Australia weather

The climate in Australia is hot. During the summer months, rainfall is negligible, but in winter it can interfere with traffic on the roads. May-August is the best time to travel to Australia, September-December is the peak season.

Average air temperature in Canberra:

In January +21, in February +20, in March +18, in April +13, in May +10, in June +7 In July +6, in August +7, in September +10, in October +13, in November +16, December +18

Average air temperature in Sydney:

In January +24, in February +24, in March +22, in April +18, in May +15, in June +13 In July +12, in August +14, in September +15, in October +17, in November +20, December +22

Australia airports:

Adelaide Airport - Adelaide Airport Visa Visitor visa (category 676) allows you to visit Australia for tourism purposes or to visit friends and relatives (up to 12 months), and also provides an opportunity to study (up to 3 months). Persons who receive such a visa are not allowed to work or conduct business in Australia and are required to leave the country when the visa expires.

Customs restrictions

Food cannot be brought into the country. It is forbidden to import drugs, steroid drugs, cold and firearms, protected plants, animals and their products into the country. Any animals, foodstuffs, plants and products made from them must be declared and subject to quarantine control. There are no restrictions on the import/export to Australia of any currency in any amount. When importing cash in excess of the equivalent of 5,000 Australian dollars, they must be declared on the declaration. This rule does not apply to traveler's checks and credit cards. Travelers over 16 years of age can import alcoholic beverages duty-free - up to 1 liter, tobacco products - up to 250 grams.

When leaving the country, each passenger over 12 years of age pays a tax of 27 Australian dollars.

Mains voltage: 220V

Office Hours

Banks are open from 9.30 am to 4 pm on weekdays, on Friday - until 5 pm.

Shops are open from 9:00 to 17:30 on weekdays and close at noon on Saturday.

National features of Australia and traditions

The country has left-hand traffic. There are restrictions on the sale of alcohol - only from Monday to Saturday from 17.00 to midnight (the specific time is different in different states), and only to persons over 18 years of age.

Smoking is prohibited in public places, government buildings, public transport and domestic flights. Cafes and restaurants also often have restrictions on smoking.

Safety

Australia is known as a country with a fairly low crime rate. However, pickpocketing and theft of personal property from hotels still occurs. Caution should be exercised in crowded places and public transport. Do not leave valuables and documents in the car.

Country code: +61

Geographic Top Level Domain Name: .au

The medicine

Health insurance for the duration of your stay in Australia is required. A certificate of vaccination and AIDS testing is not required. Health care is paid and quite expensive.

List of regional versions of the Google search engine. They are translated into the appropriate language, geo-positioned in the search and have a different set of functions.

Regions and Google Countries, Google in other Languages

To change the regional version of Google, click on the hyperlink or enter the specified URL in the address bar from the list below. To better match the search results, it is recommended to change the language to the one suggested by the search engine, for example, English for Samoa, and also, if possible, use the proxy server of the desired country. In order for the regional version of the search engine to work accurately, the search query must be entered not in the address bar of the browser, but in a special field on the page itself. Requests, of course, are best entered in the specified language.

Manually changing Google search regional settings

However, this may not be enough. Then it is recommended to use the manual method. Special search options are hidden in the Google address bar, but they can be "revealed" and manipulated. To do this, enter the following link in the address bar:

http://www. google.com/search? hl= en& gl= us&q=russia

Regional domain ( google.com– USA)

Search and issuance language hl=(en - English) according to the international standard ISO 639-1

Country code gl=(us - USA) according to international standard ISO 3166-1 alpha-2

The search query itself comes after q=, in this situation it is "russia". By changing the domain, country code and language to the required one, you can achieve the most clear display of Google search results in the country of interest. By changing the language values, you can find additional information, in this example, by replacing hl= from "en" to "ru" you can see what they write in the USA about Russia in Russian. The language of the request is also very important, it must be written in the language in which the answer is needed. It is impossible to get the correct issue when requesting in Russian, for example, in India.
After activating the above link, all requests entered in the request input field (not in the address bar!) Will save the specified parameters, however, the link will change, many other values ​​\u200b\u200bwill be added that you should not pay attention to. The required parameters will be displayed and you can change them while working with a new request.

Below is a table of required parameters, without specifying language codes. A complete list of codes for all countries in the world can be found in the CIA World Fact Book, and language codes on Wikipedia.

