yasmina or any other australian peeps respond....

[spongebob]

Brisbane is close to the best beaches in the country from what I have seen and been told as well. Queensland is gorgeous and is near the Great Barrier Reef, and so many gorgeous white sand beaches (Whitsundays). Very laid back culture there. Is GD from Queensland? I can't remember. Either there or NT.

Anyway, as an American who has moved and lived in Australia (Melbourne), it's not THAT big of a change culturally. It's a merger between American and British culture, therefore you kind of get the best of both worlds with beautiful scenery to boot. I loved my time there and met so many great people. I hope to go back sometime soon.

Anyway, it is different obviously, and you are very very far from the rest of the world, but once you get immersed in the culture and people, you don't really care anymore. I do agree visiting first is the best way to go, but at the same time, visiting isn't living there. There is a big difference. You can go on vacation somewhere but not experience what it is like to live there. You basically just have to go for it and dive in head first. My guess is that you wouldn't regret it at all.

i would probably love it. but what is the cost of living like? youve lived there and are familiar with saleries and cost of living here right?

 

[BUBBLES]

well the job is in brisbane. but its probably a long shot and im not sure i could really do it. i mean it sounds so exciting to do it but we would be leaving some heartbroken people here, lol.

but what is the cost of living like in brisbane. say we were making roughly roughly 125k? is that good, bad avg?

That dollar figure is great and you will have such a confortable life especially in Brisbane. You could buy a huge house with a swimmingpool etc.

Brisbane, the Capital city of Queensland is less than half the cost of living than the world’s most expensive cities. At the same time it is also ranked in the world’s top 30 cities for quality of life. The cost for accommodation, transport, food and entertainment is average for Australia but significantly cheaper than Sydney.


Item
Unit AUD$
Milk
1 litre $1.57
Cheese
500g $3.46
Butter
500g $2.14
Bread White Loaf Sliced
650g $2.67
Breakfast Cereal Corn
550g $3.20
Self Raising Flour
2kg $3.52
Chocolate
250g $3.20
Laundry Detergent
1kg $5.05
Tiolet Paper (4x260 sheets)
4 rolls $2.86
Lamb: Forquarter Chops
1kg $8.21
Beef: Rump Steak
1kg $16.49
Corned Silverside
1kg $7.18
Pork Loin Chops
1kg $11.40
Chicken, Frozen
1kg $4.11
Bacon, middle rashers
250g $3.60
Potatoes
1kg $1.30
Onions
1kg $2.33
Oranges
1kg $1.15
Peaches Canned
825g $2.32
Eggs 55g
1 dozen $3.20
Sugar, white
2kg $2.01
Tea Bags
180g $3.40
Coffee, instant jar
150g $5.56
Margarine
500g $2.22
Petrol Unleaded
1litre $0.90

The above figures were obtained from data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (Average Retail Prices of selected Items Catalogue No:6403.0).

Read this website: www.abs.gov.au


Utility Charges


Gas Account Application Fee

Security Deposit

Supply Charge
$27.50

$65.00

$27.58 (incl GST) for 90 days


Plus 1.8202 cents per MJ for first 4500 MJ

then 1.1721 cents per MJ in excess of 4500 MJ

Electricity Account Application Fee

Supply Fee

Charges apply 1.4.03-31.12.03

1.1.06-31.3.04
$30.69(inc GST)

$30.71(inc GST) / 90 days(34.13 Cents/day)

18.887 cents per KW hour

20.944 cents per KW hour

Telephone Connection Fee

(If outlet already exists)

Standard line rental

Local Call Charges

Public Phone

Between $59 and $125

$23.50 per month

20 cents per call

40 cents per call


The above figures were obtained from the utility providers.

All prices are quoted in Australia dollars (AUS$)


We're Top for Cheap Shopping
ADELAIDE is the cheapest capital city in the nation in which to shop, say figures released last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The cost of a typical basket of 48 goods in Adelaide was $193.44 - significantly cheaper than Perth, the most expensive city, where the same basket tallied $211.66, an extra $18.22.

Sydney was ranked the second most expensive city to shop at $205.65, followed by Melbourne $199.95, Hobart $197.67 and Brisbane $197.01.

The survey, taken in the December quarter, showed Adelaide had the cheapest price for 16 of the 48 grocery goods.

Only three items - onions, tomatoes and middle bacon rashers - were more expensive here than any other capital city.

But South Australians made significant savings on their countrymen in several other categories.

Those with sweet tooths will be glad to know the typical price for a 250g block of milk chocolate was $2.93 in Adelaide, 15c cheaper than nearest rival Sydney and 64c less expensive than Hobart.

Adelaide also recorded the cheapest prices of all capital cities for baby food, canned pineapple, oranges, breakfast cereal, flour, bread, rice, laundry detergent, toilet paper and pet food.


While oranges averaged just $1.21/kg in Adelaide, people in Perth were paying $3.36/kg

Tomatoes here, however, were $3.86/kg on average for the December quarter compared to $3.11/kg in Brisbane.

Meanwhile, the price of a litre of unleaded petrol in Brisbane averaged just 79c, compared to 85.6c in Adelaide and 88.9c in the most expensive capital city Hobart. And drinkers in Adelaide' pubs paid more for a nip of scotch ($4.24) or a schooner of full strength beer ($2.54) than any other capital city except Perth ($4.33 and $2.77).
From the Sunday Mail 10 February 2002

 

[slickdadd]

i would probably love it. but what is the cost of living like? youve lived there and are familiar with saleries and cost of living here right?

I think it would be pretty comprable in Brisbane. Melbourne is a lot bigger city and a bit more crowded so the cost of living is higher there, but I am pretty sure Brisbane is very reasonable. Even in Melbourne once you get in the suburbs the housing isn't too bad. It just depends on the area you are from now I guess. Like Sydney for instance is absolutely astounding in terms of house prices and such. It just keeps increasing and increasing due to the consistent influx of people over the past 20 years or so. If you could have bought property there earlier and sold it now you'd make an absolute killing. As for everything else it is just about the same as it here in the states.

Plus in terms of salaries and so forth I am pretty sure you get more vacation time, as just about any country compared to the U.S. does. Although it's not quite as high as those in Europe.

Cost of living is basically really good anywhere in the country aside from areas within Melbourne and Sydney I would guess.

Being in Hawaii just about anything else seems like it is great cost of living though