s-jmelbournewannabe

Gonna look up mister willy in the phone book!!! talking of willy how did the cast go in USA????

s-jmelbournewannabe

Cheap wine is all i'm saying

s-jmelbournewannabe

Come on Est you not playin?? Mr Est got a big un or wot??!!

s-jmelbournewannabe

ok, i'm off to bed, est save it for tomorrow... xx love and miss you. xx S-j xx Cairns not too far away.... xx

The howellers

Ouch!
It aint yarmouth babe! Slap on that sun block!!!
lots of love!!T.xx

welshviking

sorry love i've a minging hangover and been feeling spewey, then I fell asleep for a bit i'll pm you about the cast

I just heard there's a wanted dwon under on Carins starting Monday!

estxxxx

bundybell

sounds interesting what channel?
Teryna

welshviking

the beeb, 9ish in the morning so i'll have to watch it on that iplay, or whatever it's called, later at night,

you all ready for the off love? I was hoping i'd come home before you left and could have popped in to see you...neverind we'll have to do it on another continent....hemisphere even!!

bundybell

WV. Sounds good to me would love to meet up. i will miss the welsh accent around me, infact missing the girls in Cardiff already.
the leaving meetings are starting again tomorrow of to see some people met through BE -suesk- tomorrow for lunch
so much to do so little time
i will defo be watching that!
Teryna

s-jmelbournewannabe

ok, here goes,

wine and expats dont go....

sorry x

sammyg

Hi everyone

Welcome back Sj and Nozzy's!!

Great to hear you are settling in well!

We're still selling houses - love it..not


Good luck to Teryna and the howellers keep us up to date with what's going on!


Spk soon
Sam xxxxx

Lornagoingtobrissy

Hi Sj

How was your hang over?
Good to talk to you tho

Lorna

sammyg

Bloody hell! What am i doing here

Anyway, how's the sunshine coast living up to expectations for you all s-j? Have there been many jobs available for si?

Come on, more detail please...

SeaninOzalready

Hi teryna,

I hope that the moving plans are going well. Just at work now and have some time on hands before going home early to a BBQ and then the fireworks later on this evening. Lucky our friends have a flat overlooking the harbour, so we can watch in peace (not to mention BBQ and drink) without being crushed by the masses below.

I may have mentioned this before, and at the risk of being labelled a know it all, these are my observations as to prices in Oz. Firstly the OH and I both took rather big pay cuts to come out here (my bonuses are not as big out here and she does not have a bonus scheme any longer). Still alcohol is more or less the same price as the UK in Sydney and Melbourne anyway you will pay around $9 for a decent glass of wine and $4 a schooner or $6.50 or more a pint (where you can find these). You do however get happy hours and light alcohol is universally cheaper as booze is taxed here according to the strength (I find though that in the heat I prefer light beers). Wine in the supermarket is a little more than the UK for the same bottle (Crazy I know), but this is a tax thing again.

Food: I find that on some occassions I spend more than I would in the UK for a weekly shop (but then this is due to Oz importing very little and being dependent on the weather- drought = higher food prices). hence from week to week your food bill can vary by up to 40%. Worth shopping around though at Aldi and similar places if they are near you.

Eating out can be expensive if you go for upper end restaurants, but then surf clubs and RSLs do decent steaks for $6 and you can often BYO which makes things that much cheaper.

Utilities and Foxtel:
Bills are competitive (and you won't need heating), but then depending on how often you have your aircon on, you may find the electric bill is that much steeper. I am with Tru energy (not bad), but if you are concerned, worth shopping around.

Foxtel is not a neccesity unless you want UK TV and the premiership football (I only have it for the rugby and to get a decent international news bulletin and Bloomberg) Look at $38 for basic package and then around $17 extra for sports and $17 for UK TV etc.

Petrol is much cheaper than the UK, but then again it is all relative once you stop converting and are earning dollars.

Private Health cover is not bad and by having it, you will offset having to pay the Medicare Levy in your tax return. I only have the very basic cover and accident cover for extreme sports as don't get sick that often. You will probably know alot more about this than me as will your mates in your hospital.

Property prices in all the major areas (count Sydney, melbourne, Perth, the Goldie, Sunshine Coast, Brissie and even Darwin into this) are very expensive. Friends of mine bought in Brissie in a very nice subburb 4 years ago (3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, garage, garden and pool) for $350 000. They recently had it valued at $1.1 million. Still a steal when you consider that is only 400 000 quid. Rents in areas like Bundy will go up over the December/Jan period as this is peak holiday season and people want to cash in as much as possible in this time. Feb time they will come down again when schools go back. Food prices in the coast areas will also go up over that period and then stabilise when the hoiday makers leave (it's a rort I know but everyone has to make a living I suppose).

The thing with buying in Oz is also to monitor the auctions in the area you want to live in (go to a few just for the experience initially) it is great fun seeing all the neighbours come out to see what their property could be worth.

Last but by no means least- the salaries. I was chatting to a cross section of mates on xmas day as to what is liveable in Oz. The papers are reporting that young singles or a couple should be on at least $140 000 combined income to afford a house in the major cities. This is mad since the national average wage is only around $52000 I think.

We settled on a household income of $150 000 for a family with kids to send to school. This would seem to be in unison with the income of alot of households in the UK ie. 60 000 quid or thereabouts. You will be lucky though as by the sounds of it, your kids will be working over here to. That said, I have some mates who are getting by on $40 000 (they don't have much social life and don't save that much, but they get by).

My advice to your son (or even daughter) would be to consider plumbing. There is an extreme shortage in this place and a report the other day said some are charging up to $1000 a day. Good money if you can get it.

In short, Oz is not cheap, but then it is all relative and you can't buy the lifestyle etc if you embrace it fully.

Good luck all- I hope this has been of some use.

Enjoy your new year.

Cheers

bundybell

Thanks Sean,
Good blog.
Initially we thought we was going to be well off in oz but i dont think so anymore. Hubby is on good wage here between us we earn 52,000 quid.But still have nothing left at the end of the month mind you.

We have purchased a 868sqmt block of land for $127,000, we will build 4bed 2bath house on that for $227,000, if we can get a mortgage. We opened a bank account with the commonwealth while there in Feb and was told it was possible hubby has to earn $500 a week which we believe is do-able

My wage will be pound for dollar approx the same but obviously my hubby's will not he was a manager and doesnt not want to do that anymore.
Hes been offered a job fitting solar panels but we dont know what the wage will be. He has to contact them again once we get there, so we will know more then

great to hear from you, stay in touch
HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and yours
Teryna