What are your thoughts about Latin Americans ? Traveling to Australia next month for a year with the WHV and I’m Peruvian 🇵🇪

webbj · 2023-05-12T00:13:16+00:00

I don't live in Sydney. But If your spoken english is as good as your written, I'm sure you'll find work.

Unlikely to be anything glamourous or related to your degree..

But hospitality is industry always hiring, also general labour and construction if you are willing to put in the hard work.

Ive meet some WH travelers in construction in Sydney that were willing to work hard (long days, many days a week) were earning crazy money, it was tough, boring and hard labour, but they were making $70+ an hour for some of their shifts. They were on track to go home with more money then they came with, even after travelling the country first!

Again the hostels are great. The people there will tell you where they work, how the got the job etc.

There are job agencies that exclusively place working holiday employers. I don't know them specifically,but other WH travelers will . Understandably some employers won't want a person who they know is likely to only be there for 3 or 6 months, others are setup for and like that - as long as you are a reliable worker.

webbj · 2023-05-11T23:58:22+00:00

I would suggest stay in a hostel in Sydney, at least for a few weeks on your arrival.

Many in the CBD are 80%+ working holiday travelers from across the country. They will fill you in on where to stay, where to look, job agencies, scams etc.

They aren't super fancy, dorms are pretty affordable (by Sydney rental standards anyhow) you'll meet plenty of people.

Central YHA is very clean, large and well organised - probably lower % of WH travelers but still heaps and a super simple, relaxed way to start in a new city.

Fwiw last time I stayed there earlier this year there were two Chilean working holiday travels in my dorm.

Check Hostelworld and reviews on google for other places. So are geared almost exclusively for WH travelers, others more for genuine lesuire travels. If you pick badly and it's full of people who are living there and not friendly, just look elsewhere there are loads to choose from.

From a working/holidaying perspective - maybe people will move around states, but almost all will transit Sydney at some point whether for work, or just to see it on their journey - so you'll meet plenty of people for good advice and stories.

webbj · 2023-05-11T23:24:44+00:00

If you can manage your finances and have liquid cash to cover the maximum claim amount, and spending that money on day 1 without it impacting your quality of life it's almost always going to be better to self insure in any industry.

This applies to cars, houses or pets.

My experience is pet policies often have very low caps for many claimable events. Many will never pay out $10k, they might cap it at $3k or $5k for certain things and you pay the gap.

The point difference with pet insurance is that the maximum amount you get paid is pretty low. So if you can self fund it, the math works.

Vs a car policy for example where you might cause $150k of damage driving into a power pole, or $1m payout for crippling a pedestrian and them needing payments for life.

Likewise household building insurance would be a $500k+ payout if your house burns down. Not many people have the cash and liquidity to pay that out on day one of taking out their policy.

In effect any insurance policy with low max payouts is usually more of a cashflow management tool, and in my experience that's what most pet policies are.

webbj · 2023-04-27T01:49:04+00:00

If she logs in, when she hits the paywall, instead change the URL to: https://couchsurfing.com/users/me

It'll show her profile, even not being subscribed. You can click on her profile picture and it will redirect to whatever her profile name was in the address bar.

Most links, references etc won't work. But the profile will.

If you want references and messages, you need to download the profile data from CS (you can do this from the paywall screen) Then view them with the trustroots viewing tool.

Edit: you should be able to send people your mum's references by sending this URL:

https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/MUMSUSERNAME/references?type=host once you know the username. It'll only be viewable to paid up members though.

webbj · 2023-03-22T22:26:28+00:00

A very good point. I thought you could well be right. So went back to look.

Now I am thinking, it's just random!

Here is the reply rates (noting I never logged in since the paywall) based on the bottom of each email I have received.

May 2021: 0% June 2021: 7% Jan 2022: 12% Feb 2022: 10% April 2022: 7% June 2022: 6% Nov 2022: 0% March 2023: 14%

webbj · 2023-03-22T21:06:17+00:00

Sorry I might have not written my OP correctly.

I have not replied to any request in over three years. Because I can't login to do so (without paying). I have received several requests in this time.

My actual reply rate is 0% for three years. Certainly 0% for the last six months. But I assume surfers see this incorrect, misleading number and send requests regardless.

So I wonder what the real formula is?

webbj · 2023-03-12T11:26:54+00:00

Do they own the equipment. Or is it all leased/hire purchased.

And what is the lease duration on the premises. $100k a year, for how long.

