Why it's cheaper to live in Australia

[rozellem]

People put old furniture out in the UK too. More than half of our house there was furnished that way. I even slept on a kerb side mattress for many years. No issues.

In Sydney, a single adult trip to the zoo is $44. A anual pass is $125 and a transferable anual adult pass is $135. Kids under 4 go free. So, we go to the zoo once a week and take a different friend each time with the extra pass. Its paid for itself over and over. Being a friend of the zoo also reduces your parking from $16 to $6.

[Fish]

I know of South Bank and it's ok, but prefer to spend $11 at Palace because I often go to 'different' movies that don't go to the mainstream places. Also James Street or Barracks Palace vs. South Bank is chalk & cheese for venue quality. But yes I hear you. I should do that more for mainstream stuff

Yeah I agree, South Bank was a bit of mess the last time I went...too many teenagers ....Balmoral seems good, not sure about Hawthorne and Victoria Point.

The Palace Barracks is my local and the movie club seems a good deal. Worst coffee ever though !! ...had to throw that in as I had one the other day and it still lingers

[Fish]

Always think these $99 annual unlimited visit passes to three major theme parks are great value if you live nearby:

"For a limited time only, buy a VIP Pass and get a free upgrade to VIP GOLD which gives you:

- UNLIMITED entry to Movie World, Sea World and Wet’n’Wild until 30 June 2013

- PLUS one entry into Movie World’s Fright Nights and White Christmas events (tickets limited, must be prebooked)"

Gets you unlimited entry for a year into:

http://movieworld.com.au/

http://seaworld.com.au/

http://wetnwild.com.au/

See: https://myfun.com.au...s/vip-gold.aspx

Edited October 25, 2012 by Fish

[Bronwyn&Co]

Always think these $99 annual unlimited visit passes to three major theme parks are great value if you live nearby:

"For a limited time only, buy a VIP Pass and get a free upgrade to VIP GOLD which gives you:

- UNLIMITED entry to Movie World, Sea World and Wet’n’Wild until 30 June 2013

- PLUS one entry into Movie World’s Fright Nights and White Christmas events (tickets limited, must be prebooked)"

Gets you unlimited entry for a year into:

http://movieworld.com.au/

http://seaworld.com.au/

http://wetnwild.com.au/

See: https://myfun.com.au...s/vip-gold.aspx

Fish the Palace movie club thing is well worth it! I don't think I've tried the coffee yet. I'll give it a miss then.

And I wanted to say, damn! I wish I'd known about the above before booking Fright Night for my daughter last Saturday! That was $40 alone

Edited October 25, 2012 by Bronwyn&Co

[Emille]

i have found that a good indication of what 'buying power' you have here with a dollar is to multiply it with 3

[Gl!tter~Sm!tter]

i have found that a good indication of what 'buying power' you have here with a dollar is to multiply it with 3

Emille, please explain?

[dazzmatazz]

i have found that a good indication of what 'buying power' you have here with a dollar is to multiply it with 3

I find that 4 makes more sense to me.

[Bronwyn&Co]

I find that 4 makes more sense to me.

I think it used to be 3 and now it's 4

But how do we explain it? Emile!? Dazz!?

[HansaPlease]

3.67 for me.

Actually I don't know what we're talking about, just sounds good so I thought I'd throw a figure out there...

[Bronwyn&Co]

Ok I've had a think. Actually I asked my better half, lol, because we agreed on 3 about 2 years ago, so he knows what I'm on about... Here goes (in very general terms):

Assuming $1 equals R1 (it doesn't but let's pretend). Then something you buy for $1 will often cost you about 3-4 times in Rands.

Say rent on a house in Aus is $400 a week. You might pay R1,200 per week in SA. Say an avocado costs $3, it might cost R9 in SA. Say a hamburger costs $8 in Australia, it might cost R24 in SA.

Due to the increased cost of living in SA I now think that that real multiple is closer to 4.

Maybe Hansa is spot on without knowing it.

This obviously bears no correlation to the real exchange rate, it's more a comparison guide that starts to dawn on you after a few months here.

[Mikej]

The other thing in Australia is that you get what you pay for.

This is a big difference with SA, In Australia you really do get what you pay for and you are protected by all sorts of consumer organisations who really have teeth.

Another saving I noticed was insurance in general, others have mentioned medical and life insurance but not car and household insurance. In SA our comprehensive cover for a R108,000 car (2006) was R1800 per month with a R2000 Xcess for accidents and a R15,000 Xcess in the case of a highjacking. In Australia our cover for a $15,000 car (2007) was $37 per month, no Xcess and includes a hire car and 3 days hotel accomodation if we are out of town.

