Having reviving my photography passion, my main motivation is to get some good photos. With my wife and daughter in tow, I turn up also get a good night out with various eateries around the location. It is cold, but good preparation and well clothed save the day – only some awe of what we see. So not too many words here are some photos that I took with my brand new “backup” camera – well except the fire dance – since I don’t have time to crawl to the top of roof (maybe I would if I am just alone)… anyway enjoy….

Vivid Sydney 2011: stripy house

Vivid Sydney 2011: disco opera

Vivid Sydney 2011: The fire dance - photo from vividsydney.com

Vivid Sydney 2011: meteory ceiling in one of the plaza

Vivid Sydney 2011: colorful Circular Quay

Vivid Sydney 2011: vibrant opera

Vivid Sydney 2011: vivid opera

Vivid Sydney 2011: remind me of Hongkong's sail

Vivid Sydney 2011: Pink Sail

Vivid Sydney 2011: Cyan sail

Vivid Sydney 2011: Futuristic opera

Going there

Vivid Sydney 2011

Unfortunately it is a little bit too late to go there at this moment at this event has wrapped up on 13 June. So, mark your calendar on your phone at 20 May next year “check vividsydney.com for schedule”

HDR Images

I will finish this photo article with images call High Dynamics Range (HDR) images that I took – just to check I still “got it” in term of my photography skill. You will not get this kind of photo with your iphone for sure, this is the kind of photo that we can still see the detail of the darkest, without really over exposed the brightest. For example on Circular Quay photo below, if you take good picture of the 3 lampions in the front, you will get dark background, but if you took good picture of the building light on the background, you will get super bright lampions (maybe white), HDR images combine those 2… enjoy…

Vivid Sydney 2011: Circular Quay Charm - HDR

Vivid Sydney 2011: The calm of Night - HDR

Anyway, if you want to see all the Vivid Sydney 2011 collection that I got, click the link here: Vivid Sydney 2011 gallery. Maybe you can pickup 1 or 2 print for unique postcard.

Airport Transfer: Starting and Ending The Journey

With value for money in mind, I would think at least 4 main considerations below:

1. Who you traveling with ?  Any children or elderly on your group?
2. Luggage: the less luggage the mobile you are…
3. Time available: do you have that extra 2-3 hour, for example, to travel with normal city bus ?
4. Convenience factor: how much comfort you want to enjoy to start/finish your holiday?

Remember, traveling with family, just yourself -or- with your extended family could spell totally different decision in term of the best airport transfer you can choose – even from the same address..

Take The Bus

The cheapest of all, but the most hassle and inconvenient of all. You probably spend less than $10 for each person each way but the inconvenience at least 3 fold:

1. It usually involves multiple bus ride: for Sydney Airport there is only bus route 400 that you can hop in/hop out at the airport terminal.
2. No baggage/luggage area on the bus
3. The time needed is enormous: 2-3 hours is not unusual as the bus can stop in all those bus stop.

Furthermore, it will not always be available at odd hour. For example your flight is 6am in the morning, how do you catch a bus at 2am?

Take The Train

Train supposed to be the best alternative in and out from the airport as it’s not only much faster (dedicated rail, no jam, reliable time schedule) but also can carry thousands of people at once. If train is fully accessible for you, by all mean, this will be the best alternative. Train got enough space even if you travel with big luggage.

However the fare will not be as cheap that you would think. At the moment the far is $15 one way. It will take around 1-1.5 hour from Parramatta station to the international airport.

Take Taxi

From Parramatta, expect to pay $70-$90 one way on normal traffic. That’s $35 per person if there are only 2 passenger.

For family of 4, $80 taxi ride will cost $20 for each – not that so much difference compare to train ride, but very big difference (better) when comparing any other factor. So for family of 4, Taxi is one of the good alternative. Just beware if traveling on peak hour – the meter will eat your money by the seconds…..

For more than 5 person, there will be some kind of surcharge even if you got the mini-van taxi. So for $80 ride, you will need to pay say $120 (1.5 x) and so on.