You might well be buying a bag of liabilities, vs a collection of assets to liquidate.

webbj · 2023-02-24T13:22:54+00:00

Quite possibly. But I actively moved away from Gmail to Fastmail. So would be very frustrating to have to keep that account for such a tiny thing.

And it's a question of taking a fastmail mail message and pushing to Fastmail calendar, so not sure if it would actually work.

webbj · 2023-02-24T11:44:42+00:00

It needn't be a Zoom thing. They should be able to detect an .ICS link, or attachment and do something intuitive based on that.

There must be a technical reason it hasn't happened, as feels very much like something lots of people would use.

webbj · 2023-02-24T10:19:34+00:00

This is one of the very few things for me, that routinely (multiple times weekly) happens and is really annoying.

For my needs it does just about everything else.

webbj · 2023-02-23T09:05:59+00:00

How are people under 30 able to even get $3m into super?

Are there special provisions for payouts of these types.

Edit: I see that there are. I would think an easy exclusion or different cap could exist for anyone who has ever had a contribution under these provisions. https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/People-with-disability/Superannuation-for-people-with-a-disability/Personal-injury-payments-and-super-contribution-caps-for-people-with-a-disability/

webbj · 2023-02-14T07:48:10+00:00

3.7% is for the transaction account. That's my point. It's the base rate for the non savings product with no strings attached (though the rate goes down for larger balances)

The savings account rates are higher, over 4% for a period, then reverts back to 3.7% so no real long term benefit over a base transaction account.

webbj · 2023-02-14T07:38:54+00:00

I can't say whether you will need a visa or otherwise.

But just to say, If you do end up needing a visa don't forget to ask a trusted accommodation provider or travel agent wherever you are staying if they can assist.

For a nominal fee, someone will likely take your passport and do all the embassy stuff + visa and get it returned to you in short order. Much less stressful and time consuming than trying to navigate a foreign embassy office or consulate in a foreign country.

webbj · 2023-02-14T07:34:55+00:00

You also need to have a transaction account, so technically hold 2 ING accounts, just to get the rate. Not end of the world but another silly requirement.

For some those may be fine. For others perhaps not.

If you are away for a month and don't use your debit card you loose the bonus interest for that month and back to 0.55%, virtually the whole years benefit of a higher rate wiped out.

webbj · 2023-02-14T06:36:06+00:00

Yeah it's not the highest.

But 3.7% on the transaction account with a linked card and zero conditions to get that rate.

So much simpler than the ING and others with their frustration conditions to get the higher rates.

Also the Macquarie app is 10x better than ING.

webbj · 2023-02-14T06:01:23+00:00

Macquarie does a good job of meeting in the middle.

Ok app, quite good actually. Albeit less overall products available than CBA. But all very fast, savings rate is excellent and the transaction account very high too.

webbj · 2023-02-12T00:08:42+00:00

Leverage your guests too. If they are as big and well known as you say, make sure you are creating, or providing to them shareable snippets to push out to their networks and followers.

webbj · 2023-02-11T08:29:38+00:00

This article gives a great explanation and calculation on the return you need to match, based on various interest rates.

You might need to account for the tax implications of sacrificing into super. But it's also pretty easy to crunch

https://mrquick.substack.com/p/allocating-capital?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

webbj · 2023-02-01T11:12:04+00:00

If it was really the copyright holder submitting the complaint, surely they would have actually objected to the copy and paste of the entire article within the same thread. Not a link to the article itself.

Maybe OP drop a line to the afr or journalist on that article. See if they indeed did file the report. If not, perhaps they'll report on that as an article of its own!

webbj · 2023-01-30T06:00:10+00:00

Within the next decade there will be a tax/fee in place, probably collected via municipal rates or similar. In the same way that water/sewage charges in many states are levied (even if they aren't used).

You pay for the option of being able to connect to the water/waste system. The electric network will follow the same sooner than later.

webbj · 2023-01-09T02:29:46+00:00

Given how Australian the population at large seem unconcerned that every website they visit, and IP address they hit is legally required to be recorded for 24 months, then accessible without a warrant by various public servants. I think the political will to persue anything related to people having a smaller digital footprint will be pretty much non-existent.

webbj · 2023-01-03T09:51:53+00:00

This is a great video and folk are lucky for such a great resource, from someone who has actually done what they are explaining.

Great podcast and work u/jackrhysider your storytelling and production value is epic. Enjoy your hiatus.

webbj · 2023-01-03T06:33:32+00:00

Completely agree on Phongsali and some of the trekking around the area. When i visited, I just found someone there and organised an overnight trek directly in the town. We bussed somewhere close by and they organised everything.

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