Noorhanna

Hi all

We are moving to Melbourne end of the year. I have come
accross this web site that shows how much
things cost in Australia. It's shocking the cost of
Clothes and food and would like to hear from
Brits who are living there first hand about the
cost of things.

The website is:

http://www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au...-and-groceries

It's showing like a pair of jeans is over €100 etc.

Can you please give me your experiences of cost of food, ESP meat, clothes adult and kids, utilities bills.

I have heard it is a bit more expensive than the UK, but this website suggests there is a huge difference.

For instance there is a pumpkin patch kids clothes store there just like the
UK, are the prices about the same as here and do they have sales like they do here? Do they have major department stores like Debanhams, House of frazer etc?

Love to get as much information as possible relating to the cost of living there.

Thank you

Hanna

Tramps_mate

Why not look on the websites? I priced up most things before I left to get an idea..

Tramps_mate

http://www.pumpkinpatch.com.au/

RedDragon2008

Hanna

Half your income (Gross)
Double your tax
Double your outgoings

But you can do this with sunshine and being near parks and beaches

People use UK and US websites to secure clothes and other items.

Jilliebee

Melbourne is a great city and has loads of shops! It also has plenty of outlet shopping so you should be ok. I do a lot of clothes shopping online (next, m&s etc) but I'm living up north where the selection of decent retailers leaves a lot to be desired ...

Noorhanna

Thank you all for your replies. From my understanding is that alot of people just buy clothes from online. Is that online from back home in the UK and have items delivered? I have checked out Debenhams they deliver to OZ and Next, Marks and Spencer do the same. Is that the best way and cheapest way?

What shops are in Australia that we also have in the UK? Have seen ELC, Next, Pumpkin Patch. Are there any others?

Can you order from Amazon easily and have delivered to Australia? Even eletrical stuff etc? No restrictions imposed by the country to allow them in the country?

Are there shops like Primark, Argos, Sainsburys/Tesco's own brand items clothes, toys etc for cheap?

What's their famous toy store called?

Thank you all for your input in this topic. Trying to make an informed decision about moving to Australia and get a better picture how things are there.

Hanna

Buzzy--Bee

The "true" exchange rate is probably $2.5 : 1 pound. So a pair of jeans costing $100 would be the equivalent of a pair of jeans in England costing 40 pounds.

The same applies to salaries, if you earn 40,000 pounds you will maintain much the same standard of living by earning $100,000 here.

BB

Noorhanna

Hi BB

Thank you for your reply. I thought the current exchange rate is 1.6?? Why is it 2.5? Please clarify?

Thank you

Hanna

Buzzy--Bee

Hanna, I was not referring to the exchange rate. The prices of goods in the shops in Australia do not rise and fall in concurrence with exchange rates! I was referring to the real cost of living. Something that costs you one pound in the UK will cost you $2.50 here (rough average). If you earn one pound in the UK you should earn $2.50 here for the same job (roughly).

The exchange rate only really matters if you are transferring assets between countries.

BB

Bermudashorts

If you used current exchange rates then, say if next year there are 2.8 to the pound you would be saying everything is really cheap in australia. Whereas the reality is that nothing would have changed for the average australian resident. Current exchange rate is not relevant. The 2.5 is close to the long run average exchange rate and average earnings in australia versus uk convert at about 2.5so that is why it is a better rate to use for comparison.

Bermudashorts

I have just seen your posts on another thread but not going to answer there as somebody else's update thread is not the place for COL questions

So long as you earn about 2-2.5 times your london earnings you will find your standard of living to be on a par. And you definitely won't be only just getting by on 350k, however if you are used to gbp350k say, then it would be a drop.

Jilliebee

Hanna, have you been to Australia? of course they have supermarkets and department store here. Especially in a large city such as Melbourne! Coles and Woolworths asee, to be the main food shops however there are others. There are loads of electrical shops, Good Guys, JB HiFi, Dick Smith to name a few. We also have Myers, David Jones, KMart, Big W, Target etc. Melbourne has a lot more choice than I can name as well as Outlet Malls.

I do some clothes shopping online as I live in Darwin and there is not a lot of choice here, however I can get most of my stuff locally. Amazon has certain restrictions on delivery to Oz so it would depend in what you were ordering.

Noorhanna

Thank you all for the info. Gillian off course I know
there are supermarkets and department stores, but
what I meant I'd do the supermarkets there
also sell clothes, home items, toys etc as they do in the UK?

Thank you for the names of the stores.

Hanna

Jilliebee

No, unfortunately the shops are separate when it come to food and clothes. The convenience of a large Tesco / Asda is one of the only things that I do miss from UK. I suppose it saves me money though lol x

ozzieeagle

Electrical Items could well be cheaper here.. Clothes generally aren't... Although I think it was Kmart that was advertising 9 dollar jeans recently as a permanent price, which I believe is the same kind of shop as Primark. I'd assume those Kmart and Target type stores have similar pricing to the cheaper places in the UK.

New Japanese cars are cheaper, Transport costs are way cheaper.... It's swings and roundabouts really.