Honestly, I feel slightly weird suddenly giving you advice on what you're about to do, as all I was doing was giving your art a checkout before I started watching you, but stumbled upon this and said to my self "Damn, I actually KNOW about this junk". Hence, here I am.

First off, why I think I'm qualified to share a bit of input; well, I'm Aussie myself, to start, but I've also moved semi-permanently to China a year and a half ago. Trust me, living in a country with a language gap isn't as hard as you would expect, even one as difficult as Mandarin, you either get by with English and body language, or you just start learning how to speak it, which I am currently suffering through doing. Australia should be pretty easy going, and Australians, as a rule, are pretty laid back, and culturally you shouldn't have many troubles.

IF, of course, you don't mind a constant bombardment of questions about America. You WILL get that. Australians tend to think Australia is boring as hell, and we all see glimpses of the US in movies, so we want to know what it's like over there. I have heaps of American friends here in China, and it's kinda funny, sometimes I don't even know what the hell they're talking about, and you should have seen my face when one of them told me that skunks were a literal problem in her area! Honestly? Skunks? You actually have those? Anyway, back on topic. Celsius and Fahrenheit are gonna be your biggest stumbles. We all know about how long a mile is in relation to a kilometre, but Fahrenheit? I've had so many Americans try to explain it to me and I STILL don't get it when they say something like "The weather report says its 79 today, but will be 63 tomorrow." I'm off topic again.

I'm a Queenslander, so hours upon hours drive north of Sydney, on the East Coast. Personally, I probably prefer Sydney to the Gold Coast, but I'll tell you, briefly, why. If you don't like cities, you'll quickly find that the Gold Coast is a massive, awful one. Yeah, the beaches and the coffee are GREAT, but it is just a busy, overpriced city. It's also on the border of QLD and NSW, which can make things difficult. For example, in QLD we don't have Daylight Savings, but NSW does, so when we were on holiday in the Goldie last month, we bought dinner at 7 o'clock, and ate it at 6:30. That can be the mother of all inconveniences. My hometown is about four hours drive north of the Gold Coast, so I don't know masses about it, but I do know that if you just want a great tourism culture, theme parks, and beaches, then the GC is great, but if you want I quiet, economic life, maybe not so much.

However, if you want to live on the beach, have you heard of Byron Bay, The Sunshine Coast, or Noosa? These are places I prefer, on the East Coast of NSW or QLD. They're all quiet, but still 'city'ish, in that they have many of the conveniences of somewhere larger, but this is Australia, even our biggest city is tiny in relation to other countries' cities. You might want to type those areas into the search bar. I mean, it can't hurt, right?

One thing that is rubbish no matter where you go, is public transport. Likely, you WILL have to drive. Now, I'm sure you've already considered this, but we of course drive on the left, there. Make sure you look the right way when you cross the street, because for me, moving to China where they drive on the right, it took me some time to learn to not get hit by a car. Some more things that are awful, and usually more expensive than they should be: cellphone SIM cards and credit- signal is bad in some places, make sure you take this into account if you go camping or anything like that; wifi- it's awful. Bloody awful. In the cities the wifi isn't AS bad, but I'm getting spoiled by my amazing internet connection in China; and lastly, work- I don't think you'll have TOO much trouble, but the economy has ups and downs just like everywhere else.

I must seem like such a downer, which I'm really not. I'm just the world's most pessimistic optimist. I think it's FANTASTIC that you want to move abroad. I heartily encourage it! I hope that your time in Australia just makes your desire to travel to more exotic places fester, because there's so much to see out there. In Australia, you're gonna come up against a lot of rules and regulations, and everything is done by the book, but in a more.... 'relaxed' place, like Thailand and Southeast Asia, and I'm assuming parts of Africa and South America, you will find you have better, more exciting job and life opportunities. I currently work as an English teacher, with far less qualifications than I would need to teach in my home country. I have an American friend who is even younger than I, but works as an art teacher in a different city. Sadly, this is just because we are foreign, and therefore sought after employees here. But, that's just the way it works in some areas.

