Hi, Madrigal! Long time no see!

No advice on Sydney, though.

Have fun in Sydney, Mad! I did! Course I was only there for like, 36 hours. But whatever.

What ita said. Hand-carry your important papers with you, including passport, medical records (like your shot record), birth certificate, things like that. You don't want those lost either in checked luggage or separate shipments.

Even though you aren't going as a tourist, get a guidebook or two. Even if you've been to the city before, guidebooks are easy to carry with and provide suggestions.

Give yourself 3 weeks to get over the first shock of moving, and 6 months to really settle in.

It's a looonnnggg flight. I'm in favor of melatonin, noise-cancelling headphones if you can get them, and trying to get on Sydney time as soon as possible.

And don't think too much about all us jealous folks who would love to be going to Sydney, if only for a visit.

Give yourself 3 weeks to get over the first shock of moving, and 6 months to really settle in.

Another piece of advice: most people find that homesickness is worst somewhere around the 6-month mark. It might be a good idea to schedule a vacation of a week or so around then, to somewhere that is neither Australia nor the US. (Say, New Caledonia or Fiji or something.) Assuming that's feasible.

It's a looonnnggg flight. I'm in favor of melatonin, noise-cancelling headphones if you can get them, and trying to get on Sydney time as soon as possible.

True. Try to sleep on the plane (taking a couple of OTC sleeping pills might help). It'll get into Sydney in the morning (around 8 or 9, probably), and if you can manage to stay up from there until 8:30 pm or later, then get a good night's sleep, you might find you've got no jet lag problems at all. (That's been my experience when I've managed it.)

Oh, and once you're there, check out the markets at the Rocks. Open each weekend. I mean, recover from the move first, but it's worth checking out.

Madrigal -- my brother is over in NZ going to school, he was able to use certain types of financial aid (something like the Pell Grant, or Stanford loans, or something) at the university he attends. You might be able to do the same thing in AU.

Speaking of moving places, I'll be heading to Sheffield in September, which is so much less exciting than Sydney. Wanna swap, Madrigal?

Why, Jars, I'll have you know that Sheffield is a fine and shiny...no, okay, I really can't muster up any Sheffield Beats Sydney argument. But Sheffield is cheap, and fairly funky, and it's handy for lots of other places. (Leeds is way swankier & lots of fun too, imho, but more pricey). Good theatre and cinema options. And you MUST go to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park one fine weekend, maybe even take a picnic. It's lovely, and not so far from Sheffield.

Sheffield has better bands. And I'll wager no-one ever recorded a song called Sydney Sex City.

Sheffield produced Jarvis Cocker. Yay for Sheffield!

Yay Jars! Sheffield's in Yorkshire, one of my favorite places on Planet Earth (and the uni is affiliated with the University of York, where I got engaged to the DH) - it may not beat Sydney, but it's damn nice.