living in sydney

Sydney is a great place to learn English with us, or do your teacher training with us. Here are 10 reasons why you'll just love living here.

1. sydney is beautiful.

The harbour is gorgeous, as are the beaches, even in winter, which is quite mild. Sydneysiders (the people who live in Sydney) spend a lot of their free time outdoors. There are parks everywhere, many of them on the water, and most with free BBQs. Sydney is also surrounded by national parks on three of its four sides (the other side being the Pacific Ocean).

2. sydney has a great standard of living and the public amenities are great.

australia is experiencing its 27th year of economic growth (a world record) and you'll find it clean, safe, well-serviced by public transport and full of friendly Aussies. Tourism and foreign student education are two of the largest export industries in Australia and Sydneysiders are happy to share their city with you. You'll find them friendly, open and happy to converse with you whilst waiting for a bus (this is great for your English speaking skills of course).

3. sydney is multicultural.

This means foreigners are welcomed and respected. They should be - almost one in three Sydneysiders wasn't born in Australia. This means also that there are awesome restaurants, bars, clubs and community groups from all over the world. So if you're homesick you can find something or someone to feel less so (but don't forget you have come to Sydney to speak English, not your native tongue).

4. sports, culture and arts are everywhere.

Why not immerse yourself in Aussie culture at a cricket match? Or how about rugby or Australian Rules Football? How about learning to surf? Aussies spend a lot of time talking about sport (even if it is just watching it at the pub with their mates). If you want to start a conversation with an Aussie, a pub and stadium are some of the easiest places. Of course, Sydney also has a thriving arts scene. The nightlife is excellent also, whether it is a cosy pub or restaurant, a nightclub (some with swimming pools) or harbour cruise party, all year round.

5. sydney has a great climate.

Some people go to the beach all year round, though surfers wear wetsuits from May to September as it gets a bit chilly. Even in the middle of winter (July) everyone still sits outside in cafes. It is mild but if you are coming in winter, bring some warm clothes as Sydney's homes generally don't have much heating (the Sydneysiders don't consider it necessary as the weather is comfortable for most of the year without heating). It is rare for the early mornings to drop far below 10 degrees in winter and it will usually get up towards 20 degrees in mid afternoon in July, even on the coldest days. Summers are perfect for the beach or being outdoors (but don't forget sun protection. Aussies take this seriously and everyone wears a hat and sunscreen at the beach).

6. you can get a job very easily

As tourism and hospitality is such a big sector, there are jobs everywhere. Unemployment is around 5% in Sydney, which is great for you if you want to earn a bit of money and meet people, not to mention practice your English. Generally, if your English is not very good, washing dishes in a restaurant pays around $18 an hour and if it is, working in a store earns around $20 - $25 an hour. All jobs must pay you extra if you work nights and weekends also. Your student visa enables you to work up to 20 hours a week during your school term, with longer hours allowed in term breaks. Working whilst studying is fantastic for your English and cultural experience here and we'd encourage you to do it. (We'll help you find work, of course).

7. the nature is also pretty awesome

There are zoos and animal parks where you can pat a koala or a kangaroo (if you want to. Aussies think foreigners are a bit weird for wanting to do so). You can also get up close to some of the most deadly spiders, snakes and sharks in the world (again, if you want to, but you can't pat any of these when you see them at the zoo). Sydneysiders are used to the beautiful sounds of so many birds like kookaburras, cockatoos, rainbow lorikeets, magpies and gallahs providing their morning soundtracks. If you stay out in the suburbs, there'll be kangaroos in many of the reserves (parklands where you can go bushwalking), possums in the trees and brush turkeys scratching the dirt in your garden.

8. you'll love walking or running next to the beach and the harbour

Even if you never go in the water, but just walk, or run along the beach (or cycle on the bike path), you'll love it. Just walking the length of Manly Beach (from Shelley Beach to Queenscliffe (as the beach changes its name along the way to make it easy for the locals to tell people where they are, or will be) takes around an hour. There is an amazing coastal walk (again, around an hour) from Bronte Beach to Bondi Beach. Of course, your walk will take longer if you stop off at one of the numerous cafes along the way, which you'll probably do. There's also a bushwalk of several hours from the Spit to Manly on the northern side of Sydney Harbour. There are walks everywhere. Sydney has lots of parks, reserves (big parks) and national parks (the biggest parks) where you can walk, run or ride, just like the locals.

