Travel info  Travel tips Travel advice
*Travel Tips>>>General - Australia & New Zealand Travel Tips

Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Auckland, or Gold Coast?


Travel Info
I am currently a college student in the United States. A very poor one. I have decided to study abroad in either Australia or New Zealand for the spring semester of 2008. Where would you recommend, a college student with only 4-5 months of time, to study abroad?

Also, what is the cost of living like in Australia/New Zealand compared to the United States? How much would a nice meal cost? A decent beer?

Travel Tips
G'day,

Living cost... Sydney and Canberra have the highest living cost, followed by Melbourne & Brisbane, then Perth, Darwin, Adelaide & Tasmania the lowest. I am attaching a weblink from one of the uni in Melbourne as an indication.

I'm living in Melbourne and this is what you're going to find in Melbourne:
1. First of all... some people do not like the weather in Melbourne (you can have 4 seasons in one day). However, if you read the second weblink from The Age newspaper, you will find out that the weather is still more preferable than the other cities. Sure you can have 42C day like last month, but almost immediately you'll get a much cooler weather pretty soon afterwards. It is very rarely that you got 2 or 3 consecutive days of hot weathers (unlike Sydney, Brisbane or Perth).
2. Melbourne is a city of diversity. If you are a newcomer, and you do not look 'Anglo-Saxon', you do not feel like an 'alien', since you can find almost every race in the world walking in the city. They are both immigrants and overseas students.
3. THE FOOD!! Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Thai, All-you-can-eat, African, Lebanese, Mexican, Sea Food... anything else? All available and lots of them in a very-very-very affordable price
4. Pretty good public transport system. With one ticket, you can switch from train, tram and bus. They do not always come on-time, but still reliable and improving (www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au). Good for students, since not all can afford car.
5. SHOPPING!!! Original branded clothing sold very cheap. There are even shopping tour, where the participants are taken to retails outlets just for shopping. Big temptations for ladies.
6. Crime rates... just read the third article on the bottom.
7. Night Life... hmmmm... I'll say the centre of nite activities will be Crown Casino and Docklands. Altho there are still plenty of cafe's and clubs scattered around the suburbs as well.
8. Tourist attraction. This is the area that I think Sydney is better than Melbourne, since it has most of it's attraction within its suburbs. Most Melbourne attraction are pretty much out of Melbourne, such as the gold mines in the cities of Bendigo and Ballarat, The Great Ocean Road, Lakes Entrance, Grampians, skiing in Mt. Buller etc.

Hope this helps. Good luck on your study :) Source(s): http://www.deakin.edu.au/international/p...
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/0...
http://www.150.theage.com.au/view_bestof...

Other Travel Tips
go to MELBOURNE its the cheapest for students.
IDK about the rest but Sydney has awsome views
Adelaide = boring.
You probably have a wider range of study choices in Melbourne or Sydney.
Cost of living it slightly higher in Auckland due to a higher GST (goods and services tax).
Beer on tap ~$3-4
Bottled beer $4-6
Buy your own six pack or a carton (24) is much cheaper. ~$30-50 (for premium beer) for a carton.
Can't really quote on the price of a decent meal, depends on what you mean by decent!
Eating out at a cafe probably around $15. Decent meal somewhere, eg steak $25-30.
Melbourne: 4 seasons a day; cheap living standard, good public transportation, lots of scenery places (e.g. botanic garden, Yarra River...)

Sydney: a metropolitan with various cusines, higher living standard, good public transportation, many renowned uni, feel like NY

Adelaide: don't know much

Auckland: poor public transportation, reasonable cost of living, good for hiking

Gold Coast: very high cost of living, beautiful beaches (better than Haiwaii), no winter, many attractive tourist spots (e.g. Warner Bros...), good food, people are more friendly and open when compare with Sydney & Melbourne.
I have been studying in Melbourne for about 5 years.
Melbourne is a nice to place to study since It's not a very crowned city compare with Sydney.
I think Perth or Adelaide is better since it's a quite city.

For the cost of living, It's depend whether you are sharing or not.
If you're sharing, normally the living cost is around $1,200 AUD per month

You can get a nice meal for only about $8 AUD

Hopefully this answer might help you
Tags
Melbourne Perth Queenstown Sydney Wellington General - Australia & New Zealand China Indonesia Japan Korea Malaysia
Related Links
  • Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Auckland, or Gold Coast?
  • How supportive is a host Family in a homestay in New zealand for a student ?
  • What is the best beach in Queensland?
  • Moving to Adelaide from Ohio?
  • Hi Aussies, how do you get rid of your 5 cent coins?
  • Is Australia as nice as it was when I visited two years ago?
  • How do i send my car from adelaide to the gold coast?
  • What caused water levels to rise to seperate rottnest island from Western Australia?
  • What do you all think?
  • What is the weather like in Christchurch, New zealand?
  •    

    Travel Info Categories--Copyright/IP Policy--Contact Webmaster