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International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) Relocating to Australia

WINNING23

In the parking lot (formerly "At the base lodge")
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Montreal, Canada
South Island definitely has the best skiing in New Zealand but it's a bit risky traveling there from Australia at the moment. Both NZ and Aus governments love snap lockdowns and travel restrictions can come on suddenly. I got trapped in New Zealand for many months last year and won't be returning any time soon.
 
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Decreed_It

Decreed_It

I'd rather be skiing
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Northern Beaches, Sydney, Australia
bump for my ANZ friends; those of you in or around Sydney, NSW - looking for shops and especially beta on availability of touring gear setups for rent (or purchase)

What's the AT/BC scene like in Australia? Served well by shops or should I ensure we bring desired gear with us? Did some internet sleuthing and hard to know which if any of the many ski shops around Sydney actually do touring gear.

Also any updates on NZ travel? Season is approaching.
 

SpikeDog

You want Big Air, kid?
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I thought about moving to Australia in 1998. Would've been based out of Perth for a fly-in engineering position at a new plant near Mt. Magnet. It seemed rather intriguing, what with the glamour of Crocodile Dundee, Men at Work, Olivia N-John, Foster's beer, and vegemite sandwiches. I thought it would be similar to British Columbia in culture, etc. I did a one week trip down to Perth by myself to check it out before committing to move my whole family.

That country has no decent pickup trucks, none. You can't bring your own cars or pets. The culture was lacking the gentle influence of Canada, although it might have been more due to the place I was working (Fluor Daniel) being filled with expat South Africans. All the miners and engineers there were bailing out of South Africa due to the end of apartheid, and they were/are a rough hewn bunch. The partners in the joint venture were the forerunners of Glencore, who are a sleazy company prone to bribes and creating artificial shortages. The country's politics were fairly strange, and the sports page seemed to focus on cricket and tennis. No real mountains out west, and everyone lives in one town (Perth). I was not enamored enough to stick around.

It was a wise decision, as the plant only ran for a couple of years. If your wife's company is going to move you there, make sure they will move you back to the USA as well. Good luck.

My cousins have dual citizenship in NZ / USA, and are currently in Sydney after spending 3 months in NZ. You can get in, it just takes more effort than it used to.
 

geepers

Skiing the powder
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May 12, 2018
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Wanaka, New Zealand
bump for my ANZ friends; those of you in or around Sydney, NSW - looking for shops and especially beta on availability of touring gear setups for rent (or purchase)

What's the AT/BC scene like in Australia? Served well by shops or should I ensure we bring desired gear with us? Did some internet sleuthing and hard to know which if any of the many ski shops around Sydney actually do touring gear.

Also any updates on NZ travel? Season is approaching.

You may have more luck searching for touring equipment in shops at Jindabyne, the main town for the NSW ski resorts. Generally hiring gear is expensive in Oz (short season) so would expect that bringing own would be the better option.
 
Thread Starter
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Decreed_It

Decreed_It

I'd rather be skiing
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Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Posts
905
Location
Northern Beaches, Sydney, Australia
I thought about moving to Australia in 1998. Would've been based out of Perth for a fly-in engineering position at a new plant near Mt. Magnet. It seemed rather intriguing, what with the glamour of Crocodile Dundee, Men at Work, Olivia N-John, Foster's beer, and vegemite sandwiches. I thought it would be similar to British Columbia in culture, etc. I did a one week trip down to Perth by myself to check it out before committing to move my whole family.

That country has no decent pickup trucks, none. You can't bring your own cars or pets. The culture was lacking the gentle influence of Canada, although it might have been more due to the place I was working (Fluor Daniel) being filled with expat South Africans. All the miners and engineers there were bailing out of South Africa due to the end of apartheid, and they were/are a rough hewn bunch. The partners in the joint venture were the forerunners of Glencore, who are a sleazy company prone to bribes and creating artificial shortages. The country's politics were fairly strange, and the sports page seemed to focus on cricket and tennis. No real mountains out west, and everyone lives in one town (Perth). I was not enamored enough to stick around.

It was a wise decision, as the plant only ran for a couple of years. If your wife's company is going to move you there, make sure they will move you back to the USA as well. Good luck.

My cousins have dual citizenship in NZ / USA, and are currently in Sydney after spending 3 months in NZ. You can get in, it just takes more effort than it used to.
Wow. Quite the experience differential from us - yes, back home move is part of the package if we don't opt to stay, ya never know. Plan to apply for permanent residency status visas to have options. We traveled there for 2 weeks as a family in 2019 and did the east coast from Daintree National Park in NQLD, the Great Barrier Reef, Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne and Phillip Island. Fell head over heels in love with the country. Have a good many friends down there already from previous companies, professional relationships that became fast friends. I'm South East USA so gotta fly to ski the real deal goods anyway so, not much difference there. Perth in 1998 vs Sydney today is a huge difference too. You should go back and try again :)
 
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Decreed_It

Decreed_It

I'd rather be skiing
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Northern Beaches, Sydney, Australia
You may have more luck searching for touring equipment in shops at Jindabyne, the main town for the NSW ski resorts. Generally hiring gear is expensive in Oz (short season) so would expect that bringing own would be the better option.
I'm covered, it's the still growing teenaged boy I need to outfit for a BC tour. You did just validate my thought to fill the quiver holes before I leave though :). Thanks for the Jindabyne tip will get to googling.
 

