YouTube - Three State Ride

YouTube - Three State Ride - 12 Days, 3 states. Nice ride over Great Ocean Road, too.

YouTube - Great Ocean Ride (part 2 of 2)

YouTube - Great Ocean Ride (part 2 of 2)

YouTube - Great Ocean Ride (part 1 of 2)

YouTube - Great Ocean Ride (part 1 of 2) - Beautiful.

AUSTRALIA FINANCIAL MARKETS: Australian Stocks, Australia Bonds, Australian Dollar Exchange Rate Currency Market

AUSTRALIA FINANCIAL MARKETS: Australian Stocks, Australia Bonds, Australian Dollar Exchange Rate Currency Market - an interesting link to Australia-related financial sites.

Euro to Australian Dollar Exchange Rate - Yahoo! Finance

Euro to Australian Dollar Exchange Rate - Yahoo! Finance
- Another exchange rate graph. OzForex charts are down tonight so I'm finding another interesting and reliable ones.

Euro Exchange Rate Graph - Australian Dollar - Historical Exchange Rates

Euro Exchange Rate Graph - Australian Dollar - Historical Exchange Rates - interesting configurable exchange rate graph. (Today the rates are good. ) Change the URL to accommodate for any desired number of days to display in the graph.

List of money-related forums and discussion boards at Mighty Bargain Hunter

List of money-related forums and discussion boards at Mighty Bargain Hunter - list of forums. I prefer blogs for the moment. :S

Australians Should Move Money Into High Interest Bank Accounts < Rambling Thoughts Blog - Neerav Bhatt

Australians Should Move Money Into High Interest Bank Accounts - A review of a few online savings accounts. Valuable info.

Basic Tax Tips Anyone Can Follow: Save Money, Pay Less Tax < Rambling Thoughts Blog - Neerav Bhatt

Basic Tax Tips Anyone Can Follow: Save Money, Pay Less Tax <> - Additional financial advice.

Medical Insurance

Search by features - Search all medical insurance providers in Australia. A tool for selecting an insurance policy.

Enough Wealth: How to Halve the Amount of Tax you Pay

Enough Wealth: How to Halve the Amount of Tax you Pay - An argument that supports getting a margin loan (gearing) to invest.

Dell Recommended Inspiron

Dell Recommended Inspiron - Hm, another good laptop pick. $999 Inspiron with 2GB of RAM, 120GB of disk, and ATI graphics card. I should list these deals somewhere as I tend to forget some good deals I've found before. This Dell model offers quite good price/performance ratio.

welcome to iSIM

welcome to iSIM - Currently my GSM provider pick. I just love when things change, especially if it's for the better. As time passes there could be better deals.
Virgin mobile is also a good option if the mobile is used more. Calls from Virgin home phone are free and the rates are great. The only drawback is that the $25 credit expires in 45 days. So, if the phone is used it's worth it. Otherwise, use iSim or SavvyTel to have a pager and an emergency phone access. :)

Get a good rental deal | NEWS.com.au

Get a good rental deal | NEWS.com.au - Read before going for an apartment inspection. :)

My Laptop Pick

Currently, this is my laptop pick - Acer Aspire for $1099. Features 2GB RAM, Turion processor, 160GB hard drive, and lots of little things more. Yesterday I saw a good deal on Dell. Inspiron 1420 costs $1099, and 1520 costs $1199 but 1GB RAM only.

These deals matches between Laptop.com.au and Dell.com.au are like horse races. :) Today, Laptop is in the lead. I'm looking forward to see what happens until January. Only 2 months left. :S

Welcome to PennyTel

Welcome to PennyTel - PennyTel rates. Another VoIP provider in Australia. Probably the best rates currently available. People use it to place calls to Australian mobile numbers.

Bosnia & Herzegovina	0.17106
Bosnia & Herzegovina Mobile	0.30212

VS MyNetFone

	Bosnia & Herz.	Landline		387	$0.295
	Bosnia & Herz.	Mobile		387	$0.525

Human Services Portfolio | Office of Access Card

Human Services Portfolio | Office of Access Card - Access Card FAQ page on how to register. The registration will occur at Centrelink, Medicare and selected Australia Post outlets. Need to bring proof of identity documents. In my case this is the foreign passport and a current Australian visa.
Use of Identity documents, 2 required: account statement from a bank and a driving licence.

Benefits

Benefits - From 2008 Access Card should replace Medicare card and some other cards. This one is needed to complete the 100 points test along with the foreign passport and a driving licence. Bank debit card also brings additional 25 points.

The Sydney Morning Herald Blogs: Chew on This

The Sydney Morning Herald Blogs: Chew on This - Red legumes - dahl; recipes.

Virgin Broadband - Wishlist - Virgin - Wireless ISPs

Virgin Broadband - Wishlist - Virgin - Wireless ISPs: "* National dial-up access (for travellers)" - What an interesting idea... A dialup over Virgin home phone, lol. At least in theory.

