New from South Africa

[taskman]

Hi

 

I am planning on moving to Australia in about a year. I am starting an RV and I was wondering if you could tell me how many airfields there are in the Sydney area. I know of Bankstown, but I don't know how good or bad the area is.

 

This is my log. Toolbox arrived today, but I am at work so haven't been able to update website

 

Kobus du Toit - Experimental Aircraft Builder's Log

 

 

[monty]

G'Day Taskman,

 

Welcome to the site and good luck with the build. I don't know whats around Sydney but someone will fill you in. Great people here!

 

There is a wealth of info here on this site so don't be afraid to ask if you need any info on the build. Keep us informed on how you are going with it.

 

Monty

 

 

[dazza 38]

Welcome Taskman, good to see alot of guys joining from South Africa.Cheers

 

 

[Guest Wigg]

Welcome Taskman to the forums, As Dazza said there are a lot of people joining us from South Africa. There is a lot of knowedgeable people on here who are all willing to offer advice if you are in need of it. Wigg

 

 

[XAIRVTW]

Hi Taskman in the Sydney basin you have three main airfields Bankstown, Camden, Mascot (international). Outside the Sydney basin there are quite a few, too many to list here. Bankstown is a good area to fly out of, But my personal opinion is if you like traffic jams,Leaving home before sunrise just to get to work by 9am you will love living there.

 

Cheers

 

 

[taskman]

Hi

 

Thank you for the info

 

I will start doing research about Camden, crime and those things.

 

Is there a train to Sydney CBD from Camden and how long does it normally take?

 

 

[XAIRVTW]

Not sure if Camden has a train station if not Campbelltown would be the closest. Dont no how long it would take.

 

Cheers

 

 

[taskman]

I found Richmond in the North West also has an airport, but are small airplanes allowed to land there? It seems they want to make it the second international airport for Sydney

 

 

[Ultralights]

Sydney basin as a few airports, the biggest is obviously Sydney Kingsford Smith in Syd itself, but this is airline traffic only.

 

Bankstown airport once was the busiest in the southern hemisphere, but still remains Sydney's busiest GA airport, Plenty of hangerage there, but can be expensive, upwards of $500 a month.

 

Other airports are Camden, Wedderburn and The Oaks.

 

Wederburn is a private airport, and quite expensive to get into, but not to bad once you pay the first year fee.

 

Camden is owned by the same company that owns Bankstown, and hence, just as expensive.

 

The Oaks is a small grass private airfield, and has a few great clubs and schools there, but no hangarage as yet.

 

Richmond to the north west of the Sydney basin is a Military airfield.

 

There are a few other aiports near Sydney, to the north is Somersby, (private owned) and Warnervale. about 2 hr drive north there is Cessnock and Maitland airfields.

 

to the South you have Wollongong, where im based, about 45 mind south, and south west about 1 hr drive from syd is Goulburn airport, Plenty of hangarage there.

 

As for Sydney itself, not much crime really, except the usual drunken inner city crime.

 

Camden is a nice place to live, but a fair distance from the CBD.

 

Most coastal areas of the city are very expensive places to live.

 

Sadly public transport is woeful, but liveable if your close enough to a rail corridor.

 

 

[taskman]

How crazy of an idea is it to live close to one of these small airports far away from the city and fly to work? Landing at bankstown and taking the train into the city? Can you buy block landing fees or will that idea just end up being too expensive?

 

 

[Tomo]

Is there a train to Sydney CBD from Camden and how long does it normally take?

Can't remember exactly, but I think it was just over an hr from Camden (can't remember what station I left from now, but I think it was Camden) to Circular Quay. Cheap as chips anyway, well was couple yrs ago!

 

My Uncle lives at Camden, lovely spot.

 

 

[Mc Guyver]

HiThank you for the info

 

I will start doing research about Camden, crime and those things.

 

Is there a train to Sydney CBD from Camden and how long does it normally take?

Hi Kobus and welcome to the forum.

 

Crime in Aus is non existant compared to Gauteng

 

I am based at Somersby which is about 1.5 hrs train ride North of Sydney.

 

I have been there around seven years.

 

No empty hangars at this time but the owners are talking of building more in the next few months. Somersby is a difficult airfield which you have to grow into!

 

The Central Coast is a magnificent area to fly over.

 

Excellent bunch of guys and everyone is helpful.

 

 

[blueshed]

Welcome Taskman, what line of work are you in, do you need togo to the cbd to work? Mittagong in the Southern Highlands has an airstrip. A few airline pilot's live round there!Cheers

 

 

[taskman]

Hi :)blueshed:I am a programmer so I will most likely have to work in the city. Looking at the job sites most java developer jobs are in Sydney so that will be the first place I will start looking for work when my residency permit comes through.What is togo?Mc Guyver:Where do you work? Do you travel to work 1.5 hours every day? I live in Roodepoort now and on the bike it takes me about 40 min into Sandton, with the car it would be 1.5 hours. It would be so cool to be able to climb in my airplane and fly from a small airport to Bankstown and take a 30 min train into the city, but if it is days like these I will need IFR instruments

 

 

[Mc Guyver]

Hi :)blueshed:I am a programmer so I will most likely have to work in the city. Looking at the job sites most java developer jobs are in Sydney so that will be the first place I will start looking for work when my residency permit comes through.What is togo?Mc Guyver:Where do you work? Do you travel to work 1.5 hours every day? I live in Roodepoort now and on the bike it takes me about 40 min into Sandton, with the car it would be 1.5 hours. It would be so cool to be able to climb in my airplane and fly from a small airport to Bankstown and take a 30 min train into the city, but if it is days like these I will need IFR instruments

Hi Kobus,

 

When the weather is good enough, I work at the airfield (trike instructor)

 

I live in Terrigal which is about 20 minutes from the airfield.