Our biggest expense in SA was all the combined insurances (medical aid, life, car and household)

[Gl!tter~Sm!tter]

Ok I've had a think. Actually I asked my better half, lol, because we agreed on 3 about 2 years ago, so he knows what I'm on about... Here goes (in very general terms):

Assuming $1 equals R1 (it doesn't but let's pretend). Then something you buy for $1 will often cost you about 3-4 times in Rands.

Say rent on a house in Aus is $400 a week. You might pay R1,200 per week in SA. Say an avocado costs $3, it might cost R9 in SA. Say a hamburger costs $8 in Australia, it might cost R24 in SA.

Due to the increased cost of living in SA I now think that that real multiple is closer to 4.

Maybe Hansa is spot on without knowing it.

This obviously bears no correlation to the real exchange rate, it's more a comparison guide that starts to dawn on you after a few months here.

T H A N K Y O U!!!

[Scribe]

awesome post. Thank you

[dazzmatazz]

Ok I've had a think. Actually I asked my better half, lol, because we agreed on 3 about 2 years ago, so he knows what I'm on about... Here goes (in very general terms):

Assuming $1 equals R1 (it doesn't but let's pretend). Then something you buy for $1 will often cost you about 3-4 times in Rands.

Say rent on a house in Aus is $400 a week. You might pay R1,200 per week in SA. Say an avocado costs $3, it might cost R9 in SA. Say a hamburger costs $8 in Australia, it might cost R24 in SA.

Due to the increased cost of living in SA I now think that that real multiple is closer to 4.

Maybe Hansa is spot on without knowing it.

This obviously bears no correlation to the real exchange rate, it's more a comparison guide that starts to dawn on you after a few months here.

Hi Bron

Well said. I have heard of it been referred to as the "Mac Meal" principle. MacDonalds is available in most countries in the world and by comparing the cost of a big mac meal in each county you can get an indication of the comparison rather than direct exchange. Of course a loaf of bread, 2lt Coke etc all together compared give a better indication.

When coming over for the first time and having your Rands that you converted, you have to use 1 to 9 but when you working out a budget and you know you are going to be earning $ then I found that 4 was a better measure for understanding the cost of living in OZ.

As an example of the inflation in SA. Our family eats quite a lot of lean beef mince. At PnP 18 months ago is was around R49 per kg now it is over R60 per kg. Milk was R5.99 now it is R7.50. A loaf of Albany Superior white bread was R8.99 now it is R10.50. The increases are absolutely scary. Oh well only 3.5 months more of this and we are in OZ .

[Bronwyn&Co]

Ok so I went to look in my freezer. Extra Lean mince $14 per kilo, we buy longlife box milks from Aldi for 99c, but in Coles they are $1,50 per litre. Fresh milk is a bit more I think. Bread is about $3 per loaf for middle of the range quality.

Seems x 4 is just about right

Edited October 26, 2012 by Bronwyn&Co

[Fish]

Ok so I went to look in my freezer. Extra Lean mince $14 per kilo, we buy longlife box milks from Aldi for 99c, but in Coles they are $1,50 per litre. Fresh milk is a bit more I think. Bread is about $3 per loaf for middle of the range quality.

Seems x 4 is just about right

Coles fresh milk is $1 per litre. Branded milk is more.

Edited October 26, 2012 by Fish

[Bronwyn&Co]

Coles fresh milk is $1 per litre. Branded milk is more.

I haven't bought fresh milk for a while, obviously!

[Riekie]

RAD, you said it so right: you need a radical change of mindset. So many South Africans struggle here because they still try to keep up with the Jones'.

No one cares where you live or work or what car you drive. The average Aussie BBQ consist of a few snags, or if you're lucky, a lamb chop accompanied by a slice of bread and a frw green things chucked in a bowl. When South Africans have a "braai" it has to be "blue bull steaks", boerewors and chicken for good measure. Add to that the array of salads, potato bake, mieliepap and baked dessert, not to mention the endless supply of Castle beers...

If you start living and thinking like the Aussies, you'll have the best life; cheap, carefree, no dramas...

[zamunda]

Let me put "value for money" in a different perspective

This year when we were in Melbourne my wife bought a dress at a season clearance sale for $5.00. Thats about R45.00.

Two weeks back she found the same (identical) dress at Foschini for R760.00.