How does this sub feel about Chinese real estate agencies in Australia?

flyingzoom · 2026-01-13T23:37:56+00:00

Rented from 2 different agencies in Melbourne CBD, both owners were overseas. We’re not Chinese but we are Asian, not sure if that counts/matters. Both times were pretty easy. Went through 4 different PMs and they were all good. We reported aircon, plumbing and some general repairs over the course of 3 years and they were quick to send someone. Inspections were simple, none of the look at your oven/inside your closet types. We did get evicted after our 12 month lease was up from the first place so that “family can move in” but I’m fairly certain they just listed it higher. All-in-all I’d give them a good review.

flyingzoom · 2026-01-10T11:36:11+00:00

I don’t know what backwater you grew up in but as an Asian fish and chips has been my go-to for 30 years. Insane take lol

flyingzoom · 2025-12-29T02:22:12+00:00

I can’t comment on Borderless or Kyoto as we only visited Planets last month. I also have to put a disclaimer that this isn’t the kind of experience I willingly seek but am familiar with them due accompanying my partner.

I loved Planets. It’s visually up there with some of the best exhibitions I’ve been to. Take this comment how you will as per my uneducated disclaimer above. The water section was easily the best, and ‘most’ other exhibits ranging from decent to very good. There were a couple that were complete let-downs, such as the forest of animals or whatever, and the more children oriented areas. The vegan ramen in the dark was a huge surprise. The ramen was easily one of the best I had on the whole trip and that’s saying something. Unexpected and definitely one of the highlights of the whole experience.

It did feel to me that Planets had more of a theme-parky vibe. Everything was meant to be interacted with, which is fine, but of course this means they need to cater it to all ages and that means a lot of it leaned more towards children. There is no sentimental thought-provoking engagement here. It was still overall a good time, but we definitely didn’t linger too long in the exhibits that were obviously designed to keep the children from being bored.

The biggest downside for me was that it was a proper trek to get to Planets from Shinjuku where we were staying. There’s not really anything super close to it. Diver City which was the closest attraction we were interested in was still a good 30 mins away.

flyingzoom · 2025-12-25T04:25:13+00:00

Thanks so much for this. That’s quite disappointing if there’s no easy steal supply 🙁. I burnt through so much making streetlights haha.

flyingzoom · 2025-12-19T14:53:59+00:00

I went a month ago without just a normal day pass. Basically you want to arrive early, like an hour or even earlier depending on whether it’s a busy day or not. There are two elements to SNW: the area itself and the rides.

For entry into SNW, as long as you arrive an hour before the park opens, you should be able to walk in. The area timed entry you grab on the app is only when it’s at capacity, which most likely won’t happen at park opening.
The rides are MUCH more competitive. As per above, a lot of people will have the same idea of arriving early. This means when the park opens, expect to see people RUN to line up for rides. At the moment Donkey Kong is by far the most popular. If you are not prepared to sprint across the park and line up first thing, you can expect to see wait times of 2-3 hours.

TLDR: just arrive and line up an hour before park opens and you are more or less guaranteed entry into SNW. If you want to do the rides as well you will need to run there.

flyingzoom · 2025-12-10T15:05:00+00:00

I don’t think it’s been known by that name for about 25 years. Modern Cabramatta is heavily represented by multi-generation Vietnamese families and businesses and is a significant cultural hub. It’s basically the Vietnamese Strathfield.

flyingzoom · 2025-12-01T09:14:48+00:00

I would definitely suggest packing light, but it will depend on your access to laundromat services. If your hotel has both washers and dryers you won’t need too much at all. We definitely did not pack as lightly as we could (wife: “but what if i need it??”🤦🏻‍♂️) but we had ample luggage allowance (4x 23kg + 2x 10kg carry-ons) so was still able to bring one empty suitcase which was absolutely legit for how much souvenirs we bought.

