ozzydreamer

for a family with 2 children under 5, oh is a mechanical engineer, currently on 26k (english money), I will hopefully childmind, but will be relying on oh's income to begin with.
I first thought that Brisbane was a good place to choose for weather, and I naively thought it would be much much cheaper living costs.
After spending nearly a whole day reading posts Im wondering if there is a more suitable place than Brisbane? (Love the weather, but thinking the costs of living etc. will be similar to the UK - fine when Im working)
Any opinions welcome (We will be renting in Australia)

sammyg

Brisbane is probably getting more expensive for reasons? Being within striking distance of most other states (with exception of WA). Gold coast, sunshine coast, great barrier reef etc all accessible, sydney only a short flight etc - oh, and the weather's meant to be OK too

Adelaide will be cheaper (housing wise) as will Darwin()

cambridge lot

Hi

Depends on what you are looking for when you get over there. Brisbane is going through a boom at the moment and costs are rising. Weather is good although very hot a humid during jan and feb, my uncle still complains after 40 years but the weather is good generally most of the time, not getting too cold in winter. Salaries are in comparison to the area you will be living. Sydney is expensive but you are generally paid more, we are off to Brisbane with 3 kids (11,9,5) hubby will be on 120k oz dollars and my uncle and cousin say we should be comfortable with that. We are going over for the better work/home life ratio and the outdoor living. You easily access most things from Brisbane, close by there is rainforest/reef/beach.

sammyg

Just to add - you really can't 'have your cake and eat it' in aus anymore - it is unrealistic to think that it will be a cheaper life out there (apart from petrol and 'rates'). If you can go out there and be on an even keel financially with how you are in the UK you're doing well...

ozzydreamer

It hasnt put me off going to Australia, because the reasons we are going started out to be financial reasons, but now that we have a baby on the way, we are going for the kids, family life, sun and fun, aslong as we can live how we do now, then that is plenty for me!

We are not planning to go for another 3-4 years, so places may change, so for now I think I will just gather as much info about the different areas so that I am prepared for when we go.

Its so exciting - as well as very daunting, but Im sure the positives will outweigh the negatives!

Pauljarv

It depends what you are looking for. I lived in Brisbane for a year and would never want to live there again as it consists of a very small downtown area surrounded by a vast collection of suburbs. Brisbane is a good start point for trips to the Gold and Sunshine coasts, northern Queensland and the Whitsunday Islands, I just found the city to be dull. Whenever there was an event the place is so starved of things to do the whole city seems to turn up and pack the event out!

Personally, if I was moving to Australia long term my first choice would be the beautiful and interesting Sydney followed by Melbourne. Perth is nice but a bit remote once you get past Fremantle.

ozzydreamer

I kind of decided against Sydney because its apparantly expensive, but then again wages are higher so it all evens out!
Thats very interesting about Brisbane, think Im going to look into Adelaide, Canberra and Melbourne.

As I have no clue about the areas Im starting by creating a top list by weather conditions Have not a lot else to go on lol!
So will crack on with my research!

quoll

Good on you! Someone who has actually given Canberra a thought! Best of all worlds here but no beach - many Canberrans have a place at the beach anyway and most of them evacuate the town over the summer holidays. We have nice leafy suburbs (although the new builds are pretty leafless at the moment), interesting things to do and a fairly equable climate with 4 seasons. We are just coming out of a drought (wahoo!!!!) we hope. Sydney is within easy driving distance and we dont have a nasty industrial area so the sky is clear blue, the sun shines pretty much every day etc etc. Basically we are a city in the bush that has something of a country town feel to it.

chalky13

Hi, we have been looking at starting for Sydney or Melbourne and understand that the cost of living is rising, but with our own two boys under 5, we are going for the lifestyle/way of life and hopefully the wages and living will match up.
Good luck with hunting!

NickyP

Have you thought about some of the country towns, OK you won't necessarily have the sea but you will have cheaper living costs and often better employment opportunities. You also have a great community spirit out here which is a god send when you are trying to settle.
Just a thought as everyone seems to only consider the big cities and there is a lot more to Aus than just that and it isn't all red and dusty .
Nicky

Techno Freak

Hi guys,

I haven't posted on here for a long time, but occasionally poke my head in.

As some one that has recently made the move over, I thought I would share our experience regarding living costs.

First thing:- IT IS NOT CHEAP TO LIVE HERE. Sorry for shouting, but can't stress that point enough I'm afraid.

We discounted Sydney as it was too expensive to start with, maybe wages would be a little higher - but not high enough to get the kind of house we would want. Brisbane was our preferred choice for a long time, until I found out it gets dark at 6:30pm at the latest, so that was out. Then came Melbourne, which is where we are now and have been since September.

We love Mel, weather is tops, people are great, stacks to see and do.

So, costs??

Well - I earn pretty much exactly the same here as I did in the UK, but it absolutely does not go as far.