Traveling with children? taxi that has 2 booster seat for 2 or more child-passenger will be hard to get. You need to specially book it.

Shuttle Bus

Shuttle bus can be regarded as “cheap taxi”. As you will be picked-up/dropped-off at your address with small fraction of the cost. It’s flat rate at about $20 each person (depends on the address). However the annoying difference compare to the taxi: you might happened to be the first patron to be picked up, so you will do merry-go-round around the town to pick up all other 30 patrons from many addresses. Ouch… better watch out.

So as long as you have plenty of time, this method of transportation is good for 1 or 2 people (value for money) -or- group more than 6 (who need to get 2 taxis) – but for family of 4, taxi will be still better.

Drive and Park

You can just take your card with you and your family to the airport and the car is just waiting for you on the way back. Convenient!, but it really depends on the parking scheme that you need to pay. For example: some parking company (park and fly) charge $50 for up to 3 days, then a weekend trip to Gold Coast will cost you $50 and you just have to pay the petrol you consume. This is the cracker deal. But imagine if you need to go for 26 days. At $10 per day, you will be looking at $260 – better catch a taxi isn’t it ?

With more and more competition, a few weeks from your departure, especially in holiday season, check the website of these company if they offer a “cap deal”. For example at this moment (Dec 2010), Park ‘n Fly offer $148 cap (maximum that have to be paid) for travelling on this holiday season (between Dec 2010 and Jan 2010) – with that price, why bother paying taxi?

1 way Rent a Car

Other alternative is to just rent -a-car for 1 day. Do this with big company: Hertz, Avis, Budget, Europcar, etc where you can pickup the car on the nearest branch and drop it off at the airport. Some charge “1-way rental” fee (as you did not return it to where it get picked) but some are not – check your shop. With this you probably can get away with around $60 (including petrol top up) one way for 4-5 people. That’s cheap! ($10-$15 each one way). You can get even cheaper by denying to pay the increased insurance – as the risk is low (no overnight, just 1 drive, etc) but nobody could predict the unexpected.

Driven By Limo

I guess the word “limo” or “limousine” here is a little bit misleading as it’s not always meant a stretch limo (as pictured) – it could be as simple as  a chartered car with the driver (but not taxi).

Perhaps for your surprise, hiring a limo sometimes is even cheaper than taxi.

A luxurious Holden Caprice from Parramatta to Airport can be hired as little as $89 and this is flat rate (taxi will cost you fortune if there is traffic jam, while airport transfer limousine hire is point to point contract). For family of four this is better alternative than taxi – not only it’s flat rate, but the level of comfort and “cool” factor is high.

The stretch limo costs at around $230 one way from Parramatta to airport. Compare this with “maxi taxi” of $170 that I took . I would bet $60 is very cheap as a cost to impress your in-law!! Also, if you are traveling at peak hour, not only it will unleash your joy with those spacious leg room, TV, and leather upholstery, you probably save a little fortune that you will spent inside those crammed taxi ride with the meter. And what will be more bang to kick-start or finish your holiday compare to fully stretch limo ride? (for only a mere $60!??)

Driven By Friend/Family

On dollar value, if you have a friend or family that will drive you to the airport (and even pay for the petrol themselves) then you are the luckiest air-traveler on earth! Especially if they are the one who offer and insist the service – But consider several courtesy/etiquette for the favor:

• offer to at least to reimburse the petrol cost: estimate the distance (use Google Map!), divide by 8 (assuming 8km per liter) and multiply by price of petrol on the day and don’t forget multiply again by 2. Remember he/she need to go back home So, if the distance is 40km, it will consume 5 liter of petrol one way, so you need to reimburse at least 10 liters x price of petrol.
• pay all the add on cost on the way: toll road, parking cost, fine (if he/she got booked), the meal (if involve one)
• you need to buy him/her a souvenir/give of significant value as token of appreciation during your holiday

Conclusion

In the nutshell: (excluding driven by friend/family) – if you travel by yourself or just with your wife/husband – shuttle bus will be your best alternative. For family a rental car would be the best alternative. For extended family or group, rental car or even hiring a limo could be your best alternative rather than mediocre crammed taxi with nothing special.