In-depth review: Virgin Broadband's home HSDPA broadband service | APC Magazine

In-depth review: Virgin Broadband's home HSDPA broadband service | APC Magazine: "As a sidenote, one interesting possibility with the modem is the ability to forward all calls on the modem's landline number to a Virgin Mobile number. Since all calls to Virgin Mobile numbers are free of charge, you then effectively have a mobile phone with a local number attached to it. To achieve this, you have to take the SIM card out of the modem, put it in a mobile phone and set the call forwarding rules (I tested this, and it worked.) It can't be done through the modem interface, as it doesn't have any settings for call forwarding, and the regular Telstra landline call forwarding code *21[number]# didn't work when dialled."
A cool tip.

Optus Network Coverage Maps

Optus Network Coverage Maps - The name says it all. Optus network 3G coverage map. Virgin.

2.1 GHz - 3G, VBB

2.1 GHz - 3G, VBB - RFI sells antennas that can be used with Virgin Broadband.
Should I even mention that I'm excited by all the info I get so far, way before even getting to Australia? :)

Whirlpool Broadband Forums

Whirlpool Broadband Forums - The best place to find info. Currently I'm looking for an external antenna for Virgin's home modem. The reception could be enhanced.

In-depth review: Virgin Broadband's home HSDPA broadband service | APC Magazine

In-depth review: Virgin Broadband's home HSDPA broadband service | APC Magazine - Excellent review of Virgin Broadband at Home. I'm drooling...

Virgin Broadband poised to slaughter Telstra's landline profit | APC Magazine

Virgin Broadband poised to slaughter Telstra's landline profit | APC Magazine: "At the Virgin Broadband press launch today, a company spokesman said that people who signed up for the home broadband service would be free to take their modem anywhere they liked and use it from a data perspective."
- Can this be true?? :D

IMPORTANT CUSTOMER INFORMATION – YOUR RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

IMPORTANT CUSTOMER INFORMATION – YOUR RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS - iSim Prepaid Summary. Useful info, since it can not be find easily on their site.

Mobile phones, great rates, free voicemail in Oz: that's Virgin Mobile Australia!

Mobile phones, great rates, free voicemail in Oz: that's Virgin Mobile Australia! - Virgin mobile prepaid rates.

MyNetFone - Your VoIP Broadband Phone Service - International Rates

MyNetFone - Your VoIP Broadband Phone Service - International Rates: "B Bosnia & Herz. Landline 387 $0.295 Bosnia & Herz. Mobile 387 $0.525 Bosnia & Herz. Mobile BHT 387 $0.525 Bosnia & Herz. Mobile Eronet 387 $0.525 Bosnia & Herz. Mobile Srpske 387 $0.525"

MyNetFone - Your VoIP Broadband Phone Service - Support

MyNetFone - Your VoIP Broadband Phone Service - Support - MyNetFone uses SIP. This means receiving free calls from family via soft phone. Interesting.

MyNetFone - Your VoIP Broadband Phone Service - Whirlpool

MyNetFone - Your VoIP Broadband Phone Service - Whirlpool - A special offer for Whirlpool users. Heh, what a coincidence, I did my first forum reply today.

Prices

Prices - Virgin Broadband prices, call prices. Bosnia is Group 3, so it's expensive. At least there is no difference between landlines and mobiles.

vbb - information

vbb - information - Virgin Home Broadband tips from the user perspective. Excellent site.
Relocation is free, that's perfect.

Broadband At Home

Broadband At Home - Siki suggested Home Broadband package as it goes through 3G! I never suspected that. This is an interesting deal, then.
Now I'm thinking of getting that one (fixed phone number - 03, plus a broadband with 4GB download AND 128kbps reduction after that, which is quite enough for VoIP).
Aside from that, having a mobile number is a must so a pre-paid with SavvyTel would be ok as their credit never expire. Useful for receiving calls / pager. Their SMS is 15c.

Virgin also offers $5 discount for mobile users. Need to investigate that option as well.

Stop the world Mummy, I want to get off...: Free Wireless in Melbourne

Stop the world Mummy, I want to get off...: Free Wireless in Melbourne - As the name says, Free WiFi in Melbourne, Australia. Will desperately need this in the first few days.

Is It Better to Buy or Rent? - New York Times

Is It Better to Buy or Rent? - New York Times
Rent vs. Buy calculator

Flemington Cycles

Flemington Cycles
A bicycle shop in the vicinity of the apartment. :D

Facebook | Marketplace

Facebook | Marketplace
Interesting stuff being sold or given away. Classifieds, misc. kitchen stuff, etc.

Dell Recommended Inspiron

Dell Recommended Inspiron
Inspiron 1501 for about $1000. Things change quickly. There will obviously be other changes (for the better) until January. So far, AMD processors are OK. The systems are generally cheaper than Intel's.

Photos: Kensington Apartment

Kensington Apartment
The photos of an apartment I'm looking to rent in Melbourne.