Examples would be, fruit, veg & meat are more expensive here. Fish is very expensive. Our broadband package is twice the cost of the UK one we had, and not as good. Electricity is more expensive - don't know about gas & water yet as haven't had the bills.

Cars are very expensive to buy used like-for-like with UK. Insurance is about the same, maybe slightly cheaper, rego is more expensive than UK car tax though. Petrol was $1.34 when we arrived two months back, it's abut $1.55 now and rumour has it it will top $2.00 a litre by year end.

Mortgage rates are around 8.25% average and tipped to head toward 10% before they start to come back down, and if you're bringing a bundle of equity money over be prepared to take a hit on conversion as it's a poor 2.16 at the moment, ( it was yesterday, it's just blipped up to 2.20 today ).

House prices - your could get an old run down pad out of town, or in a poor burb for around $300k. For $400 - $500k you would get a very nice new build way out in the outer suburbs, but commutes can be nasty.

Rent - $300 a week minimum for something you could actually live in, and that would be way out. Beachside you're looking at $500 min for a two been dump, realistically you'd want $800 a week for a nice beachside family home. We pay $450 for a nice house in a city suburb. By the way, these are not made up figures - we have been there & bought the T-shirt.

Generally, wages here are very much lower than UK, and contrary to what people say, it is not easy to find a job even if you are a professional. Emma has had no luck with her applications, even though she could do the jobs blindfolded. They want Australian experience for everything.

To give you an idea, I earn $80,000 per year plus 9% super on top. That gives a net wage in the region of $4200 a month. Our outgoing are $4700 a month, so I have to do about 3 hours a week overtime just for us to break even, that means we would need a household income of around $86,000 as a break-even figure. We have no kids, and we are not extravagant and there is nothing aside in that budget for saving for holidays etc. However, that is a true cost allowance including for things like running costs for two cars, gym memberships etc. Some people that post budgets on here don't allow for the annual things that come around, our does - so it's pretty realistic.

Yes, you can live cheaper. We could move to a small old house an hours drive from the city and save maybe $600 a month - but we didn't leave our life in the UK to go backwards. Some of the places we looked at to rent, been at $500 a month, you wouldn't let a dog live in, and yet there were queues of people lining up to view!

Don't get me wrong, we LOVE living here and I am not moaning, ( although it may sound like it ), I am just saying be warned, it is not cheap here and if you come expecting a certain cost of living you may well be very disappointed.

Like-for-like it is more expensive to generally live here for us than it was in the UK. I would honestly say that if we were a family of four say, we would need a household income of $100,000 just to live normally and not extravagantly.

When I used to put posts on here about is the $80k wage I was offered enough to live on in Melbourne, the responses I would get were things like you could live like a King, you 'd live really well etc. The reality is, $80,000 isn't even enough for us to live basically on.

So, I now sit back and wait for the......we earn $20,000 and live fine and we are a family of 7.....

Once the next round of utility bills come in, I will correlate them onto my budget sheet and post an excel sheet on here of our exact outgoings for all to see.

Don't be disheartened, if Oz is what you want - go for it, you'll make it work whatever. Just be realistic about costs so you don't get bitten on the arse when you get here.

ozzydreamer

Thanks for your reply, got a little disheartened halfway through - but what I really need is honesty and someone to be realistic! I will save this post and refer back to it! Very helpful to get an idea of the wage we will need and what rent prices are, we were expecting to get a minimum of 60,000aud and rent for around 400-450 aud a week and get a nice 3 bed with a pool, and was looking at Brisbane.

So glad I have a reality check, and can now look at different area's etc.

Keep us posted

asprilla

Hi there Ozziedreamer,

If you are the kind of person who does not do much budgeting or shopping around, then you will need quite a lot more than $60k to live comfortably. If you are used to going out all the time, gym memberships, lots of meals out...$60k won't be sufficient.

However, if you can do a bit of budgeting and are careful with what you spend your money on, $60k-$70k will still let you and your family enjoy life, no problems !! It won't be a life of luxury though.

Day to day living costs here are comparable to the UK. Some things are cheaper (fuel, eating out) other things are more expensive (clothes, 2nd hand cars)...but I reckon it evens itself out pretty much.

Having said that - wages over here are lower.

In the past, housing costs have been lower in Aus, so this hasn't been a problem. But housing costs have risen a lot over the past 10yrs, and wages haven't really kept up.

minibelle

We are hoping to move to the sunshine coast, although there is not much work there for what i do, so we will have to wait and see.

minibelle

ozzydreamer

We do budget well, I suppose because we arent looking to move for another 4 years ish it is hard as everything could change, just hope Australia doesnt become to expensive for us.
Im sure oh will be able to earn more than that, and may have moved up the career ladder by then, so I will just keep reading up and then when we get nearer I will take a more in-depth look.

Thanks for all replies - finding this site very helpful and friendly