long-term (2-3 month) rental advice
 

We're almost-retired Canadians looking around for some place to spend 2-3 of our winter months somewhere warm. We visited Australia about 15 years ago and adored the country. Now we'd like to consider some places to stay. Would Sydney be a good home base? We were thinking we could stay there and not have to have a car...how easy is it to get around if we were to stay somewhere on the water and do you have any suggestions? How much would we expect to spend in rent? We're just in our "exploration" stage here and would really appreciate any thoughts or comments you might have. I know the air fare would be the real kicker but once we've got that covered, what can we expect when we get there? Cheers and thanks.

Hi, Canuck!<BR><BR>Sydney would certainly be my choice of the number 1 place to stay, as there is so much to do around this area itself, and when you do decide to move on, the transport system from Sydney to anywhere else in Australia would certainly be better than any other major centre... after all, we are by far the largest city on the continent and everybody is always hopping on a train, bus, or plane to somewhere! Also, if you will be here in January, which is our "holiday" month, you will find interesting activities running all day and into the late evening every day, mostly around Darling Harbour.<BR><BR>Your problem, of course, is that Sydney is also the most expensive city in Australia for accommodation, and since you plan to stay for three months and use your accommodation as a base, you certainly wouldn't want to be paying hotel prices just to keep your room. Also, anything within view of water is going to be sky-high, especially at that time of the year. I think, if I were you, I would stay slightly out of the city, away from the water views (you can always have a first-night splurge at the Hyatt at Circular Quay, and get all the water views you could want),but close enough so that you could get in to the city in fifteen minutes by public transport. And I would choose to stay in a guest house rather than a hotel (I don't think you would have much chance renting a furnished room, as, while there are lots of these available, one normally has to sign a six-month lease, and, since you are from out of town where you couldn't be "chased up" for defaulting on the rent, the agent would probably demand the total up-front!)<BR><BR>I think maybe you should look at the guest house which is right at Strathfield Station..... it's possible it is even called "Strathfield Guest House". I think they have a monthly rate, and it shouldn't be more than about eight or nine-hundred dollars Australian for the month (I'd better check that for you), so you wouldn't feel too bad leaving your room vacant for a few days while you went into other areas. Strathfield is a ten-minute train journey to the city, and there are trains every few minutes, right up to around midnight. It's the major railhead outside of Sydney itself... everything heading west or south-west stops there. When I go to the city for a day, I usually drive to Strathfield Station and park the car near there for free.... fifteen minutes later I am in the city, and there are no parking problems to worry about. Now, the Guest House is not all that great... naturally, when it caters to long-term and sometimes permanent residents, it reflects that in its "ambience". But it's not a shelter for homeless people, either. Give it a thought, and if I am able to find out its name (or the names of other similar possibilities) I will find this thread and get back to you.

I absolutely agree with Alan however you could explore the chance of an exchange with someone in Australia for their house and do a swap. It is easier than it seems and there would be plenty of Aussies who love to ski that would like to try a winter in the snow without the terrible costs of accommodation. <BR>Whilst I agree with Alan that Sydney would be a nice hub with plenty of activities I am sure that you could probably find somewhere really nice to rent for the summer. Perhaps 3 months in Tasmania would be nice and it would not be as warm either. There are a lot of places to rent for holidays that long. Also some of the coastal holiday areas too would be nice especially those near to a train service which could take you to a larger city if you wished. I was thinking in terms of say Port Stevens or the Myall lakes area.<BR>Tell us you interests and then we can give better ideas

