Cost of Living in Australia, questions etc.

[aVocado]

Okay, so I know there are some aussies here, and I've been wanting to make this thread for a while, but I never got around to do it until now.

I'm going to graduate from hishchool in exactly 2 months and I'm going to apply for a scholarship, there's a high chance that I'll be accepted and that I would continue studying abroad, so I need to think ahead early. I haven't set my mind on where I want to study yet, but I have a few options in mind, and Australia is one of them. The others being Ireland and UK. Getting accepted in Ireland will probably be hard because the universities there require really high grades that I can't get now, so it's kind of out of the question. But the UK is still there, and so is Australia.

So yeah, basically, I just wanted to know how costly it is to live in Australia. I've heard it's really expensive compared to America, and even more expensive than England. Is that true?

I'm going to be living in a modest apartment all by myself, and I don't really need anything fancy. The government will be paying me 3k Australian dollars (around $2782) a month as a salary for as long as I study there. Will that be enough to live in a somewhat decent apartment, pay bills, groceries, junk food/booze, some saving, etc? How much would a modest, somewhat decent apartment cost, roughly?

 

[elcheeso]

Australia varies a lot in cost of living. Basically, if you want to live in the city of Sydney, you may as well just not bother because their housing market is completely fucked and it basically costs double to live there compared to capitals like Brisbane or Melbourne. I believe Perth is cheaper than all of those, and Darwin is cheaper again (because no one wants to live in Darwin). I can't talk about cost of living compared to England, but it's definitely more expensive than the US. You're looking at approx $1k-1.6k a month for a meh to modest studio apartment in the Brisbane CBD which includes all the usual bills bar internet. You'd probably be fine on 3k a month outside of Sydney overall, but I guess it all depends on how irresponsible you are with buying non-essentials, since that's where you'll be stung most by our cost of living.

 

[jumpluff]

Australia varies a lot in cost of living. Basically, if you want to live in the city of Sydney, you may as well just not bother because their housing market is completely fucked and it basically costs double to live there compared to capitals like Brisbane or Melbourne. I believe Perth is cheaper than all of those, and Darwin is cheaper again (because no one wants to live in Darwin). I can't talk about cost of living compared to England, but it's definitely more expensive than the US. You're looking at approx $1k-1.6k a month for a meh to modest studio apartment in the Brisbane CBD which includes all the usual bills bar internet. You'd probably be fine on 3k a month outside of Sydney overall, but I guess it all depends on how irresponsible you are with buying non-essentials, since that's where you'll be stung most by our cost of living.

Yup, don't bother with Sydney unless you want hours of commuting (or your plans change and you decide to live on-campus, that might be cheaper?). It's a great place to visit and a really nice city imo, but cost of housing in anywhere remotely viable to live is obscene.

Australia is an expensive country. We have a high minimum wage, but if you're not working you will have to plan ahead with things like going out drinking, going to the cinema (is there a country where the price of this isn't ridiculous though?), doing tourist stuff, etc. Don't buy video games or electronics here if you can avoid it; they always cost way more than their overseas equivalents. I hope you're not the type of person who buys lots of shit out of vending machines and lots of soft drinks and stuff on the go because that's where it really adds up as well. It might help if you posted the kinds of things you plan to be doing and looked up their price / we can tell you.

Keep in mind that Australia is also a huge country and the things you might want to see are prolly spread out a bit.

My experience is limited to NSW though; I haven't lived outside of NSW since I was too small to know what money meant.

That being said, it's a pretty neat country to visit and I'm sure you'd have a great time. It's good you're planning this and looking into things rather than plunging in headfirst.

 

[billymills]

[10:50:20] <&asteriafk> i assumed OP is white tho
[10:50:21] <&asteriafk> cos otherwise
[10:50:25] <&asteriafk> i would be warning them the hell away
[10:50:26] <&asteriafk> from australia

 

[aVocado]

Yeah, I'm not leaving working a part-time out of the question, but that depends on whether I'll have free time or not, I don't know if I would. I'd like to have spare money for things like going out and buying a video game from time to time though, of course, so idk how well that would work out for me after paying bills/rent/groceries (and booze ofc) etc. I definitely won't be buying any electronic unless my phone breaks or something, so I don't need to worry about that.

and billymills i'm middle eastern, so idk, i'm definitely not black though

 

[elcheeso]

Plz do not listen to Jumpluff, Sydney is a shithole and I wouldn't recommend anyone visit it, let alone live there. I'm pretty sure the housing market is the way it is because they want to say SHAME ON U to anyone who chooses to live there.

Anyway, http://www.realestate.com.au/neighbourhoods/ is a pretty interesting look at places you might want to live and it also has options at the bottom to see what suburbs have rental properties available for your price range.

Anyway, you might actually have more trouble here if you're an Arab who can't pass as white than a non-aboriginal black guy. It's all about where you are though, I suppose. My general feeling is that England would be a worse idea than Australia on the racism front with the whole SHARIA IMMIGRANTS STEALING OUR JOBS/anti-Arab shit, but who knows. Sydney, again, is probably the worst capital for that sort of shit.

