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02-14-2007, 09:18 PM
| #1 (permalink) |
| Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Croatian location
Posts: 89
 |  Moving to Australia, info & help warmly welcomed
It's official! The next 12 months I'm planning my sweet escape to Australia! Everything I can't find on official sites I'll ask here, hopefully to get a first-hand response from this great lot of you Australian people here. Here are my first inquiries: 1.The three of us moving want to be sure we have enough money to settle there the first six months. So I'm really asking you what do you think would be an average one-month budget for one person (we'll do the math  ) for this needs:1.1. food (three meals a day, home cooking included, water) 1.2. hygiene (cosmetic stuff, home cleaning stuff) 1.3. water (one shower a day on average) 1.4. electricity (average usage) 1.5. anything else there is to pay as a citizen (e.g. garbage disposal) 1.6. public transport (one-day ticket, monthly ticket) 2. Does anyone knows how much a car rental costs? (daily, weekly) 3. Internet connections? (ADSL, ADSL2 would do for a start, also monhly)- but I'll check it before we leave 4.1. a cup of coffe in, say... Golden Coast? 4.2. a big bottle of water? 4.3. one sea-food dinner in an average restaurant? 4.5. one pizza? 5. anything else you can think of that I won't find on official sites? ( feel free to add prices of the stuff you use daily, from shampoos to car gas!) The three of us plan to open a bussiness in Australia, that will be run on the Net. I also plan to go to an Art college there. These days we fell in love with Queensland, Golden Coast (I even found a college that match my occupation),but we're counting on many adaptations to be made and taking unplanned turns on the way. I'll probably be posting new questions here and there, hopefully to get a clearer perspective on Australian life. Again, feel free to post virtually ANY info you find of any importance to me. Thank you who are willing to stick a while here with me! |
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02-15-2007, 11:28 AM
| #2 (permalink) |
| Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 16
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Hello Lilly, I'm finding some of your questions hard to answer because I a. don't live on the goldcoast and b. I think a lot of your qestions are going to be a bit individual. I'll try to give you an idea for some of them, someone living closer to that area may be able to give more specific responses. 1.5. You'll have to pay for water, electricity, telephone connection, (maybe gas, maybe rates on the property depending on if you're buying/renting) 1.6. Most Australian public transport systems go by the amount of time spent traveling and the "zones" you're traveling through. Try this site: TransLink fares and zones 2. Going to depend on what car/how long its rented for etc. Try < https://vroomvroomvroom.com.au/book/...&dosearch=true > as an example. 3. Again going to be pretty variable. Try hunting around different companies. Two that I know cover a wide area include Telstra (ADSL Plans - ADSL Modems - ADSL Broadband Internet - Telstra BigPond) and Optus just to give you an idea (Optus - Personal - Plans & Rates: DSL) but there are heaps of others. Good luck. Jae |
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02-22-2007, 12:43 PM
| #3 (permalink) |
| Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Croatian location
Posts: 89
|  Thanks Jae!
Yes my questions are individual, and asking them on a forum is a good way to get individual answers. Thank you for your time and links, they're good pointers in my search. Have a nice day, Lilly |
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02-22-2007, 12:54 PM
| #4 (permalink) |
| Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 789
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Very good that you have opened this thread because I've also been rolling the thoughtball of moving to Oz and wondered how expensive it would be. Another thing is that I've read that moving to Australia is somewhat complicated.  One more (and bigger) thing is that I don't really even know where I want to stay there...  I know quite a few people from Oz and all corners of the place seem nice.. Also, if I decide to make the move, how do I ensure I have a roof(and I don't mean a car roof ) over my head? Or do I stay in a guesthouse until I find something?