So, don't be worried! There are going to be challenges no matter WHERE you are, your home country, an English speaking country abroad, or somewhere entirely different. But the benefits? They will always FAR outweigh them. And you wanna know the greatest part? You can always go home. If things are too difficult, you don't HAVE to stay. However, if I was going to out my money on anything, you won't ever want to go 'home' again ;)

I am currently home. But I am NOT in the country I was born in. I will always be Australian, (my jokes and slang are too bad to be from anywhere else), and Gympie will always be my hometown, but here, in South China, this is home at the moment. And once I leave China, whenever that is, I have a feeling Mongolia or Russia will be home ;)

I really appreciate the feedback, actually! Especially in such detail. And especially since this journal got no other comments XD I assume no one else had anything to say because they aren't knowledgeable on the subject, so it's great to hear from someone who has some inside info!

Humm yes I have heard that the best way to learn a language is to live in a country that primarily speaks it, and just learning how to over time. ..I feel like that would be SUPER hard, like I can't even wrap my head around that, haha. Good on you for having the guts to do something like that! Maybe I will attempt something like that next time, if I am able to keep traveling after this venture (hoping I don't blow all my money XD).

Hah, yeah, and especially being from California I can already see the stereotypes that are gonna be flung at me >.> And yusss skunks - I love them. From what I have always heard the majority of people hate them, since they set off their stink bombs when threatened/hit by cars, and that stuff is pungent and stays in the air for days sometimes. But I think they are precious. Unfortunately almost the only times I ever see them, along with opossums, is when they're dead on the road D:

Lawl, I think I'm going to have more trouble with adjusting to the metric system. I don't have a sense of how kilometers work whatsoever yet, although I know they're .621 miles, it will still be hard to estimate distances with them. And yeah the temperature readings will be hard to adjust to as well :C

Hmm, I have heard that certain areas of Gold Coast such as Surfer's Paradise are shitholes, so I plan on avoiding that area if I move there XD But yeah it's so hard to know if it's right for me until I visit.. because I have heard such conflicting things about the city. I have heard some people glorifying it as the best place ever, and some with opinions more like yours.

I have heard of Sunshine Coast and Noosa (haven't heard of Byron Bay), but haven't researched about them yet. I will give that a try. Godddd it's so hard to pick a city to commit to because I hear so many different opinions online when I research them. I would like to live somewhere with a nice mix of both nearby nature areas (beach is not necessary, but near rainforest would be awesome), but still urban enough to have plenty of jobs and young people. I have heard that Cairns is nice and nature-y, but I've also heard it's filled with older folks and not so much people in my age range. I hate having so many options and endless information out there, lol :( Melbourne sounds cool too but I haven't researched a whole lot about it either.

I was not planning on driving while there actually.. because how would I have a car to drive, unless I bought or rented one? That's a lot of complication and money issues I wasn't planning on dealing with. I was thinking of testing out buses, and if they are too difficult, to try buying a bike to ride around, assuming my job isn't super far from wherever I end up living. It's all so uncertain until I get settled in :( Which sucks, but I don't know how else to go about this.

Oy, I was worried a bit about cell phone internet service, because I'm used to just going off my network's Internet which is basically unlimited.. I'm going to have to get used to the notion of not using my cell phone for the Internet willy-nilly!

Ooh, that's really cool that you are able to teach abroad, because that's actually the career path I've been leaning towards for the past year and a half. Anything involving education, really, sounds like my thing. I know I won't be able to find any kinds of jobs in that field in Australia (or I'm assuming, I guess) because from the little research I've done on that they have all these certifications like you said to even just work with kids at all, that we don't even have here in the US :X And with my Visa I can only be at one job for a max of 6 months so I assume they wouldn't hire me for more "serious" jobs like that. Perhaps teaching in a different country is a possibility after all, after I'm done with Australia!

Yup, I have always taken comfort in that fact, that if things are too hard there's no reason why I can't just return home. I'm sure this will make me truly appreciate the family and stability I have always had here. I'm sure I will learn a LOT as I'm not used to being out on my own, whatsoever. However it goes, I'm sure it will be a really valuable experience.

