Moving to Penang - want to be near ex pats

Hi all,
My wife and I are looking at taking 12 months (or more) of work and living in Penang.  We have been looking at anywhere between Georgetown, along the coast and all the way up to the northern area.  We have lots of questions at this stage but a couple of important ones I guess:
- We won't be working so as far as visas are concerned I believe we get three months and provided we leave and then come back we will get another three months (is this correct?)
- We really want to be around Aussie ex-pats so would appreciate any advice about which areas are best (we are looking at a condo).  We do not have kids.
- We have a cat and a dog so I guess would like to know the attitude of landlords in the condo's to pets.
- My wife is 50 an I am 55.  We love the restaurants and pubs, socialising etc. hence why we chose Penang.
- We are looking at exploring Asia from time to time and using Malaysia as a home base.
That's probably the important stuff.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  We are looking at coming over in November as a investigative tour prior to moving.
Cheers
Andy Frances