That last suggestion about a house swap sounds rather interesting... I have never recommended it, myself, as the circumstances didn't seem to warrant it, and there are all sorts of risks involved; but in your particular case it might just work, since you are coming to Australia at exactly the same time as Australians are going off on holidays. You wouldn't wait long, I expect, to get a "taker" if you advertised. There are lots of "homeswap" places on the internet where, apparently, advertisers are screened in order to minimize risk.<BR><BR>I don't think, however, I would opt for three months in Tasmania! Maybe you could stretch it to two weeks, but more than that......<BR><BR>By the way, the name of the guest house at Strathfield Station, near Sydney, is Strathfield Private Hotel. Their phone number is (02)97460334. I don't know how often their switchboard is manned... when I tried to ring them, no one answered! It's not an exciting-looking residence, and it would not be as interesting as a home swap, but you wouldn't have to worry about what was happening to your home in Canada!<BR><BR>Whatever you choose, good luck and have a great summer holiday in Australia.

Alan and lamwith(?)...many thanks for your great suggestions. We would have absolutely no problem being outside Sydney as long as we were accessible. Alan..the Strathfield Guest house..I guess my first reaction would be that since we probably can't "cook" there, that would increase our costs substantially wouldn't it? Or are you thinking we would have a meal plan? The house swap is an interesting one and certainly something else we would consider..we're very open to new ideas etc. We're situated near Toronto so the great ski resorts are a little more north - say about 2 hr. drive. I'm not a skier so I'm going to ask around about anything decent that's closer. You've given me food for thought...and I thank you!

Hi there Canuck<BR>We just returned from our Australian and New Zealand holiday and I read your note with interest. Like you, we feel that a longer term residence would help in Sydney. We saw some realtor boards when we were in Manley and they offered short term sub-lets. You might take a look at them and they did appear to be in the 800-1000 per month range. Sorry, but I didn't write any realtor names down but perhaps if you'll look in Yellow Pages you might find some. Lots of luck

There is also a company called Medina who have a number of apartment buildings all over Sydney - they have a web site - their apartments cover a huge range of prices and locations and would certainly be worth investigating, and would also take weekly or monthly rentals. <BR>Also I have just seen an advertisment for Manly Seaside Holiday Apartments - www.manly-seaside.com - and they also have a number of apartments available.

I live on Long Island and it's about an hours commute to Manhattan. What places in the area of Sydney would be about an hours commute? Would you be able to afford something in a nice beach community? Is there a train you could grab to get you into the city easily?<BR>You go, canuck!

Actually there is a very good Canadian data base for all sorts of accommodation there and they have exchanges too. <BR>I will do a quick check on the net here for you and see if I can come up with the most reputable one in Australia as I know its there, just where?????

Thanks Aussie...I'd sure appreciate that!!

Ok this is the 7th try to get information back to you - none of my previous posts have come up.<BR>Search the Net for web wombat then do a search in web wombat for holiday home exchange and 2 sites should come up which are very good <BR><BR>good luck

For the Long Island poster who asked about beach communities about an hour away from Sydney, certainly the already-mentioned Manly would be top of the list... you catch a 35-minute ferry past the Opera House and the Bridge to the centre of Sydney. It's very touristy -- and very pricey! -- and full of apartments.<BR><BR>North of Sydney, Collaroy and Narrabeen are much less touristy, but there's no train service and far fewer places to rent. South is Cronulla, which IS on a suburban train line, but once again it won't be as easy to find something to rent there.<BR> If you're prepared to stretch your "one hour" into two-and-a-half hours, you could try Kiama in the south.... a pleasant area, not too developed, and a direct train line to Sydney. I think you would be happy with any of these, but if you want to travel to Sydney every day, you'd find Kiama was just a bit too far, and the trains would run only every hour, at best. There are, however, some great areas nearby, if you have a car: the Minnamurra Falls is nice, and the Morton National Park; and while the town of Robertson isn't much in itself, it boasts a grand old guest house called Ranalagh which is worth a night's stopover.

Here is the web site for home exchanges<BR><BR>http://www.homelink.com.au/

Alan,<BR>I think you would find that there are plenty of very reasonable apartments etc, to be had in Manly and the area close to it. As is the case in a lot of the suburbs of Sydney.