No worries about "being a downer," getting advice like this is really valuable so I truly consider all the difficulties that are potentially ahead. So thank you so much! :D

Ooh, Byron Bay is one of my favourite places in Australia, and I've been all over the far-east quarter of it (and the rest is all pretty boring IMO). It has a fantastic art culture. The general feel of the town is kinda hippie/boho/surfer chic, and it's full to bursting with young people and good coffee. Seriously, I still dream about that latte, the only better cup of coffee I've had was that hot caramel macchiato at Malaysia airport. It's nice, because it's touristy enough to not be difficult to traverse, but small enough to feel relaxed. I'm not sure about the bus system there, as I've never had to use it, but I think it would be one of the easier places to bike around. You've also got the added bonuses of, if my memory serves, nice rainforest-y bushland all around. Backpackers and especially Europeans love Byron Bay for travel. Even if you don't find it suitable to stay, it might be something to add to your itinerary, stay at the nice caravan park there and have a look around, if you like that sort of thing.

Oh, and I don't know if there are some sort of 'stigma' attached to caravan parks in the US, but if there is, most of them in Australia are actually pretty nice, and very popular. My family and I did a holiday in Australia for two months (September and October), started in Queensland, camped all the way down to Melbourne, then went back up. It was a great time for all of us, most of the time at least.

One thing, though, QLD is hella hot weather during summer. Bleh. I'm more of a winter girl, myself, so just thought I'd send out the warning.

Melbourne, being in Victoria and further south, has some crazy-ass weather. They say four seasons in a day, and after spending a bit of time there I can say that's pretty true. Still, Melbourne is my favourite Australian city that I've been to so far. Again, art and coffee culture is amazing. The first thing one tends to notice in Melbourne is the masses of graffiti; depending on who you are, a turn on or a put off. I can't remember what time of year it is, but the city holds street art festivals and conventions, so that's pretty cool. The public transport system there is actually pretty good; trams, busses and trains will get you most places easily enough, and you can get this transport card, I don't remember what it's called, an 'M' card maybe? You just fill them up like a credit card and they'll get you onto the public transport with a scan. Sydney probably has this system too, but in Aus I have a car, so I've never really bothered with the public transport systems.

Everywhere in Australia is totally multicultural, but the cities even more so. Sure, there's your odd narrow minded, loud mouthed racist, but generally we're used to people doing what they do.

A word of warning, just gotta say, PLEASE, if you do a bit of traveling around, don't bother staying in a town in NSW called 'Dalesford'. It was awful. I'm extremely tolerant (I live in China for pete's sake), but it was the filthiest little backwash town I've ever seen. They like to advertise it as this cool-cat place to visit, but honestly, so not. Bleh. Anyway.

I love teaching. So, so much. Gosh, I love my job. Chinese children are the perfect little students. I've taught in five different (small after-school) English schools, and tutored six children (only just started tutoring last month), from the ages of four to fifteen, and even when it's difficult, it's so much fun and so rewarding. I've never had trouble with employment here. And if you ever wanted to have a small-time modelling career? China is the place to do it. I've not modelled yet, mostly because I'm worried they'll post an awful picture of my ugly mug on a billboard somewhere, but it's possible, and easy from what I hear. And another thing China's got going for it? Masses of good-looking, fantastic English-speaking young people. Yup, living the dream. And cheap Pepsi. About forty cents for six hundred mils of Pepsi, fanta, cola, whatever. Curse my sugar and caffeine addiction! I also get payed forty dollars an hour to talk to kids in English and play games. Sweet gig, eh? If you have any questions about teaching abroad, please ask, because I've been doing it a while now, and know most of the ins and outs. And, if I don't, most of my expat friends are also teachers, so I can ask them.

I will definitely keep Byron Bay in mind as a place to visit and possibly stay!

Hmm, I'm not sure we even have caravan parks? x_x I thought you meant trailer park at first, which are low-budget places to live in a trailer, which do have a rap for being trashy XD But I had never heard of a caravan park before. I wonder if that would be cheaper than just traveling by bus and staying in hostels though. I'd be afraid caravan rentals would be pretty pricey. I just looked it up actually and daaamn yeah they are not cheap XD Thankfully it seems to me you guys have hostels almost all over the place, at least on the coast, if I have my information straight. Over here in the US hostels are only in big, famous cities as far as I'm aware.