Note for those travel with kids: a child seat/booster is usually extra cost.

Bon Voyage !!

p.s: what is you favorite airport transfer? Share it with us below…

You are a bad man (or bad woman) if you do not vote…

Australian House of Representative Ballot Paper

• If you are not eligible by law to vote (too young, excluded, not a citizen, etc)
• Unforeseen circumstances prevent you to go to the poll booth (accident, illness, arrested by police, etc)
• Conflict of interest (i.e: you for work Liberal but you actually want to vote the other side – in this case do not make conflict of interest in your mind – cast a blank vote to not betray your believe as well as not to betray your loyalty to your employer)

(no, no religious belief should prevent you to cast your vote – if your religion prevent you to vote, consider other religion! Why? religion should govern only the interaction with the almighty, nothing to do with which politician that will lead the country)

That’s it, the rest of us should cast the vote. I give you a few reasons why it is not very good at all to NOT voting:

1. Have you reflect all those wars and civil wars happened all around the world with thousands people die fighting this very cause: the right to vote to determine the future of own country? Most of all lucky enough to live in well establish country, you do not need to go fight a war to vote. Do not take it for granted, it is a precious gift! Go vote !
2. If you have a grudge against government, – the government did not treat you well- hey, then this is your chance to take revenge, vote the other party and kick the current government from office ! Go vote !
3. If you say all the candidates or party is not up to your standard. Well, that’s life. Nothing is perfect. Live with it and decide the best of the worse. Like it or not one of them will take control, you better make sure at least the better did. So, go vote !
4. If you don’t like the voting or election system. Again, no system in the world is perfect. There will be here and there a gap even to the best system. Just live with it, you have been living it so far anyway, maybe there is something that you don’t really understand why… Find some literature or talk to someone who knows why it being conducted like this. In the meantime, go vote !
5. If you suspect they fiddle around with the voting paper, then do something , not only vote, maybe sign up yourself as volunteer to watch first hand and report the cheating !

Australian Senate Ballot Paper

Voting, reflection of your decision making in life !

And, in a way, the way you decide in a vote is a reflection how you make a decision in life. Life is full of decision and you also have to choose the better of bad alternatives – and for some cases you got to choose. Ignorant will not help as your subconscious will not accept it – I  mean if you can do something but you don’t you will be feeling guilty.

Exactly what happening with election, sometime the choices are not that good but with or without your vote they will get elected. Well, so you need to still vote, as if the other win, you can tell that you did your part to prevent it.

What if the want your vote win and then do something you don’t like? Well, then tell him that you will not vote for him/her again in the next vote. Like life,  you can make a wrong decision, but once we know, we acknowledge the mistake and move on.

At the end, it is a free country – you can decide what you want to do – acknowledging that there could be social or personal consequences of course. After all, it’s all about taking personal responsibility to

Use your democratic right, go vote !

p.s: if casting a vote is not enough for you, step up. Nominate yourself for your next election and fight for what you believe. Like life, if you cannot count on somebody to do it for you, sometime you just need to do it yourself!

Well, it’s not presidential election, so technically the Aussie will not directly choose their Prime Minister. They will choose the local member of parliament that belong to a party or an independent. The majority member will form a government that has been nominated before. So, if you want a Labor Prime Minister, then vote for Labor candidate nominated for your local neighborhood, and vice versa.

The real drawback of this system that quite annoying (at least for me) was what happen with PM Kevin Rudd: the labor party faction decides that Kevin Rudd is a liability that has to be replaced.  So, it did – a few people initiative was able to replace a Prime Minister that not even 3 years ago has successfully win the election toppling the previous government that has ruled Australia for more than a decade. For me, at least for Prime Minister position, which is the one running the country, there should be more difficult procedure to replace the office.

Anyway, back to the topic, what do you think the would be Prime-Minister-elect below.