9. the coffee culture and the casual food and dining culture

There is seriously great coffee in Sydney, whose rivalry with Melbourne extends to everything, including coffee. At around $3.50 to $3.70, you'll really appreciate the way Sydney does it, and soon enough, you'll have your favourite cafes in different parts of town you regularly visit. Sydneysiders also eat out a lot but most don't really get into formal dining. You'll find great casual dining everywhere; serving great food for breakfast, brunch, lunch, late-lunch, dinner and supper. The Hunter Valley (one of Australia's premier wine producing regions) is close by and Australia is blessed with fantastic new-world wines which are affordable and go down well with or without food. And we must mention the fact that multiculturalism has given Sydney amazing Thai, Brazilian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish food; cuisine from everywhere, really. Combine this with the quality ingredients like grass-fed beef and lamb, fresh fruit and vegetables, and incredible seafood. You'll love a type of cuisine called 'Modern Australian' which combines these incredible ingredients with a blend of styles from around the world. It's pretty special.

10. there are so many places to visit.

There are over 100 beaches in Sydney, some on the ocean and some on Sydney Harbour and its many smaller harbours, all of them stunning. Of course, you'll need to visit the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, Bondi Beach, The Rocks, Darling Harbour, the Queen Victoria Building, Taronga Zoo and of course, take a ferry to Watsons Bay and to Milsons Point/ Luna Park. But these are just some of the more popular tourist attractions. There are so many fabulous places to explore by foot, by bicycle (hire bicycles are everywhere), or by bus, train or ferry. There are many day trips (for example to the Blue Mountains or national parks, the Hunter Valley, small coastal towns up and down the coast) if you want to get out of town. Sydney is quite congested in the City Centre (called the Central Business District, where all the tall buildings are), but once you're out of there, you'll find space everywhere. Sydneysiders are quite tribal, and most think their suburb is the best place to live. So you'll want to explore the differences. Also, with Sydney's great airline connections, New Zealand, Fiji, or the Whitsunday Islands, not to mention every Australian major city is just a couple or a few hours away.

Before coming here, do some further reading and maybe even make a 'bucket list' of the things and places you'd like to do and see. Of course, once you get here, we have friendly and knowledgeable locals to help you, including our activities coordinator and our/ your teachers. You'll probably experience coastal walks and BBQs at the beach with your class, and nightlife with your new friends. We have groups that visit many attractions, like museums and the Blue Mountains, with our activities coordinator and we regularly host our own cruise parties on Sydney Harbour. We also have groups that go each month (and each weekend in Summer) to surf camps and each month we also do sky-diving. There is so much to do......all immersed in English.

Here are some great places to find information on Sydney, and what is going on at the moment:

tourism australia's guide to sydney

sydney online pty ltd

destination NSW (NSW government)

insider guide (sydney)

Where to stay?

Sydney is huge and as we said above, most people think they live in the best part of it. But how can you choose where to stay when you're here doing one of our courses?

We'll give you some help when you enroll. For now, read this brief account of Sydney accommodation and see the links below.

Firstly, you will need to decide if you want to live in either:

a home-stay in the suburbs (with a family)
an apartment in the city centre (an apartment is called a 'unit' in Australian English or a 'flat' in British English, but everyone will know what you mean if you say any of them)
a student residence in an inner city suburb

Each will have its advantages. It depends on what you want. If you want to be surrounded by friends from your school or other schools/ universities, then a student residence is great. If you want to be immersed into a family of English speakers in a suburb, a home-stay is what you need. If you want to be by yourself or share with others in an apartment for self-supporting or more 'grown-up' living, rent a room or an apartment. This last option is the more expensive but for older students is often preferred.

Whichever you prefer, our friendly and knowledgeable staff will help you find accommodation which suits your preferences.

And now, which part of town is best? Sydney is huge, and accommodation is expensive compared to most other cities in the world, suggesting supply can often be a bit tight, especially in Summer, so you'll need to decide on some priorities to help you decide.

Firstly, it should be easy to get to your classes at Australian English Learning Center, located in the city centre, called the CBD (Central Business District). Sydney has great public transport but the city is very spread out. For instance, you should expect to take almost an hour to get to the city centre from the perimeter, roughly 50 km in each direction (except to the East, where the ocean is about 8km away). This means it is not much under an hour on the train from Hornsby in the North, Rouse Hill in the North-West, Penrith in the West, Campbelltown in the South-West, and Waterfall in the South. The great news is that all of these places have direct rail links to the city centre, with no need to change trains. (Rouse Hill is currently serviced by express bus but the new rail line to the city will be completed by mid 2019).

If you live half-way out to the edge, roughly 25km from the city centre, you should expect to be on the train for around 30 minutes. Having said this, some parts of Sydney are only accessible by bus, but most of these routes travel into the city on bus lanes meaning that it is generally not too bad to get around. If you are lucky, you may even catch a ferry each day. This is one of the best features of staying in Manly or Balmain, for instance.

Now you need to decide if you want to stay in the city centre, surrounded by nightlife, attractions, and where you can walk to school; or live by the harbour (or harbours, actually); or the beach (there are more than 100), or inland where rent is cheapest and there is generally more space.

Actually, before you look at the links (below) on which suburb you should live in, check out some more Sydney photos on Destination NSW's Sydney Instagram page: