Helpful Websites

1. Centrelink - www.centrelink.gov.au
2. Family Assistance Office - http://www.familyassist.gov.au/
3. Medicare - http://www.medicare.gov.au/
4. Australian Tax Office - http://www.ato.gov.au/
5. SEEK - www.seek.com.au
6. Find your way with Whereis - www.whereis.com
7. SENSIS - www.sensis.com.au
8. City Rail - http://www.cityrail.com.au/index.jsp
9. RTA where you apply for a licence - http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/
10. Foxtel Digital - www.foxtel.com.au
11. Bigpond Broadband - www.bigpond.com

As Soon As You Arrive

When we arrived last June 2006 for the initial entry, we were assisted by our good friends. They gave us some tips that really helped us almost immediately.

1. Opening a bank account immediately - with a passport and a TFN, you will be able to open a bank account even without depositing a single cent. Take note though that they charge a certain amount to maintain your account. Out first bank (St. George) offers a 6/month charge so I can have unlimited ATM use and access to EFTPOS (your ATM acts like a debit card, similar to BPI's Expresspayment). We moved to Citibank since it meets the needs of the family. There are a lot of banks to choose from.
2. Register for Centrelink, Medicare, your TFN, etc - Get to know the different governement requirement and be sure to have the required documents with you.
   
3. David Jones - This is not part of the movie Pirates... Filipinos here say it is like Rustans in Manila. Some items are pricey. But what is nice about David Jones are first their price promise - it means that they will match the price of the competitor given that it is readily available in another store. We saved almost A$900 with our purchase of an appliance last December. Second, with a minimum of A$500 purchase, you can get an 18-month zero interest (of course there is some minimum charge 2.95/month). Last Christmas they even offered a 4 Years Zero Interest.
   
4. Scout for prices especially for big ticket items - take your time to canvas, there are a lot of stores you can scout for bargains - The Good Guys, Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Myers, K-Mart and Target. You'd love the items in IKEA and Freedom too for home furnishings.
5. Save money when you purchase items at the same time in one store. Don't stop at comparing listed prices, sometimes the delivery charge would offset any savings you thought you can get. Let's say you need to buy a ref, washing machine, dryer and a microwave. If you get the items from different stores, then each of them (except the microwave which you carry home) will charge you delivery per item. That may eat up your 30-50 dollar savings. If you purchase it in one store, they can sometimes charge you with a one time fee and that's it. On a side note, having it delivered makes it easier to bring up the appliance especially if you are living in a unit/condominium type.
   
6. Bargain! Bargain! Bargain! What we know in the Philippines is that you can not bargain or 'tawad' in stores like SM or Rustans. In Australia, you can do that with any store. If you bundle your purchases, then you get to bargain more, sometimes you can bargain to have free deliver or maybe a 5-15% discount.
   
7. Floor Stock - We did get a bargain with a ref and a washing machine since they were floor stock items (display items). We didn't mind getting a floor stock since we know that the ref and washing machine were not operated inside the store so that should be ok. Also, it came with a 3yrs warranty too (longer than the usual). Some floor stock like television are also available for you to check too. The new ref we bought was priced at A$1.500, it was on sale for 950 since it was a floorstock. When we were paying for it, he decided to just give it for 900. Do you think it is a great deal?
8. Looking for a place to rent - visit www.realestate.com.au and www.domain.com.au before even leaving for Sydney, try to browse around to get an idea of the prices of rentals, types of rental (house, unit, a granny flat), profiles of the different suburbs, etc. Ask your friends who are in Sydney on which areas are good. Do your homework. When you are ready to rent, you just need to get a job and some references. Since we didn't have any rental history, we relied on my wife's manager to vouch for us.
   
9. Driving in Sydney - most of the areas in Sydney are accessible via train, bus or ferry. But if you need a car or planning to drive, process your Driver's Licence application as early as possible. Visit the RTA website for information. What I did is that I took the written exam (you can practice online until you are confident to take the exam). After passing that, you have an option: Option A - get a learner's licence, this will also mean that you can not drive on your own. You can't use your Phil Driver's License anymore. Option B - directly schedule an actual driving test. This will allow you to still use your Phil License until the 3rd month of your stay. It gives you time to practice too. I took Option B so I can practice on my own.
   
10. It pays to take a refresher driving course even if you are a seasoned driver in Manila - since the cars are right-hand drive, there is a difference in orientation. There are also other things to watch out for like roundabouts (or what we call rotonda) and what other drivers fear the most - parallel parking. (check the other blog entry on Driving). One last benefit of taking a refresher is that you get to know how you will be rated to pass the driving exam.
    