Modern vs Traditional – who will win

Let’s compare side by side the two leader of the party that would become prime minister:

Julia Gillard vs Tony Abbott For PM

Domestically, many parents and Christian group voice concern about Julia as role model. Not only admitting publicly that she doesn’t belief in God and religion, but she’s also not married and living together as de-facto couple with her partner.

Tony on the other hand, not only still go to the church every week, he also said publicly that he wants her daughters to be still virgin on wedding day. Something that is quite rare in western world. Also, as a politician, he is super duper fit – recently at 52 years old he still can finish an Ironman Triathlon (that is 3.8 km swimming, 180 km cycling and 42 km running in a day – he finished it under 15 hours -  try this if you can !!)

Despite that, poll showed that Julia is significantly very popular as PM candidate to Tony by far. (mid July 2010′s poll: 57% prefer Julia vs 27% for Tony as PM). I guess not only she is a good looking red head woman, but also as the first female PM for Australia – which completes the dominance of female leadership in this country.

The only common denomination between both is that they are both migrant and born overseas !

So, between the modern and the traditional, which one you choose ?

Current Government:

• One of the major achievement that can be boasted about is that Kevin Rudd government has saved Australia from GFC (Global Financial Crisis). During the worldwide downturn, Australia has never entered a recession. Thanks to the quick action from government with its economic stimulus.
• Some people scream that Labor has plunged Australia into debt. I can say straight that these people are 101% wrong and most likely they don’t know anything about macro economics. It is true that before GFC, Australian Federal Government has no debt. But if there is indication of recession where private sector stop spending, the government need to step in go into debt and stimulates the economy. They have no choice, that’s the only way – any government will do this.
  The debt itself ? Again some people who whinge about debt, it’s screaming that they don’t know anything about finance. (They maybe ridicoulously scare about debt , have never study and understand debt and need further education) – Australia debt will peak at $153 billion at around 2013 . Looks big? No at all, Last year Australia GDP is $1.2trillion or $1200 billion, and with growth to 2013, the debt will be around 10% of GDP (Gross national Product). This is comparable to if you have $500,000 home and got a mortgage of $50,000. Really small and manageable. So, do not worry a single blink about Australia debt.
  For further comparison, the European country that recently have problems with debt (Spain, Greece, etc) has debt of up to around 200% of their GDP, of course this is problem – but not with Australia)
• However, the debt money that government spend could have much better impact if it being spent with more control: 2 big mess are the home insulation program and the BER (Building  Education Revolution).
  The home insulation scheme lack of check and control where scammer and unqualified people can claim as insulator, receive money from government and install dogy insulation at home all across Australia. Not only rorting the scheme, but also responsible of many house fire due to technical matter.
  Almost similar, the BER is practically giving money to school all over Australia to renovate or build new building. The problem is there is no control where the builder and/or the school giving a ridiculously high quote, but still get the money. For example: to make covered outdoor learning area in school, usually costs somewhere under $80,000 but some school can get it ballooned to $950,000 without any question.
  For both bungles, I fully understand that quick response is essential (hence not much rules/procedure can be fully established) but it can easily much better run if the government delegate the operation into the respected industrial body on each field. Not only they have more experience and visibility of the norm, government can sue back the money if they proven to be rorting the government. But instead both scheme were handled by government directly. This is not acceptable.
• Asylum seeker/Refugee matter: I believe without doubt, this government has failed to maintain preventing the low rate of illegal immigrant, especially the one come from illegal boat, come to Australia. This is the comparison: the last 2 terms of previous government (from 2001 – 2007) the averages is 4 boat a year with average of 48 people per year. But, just 2009, there were 59 illegal boats with 2750 people on it. (see http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bn/sp/BoatArrivals.htm for more statistic)
  I fully believe refugee need to be helped and Australia should help generously, but the way they come to Australia, I don’t really agree with. The problem with this is some of these “refugee” allegedly fly to Indonesia or other neighboring country before embarking on a boat coordinated by “people smuggler”. Some pay thousands of dollars  just to get in the crappy boat. So, some of them are not genuine refugee and unfortunately no way (or very hard) to prove this 100%.

