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| *Travel Tips>>>Brisbane Travel Tips |
I heard the cost of living is really high in Australia...? |
Travel Info I'm going to be spending a year in the Brisbane area for graduate school at Bond Uni. I haven't got a place to stay yet and am afraid it's going to be really expensive to get by here (I'm going to Bond because of student loans I got). Any suggestions? Travel Tips Where are you from? Australia is WAY WAY WAY more expensive than most asian countries, and significantly more expensive than North America (USA). But I think it is still cheaper compared to Wwestern Europe countries. Just to give you some idea, here is my personal experience for expenses in Brisbane (All in Australian dollars): - Rent, about 110 to 150 per week for a room in share accomodation). If you want to get your own apartment, prepare to pay 200 or more a week. - Food - if you go to food court, about 7 dollars or more for meal, drinks about 2-3 dollars (yes, about 2.50 for a bottle of coke), better not buy drink or bring your own tap water - drinkable) - Grocery - if you cook every day, around 100 dollars per week, but it depends how much you eat. I know people who spend less than that on grocery. - Wine - 6-15 for reasonably good bottle of wine. - Beer - 3 dollars a bottle if you get it from liquor store, or about 4-5 dollars in restaurants - Transportation - as student, you get concession fare, and depending where you live, it is around 2 to 4 dollars daily return ticket. I paid about 42 dollars for monthly ticket. Check this website: www.translink.com.au - Movie : hit the cheapest: 5.70 per movie, but only 3 theatres that have that price, others is around 10 or more - If you go out for dinner, typically from 20 per head or more (depending how fancy the restaurant is) - Text books, it is a killer, around 70 or more for a text book. My suggestion, DON'T BUY TEXTBOOK UNLESS REALLY NECESSARY. Or if you need one, get second hand. Most universities have good library, but borrow them early! - Internet connection: broaband with reasonable data allownace is around 40 a month - Phone rental: cheapest is around 34 or more per month. - Public phone: 50 cents per call - unlimited time. If you want to call overseas, buy calling cards, they have some good rates. You can generally talk for several hours with a 10 dollars calling card (but again, depending where you call to). - Mobile phone: quite a killer, generally 60 cents a minute. 30 cents per sms text. - Video rental: cheapest from 5 dollars for recent DVD release movie. or 3 dollars old ones. - Electronic goods, well, as a comparison, it is significantly more expensive here than in asia or north america. - Laundry : 3 dollars per wash. Dryer, around 1 dollar for 15 minute. It is quite a conservative estimate, but you can EASILY spend more if you want to enjoy a better lifestyle. But you have a reasonably good life with those estimates. I suggest you to prepare at least 300 dollars per week to cover everything. You can do part time job as a full time international students. But only 20 hours a week. The general salary rate is around 7 to 12 per hour. But you will be tax 15% if you make more than 6000 a year, and less than 25,000. Others Worse than that......There are NO Mexican restaurants in Brisbane. Brisbane is the exception. Hi I live in Brisbane and i can tell you it's not that expensive. It is if you don't want to work or want to waste all of your money, but if your prepared to get a part time job, you will be fine, a part time job will comfortably cover your rent ( rent can be very expensive so be careful ) but food is not to bad, petrol is really high but the public transport here is quite good. your university should be able to provide you with or help you find great accommodation. As long as your prepared to work a bit you will be fine ( and by work i don't mean hard labor ) Some people may find it expensive to live here but that's comparative, it's cheaper to live here, than in the USA or Europe, so trust me you will be fine. I live on my own i work and i study at uni, and I'm not broke by any means. Simple guy (above) is right about the prices....just have a look at www.xe.com to compare the prices he gave with your usual currency, it will give you a fair idea of what to expect. Bond Uni? Woo......hope you got the funds! Oh, and if you're travelling by public transport, try and get a seasonal ticket e.g. 3 mth or even a year, it will work out so much cheaper! Have a look at www.transinfo.qld.gov.au for all the public transport info you need on Sth East Queensland. |
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