Living In Sydney

Since we are a small boutique film school we don't have on campus accommodation, but Sydney is full of great places to live.

When you first arrive most of you will probably need temporary accommodation until you have a good look round Sydney and choose an area to live that suits you, so enrolling students from both interstate and overseas are sent information on establishments that cater for students. Costs range from $175 a week, for twin share plus breakfast and evening meal to $310 a week for room, bath and light breakfast.

Once settled in some students wish to share rented accommodation. The national weekend papers have a large section for rental accommodation and you have a wide choice of locations. Bondi and Manly are often the choice of those who love to surf, others like the buzz of living in the centre of Sydney whilst quite a number like to be close to us so they don't have to get up too early !

There are buses from the city, Bondi Junction and Manly to Artarmon, but if you want to live close to APA, check out the lower north shore areas of Artarmon, St. Leonards, Crows Nest, North Sydney or Chatswood. You can get your bearings by visiting www.whereis.com.au.

Our present students are paying between $100 and $165 a week when sharing a 2/3 bedroom unit. A studio or 1 bedroom unit start at around $200 a week. Obviously these prices are never static so we suggest you visit www.domain.com.au to check things out. The local newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald, www.smh.com.au has a house/unit rental section every Wednesday and Saturday.

Some people like Homestay to start with and there are two Homestay networks operating in Sydney. With this type of accommodation you stay with a family. You have a single room and are supplied with breakfast and evening meals and lunches at weekends. In some instances breakfast and 3 or 4 evening meals only are supplied. If this appeals you can contact the Homestay organisations via email to get more information on their current rates. Their websites are www.homestay.com.au and www.homestaynetwork.com.au which has its base close to APA International Film School.

Beaches

Sydney beaches are beautiful, but they can be dangerous for swimmers. We are lucky enough to have volunteer life guards via a network of Surf Clubs who patrol our beaches on weekends and public holidays. They check for rips and put up Flags to indicate where it is safe to swim, so please remember when swimming at any of our beaches to 'Swim between the Flags'.

National Parks and Wildlife

There are a number of National Parks around Sydney with lots of tracks for bush walking. You may see the occasional kangaroo or wallaby, but generally they sleep during the day. If you rent a house you will often find you have an uninvited tenant, the bushtail possum. They, too sleep during the day and come out at night. They are very cute and friendly, but for their sake it's best not to feed them. Australia has lots of colourful birds and in Sydney cockatoos, lorikeets, galahs, kookaburras and pelicans will be amongst the birds you will see.