11. If you have a US Driver's License, you can easily get a Driver's License here without the need to take the exam.
    
12. Enjoy the outdoor life - here in Sydney, you don't really need to spend big to enjoy the beach or have some good family time. Beaches are reachable through train and buses, parks where you can have a picnic and kids to play in a playground is everywhere. When you have some extra, then you can go to places with entrance fees - Sydney Aquarium, Tarongga Zoo, Featherdale Wildlife Park, etc. Be sure to protect yourself with sunscreen and a pair of sunglasses.
    
13. Pinoy Food - most of the items you will ever want can be found in an asian or filipino store. Last weekend a family friend cooked 'laing' and it tasted really great. All the ingredients came from the asian store.
    
14. Cable Channels - If you love watching TV, you don't necessarily need a cable subscription. One thing that made us get a subscription is that my daughter love Disney Channels (there is 2) and Nick Jr. We got Foxtel Digital. One thing I noticed and was verified by a sales person in one store is that Foxtel has most broadcasts in 4:3 and not on widescreen. So if you have a widescreen TV, it tends to be cropped for some shows. If you have an HDTV with a tuner (or a separate set-top box), you can get arial digital signal. It will get you more channels and the best thing is that it will be a HD broadcast.
    

Preparing To Leave

Before Leaving the Philippines

1. Maximize your luggage - need I say more. We didn't bring any appliance except for a DVD player due to fear that it won't play my Region 1 DVDs. You can buy multi-region as low as A$150 (around 6k). There are other models/brands who can go as low as A$69. In hindsight, I should have bought one here. Assures me that it is an all-region DVD, I don't need a transformer (my DVD player is 110V).
   
2. Driver's License - make sure that you have renewed your license before leaving the country. If you have not kept your old O.R. you better get a certification from LTO (we live in Makati but my brother was asked to go to the head office in East Ave.
3. Medical Records - it doesn't hurt to bring some documents from your current doctor especially if you have a specific ailment. If you have a baby, get a certification of all the immunization he/she received. Once you arrive, just show it to a doctor so he can update your child's record with Medicare. Having an updated record helps you to get some Child Care Benefit (CCB through Centrelink).
   
4. Keep your old credit cards and find a way to have someone to pay for it - while starting up a life in a new place, you don't know if you will be given a credit card at once unless you get a job fast. It doesn't hurt to have some extra credit while trying to be prudent with purchases. Organize also someone to pay your bills while you are away. Better if you bank on the same company providing the credit card, you may be able to pay for it online.
   
5. Keep your philippine phone number and have it on roaming - when we arrived and tried to apply for a mobile phone, you need to show several documents. Some may take some more time to acquire like a drivers licence, a billing address, etc.
   
6. NSO Document - have at least one copy so you have an original certified copy. Once in a while you will be asked by a govt agency a proof of birth and your birth certificate and passport are a sample of documents you will be able to show.
   
7. Shipping items - we ended up shipping several items from Manila - my daughter's toys, kitchen stuff like plates, glasses and cookware. Most were relatively new so it seems a waste to sell it cheap and buy a new one here. We did bring most of the clothes and shoes that didn't fit our luggage. Take note also of the cost involve to have it shipped. You pay the forwarder in Manila to have it shipped, when it arrives in Sydney, you need to pay some amount to have it cleared through customs fee in customs depends on how many boxes. You don't need a customs broker to handle it for you. It is quite easy to handle. Of course when the broker in Sydney talks to you, they will say it is difficult
1. You get a notification from the broker on the date of actual arrival of the shipment
2. You pay the broker the fee required and get the documents you need to have it cleared in customs. We paide something like A$240. If we got their service to clear it through customs, they were charging me A$1200 delivery was another A$100. Doing it myself just caused me some manhours to take care of it, nothing else.
   
3. Go to the Customs Office and bring the necessary documents. If your items needs to go through quarantine, then you need to pay extra. So what we did is we didn't bring any items like wood and food/fruit related so we are sure we are free of that requirement. Once custom will stamp your document that it is cleared.
   
4. Go to the shipyard where your boxes are located and bring a vehicle that can fit your shipment. We ended up hiring a removalist (lipat bahay service) since we shipped about 14 boxes. Another option is hire a van (if you can drive or have a friend who can drive a van. Removalist worked for me to minimize lifting and we also picked up some items along the way that we bought from a friend so we sort of maximized their service.