Hmm perhaps the humidity is what makes your heat seem so unbearable, because from what I just looked up, your average summer temp is 31 degrees C, which to me is not very hot at all - our summers can get up to 43 degrees C x_x But, we aren't humid here, so like I said that might make all the difference! I actually prefer being hot to being cold though fortunately. I hate being cold :[

Haha, okay I will be sure to keep Dalesford on my shit list! :P

Oh man, that sounds awesome! Did you have any sort of teaching experience before, or any degrees or certifications of any sort? Did you have to know any Chinese or Mandarin to get the job? Also the thing with teaching is I have no idea how to come up with curriculum, schedule out what to teach and all that jazz, so that has always really intimidated me about teaching.

Well, my area was about 45 degrees C on a hot summer day, and prone to bush fires, but I guess some areas are a little cooler?

I actually DID have some qualifications already, because I've been working towards being a teacher for several years. However, in Australia, all those qualifications would allow me like, early learning for three year olds or a teacher's aide job? It would be years more study before I could be a real teacher.

However, here... They didn't even ASK if I had any qualifications. They just checked that I had white skin, spoke English, and would let them boss me around from time to time. Foreign English teachers are mostly for pronunciation, and cosmetic reasons for the school; if they have foreign teachers they can charge the parents more money. Most of my schools discourage their teachers speaking Chinese, as it helps he children focus on English. Most of my teacher friends don't speak a word, and even if they do, we pretend to the children that we don't so that they have to try English.

I used to be afraid of having to put together a curriculum and make sure these kids actually LEARNED English, but now it comes it's ease. Most school will do the lesson planning for you, and provide all the materials and games and stuff, but even if you have to do all that on your own, all I tend to prepare is I download five minutes of English TV onto my iPad for the children to watch, then I ask them questions based on that for their listening and comprehension, I have a text book, a reading book, and any games I feel like playing that day :) Easy.

I might be biased because I've been in QLD the past few weeks as my boyfriend grew up in Noosa and has lived around here a lot of his life.

I'm from Melbourne, which has been the most livable city in the world 3 years in a row. The public transport is fantastic, and if you hate the big bustling city you can easily live in some sort of nice quiet suburb 25-40 minutes out of the city. There's heaps of markets and opshops galore, and if you search well you can find decently priced rent.

Visiting Queensland and the gold coast...is nice. But expensive from what I've seen (even the supermarkets are more expensive) and unless you love the beach and going to the cinema...there's stuff all to do here. I don't specifically know what it's like on the gold coast, but public transport unless in Brisbane I've basically hardly seen any. There's barely any buses and they don't go to that many places. You'd really need a car from what I've seen, which just adds to the expenses. Also, Brisbane transport is MUCH more expensive than Melbourne and Sydney as they charge PER trip, there's no "daily cap". So when you get on a bus and get off, that's a fee. Get on a train and off, that's another fee. Get on a ferry and get off, yet another fee. Whereas Melbourne and Sydney both have "zones" and a 2hr price or daily cap.

I don't know what Sydney would be like to live in but I've visited several times. The trains and buses aren't too bad but the damn roads are all over the place! https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-.....a2CEAAfVhJ.jpg You turn a corner or are in the wrong lane and BAM! Lost XD I also don't know the price range of living there either.

I dunno, I just adore Melbourne. It's got museums and a big art gallery, big aquarium, 3 zoos (2 of them wayyy out of the city), soooo many neat bars, cafes and restaurants, almost every kind of clothing store you could find, most of your favorite bands probably tour there, and lots of neat stuff on the outskirts of the city. I used to live in a nice area 45-50 minutes via train out of the city. It was very foresty and if you drove a bit out of the area you hit rolling hills and farms.

The only thing I don't like about Melbourne is the weather is NUTS! The seasons are "winter" and "fuck you" haha. You'll have a nice sunny day and then half an hour later it's pouring rain and storming, then another half hour passes and it's sunny again. Sometimes you might have the perfect weather for a week, or you could have a week long of 45C.

