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Hello Alex and welcome to Íæż½ã½ã!

I may suggest you the Life in Australia Guide, it may be helpful.

I hope that you will enjoy your stay and that other members will help you too.

Good luck,
Harmonie.

Banking.. you can open account from overseas try westpac migrant banking. You will not be able to use the account till you actually in australia so make sure to read and understand the T&Cs
Health insurance depending on the visa type and can cost you from $0(Medicare) to approx $100 per month for avarage cover (try iSelect.com.au)

Sorry just saw this and it's already July.  Hope the winter rains haven't got you down.  It gets better in August and is pretty much over in September. 

Banks-We chose ANZ and I really wish we hadn't.  They are horrible, very poor customer service.  I would also suggest Westpac or NAB.  Once you are here for a bit and have a steady income look into opening a UBank savings account with 6.51% interest.  You can't beat it. 

Health insurance-If you have a 457 visa you have to have health insurance, it's condition of the visa.  Most health insurance companies out there have specific funds for 457 visa holders.  We have Medibank but I have heard that HCF is really good but a bit more expensive.  Your HR department at work might be able to help you out too.  Also don't be afraid to ask if it is part of your benefits at work as an overseas employee.  I have a friend here who gets a top up for her health insurance coverage but no one offered it to her.  If she hadn't asked she would have never got it.

LAFHA-Definitely ask about LAFHA! It's an awesome benefit and makes the cost of living in Sydney much easier but be careful on the tax side of things.  Just Google LAFHA to find out more.

Neighbourhoods-We've moved three times in the past four years.  We first lived in Potts Point (aka Kings Cross) though convenient and surprisingly safe, it was very loud and just got depressing stepping over people past out on the sidewalk from the night before.  From their we moved to Neutral Bay and took the ferry in to work.  An amazing daily commute seeing the Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge every morning.  But we really missed not being closer to the train and at the time we didn't have a car so it was difficult with running errands and things.  We now live i Woollahra by zip code but more Bondi Junction.  We are a five minute walk to train and shops but on the other side of the busy section so it's nice a quite.  Eastern Suburbs are really nice.  Being close to the beaches is great.  BTW If you are here, and the rain lets up, be sure to check out the Winter Festival in Bondi.  Seeing people ice skating on the beach is pretty crazy.

Other neighbourhoods I would suggest checking out-Kirribilli, Newtown (more of a college town feel to it), Pyrmont (though expensive), Glebe and North Sydney. If you don't have a car being close to the train is the best just not too close.

As far as cell phones go, I would just say stay way from Telstra based on their customer service.

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