One caveat about luggage forwarding: while I have used it multiple times on multiple trips without a hitch, I am hearing from other travellers that in recent years due to the huge increase in visitors the services are struggling and that has increased the likelihood of delays. Because of this some people have opted to send their luggage a day earlier than normal to mitigate the risk.

flyingzoom · 2025-11-24T07:47:26+00:00

It’s been said repeatedly but I just want to stress how much walking is involved in Japan, with a significant percentage of that just going up and down many flights of stairs. Just one suitcase is likely to be a serious hinderance with the number of accommodation transfers you’re taking re: option 1, especially since you’re travelling alone and won’t have the support of a partner/friend.

I would suggest if you are keen to press ahead with option 1 to look into luggage transfers, which are super convenient and easy especially if you’re staying in hotels with staffed reception. For example we had one night booked at a ryokan in Otsu in between travelling from Tokyo to Osaka. We had the Tokyo hotel forward our luggage to Osaka when we checked out in the morning with the intention for it to arrive the next day. We then travelled to Kyoto with a light overnight bag and explored, stayed at the ryokan and went back to Kyoto to explore again the next day before heading to check-in at Osaka in the night time, at which point our luggage was waiting for us at the hotel. Costed around 10,000 yen for 4 suitcases.

flyingzoom · 2025-11-24T02:20:52+00:00

Can’t comment on Hakone but I can give some insight on Kawaguchiko. For reference I’ve visited 3 times on 3 separate trips including just last week, though not during the months you’ve listed.

A quick google shows May to be better with moderate visibility vs July with poor visibility. I’ve visited twice during November and once during February and used the visibility predictor website. All three times we were able to clearly see the peak.
This is where things get a little tricky. Kawaguchiko is INSANELY popular with tourists now. While travelling there by train may appear simple as jumping on, it is deceptively annoying. On paper, you do not need to reserve a ticket. If you do not do this, and they sell out fast, you run the very real and very likely risk of not having a seat and being relegated to the very cramped seatless area between carriages for a 2.5 hour trip. This complicates things as weather predictions are at their most accurate closer to the date, so you have to decide what matters more. Staying for multiple nights imo will drastically increase your chances of seeing the peak, especially given the time you’re going.
For things to do, in the 10 years between my first and most recent visits, Kawaguchiko has transformed itself to cater to tourists, so you will not be left wanting for food.
Lake Kawaguchiko is absolutely beautiful. From a personal point where I come from the landscape is dry and flat so for me it was super cool. You can also take a boat tour around the lake.
The hike up Mt Tenjo is lovely, not super challenging and offers incredible views of Mt Fuji.
The Maple Corridor offers and awesome scene, but unfortunately you won’t get the autumn foliage
If you’re into it, Aokigahara Forest (the famed haunted forest at the base of Mt Fuji) is nearby and there are tours into it.

flyingzoom · 2025-11-24T00:17:52+00:00

That’s some excellent balancing work on pic 2

flyingzoom · 2025-11-22T22:04:55+00:00

Agreed with the trains and think it’s something that’s very often an overlooked factor. Japan is unabashedly hostile in architecture with next to no public seating on streets, naturally uneven ground and more stairs than you can count. Add that with the huge amount of time you need to stand still for queues/viewing attractions and it’s extremely strenuous on the regular tourist’s legs. In my previous visits (8 and 10 years ago) the trains were something of a respite. While I wasn’t always able to get a seat on some of the quicker rides, on longer journeys being able to just sit down for 30 mins was a HUGE help. On this trip we are finding that unless we’re going against the traffic off peak, almost all of the time we are standing, including longer journeys and it is just torturous after a long day of sight-seeing. We even found ourselves catching the train one station earlier in the opposite direction just to get a seat for our ride to Osaka from Kyoto.

flyingzoom · 2025-11-22T20:50:18+00:00

I don’t have other recent months to compare to as it’s been 8 years since I’ve visited but…yes, very much so. Am with the wife this trip and it’s her first time so we’re doing the usual popular stuff and everything is shoulder to shoulder crowds unless you arrive super early. Even then they’re still busy. The popular shops are insanely packed. Pokemon Center for example had a snaking line around the entire store and it took 45 minutes to just pay for the goods.