 

[Soul Fly]

Plz do not listen to Jumpluff, Sydney is a shithole and I wouldn't recommend anyone visit it, let alone live there. I'm pretty sure the housing market is the way it is because they want to say SHAME ON U to anyone who chooses to live there.

Then why is it #9 and #7 respectively on two of the most accepted Top 10 Livable City indices?

 

[TheValkyries]

Then why is it #9 and #7 respectively on two of the most accepted Top 10 Livable City indices?

Written by rich white people?

EDIT: Looked it up, it's because "livable" is defined by cost of living not necessarily the conditions.

 

[Minwu]

https://www.google.com/search?q=kan...la:en-US:official&channel=sb&biw=1787&bih=862

 

[aVocado]

https://www.google.com/search?q=kangaroo riding site:answers.yahoo.com&client=firefox-a&hs=LVU&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&biw=1787&bih=862

my life is significantly better now, thank you.

On a more serious note, I've yet to decide on which part of Australia I will live in. It depends on which universities are approved here, since not all of them are.

 

[Crux]

Melbourne is by far the least racist and best city and is also way better than Sydney. Don't come to Sydney.

 

[Trax]

I'd suggest that Sydney is pretty much the polar opposite of where you'd want to go (it's very expensive, transport blows --driving or public transport it doesn't matter it still blows, the climate sucks, and the Universities aren't all that good).

Where you go does largely depend on what you want to study.

 

[The Avalanches]

You can rule out Sydney and maybe Brisbane too.

 

[Millky95]

I would go to Melbourne if you can. Best city in Australia. I go there everyday for uni and it's amazing. Friendly people, great art district and if you want to get into any of the Australian sports, this is the place. Public Transport on a consession is no more than $6.06 daily (not sure if you're available for that though) but that is to go to the eastern and western suburbs so much cheaper if you're staying mostly in the city. Plenty of touristy stuff to do as well and our beer is better.

If you can, go Melbourne. http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel...most-liveable-city--again-20130828-2sprk.html http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/28/travel/melbourne-most-livable-city/ cop that Sydney! (despite going for a Sydney AFL team)

 

[Asek]

its not that hard to get by in Australia. In melbourne there are some fairly cheap suburbs where you can rent / buy for a relatively cheap price and theres nice public transport around the cities with the train network being amazing if your a student. AFAIK the uni's are pretty good in melb as well and it has a good atmosphere all year round so its a pretty ideal place to come to. Can't speak for any of the other states but i would imagine that you cant go wrong with any of them except NSW. Avoid sydney as others have said as every other state in Australia knows thay syndey is a shithole unless your in far north NSW and I doubt thats where a student would want to be. Also don't expect to be drinking much alcohol or smoking in Australia, they're both really overpriced here

also if you cant pass as being white / wog id strongly suggest sticking to the cities
EDIT: Petrols really expensive as well btw

 

[Cresselia~~]

I'm not exactly from Australia, but I've been to both Australia and England before.

No, there's no way living cost in Australia being higher than UK.
UK has way higher living costs, from daily items to food.
Dairy in Australia is also quite cheap compared with other countries.
And mushrooms.
My professor also said mushrooms are actually part of the Australia farming programme with sheep farming, in which sheep droppings are composted to become growing medium of mushrooms. If it were not mushrooms, Australia would have been filled with poop. So you are talking about a lot of mushrooms.

 

[aVocado]

I've had most of my questions answered so far, but I still have on more thing i'm worried about.. I've heard from an Australian (on another forum) that it's hard for students to find an apartment and live alone, and are usually forced to share the apartment with 1 or more people.. is this true?

I kinda wanna have my own apartment. :/

Thanks for the help everyone, it's huge and I really appreciate it.

 

[jumpluff]

Melbourne is by far the least racist and best city and is also way better than Sydney. Don't come to Sydney.

I like this suggestion and it's cheaper

Arikado: Yes, it is common for students to share apartments. If it's student housing I assume you will be forced to share in most cases, and if it's not student housing you will prolly have to split rent and bills with someone for economic reasons, but nobody can make you stay in an apartment with a shitty roommate and if you can find somewhere you can have on your own and the owner will let you have it on your own then have fun. Unfortunately students are not the most reliable or credible tenants either I guess

I don't live on my own so I can't tell you any more than that from my general knowledge (and my brother is an undergraduate who has like two or three housemates), but this forum is teeming with Australians who would know more about it than I. + you can keep researching

 

[s0nido]