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02-22-2007, 01:11 PM
| #5 (permalink) |
| Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Croatian location
Posts: 89
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There are many ways to go to Oz. You have the biggest advantage because you know people there - who can show you around or even give you a place to stay for a while. I don't think I'll be living in Gold Coast the minute I land there - probably in a town where I know someone who'll help me find a flat or even a part-time job for a starter. The first thing to do is to make enough money for yourself before you go - so you can be sure you won't become homeless in a week. Have enough for at least 2 months without any other income there - hopfully more info will appear on this thread about the prices. Also check the price of the plane ticket to get you there! Most importantly - INFORM yourself. Check the visas at Department of Immigration and Citizenship, make contacts with the people you know from Oz, look for a city you'd like to live in, jobs that are open (that is, if you want to work - I'm looking for a college there! ) After you collect enough info, you'll start thinking about the toughest part - packing and saying goodbyes. can't tell you much on that. Maybe in a month or so... Anyway, stick around and let me know if you make some big steps toward Australia! Good luck to you! |
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02-23-2007, 02:09 AM
| #7 (permalink) | |
| Family Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 1,061
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As Jae said, a lot of the costs you're asking about will vary between individuals, and even vary for one person as their circumstances change. Monthly expenses for everything you listed could be as low as $500 per month, to as high as you want. It is very possible to live comfortably without spending much, but of course what you consider comfortable would be different to someone else. I spend around 75% of my wage on general living expenses, including rent. I'm from Melbourne, so I don't know how much of what I could say applies in Queensland, but here goes: Food: You could get by on $50 per week per person, but if you did you'd probably have to buy only no-name brand stuff. I eat a lot so I regularly double that. Tap water is fine to drink, so I don't know how much bottled water costs. Seems a waste of money to me  Up north I'd expect a sea food dinner would be cheaper than down here, but $15-25 will get you a decent seafood meal, with $25-$35 getting you one that's very good. You can get a large pizza for $10 if you want, but you'd be better off getting one from a decent restaurant and paying the extra $5 to $15. The best pizza I've ever had was $30 for a 20cm square piece. Worth.Every.Cent. The cheapest was $5 I think. It was around the same size at the $30 one, but it tasted like oily cardboard sprinkled with salt and pepper. Car rental: Check out Rent-A-Bomb ADSL: We've still got pretty harsh download limits compared to other developed nations, so if you're used to unlimited bandwidth, be prepared for a change. Prices vary from ~$20 to $100+ per month depending on speed and bandwidth and bundling with other services. Availability of ADSL2/ADSL2+ is limited; different ISPs set up their equipment in different exchanges, so you'll have to check with each ISP to determine if they can supply your area. But ADSL covers most of Australia. iiNet, Internode and Netspace are all very good ISPs, though I'm not sure if they cover the Gold Coast. Petrol prices are a little over $1 per litre. Brisbane I really don't pay attention to the price of day-to-day things, none of it seems expensive. Quote:
As for making sure you can afford to live here, as Lilly said, make sure you have money saved up before you arrive. Spend the first month or two, or however much you can afford, traveling around. Get some part-time work as you're traveling; bar-tending, that sorta thing. As long as you don't bring too much stuff, moving from state to state isn't difficult. Make some contacts and figure out which place you like the most before settling down. For an idea of job availability, check out seek. Accomodation is pretty hard to find at the moment in Melbourne. Prices keep going up, and it seems more and more people are looking. But I've still had plenty of friends move in the last 6 months without too much trouble. Check realestate & www.domain.com.au If you need them there are plenty of hostels around. | |
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02-24-2007, 09:51 AM
| #8 (permalink) |
| Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 8
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Hi Lilly You've received some pretty good advice so far. I live about 1/2 an hour from the Gold Coast so may be able to give you a bit more 'local' info. Rentals are scarce, particularly on the Coast. The cost down there can vary dramatically depending on the season, jumping from $250/week to well over a grand in summer. Where I am (midway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast) a pretty basic 3 bedroom home in the outer suburbs will set you back a minimum of $230 a week. My house has a (nearly) self contained area downstairs with 2 bedrooms and a bathroom, no kitchen - as an example we have recently been advised that we should ask at least $250/week because any tenants would have access to the swimming pool. I feed 3 of us fairly well for an average of $120/week. That's buying nearly all generic products and literally bucket loads of fruit and veg. Mind you, we grow a fair bit of our own as well. Meat is expensive, as is fish, starting with the cheapest possible cuts of either at around $7/kg to an average of $15/kg, with $25/kg being the norm for king prawns or eye fillet steak. A decent seafood meal in Qld will set you back. Fish and chips run at $7 - $10/head. A good meal including prawns, bugs and oysters and you're looking at around $60/head minimum for a smorgasboard (with the exception of a particular RSL Club in Brisbane that charges $25/head or thereabouts!) Alcohol - wine varies from $5 to the sky's the limit for bottled, casks start at around $8 and finish around $20 depending on the brand. Scotch and bourbon will set you back between $30 - $50 per 750ml bottle. Beer starts at around $30 a case for light. Tequila $30 upwards. Water is generally included in your rent unless you use too much. Sorry, I don't know the charges on excess water rates as we're on tank water. On the rare occasion that we run out it costs us $160 for a load that gives us 20,000 litres. Oh, back to rentals. In Qld it's quite difficult to obtain a lease for under 6 months, with 12 months being the norm. You need to budget for 4 weeks rent to be paid as a bond and 2 weeks rent in advance before you get in. Then technically there's another 2 weeks rent to be paid up front because you're supposed to keep your rent in advance at all times. If you're going ADSL you will probably need a landline for your telecommunications and expect to pay a bond on that as well. I'd budget for at least $300 to get the 'phone on. Electricity will also require a bond - the last I heard (and that was about 5 years ago now) it was around $200 unless you already had an account with the provider. My ADSL gives us 12gb of downloads and 14 on off-peak for a cost of $49.95/month. We've bundled to get that rate and run 2 mobile 'phones and the landline as well. Home 'phone rental is around $30/month plus call costs, the mobiles cost an average of $70/month including calls. That's about all I can think of at the moment, I hope it's been of some help. Cheers C. |
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02-26-2007, 08:17 AM
| #9 (permalink) |
| Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Croatian location
Posts: 89
| Great info!
placebo - I have no doubt you read that in a Traveler's guide. In fact, many guides prescribe placebo's for jet lag! Mark - really helpful numbers and facts. I'm very grateful! tipsypixie - I don't mind if you're tipsy (or a pixie), you gave me some great figures! I appreciate your 'local' concern! - maybe even get in touch with you about renting, in a few months... Thanks guys! |
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02-27-2007, 10:05 AM
| #10 (permalink) | |
| Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 789
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02-27-2007, 11:11 AM
| #11 (permalink) | |
| Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 191
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Hi Erki, Mark may have been referring to the fact that Melbourne has actually been voted in the past as "The World's Most Liveable City" - based on factors mentioned below: Quote:
Hope that helps! Cheers, Claire | |
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02-27-2007, 09:51 PM
| #13 (permalink) |
| Family Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 1,061
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Yup Erki, it's as Claire said. I haven't traveled extensively (yet), but nowhere that I have traveled has felt as welcoming as Melbourne, in terms of ease of finding a multitude of things to do, and places to eat. And I've moved around a lot within Melbourne, and everywhere has been comfortable to live in, with relatively easy access to transport, shopping, schools (not so good for me, but good if you've got school-age kids), etc. I've got friends who grew up in Perth and now live in Melbourne. One thing they particularly like about Melbourne in comparison is that in Perth, to find a good place to do, say, yoga, you might have to travel 40 minutes to get to the venue. Here, close to the city, you could probably take your pick from about 3 within 15 mins travel. The same applies for other fairly common activities. And where I used to live in Richmond, there were about 20 bars/pubs within a 1km radius of my flat (my friends were bored one night so they counted). Our public transport is not the best, but as long as you make yourself aware of it's issues, you'll be fine. |
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03-03-2007, 10:49 AM
| #14 (permalink) |
| Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 8
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Hi again everyone My apologies for not being back sooner, I've been a bit busy. This IM thing has kept me hopping lately! Lilly, you are more than welcome to ask anything about this area any time you like. Erki, don't believe everything Mark tells you about Melbourne. Ava Gardener stated "... Melbourne is the perfect place to shoot a film about the end of the world" after filming Neville Shute's 'On The Beach' here in 1959 and I don't believe the tone was flattering! Mark, please don't take offense. Just a bit of ribbing from a Queenslander to a Victorian  . I truly am just teasing, we moved here from Tasmania and miss it heaps. Melbourne (well, Victoria in general) is fabulous, particularly the food and nightlife. However, if you want to really enjoy the sand and sun you really do need to be a little further north. Me, I'd rather the food.Cheers C. |
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06-11-2007, 09:00 AM
| #15 (permalink) |
| Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 8
|  I'll help if I can
Hi Lily I live on the Gold Coast. I moved here from Melbourne (Melbourne is about 1700Km to the south) on the first of May this year .... 42 days ago.) Even though I have lived in Australia all my life I do not have any friends in this area. I have been thinking for some time that I wanted to get away from Melbourne's depressing winters and the lady I was living with in Melbourne said the relationship was not working for her so I agreed to go. It was just the push I needed. I drove here and it took me two days. When I got here I had no idea of exactly where I was going to live ... I was thinking of the Sunshine Coast (which is North of Brisbane) ...but when I went there I had this nagging feeling it was not the right time for me to live there yet. I drove back to the Gold Coast and it felt right. I slept in my car for 5 nights while I drove around looking for the right place to live. I found there is plenty of share accommodation available and I eventually found exactly what I was looking for. It is on the northern end of the Gold Coast ... I share a 3 bedroom house with one other man. The house is in a new estate and is only about 3 years old. I am paying AUS $120 per week which includes utilities i.e. Water electricity Broadband Internet access and telephone including local calls. My bedroom is furnished and I have the use of my own bathroom and toilet. I am on a week to week basis with the rent and all I have to do is give 3 weeks notice when I want to leave. I know I did not come from overseas ... and I know there are 3 of you and I am on my own, but at least it will give you an ideas of what is possible as I only arrived 42 days ago. If you have an idea of when you will be coming here and have an idea of want you want in the way of accommodation let me know and I will see what I can find for you. Also you might like to have a look at Cronet.com.au It will give you an indication of the support your fellow countrymen who are already in Australia will give you. I now know what it is like to go and settle somewhere where you do not know any one If you want any further help then Email me at StewartC@westnet.com.au and I will do what I can to help. Stewart |
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06-21-2007, 12:06 PM
| #17 (permalink) |
| Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Croatian location