What do YOU want? :) Where do you REALLY want to live? (not just visit). I can try and help you research or ask around, Australia has a pretty big furry community and cons all over the dang place so there's plenty of people to ask for help! :)

From what I've read, GC seems to have decent public transport, since it's a really touristy place. That may just be up and down the highway though and not so much throughout the city.. not entirely sure. Public transportation is a big concern of mine because I know nothing about it.. I have never used it before :( So figuring out all that is going to be rather difficult and stressful I think.. but I don't really have a choice, as it would be silly and too much trouble to get a car when I'm only going to be living there for up to a year. It would be so nice if I could have a car there, but alas :C

I have heard good things about Melbourne, and that it's a nice artsy city, so I have considered that being one of my destinations to possibly live in. Haha oh man, that weather thing sounds horrendous though :( I for one can't stand being cold, and I'm not a huge fan of rain.. weh.

The main things I want are to live somewhere that is at least somewhat near nature areas (preferably rainforest if possible) and has jobs available. Nice weather, good public transportation, and similarly-aged peers (20's) would be great too (although I don't care for the party or bar scene). I've been so overloaded with information and different opinions that it's overwhelming. I'm super out of my element since I have never lived on my own at all before, so I just don't want to royally screw up.. aaahhhh D:

If you want "foresty areas" + "job availability" + "good public transport" in the one combo you're probably going to have a bad time >_> Unemployment rates for youth are up kinda high but it depends on your qualifications. If you're in the country/near forests there's lilely going to be stuff all jobs and no public transport. Unless you live on the outskirts of a major city like Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane. Or something along those lines.

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?.....73255629362114 uhh copied frm my phone so I hope it works, this is the AusFurs group on Facebook! It might be good to ask there :) There's also tonnes of people in their 20s in Melbourne and quite a large furry community so you'd have no trouble making friends!

Melbourne is exceptionally arty. I love it to bits. There are some foresty aeeas with long beautiful bike/walking parts near the outskirts of Melbourne. That would also be zone2 for public transport which is cheaper than zone1 :3

What kind of experience and qualifications do you have? What kind of jobs are you after?

Yeahhh I kinda figured as much, that I'm looking for something that's a bit too good to be true XD Gold Coast seems to satisfy my wants better than anywhere else I've looked at so far (though that has of course been limited) but I'm going to have to visit there first along with a couple other cities and maybe then make my decision? I don't need to be right next to foresty areas, so long as I can take a bus/shuttle out to some every once in a while and go for a day hiking trip that would be nice. Admittedly I have been rather influenced by the flatshare sites for Gold Coast because almost every living space looks so nice and I've been searching for places that are around $150-$200 per week including utilities.. I'm guessing that's a good middle ground price range to look at because I don't want to go too cheap but I want to be able to afford to live without burning through my savings as well. So that price range is really just a guess.. we'll see how it works out.

If I can get a fellow international work/holiday visa traveler on board with me that's going through the same program (we meet and have a week full of scheduled activities in Sydney), I think after that first week I might take a week to explore a few cities that have interested me, namely GC, Melbourne, Sunshine Coast, maybe Byron Bay as another commenter recommended that place. It's hard to say what city would suit me without visiting and getting a feel for them.

I'm going to have to settle for some sort of hospitality job I'm guessing (preferably a mix of customer service and doing more behind-the-scenes stuff - 100% customer service would wear me out). I would love to get a job in the area of education, or wildlife care if I could, but from what I've read I believe any wildlife care requires a license that takes several months to get. And for child care or education I'm assuming they would be looking for someone with a more permanent residence to take such a job (and it seems difficult to find a job that doesn't require formal educational qualifications), but I should really learn more to be sure, and I will ask around when I get there. As far as hospitality goes, I have only worked one food service job unfortunately, but I've been there for 7 and a half years - It was my first job. Other than that, I have worked at a school for kids with autism for the past year. I have also volunteered as a research assistant at a university for almost 2 years. Soo yeah my qualifications are really rather scattered :( Sucks because I can't really taylor a CV to a specific job area very well. Hopefully people just believe me that I have very good work ethic in whatever type of job I happen to be working in. I realize I might be in for a hell of a hard time finding an "ideal" job.. hoping at any rate I can get some crappy customer service job in a touristy area, with my 7.5 years of customer service experience.

Sunshine coast is one of the most expensive places to live and has almost no public transport at all. I come here twice a year with my boyfriend because his dad is a skin cancer doctor here. I wouldn't normally tell people what to do but omg don't live there XD Most young people are moving to Brisbane from here because it sucks if you're not middle aged with money and a car or very serious about surfing.