 

 

[XAIRVTW]

Richmond is a military base the Government has been talking for years about turning it into the next international airport, I dont think it will ever happen in this life time.

 

Cheers

 

 

[taskman]

Is it still in use by the military or can GA land there? We also have a military base here, but GA is allowed to land there. Don't think it is really being used much by the military

 

 

[blueshed]

togo

 

Hi :)blueshed:I am a programmer so I will most likely have to work in the city. Looking at the job sites most java developer jobs are in Sydney so that will be the first place I will start looking for work when my residency permit comes through.What is togo?Mc Guyver:Where do you work? Do you travel to work 1.5 hours every day? I live in Roodepoort now and on the bike it takes me about 40 min into Sandton, with the car it would be 1.5 hours. It would be so cool to be able to climb in my airplane and fly from a small airport to Bankstown and take a 30 min train into the city, but if it is days like these I will need IFR instruments

Hi Taskman "togo" should have been to go, as in do you need to go to the city every day!

 

sorry bout that, me gramma not real good and me spelling no betta!

 

And what exactly is Java, it seems to appear on my computer every now and then and I have no idea! Who or what it is or does! With the wonderful world of communication these days, how are you not able to work from home or anywhere in fact? Why heck some people pilot there aircraft whilst sitting in a heated office while there aircraft is on the other side of the world landing at some remote place, like Australia!:hittinghead:

 

 

[Guest Howard Hughes]

Hi Taskman,

 

Come to Wollongong, great beaches and a nice little airport to fly from!

 

By the way my neighbour is a senior programmer and works from home, he has nine people who work for him and most don't even live in this country!:ah_oh:

 

Cheers, HH.:thumb_up:

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

Sydney is very expensive to live in rediculus real estate prices rents are out of control overcrowded roads means long commutes and $10 tolls, and public transport is pretty poor.

 

9 km drive to cbd takes me 40 mins in the morning. 25/30 mins in evening. head home to Hunter Valley for the weekend about 170kms North takes 2.5 hrs if i leave at 3pm ahead of the peak rush. if i miss that window i do not leave until 7.30pm.

 

More opertunities for more open airspace and access to airports and grass strips in the Hunter area as well. Real estate prices better as well better quality of living than Sydney. I only live/work in Sydney due to contracts. when they end i'm out of there.

 

ozzie

 

 

[taskman]

blueshed: Think of Java as a mini version of Windows or Linux that sits on top of Windows or Linux. You install a Windows version of Java on a Windows machine or a Linux version of Java on a Linux machine. The programmer doesn't need to know much about Windows or Linux, just about Java. So that programmer will tell/ask Java to perform a task and Java will then know on which operating system it is installed (Windows/Linux) and ask that operating system to do the specific task in the way that operating system can understand. Using this technology one programmer can write one application for many operating systems. You might have it on your computer because some web pages run java applications called applets. We program on Windows machines at work and we run our system on Linux servers, the same code, no need to make any changes

 

Companies usually prefer programmers to sit there where managers can watch them, because they like seeing work get done I guess. Even if you don't have anything to do you need to make sure it looks like you are doing something in case a higher level manager comes past or your manager gets into trouble. Trust and all those wonderful things. They use the excuse that you need to go to meetings and that is why you need to be in the office, but if we can have relationships and business partnerships and Oprah on Skype why not a 30 min meeting? Anyway :)

 

ozzie: I was thinking maybe that might work, but what do you do if you have kids? I don't yet, but we might have. I was thinking another idea is to rent a small place in Sydney and buy a nice open space in the Hunter area. I saw places yesterday in the 200k range that are a couple thousand m2. Big enough for an airstrip where an RV 7 or 10 can land. Setup a South African lodge. Fly people into the lodge on weekends and make money in the city during the week

 

 

[XAIRVTW]

Yes still used by the military & no GA restricted area.

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

ozzie: I was thinking maybe that might work, but what do you do if you have kids? I don't yet, but we might have. I was thinking another idea is to rent a small place in Sydney and buy a nice open space in the Hunter area. I saw places yesterday in the 200k range that are a couple thousand m2. Big enough for an airstrip where an RV 7 or 10 can land. Setup a South African lodge. Fly people into the lodge on weekends and make money in the city during the week

I rent in Sydney cheap 1 bed $240 a week getting near where it is becoming unviable if they put the rent up again. when i moved in about 6 years ago it was $170.

 

The village were we have our house is called Greta, 1.5 acres small house valued about 280k

 

you can find good size acreage farm type down to 5, 2 or 1 acre blocks and build your dream home or go for new suburbia residential quarter acre mac mansion for around 250/300k.

 

large towns for shopping ect 20 mins but area planned for large city within 10 years freeway link to sydney to be finished in 5 years. main employment base is coal mines. 120 truck coal train goes past every 15 mins 24/7 rail line duplication happening can't get the crap out of the ground fast enough.

 

if i had kids i'd bring them up here rather than Sydney. my partner has a bunch of grand kids and they are all doing well. kids in sydney are out of control.

 

Plenty to do in the area, wineries with lots of entertainment during warmer months. river nearby good for a fish, paddle canoe ect plenty of bush with wildlife ect. national parks ect. for flying 2 good size airports, 10 and 20 min drive, no RPT so not much secuity hassell. 10 mins to large grass airfield for tiger moths ect. 3 drop zones within 20 mins keep me happy. about an hour to the coast (Newcastle) good surf beaches ect.

 

Come to think about it is a good place to live with everything from FA18's to hot air balloons flying over the house.

 

ozzie

 

 

[pudestcon]

Sounds like paradise Ozzie

 

Pud

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

Yeah, did not realise it myself until i started writing.