[02escape]

So, i've always thought it would be cool to live in Australia. I was wondering, what it was like out there. Are there a good amount of jobs? Does the economy suck as much as ours? What would be considerd a good amount for a two bedroom apartment(If I go, my friend Eric comes with me.)..stuff like that.

Also, I was thinking somewhere along the North East coast. (Eric and I are avid surfers and LOVE the ocean.)

Another thing, I was looking on the Aus. Ford's web site and it said that a 4door ranger is freakin 30 grand! What is the conversion rate of US dollars and the Aus.??

 

[escapedtroy]

lol yeah cars seem dearer
were u looking at renting or buying?
the east coast is good im in sydney but there is and can be a massive
variation in price depending on where u want to be.
jobs? what skills u got not that u need skills to get a job but it helps
if u do get to sydney i can try to get u casual work in south sydney for around $20 an hour
pushing lawn mowers
cheers

 

[02escape]

Whats the minimum wage there? Or the average. I saw a job online that was a diesel tech(what i'm going to go to school for) that pays $58 an hours. I almost shat a brick when I saw that. :lol:

To be honest, I haven't the slightest clue where I would move to. I know it would need to be realitively close to good surf and a large reef needs to be accesable by boat. :lol:

Edit: I was just looking at Cairns. But really, never being there before is hard to tell. I mean here, I can go to 10 different beaches within an hour and get the perfect spot for every type of swell so I am a little spoiled in that since.

Second Edit: I was going through street view on Google around the surrounding areas for Cairns and I haven't seen a single real wave. Its ALMOST paradise...lawls...

 

[02escape]

Damn it....I think I know why...the reef is protecting your shorelines from the real waves. If you look at Sydney there are some waves. But there isn't a single reef.

This leads me to my next question, how long does it take to travel from Sydney to the Cairns, Townsville areas. (just a rough estimate)

BTW, thank you! :heart: :thumb:

 

[Tribby]

This leads me to my next question, how long does it take to travel from Sydney to the Cairns, Townsville areas. (just a rough estimate)

Hi 02escape. I live about 1 and a half hours north of Sydney at a place called Newcastle. There are some great surfing beaches around here (incase you wanted to look on google earth) a personal favorite of mine is Catherine Hill Bay http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/catherinehillbay/?page=2

Anyways from Newcastle to Cairns is about a 28 hour trip of straight driving. Around about 2700kms or 1700 miles. I'll be doing the trip in 3 weeks times I'll be sure to take some pictures on the way

I know you are a person who loves 4x4ing. There are some great 4x4ing spots around here and up in Queensland.

I can be 4x4ing in rainforest one minute......

Then be 4x4ing on the beach 30 minutes later.....

As for car prices, an Escape for example with 90,000 miles on it would cost about $11000 USD. Is that about the same over there?

 

[latan]

The towns of Agnes Waters and 1770 would be the most northerly surfing beaches in Queensland being about 900 miles south of Cairns. The Great Barrier Reef starts around there, with coral reefs around Lady Elliott and Lady Musgrave islands. The there isn't much in the area apart from tourism side of things, it has become a popular spot with backpackers in recent years - so would not be a lot of work opportunities for diesel mechs.

For work, the mining towns are the places to be and this would fit in with your training and they pay good money. There are a few mining towns in Central Queensland such as Blackwater and Moranbah, but you would be a couple of hours drive from the coast. Accomodation in these towns is another problem. Some residents in these towns are renting out rooms to 4 workers - you work 12 hour shifts 5 days on 5 days off.

Maybe you should come out for a holiday & check the place out - with the Aussie dollar only worth 60cents to the USD it would be cheap as chips.

 

[latan]

Anyways from Newcastle to Cairns is about a 28 hour trip of straight driving. Around about 2700kms or 1700 miles. I'll be doing the trip in 3 weeks times I'll be sure to take some pictures on the way

Does this trip coincide with schoolies on the Gold Coast?

 

[Tribby]

Anyways from Newcastle to Cairns is about a 28 hour trip of straight driving. Around about 2700kms or 1700 miles. I'll be doing the trip in 3 weeks times I'll be sure to take some pictures on the way

Does this trip coincide with schoolies on the Gold Coast?

Maybe.......

 

[02escape]

I just checked it out,

Thursday, November 6, 2008

1 Australian Dollar = 0.69334 US Dollar
1 US Dollar (USD) = 1.44229 Australian Dollar (AUD)

Median price = 0.69290 / 0.69334 (bid/ask)
Minimum price = 0.68315 / 0.68355
Maximum price = 0.70111 / 0.70173

Thats cool. Also, I would rather have good surf more readily available.

Also, for my Escape, it cost me 11K us. It had 79K miles on it.

After I graduate and save up some money I will have to take a trip out there for like a week. (that will be like a year or so from now. )

Edit: Tribby, we have the same amount of posts...weird...

 

[stone]

Hello 02escape. If you decide to visit australia, i can imagine that latan , tribby or escapedtroy will make you feel welcome. Greetings escapedtroy. Your ' bladerunner' sidesteps have me fascinated. I will pay my service tech in advance, so that he can order them. Then when they are fitted it will only be the labor fee.

Not trading in the escape, so i decided to update my current accessories. Sidesteps can be the first project, and then those " Lightforce HID 240" spotties will be the last. Sorry to go off topic here. I recently visited the Harvey Norman store at a suburban branch. This ' Hardly Normal' retail outlet had the latest " Toshiba Qosmio" laptop with the 18 inch screen on display.

:drool: Did not expect it to be there. The inner self had reactions of ' Oh! Stop it! ' It appears to have respectable specifications. Must admit it's a pity why toshiba did not include the ' Blu Ray' technology on this laptop. That flame design on lid seems a bit overbearing. The overall shape is quite pleasant. But the stunning feature would be that 18 inch screen. I am not purchasing it, as i don't wish to be skinned alive by the opposite gender. Computer technology is constantly changing. I think the price for it is about $ 3,445.00.

Anyway would rather re-configure my escape accessories. But have to admit, i get rather flustered when new lappy models are released with advanced specs. My current toshiba satellite pro P100 has one 100gb hard drive. The 18 inch screen Qosmio, has two hard drives of 250gb each which equals storage of 500gb. YUM! :drool: Toshiba Pro P100 has a 128mb video memory card by Nvidea. This new Qosmio has a nvidea video card with 512 mb of video memory. :roll: :drool: My satellite Pro has system memory of 1.50gb which is its maximum.

The 18 inch screen Qosmio beast, has a maximum system memory of 4gb. TASTY! :drool: Mine has a 1.8ghz cpu. The Qosmio cpu is 2.0 ghz. As regards the cpu upgrade, i am not sure if it makes a difference.