Your experience sounds fantastic to me. Most places are all "must have aeveral years experience" etc. The fact you held down 1 job that long and have done that other stuff sounds fantastic. You'd be surprised how all those scattered things do actually tie in together to paint a picture of you. They tell me that you're a dedicated hard worker, you're responsible and compassionate, and eager to learn and help! I think you've got more going for you on your CV than you realise :)

If you visit Melbourne I'd love to meet you and show you around ^^ I definitely recommend making a post in the Ausfurs group and asking people who actually live in these places. I do know someone who moved from Melbourne to Brisbane because he struggled to find the work he wanted in Melbourne because there was too much competition in the area he wanted work in, but there was many more jobs in Brisbane for him. So you never know.

All I know is Melbourne has a gazillion cafes and restaurants so I think hospitality, if you have a lot of experience, wouldn't be too hard to find a job there. Sydney and the Gold Coast are both very touristy so there's also probably plenty of hospitality choices there. Brisbane...they have an impressively large mall area but that's about it. I find Brisbane looks very pretty but essentially has nothing much else going for it XD I try not to get too much done when I visit so I don't run out of things to do before the next time I visit hahaha.

I hope I've helped but I cam only help you so much, and mostly just with Melbourne. I've only visited Sydney, the Gold Coast and Brisbane and my boyfriend lived on the Sunshine Coast for 10 years and we visit twice a year. Every time we come he has less friends to see because they've all moved to Brisbane, I can tell you that much. We're down to 1 who lives waayy out in the country area past Buderim away from most civilization. So yeah, strongly recommend against living on the Sunshine Coast but definitely recommend visiting XD

$150-$200 pw though...that's pretty low and unless you're sharing with someone you might be lucky to find accomodation that cheap in most places. We're paying I think $240-$275 per weel depending on how you calculate it ($1,086 pm). Don't aim for weekly rent when searching, look at the bond/monthly turn around because some realestates divide it by 4 and some go 4.5. The websites http://www.domain.com.au and http://www.realestate.com.au are great for searching around for rent. Check once a month because prices go up and down. Gumtree can be okaayyy but be careful with it because it's just people posting on it, not realestate companies. It's great for buying cheap secondhand furniture and stuff though! http://www.gumtree.com.au you can also hunt for jobs on there but be careful of that too.

I should also point out we live in a small kind of shitty 2 bedroom apartment right next to a railway crossing and near 2 airports >_> So that's why the rent is cheap. But sharing between 3 people we only pay $362 each per month!

It's a lot of research and hunting around but you can find some good spots if you persist :)

Good to know about Sunshine Coast! XD I have just heard it mentioned quite a few times as a nice place, but if it's not backpacker friendly then nevermind that! :P

I have heard similar opinions about my work experience, which is certainly encouraging! I just need to make a new CV that follows whatever format you guys use - I'll be working on that over Christmas break. And the program I go through helps with that as well so they can take a look at it and give final tweaks.

About meeting, if I visit Melbourne that would be awesome! Maybe we can watch the AWDs at one of the zoos together ;)

Sadly, I am hella closeted about my involvement in the furry community, so I would be too chickenshit to join that group unless I made an alternate FB account for my art, which I might end up doing, idk. I did befriend some GC furs on here so I can meet with them if I visit GC.. I plan on going to FurDU as well. Barely missing Confurgence, unfortunately :( I'm going to my first convention here in California the weekend before I fly out to Australia in January.

Well I have just been looking for places renting out single furnished rooms on flatshare sites, like au.easyroommate.com. I know absolutely nothing about housing costs/real estate tbh haha. For just a single room, do you think $200 per week or $800 per month sounds dodgy? There seem to be plenty of places going for that price, that appear to be nice, but I would of course have to visit to get the full scoop.

Dang, that is super cheap! And yes I definitely appreciate any help and info I can get, so thank you for taking the time! :)

The Sunshine Coast is a BEAUTIFUL place to visit, very touristy. Just don't live here XD hahah. My boyfriend says is backpacker friendly but the realestate is some of the most expensive in Australia and the buses are kind of awful :x Only young people being tourists or surfers haha.