  The fact that Australia is not in the direct vicinity of the conflict area (Afghanistan, Middle East, etc) then all refugee intake should be the ones coordinated by UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) not by illegal people smuggler. The message need to be clear, anybody claim themselve as refugee need to be endorsed by UNHCR – the rest will be met by harder law. This is to prevent blooming business of people smuggler. It is really different if for example there is conflict in Indonesia or East Timor, then boat people from this direct neighbor will be likely a genuine refugee.

• This government has upset the mining community: the very industrial sector that made dodging GFC possible. Super profit tax or whatever the name should not be applied to mining company. Yes, they have huge profit, but also remember that they also contribute huge infra structure (railway, roads, township,etc) of otherwise just tiny rural town. Not to mention capital and infrastructure to do the mining itself. If the government want to have extra tax, apply this Super Profit tax to bank. The banks is not capital hungry they just provide service, mostly now automatid by computer, but yet their profit will be astronomically high if compared with the capital required.

To be franked, I am not really Labor supporter. But with all the above, I would think they didn’t do any big mishap. With the Liberals did not have much different policy anyway, I would say, let Labor continue govern this country, mainly to clean their own mess!

Well, the way democracy works, an opinion of one person does not really matter. The majority will rule. Happy election !

Female Domination in Australia Top Job

This probably a rare combination for a country anywhere in the world (if not the only one) – at this moment of this writing – July 2010 – that all top job in state and federal politics is being held by 5 powerful women below:

Australia Female Leaders

1. Governor General of Australia, Quentin Bryce  (Governor General is symbolic representation of the Queen of England  as the head of the country – Australia is Commonwealth country)
2. Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard
3. NSW Governor, Marie Bashir (New South Wales is the biggest state in Australia in term of population and economics measure)
4. NSW Premier, Kristina Kenneally
5. Deputy NSW Premier, Carmel Tebbutt.

And even more unique both Julia Gillard and Kristina Kenneally got their top job by toppling male Labor colleague. Julia toppled  Kevin Rudd while Kristina beat Nathan Rees.

Very unique indeed….

The Ads & The Lyric

You can judge yourself. But before you do that, make sure check the lyric and watch it in full first below. (For a start, half of the critics did not really know for sure what the lyric is, but already voicing something negative). Here they are: (Tourism Australia owns the copyright)

1. “There is nothing like it, is it ?!!”.
   “No…” [Somewhere at east coast beach on sun rise. Early morning surfing with a mate, watching a couple of Dolphin playing while waiting for the wave]
2. “There is nothing like the sunrise, the first wave of the day” [Playing piano on the beach]
3. “The trip along the coastline” [In a plane]
4. “It’s right across the bay” [Ferry at Sydney Harbour]
5. “There’s nothing like this ancient place” [Aborigine Elder on the rock]
6. “Sunset on a camel” [Northern Teritory]
7. “This organism” [Great Barrier Reef]
8. “This billabong” [Aborigine kids]
9. “Or this duck-billed mammal” [A ranger holding platypus]
10. “Ta ra ra ra” [Train trip with boyfriend across the bush]
11. “Ta ra ra ra” [BBQ on the beach with mates]
12. “Ta ra ra ra ra ra ra ra” [Rowing in Brisbane(?) River]
13. “There is nothing like the people here” [Outdoor tenor singing in a winery]
14. “or here” [Gold coast beach lifeguard]
15. “or here” [At fresh water river inside a tropical rain forest]
16. “or there” [In front of Melbourne Central Station, basking on the street]
17. “My mates up here” [A boy sitting on a branch of tree with couple of Kookaburra bird]
18. “My friends down there” [On a reef with Colourful fish]
19. “There is nothing like this bear” - “That’s not a bear” [A Girl Holding Koala, with ranger behind]
20. “There is nothing like this giant shrubs” [In a national park]
21. “This rock” [Uluru]
22. (muffled) “This Fish” [Diving near a whale shark]
23. “These birds” [With Australian Budgies]
24. “There is nothing like this furry thing that bounce around in herds” [Driving in a prairie with Kangaroos]
25. “There is Nothing Like, Australia” [At the Twelve Apostle, Victoria]
26. “There is Nothing Like, Australia” [Girls night out with train]
27. “There is Nothing Like This wondrous land” [On the top of the valley to the desert with 4WD]
28. “From Darwin to Bass Strait” [2 girls in a car]
29. “There is nothing like the people here” [People at rock pool]
30. “Where everyone is mate” [Drinking in a Pub]
31. “There is Nothing Like Australia” [Bridge Climb at Sydney Harbour Bridge]
32. “There is Nothing Like Australia” [Concert at outside of Sydney Opera House]
33. “There is Nothing Like Australia” [Firework starts]
34. “There is Nothing Like Australia” [Firework continue]