I was born and raised in Melbourne and currently go to university here, so I could tell you a lot about Melbourne, but I don't know anything about the rest of Australia, so I can't really compare Melbourne with other Australian cities regarding standard of living for students. Accommodation here for students can be found for ~AUD$400 a month, depending on where you want to live. On-campus living costs HEAPS (living in University of Melbourne colleges can be about $600-700 per WEEK). I know public transport here costs heaps, up to about $12 daily, but if you get a monthly/yearly pass, it's significantly better value. It'd also be cheaper if you're planning to stay in the city/inner suburbs, transport-wise. As for sight-seeing, Melbourne isn't exactly teeming with things to see. Nightlife here is practically non-existent outside of bars/restaurants on most days of the week, with most shops/malls closing really early on nights that aren't Thursday or Friday. Also, the internet here is slow compared to other developed countries. Not unbearably slow (depends where you live/who your ISP is), but you might find it lacking. Also, university internet here is also a mixed bag. My campus's internet is great (no torrents, though), but other universities, like the University of Melbourne and the larger Monash University campuses, have terrible internet (slow, always cuts out, etc.). Might not be a problem if you're living off-campus, but you might want to consider the quality of the internet if you're planning on living on-campus. Food here is adequately priced if you know where to eat out. Don't be afraid to eat exotic stuff (Asian food, Arab food, etc.), since it's usually heaps cheaper than eating at restaurants. I know fast-food here is more expensive than in the US (McDonalds, KFC, etc.), so eating there isn't the cheapest (or healthiest) way to sustain yourself. Melbourne is also filled with entertainment, so if you have some money to spare, you won't be bored here.

and this is all that came to mind for now~ Hope it helped ^.^

 

[Rugi]

I've visited every major city in Australia and have lived in Melbourne all my life. My opinion on them is as follows; Sydney is a clusterfuck don't go, Canberra is less of a clusterfuck, Perth is decent, Melbourne is decent, Adelaide is decent, Darwin is too hot and Brisbane's cockroaches are too large.

In all seriousness though if you do plan on coming to Melbourne I should warn you about some things. Public transport is ass here. It sometimes functions but if you have lived in a place like England which has some of the best public transport on earth you are going to hate Melbourne's public transport. If you can't afford to come late don't rely on public transport. Also to follow up on S0nidos warnings fast food shops are generally not a good idea. If you want a snack it's probably smarter to buy a fruit at a grocery store or a sushi at a food court or something rather than a hamburger at hungry jacks. Also cheap Asian restaurants are you friends. For a decent price you can get a good and healthy dinner. Also it's true that internet here sucks (thankyou Malcolm Turnbull) it's usable for browsing and streaming but if you want to download a relatively large file you'll be waiting a while. (most 5 gig steam games take me about 3 hours to download and I have a pretty good connection by Melbourne standards). To follow up on Jumpluffs warnings Australia is pretty costly place especially when it comes to electronics so if you can, buy everything in England or something (make sure that the products you buy are region locked to PAL). Sometimes video games can be up to 20AUD more in Australia then in any other country so be careful about that.

Edit: By fast food I mean packaged and junk food. Fast food can be cheap you just need to know where to look. Remember that here the cheapest option for food is almost always fresh produce (as long as you don't plan on buying "organic food" that shit is as expensive here as it is everywhere else.) What I'm trying to say is that if you want to save cash buy an apple for your daily snack not a packet of chips. Having been to America I know that fruit there is quite expensive (at least in Hawaii) but here it tends to be one of the cheaper options.

 

[s0nido]

yes, GAMES HERE ARE FUCKING EXPENSIVE.
you could buy a game from Hong Kong and pay for shipping and it'd STILL be cheaper than buying it from Australia. Applies to pretty much all technology here (phones, tablets, computers, you name it). That's if you're lucky to actually find what you're looking for here in the first place. Anything outside the big names in technology and gaming is pretty much impossible to get here in Australia, so you'll be forced to import things a lot of the time if you're really desperate.

 

[Millky95]

I've had most of my questions answered so far, but I still have on more thing i'm worried about.. I've heard from an Australian (on another forum) that it's hard for students to find an apartment and live alone, and are usually forced to share the apartment with 1 or more people.. is this true?

I kinda wanna have my own apartment. :/

Thanks for the help everyone, it's huge and I really appreciate it.

Yes you will probably have to share but I know some people in my Uni course who only share with 1 person and another who shares with 5 others and they both still love it. Depending of schedules they may just be a person who only see Wednesdays to pay bills and that's it

 

[Lee]

My only input is that today I spoke to an Aussie now based in Finland. Scandinavia is infamous for being a ludicrously expensive place to live and, when I brought up that fact, she said 'Oh, it's cheap compared to Australia though.' Go figure.

 

[MrIndigo]

Sydney isn't too bad for living, but you won't own your own house. Expect that you'll be either sharehousing, or commuting at least half an hour each way to get to the city.

Fresh produce here is cheap, cheaper than the US or UK. But our packaged food is pricier, and the electronics markup is ABSURD.


What is it you're planning to do? Study - the university you choose to attend is probably more important.

Perth is still expensive from the mining boom, Melbourne is no better than Sydney. Brisbane is much cheaper for cost of living, but you're a bit cutoff and there's less of a vibrant nightlife as Sydney and Melbourne.

 

[s0nido]

To address the accommodation concern, I'll just say that it's pretty much impossible to live on your own with a student's budget here in Melbourne. I don't know what it's like in other cities, though, but I doubt they're any better. A friend told me he knew a guy who lived alone while at university, but he was working like a dog and had next to no money for luxuries or savings. Maybe if you get a relatively generous scholarship and a nice part-time job, you'll be able to live alone comfortably.