you do extra things.
   This is getting popular: imagine all of your neighbor put up a xmas-decoration with all those flashy light at night. And only your place doesn’t have one. Hwy, where is your christmast spirit ? All the neighbor scream. Then half hearted you will do the same putting extra work for your self and your wallet. Found something similar ?  Christmas tree too small, no new dresses, no Christmas holiday, not painting the fence, going to church, etc

Some Solutions

Yes, you will say it, the solution will be easier said than done – and I guess I agree with that. But either this year or next year, sooner or later you will have to confront it. So, here some suggestions for your consideration;

• Shop early. Don’t wait until December to start buying those present. Buy online, usually much cheaper but you need to wait for the shipment that’s why you need to shop early.
• Stick with your budget, don’t over spend. It might be awkward that you are not giving a present to certain somebody as last year, but they will live with it. Don’t worry.
• Don’t try to impress everybody. The most important person: your spouse/partner, your children, your parents, and best friends. Buy them some gift but not the rest of the world (unless you have extra money, of course)
• Just do whatever you really want to do (OK, with exception if your boss say so). If you do something, that’s because you want to do it. Otherwise, grump and stress will be all around.
• Control your eating: do not over eat. Don’t pickup those extra kilo so you don’t need to do extra exercise to put that away. Be responsible, if you want extra eating, then extra exercise is the consequences you need to bear.
• But happiness if not a function of money. Happiness is where your expectation is fulfill. If you expect too much and it didn’t come as you wish then you will not be happy. So, how to go about it ? Lower your expectation. This is a teaching from the great Mahatma Gandhi (“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony“), happiness is all about managing your expectation, no more, no less.
• Be smart and prepared most things well in advanced. If you have enough time, you will have some way to outsmart the problem, but if you are in a rush, the solution will be whatever the first think pop up on your head (and that could be expensive)

Okay then. Hope this is not too late to help you with some ideas to overcome your Christmas stress.

Season’s greetings !

Not Cool

My daughter has just finish her usual weekly swimming lesson in our local suburban swimming pool. And as usual she will play around the pools just to splash and giggles for some times. This time is quite special as all of us , including my wife and my 1 year old also join for a bit of wet. But what happen next is quite disturbing.

On the other pool where the lesson is conducted, there were 2 screaming and crying children, maybe around 5 and 3 years old. Obviously, quite new as we hardly see them before. Together with them are the older brother inside the pool and a older man that I assume to be their father.

From my judgment, it looks like the father is not familiar with the water (cannot swim?) as he act awkwardly around the pool. He was busy giving command to the older brother to calm the younger brothers. He has strap both the youngster with some floating device on both arm and at one point literally throw one of his young into the water. As natural as he was, he also try to shush both the youngs with some body language and command

The father obviously knows that the young children will have some difficulties with the lesson as that’s why he bring the aider to be wet inside the pool, isn’t he?

I do have the sympathy to the instructor which I know as well as he taught my daughter. I can hear repeatedly he said “It’s not going to work” – but since the father is pretty insistent , I guess to avoid heavy confrontation he also becoming busy to calm both boys down.

So, for at least half hour before I leave, the 2 young children was constantly crying and screaming. It’s not really whining cry, but it’s frantic and terrifying cries. Is this how we give a swimming lesson? It’s totally not cool !

It’s Supposed To Be Fun !

Take children to play with water, first !

For those who got problem introducing water to their children, how about start it with playing in a well theme aquatic park like Sydney Olympic Park’s Aquatic center. With herding instinct among human, especially looking at other children have a laugh, giggle and have a great fun, most children will not be taken too much time to get wet. Of course, if possible have the closest person accompany them (maybe father, mother or grandma, perhaps?). Take them several time there, have great fun and finally ask “You want to learn to swim?”

If you start with fun, although I cannot really guarantee 100% success giving the childresn a swimming lesson, but I can bet the situation will be much much better than the lunatic father describe above.

Remember, child age is sensitive age. Giving them traumatic experience, and they will remember it for the rest of their life.

Have fun with your children in the water !