Awesome! I hope your CV goes well :3

At this stage we'd probably head all the way out to Werribee zoo as I think they're still rebuilding the enclosure in Melbourne Zoo! I'll check it out though. I'm a zoo member so it's free for me to get in year round :D

Honestly I have a furry-only account as well as personal. It's done wonders for my socializing and marketing for my commissions :3

I plan on Furdu too so that would be AWESOME :D Shame you're just barely missing Confurgence XC

Around $200 a week for 1 room sounds about right, but with those sorts of things you have to keep in mind that you're moving in with 100% strangers.You're right though, you'd need to do an in person inspection first anyway. We thought we would be moving out in January as our lease is up on the 15th, so I was hunting around for 1 bedroom apartments for my partner and I and I did find some for around $200pw so that doesn't sound too unreasonable.

If you get into a large block of units, there's a good chance that the water is all shared by the landlords and you won't pay for water. We're in a block of 5 and don't pay for water, it really helps with the finances!

I do strongly recommend an "artist facebook account" and asking around in Ausfurs, furries can be really helpful :D Even if it's just temporary.

Feel free to ask me anything and let me know if you do come to Melbourne! :D

Well shoot! Anything that can increase my customer base sounds great to me XD I just made an art FB account - might be a pain logging in and out of each, so I imagine I won't log into it super often, but hey. It's worth a try :P How else would you suggest making connections on there? I joined Ausfurs, and a general furry group so far. Maybe I should make a journal letting people know to add me on there.

The program I'm going through just sent out a list of everyone in my group's e-mails, so I've added all of them on FB, so it's sounding more feasible for me to make connections with fellow travelers to live with. That's helping with my nerves a lot. Thank you for all your advice again; if I have more questions along the way I know who to talk to! :) Really appreciate it!

Oh awesome! :D this is my profile if you'd like to add me: https://facebook.com/GoatToaster

I essentially just let anyone at all add me, and yeah I also posted journals everywhere with a link to my profile. It makes it easier for people who like your art or customers to share your work and tag you in it, and then others might see a commission you did and add you to ask about it etc. I have also added a lot of aquaintences I have seen at Australian cons too, it can sometimes be easier for them to see when you open for commissions. It's also been great for making friends in the community without worrying about furry stuff being all over my personal profile that has family and old highschool friends on it XD I've found many customers like feeling a bit more of a personal connection with the artist, even if you still keep your messages professional :)

Good luck with everything :D I'm excited to hear how it all goes :3

Also if you want general advice about living out of home/living cheap/budgeting etc feel free to ask :3

No way dude, seriously? Congratulations! :D

I definitely can't be as thorough as the posts before me, as i've always sorta been rooted to one spot and have only really traveled abroad on holiday, but I think it's really admirable to just jump on into something like that. I wish I had the balls to; I've actually been wanting to go live in Nepal and teach English there.. I'm just a big chicken though. :/ I also stay for my family, and now because i'm broke, haha. xD

Anyways.. Do you think we could be penpals or something? I think that'd be rad, not only because I already know you, but because i've never written to anyone in Australia before. x3

I wish you the best of luck, mann. n_n

Yeah I'm starting to get hella scared tbh, lol I am basically a little fledgling jumping out of the nest.. like I have no idea what it's like to live on my own at all, even here, let alone there..?? The first week I will get lots of support, but after that..? I hate to rely on this notion but I want to just befriend some people in the program and just tag along with them, whatever they decide to do.. because I don't feel remotely comfortable hoofing it totally on my own. I have lived in a sheltered, warm little bubble my whole life and man my world will be utterly flipped upside down. It's about time I kicked myself in the ass to learn to "be an adult" though :CC

As one of the above commenters said, it sounds like a lot of foreign countries really value fluent speakers of English to teach in their countries.. so that's planted an idea in my head to try that as well, if I can afford it after this venture? I'd love to experience a culture that's actually drastically different from ours, and Australia isn't, haha, but it's a safer place to start with regards to international long-term travel, or course.. why Nepal anyway? I don't know anything about that country. XD

Yes, I'd be down to be penpals! I have never done that and I really enjoy writing.. I used to write (well, type lol) in a LiveJournal almost daily back in high school and I wish I'd never broken the habit. Now I write an entry like, once every few months, and that's the only extent of the writing I do these days. :( I miss school, dammit.