SpikeDog

You want Big Air, kid?
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Wow. Quite the experience differential from us -. Perth in 1998 vs Sydney today is a huge difference too. You should go back and try again :)
There is a huge difference between visiting a country as a tourist and going there looking for a job and permanent residence. I love visiting foreign countries, but evaluating them in terms of a job and residence requires using a different part of your brain than as a casual visitor.
 

chris_the_wrench

Spinning wrenches and throwing spokes.
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That country has no decent pickup trucks, none
What???? Ute’s run all over that place! They got rid of the stupid ‘pickup’ bed and run more utility style flatbeds. Generally smaller than us Americanos(hiluxs and rangers) and Yeah, your golf clubs may fall off if you dont strap them down… Im not a fan of chevy trucks but I stopped by a holden/chevy dealer down there just because I saw the only 2500 size truck, in my entire trip, on their lot. Left hand drive 2500(or whatever chevie calls them) priced at 140k ausie bucks…

I totally enjoyed Australia when I was visiting during their summer. The food was like the US, most pretty blah, but good if you search it out.
 

Mattadvproject

Love that powder!
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The things you really want to be careful of are the drop bears.

True that! Cute looking but nasty critters..... I always smeared a couple of dabs of Vegemite behind my ears and made sure to never to look up when walking under Eucalyptus trees, when I went out walking in the bush...... seemed to work ok at keeping the Drop Bears away.....
 

geepers

Skiing the powder
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Wanaka, New Zealand
The country's politics were fairly strange

Yeah, got to agree.

We have this independent commission called the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) whose job is to set electoral boundaries and run elections. We find it works better than leaving it to elected officials who understand the term gerrymander all too well. We also have compulsory voting and by gum the AEC will hunt you down and ensure you are enrolled to vote if you anything so provocative as to turn 18 or get naturalized. If moving to a new electorate no need to tell 'em - they already know! The AEC also make voting really easy - main voting day is a Saturday so there's a good chance most people can get there. If not, polling places are open a fortnight before and if that's still an issue (e.g. like my wife testing positive to covid) then can even vote by phone.

So, yes, all in all, very strange.

P.S. We just had an exhausting weekend down here - changed the Federal Govt.

country has no decent pickup trucks, none.

Yeah, nah.

Call 'em utes here. Short for utility.

1653622500105.png



1653622661644.png
 

James

Out There
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I'm covered, it's the still growing teenaged boy I need to outfit for a BC tour. You did just validate my thought to fill the quiver holes before I leave though :). Thanks for the Jindabyne tip will get to googling.
You may find some things for a lot less at a place like this in the Netherlands. Very good service. I saved a lot on a Mammut beacon.

 

SpikeDog

You want Big Air, kid?
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Yeah, nah.

Call 'em utes here. Short for utility.

When I said decent pickup trucks, I was well aware of utes. They are not proper pickups. I know, I've owned a couple of Ford Rancheros. They are cool looking, but not really work horses. Here's my 1975 GT (which I traded in on a 2001 F-150 I still own), and there's a project 1972 Ranchero with a Cleveland 351C Cobra Jet in the driveway currently.

DSCF0015.JPG
 
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Thread Starter
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Decreed_It

Decreed_It

I'd rather be skiing
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Northern Beaches, Sydney, Australia
You may find some things for a lot less at a place like this in the Netherlands. Very good service. I saved a lot on a Mammut beacon.

Awesome tip @James good price and decent coupon. Tried to buy Shift bindings but they can't ship Salomon or Atomic brands to USA :( they do have Armada, wrong brake size. Thinking about trying to replace the brakes dunno if it's worth the savings.
 
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geepers

Skiing the powder
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Wanaka, New Zealand
When I said decent pickup trucks, I was well aware of utes. They are not proper pickups. I know, I've owned a couple of Ford Rancheros. They are cool looking, but not really work horses. Here's my 1975 GT (which I traded in on a 2001 F-150 I still own), and there's a project 1972 Ranchero with a Cleveland 351C Cobra Jet in the driveway currently.

View attachment 170124

Neat. Not a ute fan myself but they do provide a good mix of car comfort/handling with ability to carry.

If it's full size pick-ups "eats utes for breakfast" type thing then. yep, the situation has progressed since 1998. One of the Govts managed to annoy the car manufacturers so badly they pretty much pulled out of Oz. So there's a wider range of imported models. But it'll cost!

 

BMC

Out on the slopes
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Mar 20, 2017
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778
bump for my ANZ friends; those of you in or around Sydney, NSW - looking for shops and especially beta on availability of touring gear setups for rent (or purchase)

What's the AT/BC scene like in Australia? Served well by shops or should I ensure we bring desired gear with us? Did some internet sleuthing and hard to know which if any of the many ski shops around Sydney actually do touring gear.

Also any updates on NZ travel? Season is approaching.
Ok in Sydney the best place for AT gear is Alpsport in West Ryde. I don’t think they rent though;


Otherwise the places to go are Rhythm Sports in Cooma (which also has stores in Perisher, a ski resort, and through Japan),


Or Wilderness Sports in Jindabyne, run by Bruce Easton who is idiosyncratic but a great guy, and an evangelist for telemarking and AT skiing in Oz for many decades


Hope this helps.
 

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