coldbeer

Just out of interest (we may move to Bris from GC) which suburbs are you referring to?

big_matt

At last some common sense!

Too many snobs on this thread who think you can't survive unless you are living like a king. Yes, Australia is very expensive. But some of the views on here are putting people off moving to Oz for no reason.

Saying you need a salary of almost 200k to simply survive is just silly and laughable.

riccardo1888

I know, some people forget where their old arse came from ! Listen we live extremely comfortable on that. For 6 months we where on $53k as my wife was settling our kids in and that was tight but better than Scotland. Now we both earn and bonuses now etc $120k is an amazing standard of life for us !

SUPERCAD

This is a really good comparison site interesting figures below there more info on the site


source: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living...city2=Brisbane

Tramps_mate

lol at this! There are plenty of places with decent housing for less than $500 p/w within commutable distances to the city..

Tockalosh

What I was trying to get at and apologies for bringing the ME into an Oz forum but for lots of people who want to get away from the UK and its miserableness, they see Oz as the ideal answer when in fact it may not be. I don't want to get into the discussions about "running away" being the wrong reason to gap it to Oz but I still reckon many go for what they see is a better life when in fact a better life may be the ME or even where they are now, they just don't realise it. Yes the sand pit is hot but so was inland QLD, yes its humid and dusty but so was inland QLD where I was working. I guess you were unlucky with your villa as I have never had any dramas with houses in AUH or BAH. Putting junior Tock into Gems in Dubai is cheaper than nursery was in Caloundra as we had no discount so for us it didn't work financially. For others it may but I just don't see the point in going to Oz and being skint. Its a great country but only if you can afford to enjoy it. Of course you don't have Ramadan in Oz which starts tomorrow but I am sure it will find itself on the statute books one day

Pollyana

I've worked with people in Aus who have kept to the rules of Ramadan - causing angst among some fellow workers after a batch of time-wasting "morning teas" were cancelled because of their presence in the office, so its not unknown here. Also had a friend who house-shared with some Muslims, but they didn't seem to care if he ate during daylight, it was their religious observation after all, not his.

Dreamy

Sorry about the derailment... I was reading about Ramadan on a diet forum, according to the Quran it should never be forced upon others as it should be done to please Allah, so forcing it would go against that.

It was an interesting discussion.

Just to keep it on track, we never have any money left at the end of the month but we never had any money left in the UK either.

I still feel we live better here than we did there.

asprilla

Lets be honest here. People live and work in middle east predominantly for the cash, not for the cheap cigarettes, sunshine or "lifestyle".

Alfresco

Indeed!

Pollyana

Same here, skint over there, just as skint here nowadays. As for needing $200k to survive, that kind of figure is lottery win territory for me

teza

I totally agree, we live in SW of WA, place is filled with FIFO Workers and prices reflect that. Total income, give or take $100k, we are renting, family of 2 parents, 2 teens and 1 tween and we manage just fine. No fancy holidays for the whole family, except Exmouth, but manage to fly some rellies here from Europe every year. Bills are paid, we enjoy night outs etc even with the extra cost of smoking, drinking and frolicking.

Would we buy here? No way in current climate but that doesn't bother us. Quality of life is more important. Those saying 200k is not enough, we do it for less than half of that and we still manage to laugh, love and have fun every day! Maybe it's down to personality rather money??

Tockalosh

To be honest I would challenge you on that. The glory days of the huge salaries are by and large a thing of the past. The salaries are generally good but not earth shattering anymore. Yes the tax free is what makes the major difference but we will live somewhere on the right side of reasonable paid for by the company, will fly to Africa and Europe without any dramas for holidays, fly elderley relatives over to escape the British winter and let them enjoy it every year and lets not forget a carton of smokes for 12 quid or so. You cant beat a good quality ME hotel. Probably best in the World.
Of course if you want to live in Saudi or especially remoter areas of Saudi then you can earn the big bucks 240 - 300K USD tax free but there is no lifestyle there.

Bonnie Scotland

I see the word "survive" used alot... thats exactly what I'm getting at, yes on 170k + per year of course you can survive, but what I'm saying is I am not happy just surviving, its a real culture shock. Disposable income....I'm sorry but I like disposable income, if you are happy not having any then great, good for you well done...However I like spending money, my wife likes to buy clothes occasionally and get her hair done every now and again...so what? This is normal for us not extravagant for god sake...I bought a new car every other year at home...shoot me now for having such a waste full existance...and a nice house pah! not required spend 500k on the standard poorly constructed, uninsulated (it is cold in winter),single glazed, uninteresting shack and stop moaning...

Dreamy

I guess some of us are just better at managing our meagre funds...