Goole Regional Domains

MAIN COUNTRIES

• Australia Australia (http://www.google.com.au/) AU en
• Canada Canada (http://www.google.ca/)CAen/fr*
• France France (http:// www. google. fr/ ) FR fr
• GermanyGermany (http:// www. google. de/ ) DE de

Australian directories and search engines (AU zone)

1. Yahoo! - Australia and NZ - Australia-New Zealand division of Yahoo. The emphasis is on online trading, sophisticated searches and links to other regional Yahoos around the world.
2. LookSmart Australia is an Australian search engine that settled in America and returned to its homeland. Convenient catalog including such sections as: business, entertainment, computers, etc. Online sales and other usual portal structure work on the portal. Links to LookSmart regional offices around the world.
3. White Pages - Australia - alphabetical directory of addresses and phone numbers. In addition, information on postal codes, international and long-distance telephone prefixes in Australia.
4. ninemsn - Search is a search engine and catalog created by Microsoft and Channel 9. It allows you to save search results, which is convenient, and offers a structured catalog on various topics, with an eye on the average layman.
5. Excite Australia is the Australian division of Excite. A lot of everyday features: horoscopes, TV programs, weather, entertainment ...
6. Yellow Pages Australia - a classic directory of commercial structures. Convenient interface and step-by-step online help system.
7. WebWombat is an Australian search engine and directory. A distinctive feature is the presence of a large number of individual vertical search engines - on specific topics. For example: Indian cuisine, Australian football, movies, etc.
8. GOeureka - This search engine has an AltaVista engine and some interesting features. So, for example, it has a direct link to the Australian Yellow Pages, which makes it possible to localize the right business within your search.
9. Anzwers is a search engine for Australia and New Zealand, whose box is located on the main page of Australia.RU. It uses the convenient LookSmart catalog system, which simplifies the search.
10. CitySearch.com.au is essentially an online guide to events, entertainment, restaurants, businesses and shops located in the following Australian cities: Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane.
11. Sofcom Australia is one of the oldest online directories in Australia. Has a portal structure and offers news, weather, TV guides, entertainment and interactive sales.
12. eClubOz - Calls itself the "Internet Club" and offers a catalog of resources related to Australia, as well as the opportunity to receive discounts on member sites and participate in prize draws.
13. - online atlas of streets and roads for all major cities in Australia. Provides the ability to search for almost any address in the specified cities.
14. Online WA - Aimed primarily at the tourism user sector, this directory contains a wealth of information on the state of Western Australia (WA).
15. Hitography is a search engine based on the popularity of resources. Offers a Top 100 list of sites based on the number of hits received.
16. aussie.com.au is a business directory containing 1.2 million Australian businesses, firms and organisations. Organized into different categories. Detailed information is not always present.
17. GlobalGossip.com - roughly translated - "Global Chatter". Designed for those who are called "backpackers" here, that is, young people traveling the world with a backpack on their backs and, often, hitchhiking.
18. OzSearch Internet Guide - Large selection of Australian sites in this directory. Availability of channels such as: local weather, news, government and educational information.
19. AAA Matilda is one of the oldest catalogs. But. Rather inconvenient due to the lack of any semblance of a user interface.
20. QMail - free e-mail and resource directory for gays and lesbians - health, housing, employment, events, news, chat and announcements.
21. WebSearch.COM.AU - A distinctive feature of this Australian search engine and directory is the ability to build your own search engine.
22. South Australia Central is a portal with a limitless amount of structured information on the state of South Australia (SA).
23. Fairfax interactive network is the site of one of the largest news agencies in Australia.
24. The BlackStump is a search engine and directory with a claim to "nationality".
25. Goal.net.au is a narrow search for football (soccer) in the state of New South Wales (NSW).
26. WebPoint is a search engine for resources dedicated to music, movies, chat, e-mail, and the like.
27. GreekCity is a social, cultural and business resource for the local Greek community. (In terms of the Greek population, Melbourne is the second city in the world, after Athens :-)). The site has chat, forums, humor, a list of nightclubs, ads, reviews of cafes and restaurants, entertainment...
28. Webuser.com.au - Australian portal with free email, search engine, shopping, entertainment, computer games, etc.
29. Cowley Australian Search is a search engine and webmaster toolkit.
30. On Tasmania is an online business directory for the State of Tasmania (TAS). Real estate, entertainment, shipping, products and services.
31. Australian top 50 sites - a directory of both Australian and global web resources.
32. Australian House Sitters Directory - contains data of those people who want to look after houses during the absence of owners.
33. The North East Telecentre is a regional NGO based in Wangaratta, offering information services in North East Victoria (VIC).
34. The Australian Government Directory is a cool thing. Provides the ability to search the vast Australian government database on virtually any topic. Including - "who is who" in the government.
35. Screen Network Australia is the "entry point" to the Australian film and television industry.
36. DrsReference is a source of medical information for physicians. Includes search engine and online catalog.
37. South Pacific and Asian Network. - SPAN offers data about life in the South Pacific, such as public information, health, employment, education, etc...
38. 2friends Directories is a classified directory of links by categories: entertainment, celebrities, food, travel, movies, sports, etc.
39. Coastsearch is a directory and search engine specializing in information on the Gold Coast region. Contains links to over 1,700 sites in categories such as accommodation, culture, art, real estate, tourism, sports...
40. Central Online - news and information about the central regions of Australia (outback).
41. Earthlink is a directory of firms and businesses, services and information sources that focus on environmental issues.
42. IMMEDIA! - Calls itself the "House of the Australian Music Industry". Catalog of resources, on-line i-zine, links to PR sites in music.
43. Email-it Australia - offers a directory search of Email addresses. And also: the weather, financial advice and other little things.

