Moving to Sydney - Finding a Flatshare
The decision:
Four months ago, I moved from Oxford in the UK to Sydney (by way of my parent's house) to take up my First Real Job. Having finally left the cocoon of higher education, I'm starting out in Australia on my own. Buying a one way ticket for me, myself, and I, was a quietly monumental moment in my life. It's one enormous decision and while I knew it would cause some hurt to the family back home, it felt so right for right now, and from the moment I saw the job advertised until now, I haven't doubted that decision for a second.
I first started canvassing the internet for moving advice when I received the job offer - any earlier would've felt like tempting fate - but when it comes to flat-hunting, I found myself in a bit of a different moving situation to most of those described. Many of the sites I browsed were written by couples who'd made the decision to emigrate and hence were looking for a home of their own, or were aimed at people travelling on a working holiday visa. For me, with a one-year contract signed and a four-year 457 visa to take advantage of, I moved to Sydney with a vague plan to test some new waters for the next stage of my twenties.
Having recently been through finding a flatshare, I wanted to share some tips. To start with, it often gets called 'room sharing', although that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be sharing a room. Obviously you don't have to stay somewhere if you move in and it's not great, but choosing a good place to live early on takes a huge amount of stress off and leaves so much more time and energy for meeting new people, exploring the city, and enjoying the new job!
The situation:
My new employer recommended a variety of serviced apartments for the first few weeks, but I found the relocation allowance wouldn't stretch to those, so opted to stay in an AirBnB home for two weeks while finding a place to live. This worked out perfectly, with the home comforts and friendly conversation of the hosts preventing any attacks of utter loneliness in those first few days, which can happen in hotels or hostels, and also meant I got use of a kitchen (you might realise what a blessing this is if you've had to eat out every meal of every day for two whole weeks!).
Before moving
Tip 1: Start early!
Learn what it is you want to find. Starting early meant I got a good feel for what kind of space was within my budget in different suburbs, and helped me think hard about what my priorities were. For me, top were a great location and future flatmates, with a garden taking a backseat due to the increased chance of creepy crawlies. Moving over on my own, finding new friends was super important, so the number and type of people I would be sharing with was key. Flatmates.com.au and Flatmatefinders.com.au proved very good, all my viewings ended up coming through those, while I'd heard bad things (i.e. creepy people) about Gumtree from a couple of sources, so avoided looking there.
Tip 2: Get a transport app
The NSW transport website recommends a couple, personally I use TripView Lite, although this isn't able to cope with compound journeys that use different modes of transport (eg train, then ferry, then bus). I used this all the time, in combination with Google maps, to figure out how I'd get to work or to the city on weekends from the homes I was looking at. Sydney-siders complain like crazy about their public transport, but both back home and here, I'm a huge fan and I've got to say that so far, Sydney's is both efficient and incredibly cheap. That said, there are some areas that are pretty difficult to get to without driving, particularly if they're not served by a bus route that connects with the trains.
One - two weeks before moving
Tip 3: Make contact!
Lining up viewings proved surprisingly difficult. Think of it like a dating site: Not all the people you write to will reply. Infact, be prepared for very few to reply. Whether they've had overwhelming interest and you were just too slow, or they didn't like your profile, there could be all sorts of reasons why, so try not to spend too long second guessing them. Demand for accommodation in Sydney seems quite high, and good places with good people won't be on the market for long. By all means get in touch earlier to express an interest and establish a conversation, but often they were looking for tenants to move in asap, or within one or two weekends at most, so those first weeks before moving and after landing are pretty crucial for lining up viewings. Being flexible with moving dates when it came to the crunch definitely helped, even if though it meant leaving the AirBnB early. Also, I found the places that looked amazing in photos were sometimes poky, while places that didn't give much info turned out to be really nice, so don't necessarily be put off by the descriptions. I'd recommend paying attention to the person's description of themselves.
On arrival
Tip 4: Get a SIM card
After over a week of WiFi hotspot hopping, I finally got myself a SIM card. With my UK provider charging £1 for every text I sent or received, my bill back home was escalating quickly, and in hindsight, getting an Australian number is one of the first things I should have done. Arranging viewings (letting them know if you're running late!), browsing flatshare sites, and finding tricky addresses become non-issues the second your phone's fully operational again. In addition, there are a couple of sites where you need to enter your own Aussie mobile number before you can have the contact details for the flats on offer. The Australian equivalent of a Pay As You Go SIM is called a Prepaid plan where you Bring Your Own (BYO) Phone: a top up will set you back $10 to $30 and lasts for 30 days or til you top up again, and this tends to be allocated between a fixed number of minutes, texts, and a data allowance, and then sometimes an 'extras' amount that you can split between MMS, international calls, extra data etc. as you need them. Both Optus and Vodafone have excellent 4G coverage throughout Sydney, and you can always sort out a Contract or Monthly plan when you have more time.
Optional Tip 4a: Get an OPAL card
If getting around by public transport is how you roll, then the OPAL card is your best friend. I got mine at a kiosk selling newspapers and maps outside Town Hall station, otherwise, they can be picked up at various retailers that display the 'Top Up Your OPAL Card Here' signs in the window. OPAL cards max out at $60 a week and/or after eight journeys a week, starting on a Monday morning. In reality, this means you can often pay much less than $60 a week depending on the distances you travel. For example, my commute costs $4.20 each way at peak times, meaning that by Thursday afternoon, I've paid $33.60 (8 x $4.20) and all travel within Sydney after that is free until next Monday morning.
Tip 5: Be your most amazing self
However tired you might be, or how many run down places you've seen, don't forget that the people you meet are also are testing out what you'll be like to live with. At the flat I've since moved into, I was in competition with another viewer and have been told the decision to accept my offer was cinched on being more complementary of the fresh cookies that were served during the tour than my opponent!
Tip 6: Trust your gut
With jet-lag to conquer, new transport systems to ride, unfamiliar suburbs to navigate, new money to handle, and the pressure to find a place to live building as your moving window dwindles, it can be incredibly hard to remember the pros and cons of each of the places you see, not to mention the minutiae of the brief meetings and tours you'll take of places. Trust your gut in these situations, both about the people you'd be living with, and the place.
Good luck!
