have a look at exetel, currently the best value for money isp in my opinion.

http://www.exetel.com.au/a_plan_pricing_new.php

you can pm me if you have any question.

@empire23: are you considered self employed driving taxi? you actually signed up some contracts or anything? it seems damn many paperwork to do...

He means harvesting as a part time job. There are many farms and plantations in Australia and many students do labor jobs during summer break. By the way, it's not just 'picking' fruits off ground, you harvest them.

Why don't you go find a lawyer? My housemate hires a lawyer in Brisbane to handle PR application for him.

Daylight saving? Luckily not in Toowoomba this year.

It's more than just refreshing at 2.3 for me, it's an opportunity!

TPG's 200GB quota must be broken down to 60 + 140GB, but its off-peak period counts from 4am-9am, making the 140GB a practically a marketing gimmick.

Empire23 and I are students of USQ, although this is just my first semester. USQ is well known with its distance education system, as you can see most of the awards it shows on its website relate to distance education. Approximately 3/4 of its students are external, so class size is small and on campus students are relatively, few.

USQ's environment is not as competitive as other famous universities like ANU, UNSW, or UQ, as it is more to serving the needs for education rather than accomplishing academic goals, therefore you see the reason why it doesn't even make into top 500. Don't take my words wrong though, that doesn't mean USQ is bad, in fact it is a good place to study and is still better than most Malaysian education institutes. Small class sizes also mean you get more chances to talk to the lecturer directly.

I'm studying at Toowoomba campus. This place definitely seems boring if you are used to modernized city with many places to go crazy at night, as it really is an urban city without any tall building(i don't consider Heritage's headquarter tall at all!). But since it is small and easy to control people here are really friendly and crime rate is almost zero. Also take into account the lower cost of living as compared to other cities.

I seem like promoting for USQ...but that is what i can think of for the moment. Empire23 is more experienced in USQ, i'm sure he has more to offer than me.

Shit, it's time to study for my upcoming exam this Tuesday.

Where did that happen? I never expected to see cops here acting like ass just like M'sia cops.

Off topic: is your exam over? i would call you hero if you went to work before it's ended.

Mwave does not ship internationally:




Website: http://www.mwave.com/mwave/helptarget.hmx?%20#intl

MSY(www.msy.com.au), as far as i know, is the cheapest PC hardware seller in Australia and only one that operates like lowyat computer shops. Its website sucks but you will be surprised by its price lists.



Item 1 is better. You don't want to pay extra RM350 for same processor and GPU but only with larger disk space and memory.

Lol! Thanks for the information, now i have 2 more sources to consider for my memory upgrade.

Laundry? I do the hard way, wash manually lol. Wash+dry will cost you 4 dollars at least so if you want to do it that way you better bulk all your dirty clothes together to save costs. But yeah, if you have housemates perhaps you can look for 2nd hand machines from students going back home country.

It's completely on your luck when you are buying your own bike. My first bike at K-mart cost me $84, self-assembly required, and the pedals broke after 3 weeks. After waiting for 2 weeks and didn't get it fixed(it seems it takes forever to fix a broken pedal), i decided to get a refund and go get another one at Super Cheap. Original price 179 reduced to 99 due to minor mechanical problem and no warranty.

Buying second hand bike from students has the advantage of 'complete set', which means helmet, bike lamp and bell are included(all 2nd hand of course). Just make sure switching gear is smooth or else you're gonna suffer riding uphill.

Speaking of tax, those who are going to work for the first time in Australia beware of the Tax file number declaration form question 8, you'll need to tick that in order to claim for tax-free threshold(so you don't get taxed too much at least temporarily). I stupidly trusted a guy that it's all good as long as i ticked question 7 to claim as an Australian resident for tax purposes, as a result i got nearly $100 less than what i should have got.

Have you actually compared both of them? A friend of mine told me about a guy who failed few times scoring an average 7.0 but got it done after he took the exam in his own country. It might be mere luck or perhaps it's true that Australian examiners are more strict.

Failed scoring an average 7.0 does not mean 'failed IELTS', you'll want to read my post again carefully. By the way, the reason people are taking IELTS are to either for PR purpose or academic requirement, making it a de facto 'test system' in most people minds, and being unsuccessful in pursuing the required grade is automatically interpreted as 'fail' anyway. I don't know what's the point of looking for the 'true meaning' of IELTS unless you are a lawyer and like to look into words and interpret them. IELTS is expensive, and people sit for it because they are required to do so. Simple as that.

Oh, and haya yes, i do think adding a piece of information about English requirement is a good idea, there're too many people being clueless about English requirement for academic purpose in Australia.

This post has been edited by caspersky: Jan 7 2009, 08:49 AM

I just got back from Gold Coast yesterday so i could tell you the cheapest way(for me) to do that. But be prepared, it may be confusing for first timer.

Upon arrival at the airport, go ask the information centre how to go to Brisbane, Roma Street(it's like a KL central in Brisbane). You'll be told to go to a bus that transfers people between the nearest bus stop and airport. When you reach the nearest bus stop, take route 765 bus(if you're not sure, go ask every single bus that arrives there if they are going to Robina rail station, just don't be shy) to Robina rail station. After that, go take the train from Robina to Roma Street(again, ask the information centre which platform, and what time to be sure). When you arrive at Roma Street, go to the 3rd floor, there are usually some Greyhound buses stopping there. You can pre-book your Greyhound ticket on its website(www.greyhound.com.au). While Greyhound is more popular, TTCoaches offers lower rate($9.95). Just be sure to book one week before or they usually go out quite quickly.

They will stop at Toowoomba bus interchange, where all the domestic buses pass by. Out of 6 routes, only route 2 doesn't provide service to USQ. I assume you are going to Student Village, so just ask the driver if he can remind you when the bus arrives at Student Village. It's located beside to USQ.

Some websites:

Translink bus timetables - Need this from Gold Coast airport to Robina station

Translink train timetables - From Robina rail station to Roma Street

Sunbus timetables - Toowoomba's domestic bus(Sunbus) timetable

The information centre at airport will probably provide the timetable if you ask for one so don't worry about it. Toowoomba's bus timetable will be shown on the signboard as well. Note that Sunbus doesn't operate on Sundays, and the last service normally ends around 6pm. If everything is done correctly you can reach Toowoomba in around 4 hours time. Expect to pay 40-50 bucks for all the services.

This post has been edited by caspersky: Jan 10 2009, 01:39 PM

One thing to note is that if you pack them nicely so they appear to be a commercial product you'll have a higher rate of success. They want to prevent people bringing disasters from outside so if you just seal your local food in a transparent plastic bag i don't think that's going to work.