And thank you! :)

Haha you? Dude i'm the same way, only i'm older. What's MY excuse? xD
Seriously. It's gonna be scary but taking that step and just doing it is getting the hardest part out of the way. And if it doesn't work out, then move on back! Nobody will resent you for trying. n_n

I chose Nepal because of the huge Buddhist culture there. I've always admired Buddhist philosophy, and if it wasn't Nepal it's be Tibet, only.. It's dangerous in Tibet. Not only for foreigners, but for it's own people, who flee Tibet to practice religious freedom in Nepal. China has Tibet under it's grip and so the next best thing is right next door, in India. And i'd teach and do work and just help people. I actually prefer manual labor over an office job or something.. and to just go out and do it would be so amazing. n_n

Sweeeet! Before you leave i'll pm you my address. I've got two or three running pen pals atm, and it's usually a mix of doodling and writing about life. xD The oldest running one I've got is from 2005, aww yeahhhh~ Haha, it's a lot of fun though. Slower transmission, but definitely a blast to write to people.

Indeed, I have always told myself that.. I can always just come on back home if it's too much of a struggle. Though I will try my best to work through the struggle and learn a thing or two.

I have admired Buddhist philosophy for a while too.. since around 2010, I wanna say? Learning about mindfulness helped me significantly and turned my attitude towards life around and I'm very grateful that I discovered it. I would definitely prefer manual labor over an office job too.. an office job would be like my least favorite thing ever to do, haha. It would be pretty neat to work on a farm. Our mutual friend Aubrey Hess (been wondering how you know her - I'm going to guess from pro-organic groups as I know that's something both of you have in common?) worked on one when she went to Germany within the past year. Working on a farm is also the only way you have extend your work and holiday visa for a second year, so if I want to stay longer, I could do that (although I have a feeling I'm going to miss my family and pets too much).

Yeah, that sounds like fun! I have never done anything like that, but I bet it would be rather therapeutic. I remember it was also a lot of fun doodling with you in that sculpture class. I have no irl friends into furry art or anything :( So that's something I had never done, and haven't done since. Speaking of which, I'm going to my first furry convention in January! So excited. I have always kept my art and real lives separate and it will be so nice to break down that wall for once.

You'll def learn a bunch, i'm sure. just keep tellin yourself that the pros outweigh the doubts in your mind.. I mean you're going to Australia dude! Whoop whoop! Lucky ass. xD

No wayyyy; i'm glad you're familiar with the practice. I started turning myself on to it around '08ish, because 06-'07 was a tough year(s) for me. Helped that I already abstained from meat and admired the asian culture for even longer. n_n
Farming would be stellar. And I probably know Hess from an anti-Monsanto convention or something. :P Almost positive that's how.. orrr a friend of a friend. C:

Haha, I still have your old table paper doodles dude! I keep all art done by my friends, i'm such a dork. xD Those were good times though. Helped me though the rougher patches for sure. And no way a con?! I was actually going to attend one last year, but the dates were just completely out of question and it didn't work out. It was one in NV and I never got a refund for it. >_o Maybe they'll credit me and let me go this year, idk. But yes. I hear they are awesome, and generally the people there are all very outgoing and nice. n_n

Yeah I got into mindfulness as a result of hard times as well. I like to think it busted through my depression I had for a few years, although it might have been coincidental because my life circumstances changed at the same time so I'm not really sure. I've tried to read a few books on Buddhism but there's soooo much information to take in, it's overwhelming and I end up giving up halfway through XD I mostly just know a decent amount of being present/mindful, which goes across a few Eastern philosophies, so I'm no expert about Buddhism its self by any means XD I wish I had been interested in this stuff back in school when they actually taught about these ancient cultures and religions.. but back then it bored me to tears so I paid little attention.

I think I still have all those doodles too. I have tons of papers under my bed from back when I used nothing but pencils :P You haven't been to a con yet, then? The one I'm going to is just down in San Jose, the weekend of Jan. 15th. I have heard the same, so it should be a good time!