We bring to your attention a selection of job sites for employment in Australia, knowledge of the English language is required to use them. Let's start with classic Internet sites. Below are the most visited, included in the TOP-5.

Another specialized job site in Australia - australiagsm , vacancies for immigration under the Skilled Select system or GSM visas, their slogan is: “We will help you move to Australia!”

Jobnet.com.au was founded in 1995 and quickly became the #1 destination for IT and tech jobs in Australia. Currently, JobNet offers IT jobs around the world and offers access to thousands of job offers in this field.

bluecollar.com.au- a site with a name that speaks for itself, this is the leading job board for finding work in Australia for the so-called "blue collar" or non-office workers: farmers, drivers and workers.

Bulletin board and forum Australia

Forum for Russians Gday- "Immigration, study and life in Australia". Jobs in Australia for Russians are presented in the "Jobs" section. Visit another popular source of information about living in this country

Australia has many advantages - from the most beautiful nature and unique animals to a clean environment and a high standard of living. Against such a background, all the shortcomings seem very insignificant, but they still exist and Light about them already. This article is entirely devoted to one of them - the home Internet.

Connection speed

Internet in Australia is slow. We often communicate with our parents and friends from Russia and Ukraine via Skype. And if the quality of audio-video, as a rule, is at an acceptable level, then the transmission, for example, of photographs during a conversation always surprises the interlocutors - why is it so slow? A 3 MB file can be transferred for 2-3 minutes.

The difference in speed is especially pronounced in the first month after arrival. At that time, the sensations of the ultra-fast Ukrainian Internet were still fresh, when a film in excellent quality could be downloaded from the network within 1-2 minutes. The contrast with Australian speed can initially plunge active Internet users into a deep depression.

Of course, the Internet in Ukraine was not always so fast. My first log in was in 1998 using a U.S. phone line and modem. Robotics Courier 14.400 bps. A few more have been added to the usual ways of communication. Old-timers of the Internet remember FidoNet - the forerunner of modern thematic forums, IRC - an instant messaging service where you could chat with people from all over the world in real time. And it was unusually new and great!

Over time, providers have evolved, U.S. Robotics changed to a more advanced ZyXEL 33600 bps, and some time later to GVC R21 56Kbps with vector firmware - it was the pinnacle of speed! A 1MB file took about 3-4 minutes to download. Even then, I hung on the net for hours, which caused quite understandable displeasure of my mother. The phone was constantly busy. Our telephone exchanges did not yet know how to work with DSL technology, we had to install one more telephone line, especially for the modem.

And then a dedicated line appeared, providers began to switch to satellites and fiber optics, the Internet began to accelerate and become cheaper year by year. When we left Ukraine for Australia in 2011, we had Internet at home with a speed of 100Mbps for reception and the same for transmission. At what limits on downloading simply did not exist, it was possible to download at least the entire Internet. This pleasure cost only 150 UAH per month ($15). And this is in Nikolaev, by Ukrainian standards - an average provincial city.

Now, a couple of years later, being in Australia's second largest metropolitan area, we pay $93 per month for the opportunity to go online. This amount includes the subscription fee for the telephone (calls are paid separately) and 200 Gigabytes of Internet traffic. By the way, I could download this entire monthly limit in Nikolaev in 4.5 hours 🙂

Speed ​​is perfectly illustrated by the SpeedTest service:

Speed ​​when connecting to a server in Australia. Download rate from American or European servers is 1.5-2 times lower.

Note, according to SpeedTest, our network connection is faster than 71% of other Australian connections. And this is from the largest provider of telecommunications services. Sad, isn't it? But over time you get used to it. There is no alternative.

More precisely, alternative options exist, but they are not available in all areas. For example, in the apartment where we used to live there was the so-called Naked DSL - i.e. Internet through a telephone line without a monthly fee for the phone. Our $60 monthly plan included 100 GB of data and an Internet phone with a regular Melbourne number and unlimited calls throughout Australia. But the speed still left much to be desired.