Petty Critics

So, do you like it ? Well, it’s a free country, you like it or not it’s purely your opinion and you can express it.
However, some of the critics around the social media (youtube, vimeo, etc) are just petty critics, some of the popular one:

• Koala is not a bear ! (Well, obviously someone cannot catch the wording straight after that – see row 19 – actually the ads has done terrific job to “fix” this common error, imagine this: if your kid is given a Koala doll and he/she put it side by side with the Teddy bear. Due to the physical structure similarity, of course everybody will now call it “Koala Bear” to match “Teddy Bear” – what? you want to call it “Koala marsupial?” – The fact that’s Koala is not bear now can be taken just by seeing this ad – no need to wait the Biology class at year 10 or visit to a Koala park – isn’t that great ?)
• A group of kangaroo is called mob not “herds” (Complete boo-boo, the critics obviously doesn’t know that you can use even grammatically wrong structure to make a song. This is not grammar presentation, it ads… “herds” in a way rhyme with “birds” (previous sentence) – also “mob” have very bad connotation in English language i.e: criminal group. So, I bet “herds” was carefully chosen.
• Racist – only see white people (Another complete boo boo. You can see Aborigine, White, Asian, Hispanic, etc)
• Why the girls driving left handed car (Yes, in Australia the steering wheel is on the right side of a car. This “complain” most probably is just technical matter, for example: after the 4WD is panning from left to right, then zoom in to the inside need to show left to right movement – if the shooting was done on the other side then it create conflict of flow, so they just flip the clip. Maybe- I am not the editor. Also other alternative explanation, since it’s a desert, the rental company can provide left handed car for overseas tourist – in short – not a big deal)
• Copying Discovery Channel Ad “Boom De Ah Dah” – see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_f98qOGY0 (Have a look at that ads, yes the flow and the framework is the same but nothing in the content is similar, not the song, not the text, not the scene. This is not copying, this is call “adaptation” – Obviously the creative team agreed that Discovery Channel Ad is very suitable for this campaign and just work their adaptation.
• Copying Mickey Mouse theme song – see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61ZoKsU0OAQ (The only similarity probably just the last 3 bar. But that ending (note sequence and tempo) is very common being used in uplifting and climax ending that will encourage the audience to clap. Probably a few tens of known song use the same ending. Also, since the tune is simple, the chord progression is also similar with many other popular and simple song. The creator of this ad is expert in his field, there is little possibility that he did not know about Mickey Mouse song..) Just another petty critics.

The sad thing is, people make serious comment like “I am embarrass being Australian because of this ad” or “lame” or “idiot” based on those petty factors.

Probably the only critics that missing from the ad is didgeridoo and the snow. Yes, Australia also has snow !

