Help looking for an apartment in Cairns and Sydney

[cjames]

My wife and I are moving to Australia for a couple of years for a job. The good news is that we can live nearly anywhere we want so long as it close to a major airport. We probably will start in Sydney, then try to get closer to the Reef after a month or two. We're looking for furnished apartments and not having a lot of luck on the web. Can you locals point me in the right direction? We don't even know what are good or bad areas to stay, what is a resonable rate to pay for a furnished apartment, or where we can get a reputable agent. Any help would be great.

Once there, we're looking forward to diving a lot. Going to dig out the dry suit for Sydney, I need some pictures of sea dragons. We're also looking at a trip to PNG this summer (will winter in Australia I guess). Any recommendations there would be welcome as well.

 

[almitywife]

if your only planning on staying in sydney for a month or so - a serviced apartment might be a better choice as renting something usually has a min 6 month leased. For serviced appartments try Medina Apartments on http://www.medinaapartments.com.au/driver.asp?page=main/locations/sydney+serviced+apartments or Sydney Serviced apartments on http://www.sydneyservicedapartments.net/ . another company to try is Meriton Apartments, they the biggest developer in the state http://www.meriton.com.au/

personally, i would stay away from redfern but the CBD is quite small so when you hear about The Rocks, China Town, Woolloomooloo (check out where Russell Crowe lives), Prymont or Darling Harbour, you are only 10/15min walk from the centre of the CBD and Sydney airport is close.

cant help you with whats a reasonable rate im sorry but what im reading in the papers here is there is a oversupply of sydney units in the cbd so play that card when discussing rates.

if sea dragons are on your list, i cant recommend Kurnell (at Sutherland) highly enough plus its a good easy shore dive.

as a side question - what about your beautiful aquarium while your here??? (i was looking at your site while checking out Yap earlier this year)

best of luck and enjoy!

 

[drbill]

How do I get a job with your company?

While visiting Australia in 2001, I was struck by the low cost of 2-BR homes in Cairns. It was so tempting (although I have no concept of Australian property taxes, ownership rules, etc.). Of course the US dollar has been devalued quite a bit since then.

Hope it is a great relocation for you!

 

[cjames]

if your only planning on staying in sydney for a month or so - a serviced apartment might be a better choice as renting something usually has a min 6 month leased. For serviced appartments try Medina Apartments on http://www.medinaapartments.com.au/driver.asp?page=main/locations/sydney+serviced+apartments or Sydney Serviced apartments on http://www.sydneyservicedapartments.net/ . another company to try is Meriton Apartments, they the biggest developer in the state http://www.meriton.com.au/

personally, i would stay away from redfern but the CBD is quite small so when you hear about The Rocks, China Town, Woolloomooloo (check out where Russell Crowe lives), Prymont or Darling Harbour, you are only 10/15min walk from the centre of the CBD and Sydney airport is close.

cant help you with whats a reasonable rate im sorry but what im reading in the papers here is there is a oversupply of sydney units in the cbd so play that card when discussing rates.

if sea dragons are on your list, i cant recommend Kurnell (at Sutherland) highly enough plus its a good easy shore dive.

as a side question - what about your beautiful aquarium while your here??? (i was looking at your site while checking out Yap earlier this year)

best of luck and enjoy!

Thanks for the information. I'll try some of the firms you talked about. We're not selling our house in the states (aquarium and custom pool are part of the reason), so we're looking for furnished apartments anyway. We're going to have my in-laws stay in our house so we will probably keep the aquarium runnning, although its fairly expensive to maintain, so I don't know.

Dr. Bill, I'll have to check out the real estate in Cairns. That is really where we are looking to land. Since we can live anywhere, we might try a brief stint Phuket as well. Hmmmm, maybe even Manado...