It's a little reassuring to know that the internet in Australia is still under development. A couple of years ago, the government launched an ambitious and long-term National Broadband Network project, the goal of which can be expressed by the slogan “Fast Internet to every home”. The method is the provision of telecommunications services using a combination of fiber optic, wireless and satellite technologies. Simply put, a fiber-optic channel will be laid to most houses, and where they cannot reach, an antenna will be inserted. The cost of the project is more than $37 billion. By 2021, they promise to cover only 22% of the population.

This business is developing rather slowly, you can follow the installation progress on a special website - http://www.nbnco.com.au/.

Connection quality

For more than 2 years we have been with three providers and there have never been any complaints about the quality of the connection. The Internet did not suddenly disappear and did not fall off. Although I've heard from people I know who live in older areas like the Bentleigh that this happens sometimes. But this happens most likely due to the old infrastructure, which providers are in no hurry to change. Everyone is waiting for NBN.

Rates

Internet rates in Australia vary considerably from provider to provider. The price depends on the region, the availability of a physical line, the set of desired services, the speed and volume of monthly traffic. Bundles are the most popular plans. In the long run, this allows you to save quite a lot of money when compared with paying for the same services separately.

The simplest bundle: Internet + phone. In the bundle, you can also connect TV, mobile phone and even electricity with gas. And, of course, you can vary them in terms of the volume of services.

For comparison, a few offers from different providers:

Connection

You can connect to the Internet by filling out an application on the provider's website, or by phone or in person at their store / office. First you need to make sure that the Internet is available in your house / apartment and check what type of connection the selected provider can provide. To do this, you need to enter your address in the form on the provider's website and hope for luck.

If you live in an area already covered by NBN, then you are very lucky and your Internet will be really fast, up to 100 Mbps. And if progress has not yet reached you, then you will have to be content with ADSL1 or ADSL2. In the worst case, you may simply not be connected, because. the connection limit has been reached in the area. This happens in rapidly developing areas.

If only ADSL is available in your home, then in addition to the Internet, you will also have to pay for the lease of a telephone line, even if you do not need a home phone. This automatically raises the cost of Internet access by 30 dollars per month.

Of the features, it should be noted that from the moment of registration of the application to the connection itself, it can take up to 10 working days. Yes, that's how long it takes local technicians to press the right buttons. Sometimes it may be necessary to go to the site and connect additional equipment. But 2 weeks!?

As a rule, the contract with the provider is concluded for a certain period - 1 or 2 years. Getting out of a contract before it expires can cost a pretty penny. If you want a contract without a fixed period, the provider can issue a one-time bill when you connect. For example, Telstra charges $120 for a floating contract. At the same time, the exit from the fixed one can cost 2 times more.

It is also worth being very attentive to the services that you order. It may happen that you are connected to a different package or they send equipment that you did not order. Money for this from your account, of course, will be removed.

This is what happened with my connection to Telstra. As I said before, this is the communications giant of Australia. Most of the channels on the continent, both physical and wireless, belong to this company. They are extremely proud of this fact and set the maximum prices for their services.

So, for lack of a better option in our area, we had to connect to them. We still have an ADSL modem-phone-router in one bottle from the previous iiNet provider, so in the order I indicated only the package of services I needed. The connection itself cost $59 + $120 for a non-fixed contract. A few days later, a parcel arrives in the mail - a modem, although it was not in the order. $72 for it was also included in the bill.

Bringing it back was not so easy. At first they tried to give it to the Telstra employee when connecting. I didn't take it, I shouldn't. It is also impossible to transfer from hand to hand at the nearest Telstra office. It turned out that you need to contact the support service and ask them to pick up this modem. They asked about the serial number of the modem and promised to send a special package within 5 days, in which this modem would need to be put and sent by mail to their specialized warehouse. Upon arrival, the modem will be checked and the money will be returned to the account for it.

A month has passed. We still have the modem, our money, respectively, they have. I contacted the support team again, expressed everything I thought about their customer service and demanded that this issue be resolved immediately. The result exceeded my expectations - right during the conversation they returned the money for the modem to the account and, as compensation, canceled the monthly fee for the current month. But after another 10 minutes of waiting on the line, I found out that there was a failure in their “modem return system”, they would not be able to send me a package and, in connection with this, I can keep this modem completely free of charge.

Thank you Telstra! 🙂

Yes, and one more thing - when concluding a contract with a provider, you can bargain. Not the fact that they will make a discount on the subscription fee, but at least they can remove the cost of the connection itself. A trifle, but nice!

The topic of telephone communications in Australia is also quite extensive, but more on that in another article.

About the Internet in Australia was last modified: May 12th, 2016 by Sergey