The Real Value

If you really want to judge the ad, then be a foreigner. Say you live in Siberia and consider for a nice holiday then stumble upon this ads, what can you derive by just watching the ads:

Sydney Opera House in the Ad

• Australia is thick with beach culture (surfing, BBQ on the beach, diving, swim with dolphin)
• Multi-cultural society
• Great scenery (desert, archipelago, valley, bushland, etc)
• Exotic indigenous animal (Koala “bear”, Kookaburra, Platypus, Kangaroo, birds, camel, even whale shark)
• The home of the famous Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge (mm apparently you can climb on it, I’ll try that…)
• Winery, pub and sport culture – also music culture (the tenor singer and concert outside Sydney Opera house)
• People so relax, casual and friendly
• Funny and humorous ads – not serious boring ads.
• And the tune is catchy (Try just hear the ads 2 times, and it will come back to you when you are just doing nothing)
• Catchy simple slogan “There’s nothing like Australia”
• And what’s that fabulous firework ???

Now, if a 90second ads can give all of the above, I would say it’s quite bloody good ads !

To tell you the truth, the first time I hear and watch this ads, after having a small laugh and giggle  on the content, I burst into tears after that final cresendo, full with proud and awe that I can call Australia home.

Just wait until this ad runs during the world cup break where Australia united behind Socceroos, this would become unofficial national anthem that people will sing !! You betcha !

Want to try to watch it again?

Visit: australia.com for further info about traveling to Australia.

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.
(At UK you can check and get a lot of home furniture at connecthome.co.uk: Shop online for a wide selection of home and office furniture, kitchen appliances and gadgets at low internet prices and fast home delivery service – connecthome.co.uk)

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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Who is Marcus Einfeld

ex-Justice Marcus Einfeld

Marcus Einfeld was a judge for Federal Court and also for NSW, Western Australia and Australian Capital Territory Supreme Courts until he retired in 2001.  Since his retirement, Justice Einfeld also has become Chairman of a number of public companies and regularly advises corporations on corporate ethics and governance.

He received the Order of Australia (AO) for services to international affairs and the promotion and protection of human rights. He is also UN Peace Laureate. He has been a leading human rights lawyer since the 70s and prominent member of the Jewish community: Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants, Sydney Jewish Museum, as Ambassador of Hope for Jewish Care.

He has 4 children from 2 marriage. He is also a pianist who enjoys theatre and arts.

What a impeccable life… flooded with achievements not everyone can fulfill!  At lease, until the incident…

Events Chronology

This saga begun on quiet Sunday afternoon, 8 January 2006 when a speed camera caught his car doing 60 kmh on a 50 kmh  zone along Macpherson Street in Sydney Rich’s suburb of Mosman:

• Feb 2006: he received a notice of infringement of speeding : 10 km/h above speed limit. Instead of just pay $77 fine and got the demerit points, he chose to challenge the infringement and request a court hearing.
• Aug 2006: on court hearing he said a friend of his, American college professor Teresa Brennan, had been driving the car but had died after returning to the US.. He stated that he would sign a statutory declaration saying about this.  So, the magistrate of this case dismissed the offence as it’s not proven.
• A journalist of Daily Telegraph doing his research leave the prosecutor no choice but re-open the case as it later emerged that Ms Brennan had died three years before the speeding offence took place (D’oh!).
• Since his feet already wet with lie, he chose to have another lie and change his story. He said that he was not driving at that time and nowhere near Mosman. But mobile phone records showed he was in the area at the time and was actually driving a companion, former SBS journalist Vivian Schenker (D’oh!)
• He again changed his story and claimed he was driving his mother’s Corolla on January 8. However, security footage taken at Mr Einfeld’s mother’s apartment block in Bondi Junction allegedly showed her vehicle did not leave the car park at any time on that day (D’oh!)
• A friend of his, Ms Angela Liati, not sure want to help voluntarily or under duress, try to “help” Mr Einfeld and told the police that that she had been using Mr Einfeld’s car at the time of the speeding offence. This is later proven to be not true and she was found guilty last month of making a false police statement. Ms Liati is currently on bail awaiting sentence. (D’oh! D’oh!)
• March 2009: he is convicted of perjury and making false statement and grant him at least 2 years in jail. The judge of this case, Justice Bruce James said “Any lawyer, and especially a lawyer who has been a barrister and a judge, who commits such an offence is to be sentenced on the basis that he would have been fully aware of the gravity of his conduct” Marcus Einfeld is 70 years-old.