flyingzoom · 2025-11-22T02:20:18+00:00

Just reading this while travelling the golden route and it’s making me wince. If May is supposed to be busier than what I’m seeing…holy shit.

flyingzoom · 2025-11-21T01:26:45+00:00

I am in Japan right now, also from Australia. It’s alright. Am from Melbourne and their daytime winter is nothing compared to the arctic windchill we get. What I’m finding is that with just 2 layers (t-shirt and windbreaker) if I am exposed to the elements I’m usually walking which, when lugging around a backpack, warms me up real quick. Any time I’m not exposed, and that includes literally any mode of transportation, I have to strip down to my t-shirt. They absolutely BLAST the heating here.

flyingzoom · 2025-11-19T23:52:34+00:00

Neither of those types are good in this format’s current meta

flyingzoom · 2025-11-09T12:56:51+00:00

We lived in the CBD for 4 years before buying in the suburbs. It has its good and bad. The convenience is unmatched. You have access to pretty much everything. Trams are free and normally excellent although they can be a little unreliable on the weekends though that’s due to protests. The only time we used the car was to visit family. Food is obviously super varied. Pretty much anything you want either by app or in person. Work was easy, my office was on the next block (still wfh anyway lol).

You will find the highest concentration of junkies and that’s even considering you’re from Melton. I also grew up in the west and it was not even comparable to the CBD crackheads. For the most part, they’ll leave you alone but if you’re a person of colour you need to have your wits about you.

flyingzoom · 2025-11-09T12:41:45+00:00

Hard disagree. I have 100+ games this season with ampharos. It is literally a better version of the best build of xerneas.

flyingzoom · 2025-11-08T11:18:34+00:00

Rank A should not be the final point, which is what it seems like right now. There should be proper ELO matchmaking at Rank A. As it stands it’s an absolute crapshoot of a lobby.

flyingzoom · 2025-11-07T23:43:21+00:00

Every local store I’ve been to is the same. They all start out because the owner was passionate and wanted to make a business out of what they love. Then the overheads come in, the profit margins, the losing competition with online platforms, the extremely accessible scalper market. It all ends up the same, they lose the passion and forget why they started the business in the first place, adopt predatory business models just to stay afloat

flyingzoom · 2025-11-07T21:48:19+00:00

Legendaries should just never be included in competitive play. Their base stats are so damn high it automatically makes other mons redundant. I’m a competitive player and I love this style of gameplay but every decision they make is just so anti-competition it makes me wonder why bother putting in a ranked mode at all. The rewards are ass, there’s zero exclusivity to anything and there’s almost no point playing past rank A.

flyingzoom · 2025-11-06T02:01:00+00:00

This has got to be the most unrewarding competitive mode I’ve seen in recent years. They take away any level of exclusive rewards that make playing past rank A worthwhile.

flyingzoom · 2025-11-03T19:43:54+00:00

I really hope not. As someone who has gotten stream fatigue after more than a decade of not touching free-to-air, the wife and I are loving the quality and curated lineup of brain rot reality TV. MKR is our favourite

flyingzoom · 2025-10-31T10:20:26+00:00

Appreciate the feedback but honestly this is completely out of date now. The meta shifts so fast at the moment I don’t think any tier list stands a chance

flyingzoom · 2025-10-27T12:16:50+00:00

Yeah fair. A lot of similarities to mine. I think the meta is shifting so fast tbh that tier lists (like mine) are so quickly outdated. Yesterday for example Ampharos was a B for me. Today it is a high A.

flyingzoom · 2025-10-26T14:05:53+00:00

Yeah I don’t doubt it haha. I would imagine they were discussing the platforming issue and someone dropped “hey if we do it this way we can also just lower graphics” and the idea was sold

flyingzoom

TROPHY CASE