I'm a college student in the US of A and after I graduate (May '09), I want to go to Australia, possibly Sydney, on the working holiday
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* Rent- anywhere from $120+ depending on where you want to live * Food- meals can be found for roughly $10 at most places, obviously more if you wanted something of higher quality * Phone- we have really good deals with mobiles here. there are caps for like $29 a month and you get $120 worth of calls, or $49 a month with $280 worth of calls etc * Internet - fast internet would be at least $50 a month * Bus fares -in the city its $1.70 from one end to the other, and then it goes up from there...trains are a bit more expensive, around the city for a return trip is about $4...and goes up from there. * Entertainment - movies for an adult ticket is $15, drinks at a pub around $4, at a club the drinks are $8+, some places have cover charge, some don't, guess it depends on what else you would want to do as well. * Electricity - this one im unsure of...
Electricity for someone who isn't running a computer overnight or using Air Con/too much heating in winter was $25 per quarter. Which was shit cheap. But then I moved in with a devil-may-care, who-need-fossil-fuels friend and it was nearly four times more.
Sydney is a big place you can check reports which show it is comparable to most international capital cities if you wish to live close to the city then have a read through this group to look at "how much does it cost to rent" questions for suburbs mentioning Inner west, east and close to universities your list varies so much that my answer would be totally different to didz or cherry's try here for some guidance http://www.mercerhr.com/costofliving Sydney is ranked 21st in the world = expensive
Probably some sort of shared living since I imagine it'd be cheaper than living alone. (Even though I'm a very untidy person.)
you could get a decent phone under a 24 months contract for $30 a month (pays off the phone and gives you some credit to make calls and text people)
Any 12 months contracts? The working holiday only allows for me to be in Oz for 12 months though I am going on to New Zealand (probably Wellington) after my visa expires in Oz for another working holiday.
$90 a month for ultra fast internet with 40Gb/month download limit at 20MB/s (which, unless you're a hopeless porn addict, you won't even use half of, I would assume). You also have to have a landline to get ADSL, which runs about $30/month.
Wowie. (And there's *cough*American TV I'd probably want to keep up on while over here*cough*)
I keep on forgetting to mention the booze since I'm not a drinker, heh. Though it's probably still good to know at least socially.
I'd assume you'd be looking for casual jobs as a
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Retail or cafe work might tide you over, but just to let you know, the rates aren't that great since Work Choices came in. You'd be making award rates, more than likely, which are $17.74 an hour, approximately $15 an hour after taxes.
Be aware if you are doing service work that Australia does not have a tradition of tipping.
Also, for food - if you are cooking for yourself here are some prices for groceries this week: Apples - $2 a pound Bananas - $2.20 a pound Carrots - $.90 a pound Eggplant - $2.80 a pound Tomatoes - $2.50 a pound
The things that may sting you are the ones you take for granted. There's a woman I know who recently moved from Texas, she was shocked to find out the price of a movie session ($15.50 an adult regular price) and books (paperbacks start at $19.95 these days). I did a comparison with a friend in the US one day and it worked out that although we get paid more in general our cost of living is slightly higher so neither of us ended up with more available cash at the end of the week.
not sure about rent since i bought a place about 18 months ago, but when i did rent i had a 2br flat by myself about 35 minutes by train to the city and it cost me $220 a week which was pretty good. I'm sure there is a lot cheaper out there, and even moreso if you were to look into share accommodation.
my mobile phone bill is $29 a month, and I am a capped plan which gives me $120 of usage a month. I never go over my cap and my bill is never more than $29.
I have cable internet, and it is the lowest package available with optus which costs me $43 a month. I'm sure other companies do cheaper and there are loads of internet cafes around.
Bus fares I have no idea.
Entertainment really varies on what you do. Movie tickets are around $15, drinks in the city are usual $5 or more.
Electricity costs me about $190 a quarter, but would be less if you are sharing a place.
Thanks, can you explain a little more how the capped mobile phone plan works? I'm not sure if I get it though that might be the nearly 5am in Pennsylvania talking, heh.
Basically you pay the $29 per month (or whatever amount cap you have) and you can get up to $120 worth of calls and text messages with that. If you go over the $120 you have to pay for the extra calls you make. I am with a company called 3 mobile and have been for about two years and really like them, but a lot of phone companies here have similar plans. I get a phone for free on that plan because I have signed up for 24 months, but given you are coming on holidays you might be better off with prepaid. I am fairly sure that Vodafone has a similar deal, only with a pre paid phone so you aren't locked into a contract.
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* Food- meals can be found for roughly $10 at most places, obviously more if you wanted something of higher quality
* Phone- we have really good deals with mobiles here. there are caps for like $29 a month and you get $120 worth of calls, or $49 a month with $280 worth of calls etc
* Internet - fast internet would be at least $50 a month
* Bus fares -in the city its $1.70 from one end to the other, and then it goes up from there...trains are a bit more expensive, around the city for a return trip is about $4...and goes up from there.
* Entertainment - movies for an adult ticket is $15, drinks at a pub around $4, at a club the drinks are $8+, some places have cover charge, some don't, guess it depends on what else you would want to do as well.
* Electricity - this one im unsure of...
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you can check reports which show it is comparable to most international capital cities
if you wish to live close to the city then have a read through this group to look at "how much does it cost to rent" questions for suburbs mentioning Inner west, east and close to universities
your list varies so much that my answer would be totally different to didz or cherry's
try here for some guidance http://www.mercerhr.com/costofliving
Sydney is ranked 21st in the world = expensive
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(The comment has been removed)
Probably some sort of shared living since I imagine it'd be cheaper than living alone. (Even though I'm a very untidy person.)
you could get a decent phone under a 24 months contract for $30 a month (pays off the phone and gives you some credit to make calls and text people)
Any 12 months contracts? The working holiday only allows for me to be in Oz for 12 months though I am going on to New Zealand (probably Wellington) after my visa expires in Oz for another working holiday.
$90 a month for ultra fast internet with 40Gb/month download limit at 20MB/s (which, unless you're a hopeless porn addict, you won't even use half of, I would assume). You also have to have a landline to get ADSL, which runs about $30/month.
Wowie. (And there's *cough*American TV I'd probably want to keep up on while over here*cough*)
I keep on forgetting to mention the booze since I'm not a drinker, heh. Though it's probably still good to know at least socially.
I'd assume you'd be looking for casual jobs as a ( ... )
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
Be aware if you are doing service work that Australia does not have a tradition of tipping.
Also, for food - if you are cooking for yourself here are some prices for groceries this week:
Apples - $2 a pound
Bananas - $2.20 a pound
Carrots - $.90 a pound
Eggplant - $2.80 a pound
Tomatoes - $2.50 a pound
The things that may sting you are the ones you take for granted. There's a woman I know who recently moved from Texas, she was shocked to find out the price of a movie session ($15.50 an adult regular price) and books (paperbacks start at $19.95 these days). I did a comparison with a friend in the US one day and it worked out that although we get paid more in general our cost of living is slightly higher so neither of us ended up with more available cash at the end of the week.
Reply
my mobile phone bill is $29 a month, and I am a capped plan which gives me $120 of usage a month. I never go over my cap and my bill is never more than $29.
I have cable internet, and it is the lowest package available with optus which costs me $43 a month. I'm sure other companies do cheaper and there are loads of internet cafes around.
Bus fares I have no idea.
Entertainment really varies on what you do. Movie tickets are around $15, drinks in the city are usual $5 or more.
Electricity costs me about $190 a quarter, but would be less if you are sharing a place.
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