Any Aussies or fans of Oz want to help me out?

[asterroc]

I've got a sabbatical coming up Fall 2010. I'm seriously considering spending 6 months in Australia. For professional reasons, really! I want to see the night sky south of the equator, and I could do astrophotography. (On the personal side I really want to live in a place where cockatoos will come to my birdfeeder.)

So, I know very little about Australia except what I've just said. Help me find out (a) where I should do this, (b) how much it will cost, and (c) whether I need a visa! This's currently a pipe dream, but every dream starts somewhere.

Comments

OT: crossword help

[gemini6ice.livejournal.com]

no looking it up allowed, but i figure you know this:

"wolf of the night sky"? lupus/lupis/canis ?

Sure thing..

[meleah.livejournal.com]

You don't need a visa unless you want to work or stay for over 30 days (I'm pretty sure that's the time limit) - Australia and the USA participate in a visa waiver program.

Costwise, Qantas flies direct (sort of - you get off in LA for an hour or so) to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney from NYC for varying prices. Close to Xmas, with everyone coming home, it can be as much as $3000 US for a ticket (usually more like $2600, but yeah) but at this time of year its more like $1300 - $1600. If you keep an eye on it, sometimes there are return specials out of LA for as little as $800 or $900. United also fly to Australia (American doesn't, they just codeshare with Qantas), I've friends who'll fly them but I won't. Its a big, serious flight (13 - 16 hours) and I know one person who was on a United flight where they ran out of water halfway across the Pacific. Like nothing to flush toilets, drink, etc. Horrible. Qantas has older planes (though they're replacing with the huge airbuses, and if you fly the right days to Oz, you'll get a brand new plane!) but they're practiced at getting people through that flight still smiling at the other end. I love them. Working in your favor price-wise, Virgin is about to start offering service on the US - Australia leg, so the prices are probably about to drop on all airlines, and there'll be a third option. Oh, and Qantas also do an 'aussie air pass' that you can play with on their website that gets you to a few cities and back/forth from the US.

As for where to go.. well it depends on what you're interested in. I can tell you where I live the bloody cockys are bigger than my cat and are in such huge numbers we call them 'Canberra sheep'. Pink and grey galahs, magpies etc. are also really common. But that's true of most of the east coast. If you love birds of prey, you'll want to get into the center to see the wedge-tailed eagles. Its a shame you can't come right now, as one of the huge ephemeral inland lakes (Lake Eyre) is full (every 10 years or so this happens) and there's a huge bird-fest going on there now as a result. In the outback too, you'll see an impressive night sky!

Sydney (4.5 mil) and Melbourne (4.2 mil) are the biggest cities. The Australian population is the most suburban in the world, so most of the population is found here, and clinging fairly precariously to the east coast (the continent/country is about the same size as the continental US, remember - with about the population of Manhattan on a weekday). Both are temperate climates, Aussies will tell you Melbs is colder, but not by much. Canberra, 4 hours from Sydney, is the capital, and bit like DC, a planned city of about 300 000 bureaucrats and politicians. (cut for length..)

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

I hope it works out that you can go. I went on a tour of the Australian east coast several years go as part of a choir festival, and it was great...but being able to stay for a few months (and not constrained by performances all the time) would have been much better.

[fireaphid.livejournal.com]

I don't know anything about how feasible your pipe dream is, but it sounds fantastic! Best of luck!

[bobdeloyd.livejournal.com]

I hope to see some pictures of the southern night skies here!!!
//bob

[framefolly.livejournal.com]

Sorry, don't have actual help -- but have lots of envy!

I hope you get to go and have a blast :)