Sydney Info

Webster November 8th, 2006

Sydney

Coming to Sydney? Whether you’re coming here to study or just visiting, we have the information that you might find useful:

Geographical
Sydney, which lies in the state of New South Wales (NSW) is one of the biggest city of Australia. It is situated at 33° 55′ (South). Contrary to popular belief, the capital of Australia is Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) rather than Sydney.

Weather
Sydney’s weather can vary extremely in one day, but generally warm in summer and cloudy with some rain in winter. Summer’s mean temperature is 23°C and 12°C in winter. The area around Sydney city do not get any snowfall.

Time Zone
Sydney is located in the GMT+10 timezone, and follow the Eastern Standard Time (EST) of Australia. Therefore, Sydney’s time is ahead of Kuala Lumpur by 2 hours. However, daylight saving time is enforced during summer in NSW (starting from the end of October to the end of March) and during this period, the gap between here and K.L. is 3 hours.

Currency
Australia uses Australian dollar (AUD), with 1 dollar being made up of 100 cents. Coins denominations are in 5, 10, 20, 50 cents and 1, 2 dollars. Notes come in 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dollars. $1 is roughly equivalent to RM2.70. The four big banks in Australia are Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac and National Australia Bank. Commonwealth Bank and ANZ are very popular with Malaysian students. Credit cards are widely accepted, and EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer Point Of Sale/direct debit) is available at most counters.

Electricity
Domestic electricity uses 220-240 V at 50 Hz. The power socket used is Type I, which is very different from the ones used in Malaysia. It has an earthing pin and two flat pins forming an inverted V-shape. Further info is available here. You are advised to bring at least one adapter/converter. Electrical and electronics goods are generally cheaper in Malaysia.

Telephone and communication
The international dialing code is +61. Public phones are abundant, and calling cards are available for cheap calls back home. Major mobile phone operators include Vodafone, 3, and Optus. Broadband internet is widely available, with some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offering ADSL2+ with speed up to 24Mbps.

Transport
Australians drive on the left side of the road, just like in Malaysia. Malaysian driving licence is accepted, but if you’re planning to stay here long, you are strongly urged to have a certified translation of your licence done by MSDA. Students usually commute with public transport (bus, train and ferry). The public transport system is reliable and mostly punctual, but bear in mind that the state of NSW do not give concessions to international students.

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