Insights

Can we see ourselves in the story above ? Within our domain: work, family, school , community, etc we surely have the advantage knowledge about the inside of our domain with our expertise. And for sure, whether you want to admit it or not, from time to time we use that advantage for our own purpose, to give a favor for a friend or something similar.

Then what happen if someone caught you red handed doing something that you are not supposed to be doing? Will you be admissive or defensive ? Well, it’s natural human behavior to avoid himself/herself an embarrassment that will make himself/herself like a fool. A lie or excuse then produced. Now this is the turning point: if someone then question or challenge this excuse, what will you do:

• Escalate the reasoning with further excuse: arrogance kick in? – or-
• Admit the mistake, apologize and move on: arrogance replaced with humility?

Let see the hypotetical conversation below:

A: “Hey, did you just pick your nose? it’s very gross…”
B: “No!!, I just scratch my nose..”
C: “Are you sure? I saw you picked your nose”
B: “Never, I would not do such thing…”
C: “Let see, I have the recorded video, you know?”

Similar situation with much more simple matter… Which path we will chose: following our arrogance and comeback with further defensive strategy -or- follow our humility, apologize and move on ?

Usually we brand certain people as arrogant as if it’s their “name”. For example: If we say “Tom is arrogant” , the arrogance stick with him all the time (similar to “Tom is  male”==> he will be all the time male, cannot change. Compare to “Tom is happy”: the happiness perceived to be temporary, he won’t be being happy at all time)

But the thing is, arrogance is just one of the ‘tools’ to help we to assess the situation, which is part of human nature behavior. Everybody has it. Some people chose to give it more priority, some people control it. So, it’s something that you decide whether consciously or unconsciously. Arrogance is the one who defend you against humiliation and embarrassment. If you do something to avoid yourself being humiliated or embarrassed, that’s your arrogance kicks-in. After the ‘danger’ gone, so does your arrogance.

So, what is the point? My point is: in whatever we do, we as human being always make a decision about what we do. It’s not something automatic as a result of someone else provocation. It’s always your own decision. Some people with more self control make that decision consciously, some people still make it unconsciously. But still you are 100% responsible of what you do, because it’s your decision. Simple example: some one punch you on the face: you don’t always punch back, you make a decision whether you want to punch back or just walk away. If you did punch back, that’s not because he punched you first, but because I decide to punch him. See the difference ?

Well, let see more common situation:

• people blaime cigarrette company to give them lung cancer, they forget that it’s their own decision to smoke it or not.
• people blaime fast food chain to make them fat, they forget that it’s their own decision to eat there
• people blaime their broker for recommend the stock that tanked, they forget that it’s 100% their decision whether or not to follow the recommendation and made the actual transaction

Conclusion

We, as human being, have to realize that we have many ‘tools’ to assess our situation. Our arrogance is one of them. But what we do after that is totally our decision. Some people decides consciously, some make a decision without realizing that a decision was made. But the moment you realize that you are fully responsible of what you do, you become better person.

In this story, Marcus Einfield made a decision to follow his arrogance and trapped inside. The moment he decide to cover his mistake and protect his mistake, he decided his own fall.

BTW, a praise is in order to Australian Justice System to prove to the world that law are applicable to all including their own. Previously,  at 2004-2005, another NSW Supreme Court Judge, Jeff Shaw who involved in minor car accident and tried to hide/remove his blood sample for drink driving also has been fully scrutinized although there was no confiction due to insufficient evidence. But Mr Shaw was force into immediate resignation cited health reason.

Update May 2010:

Mr Einfield appeal has been rejected. He is serving a two-year non-parole period as part of a total sentence of three years. The court upheld the seriousness of the offence based on Einfeld’s status as a barrister and as a former judge of a superior court and its effect in striking at public confidence in the integrity of the judicial system. Einfeld is due for release in March next year.

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 !