Posts: 89
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StewartC - thank you for your insights and your kind offer. I'll save your email adress in case I have some questions. Thanks for the link, too! Dolazy - I haven't applied yet. Some events have slowed the whole process down, but I'm getting back on track. I plan to apply for bussiness visa - in case I find someone who'd sponsor me and/or my company. I must say, an incredible synchronicity has followed my intention of moving to Oz. From original two of us moving, we came to a number of 5. One of has an uncle there. Then, a neighbour of mine that's been living in Sydney for the past 17 years came unexpectedly and gave me some great insights on AU life. Lately I've been browsing New Zealand web sites, and two weeks ago, I find out a friend of mine has had a NZ visa during early 90's - more info for me! I thank you all for being interested, and promise to keep you posted on this. Regards, djurdjica |
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06-21-2007, 01:58 PM
| #18 (permalink) |
| Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Croatia
Posts: 448
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Hi Djurdjica! I am planning to go Down Under too in the 1st half of 2k8. also in Queensland area , prob. Surfers Paradise but we will see... Only problem i see in moving to Aussie is that there is a major capping on broadband lines and finding a good flat-rate provider will be a pain in the a## as it seems... Make a post again here in local group for Queensland/Brisbane area so we could make a newbie-Aussies get-together... Patrick |
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06-21-2007, 03:48 PM
| #19 (permalink) | |
| Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Croatian location
Posts: 89
| Quote:
I'm sending you PM right away. | |
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07-23-2007, 06:16 AM
| #20 (permalink) |
| Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 1
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I know this thread is a bit old but if you're seriously moving you proabably want as much info as you can get. My general costs: I live in Sydney in an oldish 2 bedroom apartment around 13km from the city. Rent is $220 a week, including water. Train is $26 a week (cheaper if you buy by the month or year, see http://cityrail.info and click fare calculator on the bottom right for Sydney train prices). Two of us spend under $100 a week on all groceries (so covering your food and hygiene points) but we rarely eat out. You can see the price of groceries at Coles Online - Let Coles Online do the shopping for you. Coles is one of our major supermarkets, although I usually buy from aldi ( ALDI Australia ) which has less range but is cheaper. ADSL and phone we pay around $50 a month (don't make many calls but download quite a lot although are only on 512). I think for gas and electricity we pay around $100 a month. Don't have to pay for garbage disposal - I think it's included in the rates which only the owner of the property pays. I don't buy water - just drink tap water. You can get pizza hut style take away pizza for under $6. Where to live when you get here? I think Real Estate, Property, Land and Homes for Sale, lease and rent - realestate.com.au has almost every property available in Australia - enough that I wouldn't spend time looking elsewhere. As someone mentioned rental properties will almost always require at least a 6 month lease with 6 weeks rent payable up front. While you're looking for one, check out a hidden feature on that site - Holiday Rentals. These won't require any minimum time although the rent won't be as cheap as on a lease, sometimes it's not much more and they're usually fully furnished. The link is on the left menu bar on the Rental Properties tab (or at Real Estate, Property, Land and Homes for Sale, lease and rent - realestate.com.au. Alternatively that site also has Share Accommodation which probably isn't as good if there are three of you, or do a search for house sitting sites. You might be able to find a fully furnished house to live in for a month or two for free if you're not too fussy about where it is and you're prepared to feed the cat. Personally if it were me though (especially if it were my first time in Australia), I would buy/rent a caravan/campervan. There are some nice caravan parks, right near the beach in some places (although probably not so good for capital cities), and you could travel around and get a feel for where you wanted to live. Basically all accomodation (not houses but caravan parks, hotels etc) get rated by the AAA (Australian Automobile Club?) who used to put out a book with all the caravan parks and information about them. What's the cheapest car hire? In Sydney and Perth it's Bayswater Car Rental ... no birds although they've only got one type of car. You can get it for $15 a day if you stick to their conditions. It might be possible to get cheaper rental if you were renting for months. I think quite a lot of backpackers who come here who are staying for a few month buy cheapish cars and then sell them quite cheaply when they leave so buying one of them might be an option. What ADSL options do we have? Well the options might not be great but there is a great site listing them all. Whirlpool - Australian Broadband News and click on broadband choice on the left and then plan search. I even check it every few months to see if I should be changing. I don't really think people need unlimited downloads by the way. Oh and anyone from Melbourne has to expect me to say this - Sydney is much better than Melbourne Just saw where you're from - I'm in Croatia at the moment but am going home tomorrow after 3 months holidays. Yay! |
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