It is possible to commute from either base but you probably wont have to wait long for a SYD base. The rumour network has it opening by the end of the year as the SYD flight deck get more numbers. At the moment if you want to become a Capt then SYD is where the offer is. So once they have enough TC the CC possibly wont be far behind. Also one of the bus drivers in SYD has been told that they wont be needed soon as the base is opening up.
As far as salary goes you can get that from
www.wagenet.gov.au option 2 then search for virgin blue. Its hard to work it out exactly but at least you can see all the ins and outs for yourself. This EBA is under negotiation but in the mean time the 2002-2005 document is what we are still running on. I myself am averaging about $1800 clear per fortnight for the past financial year. This includes base wage, allowances, overnights, available days, overtime, commission, etc. The base wage is just under $1400 clear per fortnight if you dont get any of the above. My biggest ever is $2300 and in the last 12 months I probably have only gone over $2000 less than 10 times.
Of the current group of trainees the average age would be 30 and they have a mixture of aviation and non aviation backgrounds. Internal transfer is another way to go if you are desperate to work for
VB. It seems that they are constantly advertising for transfers.
All the best.