Poll of the Day > To any/all Australian or close POTDers.

(+) Yeah! (+)

They make it sound like it's amazing to live in Australia, especially on the east coast etc. They say Min wage is like $30 US or something (and even then you often end up getting supplimented by the gov instead of paying taxes). They say you can rent a flat for like $100 US a week (and that rent is paid by week not month..which seems weird).

The food prices at least seemed high, but seem offset by no sales tax and no tipping, so something you would pay $15 for here would be $20 there (After converting the exchange rate). But here we have over 10% sales tax and generally at least 15% tip...which makes them even again.

Is it really that great in Australia, especially if you are working at or near min wage? Supposedly Insulin is the cheapest in the world and health care is generally very cheap as well etc.

It can't be that amazing can it?

I ask because i'm considering a round the world trip in order to eventually get to visit Australia, but if it's REALLY like that, I could just do a half way around the world trip and live there (although getting work visas etc does look challenging).

My original plan was to fly to Hawaii from here, then to Japan, then Taiwan, then Australia, Then Europe (getting to see a bunch of places but England/Ireland etc for sure), then NY and finally back to Washington.

I could go the other way though, and would, if I was going to stay, as I really want to see Europe, the rest is just along the way to Australia.

So if I was gonna move I would probably do NY/Europe/Taiwan/Australia

Cons:
Giant spiders
Government bans everything

TomNook posted...

Cons:
Giant spiders

GIANT SPIDERS!!!!!!

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*Cancels all trip plans*

Strongly suggest you look into their mobile and internet data plans/speeds before making a decision.

DocDelicious posted...

Strongly suggest you look into their mobile and internet data plans/speeds before making a decision.

I mean? Significantly cheaper than here in the US.

Mind you Tangerine (the only one i bothered looking up), costs a bit for 200mbps (94 AUD...so like 70$ US), but that is still cheaper than most plans in the us. You can get freaking 50mbps (more than enough for one person, for only $55 AUD( 40 or so US), which is about 20$ cheaper than you can get in the us at least in any of the places I know.

Also the cell phone plan add ons for those are insanely cheap. I have like THE CHEAPEST possible decent cell phone plan with good covered through Verizon (through a long gone deal and the long term user discounts (5$ after 3 months and another $5 after 9), I only pay $25 a month for my cell phone with 9gigs of data (which is insane, you can't get anything like that right now. Closest I have seen (just looked for a friend) is about $40 but with only 3 gigs).

Meanwhile to add a cell phone sim card to the above you can get 1 gig for 10$ /3 for 15 5 for 20 and
freaking 15g for 30$ (that is all in AUD though so after converting it even 15G is cheaper than what I pay lolz).

Seriously, that doesn't seem to be a deterrent at all. Also never realized when people were complaining about video game costs that the exchange rate was so hith.

It's $60 in the US for a new game and $90 (89) in Austrralia....but if you convert that 90 to US dollars,
it's $67.....a bit higher but not rediculous (and that was for a physical copy.....I'm pretty sure you can get around the higher prices for digital stuff).

That being said after a bit more research it seems min wage is just shy of $21 I guess (although it does say most jobs pay more than that, and the average wage is much higher). Converted into US$ that is only $15.75 US/hr min wage, so ......much higher then our federal min wage, but not much higher than many places in the US now at least.

Still the rent does seem lower even on the coastal cities with $100-$125/week for 1 bedrooms/studio apartments. That IS possible to find in the US but you won't find em on costal cities or near big towns (not anymore at least).

Considering the conversion rate though if AUS was willing to let Americans retire there, it would probably be the best solution by far (Especially if US citizens could still get Social Security etc, which they should still be entitled to).

$1200 or so US will barely let you survive here, but with the conversion rate that is $1600 AU......and it looks like you can literally get a place for $400-$500 a month (to yourself, no roomates etc). Utilities/internet look cheaper or comparable to here as well. Food is a bit more but if you tip that evens it out pretty well, so your total cost of living looks significantly cheaper there, and medical suplies etc (insulin especially but all medications) are significantly cheaper.

But...big giant spiders......I don't think I could handle that.

wolfy42 posted...

But...big giant spiders......I don't think I could handle that.

You'll be right. Just don't touch the spiders and they won't touch you... much.

wolfy42 posted...

But...big giant spiders......I don't think I could handle that.

https://tinyurl.com/3v3k9da3

Here is a reddit thread where Aussies are discussing how often they see huntsman spiders (that's the big boy spider that can sometimes be hand sized).

Oh yeah, great place. Good roommates:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/8/2/AALeh_AADIF-.jpg
But don't let its size fool you, it can run like 40 MPH too!

@DeltaBladeX He's either Oz or Kiwi, he can probably help you with your questions @wolfy42

Jesus I hate spiders, even pictures of them.

I try to not kill them and live and let live, but it's hard to be in a room with a spider somewhre I can't see.

I'm just flat out not a fan.

wolfy42 posted...

I mean? Significantly cheaper than here in the US.

Mind you Tangerine (the only one i bothered looking up), costs a bit for 200mbps (94 AUD...so like 70$ US), but that is still cheaper than most plans in the us. You can get freaking 50mbps (more than enough for one person, for only $55 AUD( 40 or so US), which is about 20$ cheaper than you can get in the us at least in any of the places I know.

Also the cell phone plan add ons for those are insanely cheap. I have like THE CHEAPEST possible decent cell phone plan with good covered through Verizon (through a long gone deal and the long term user discounts (5$ after 3 months and another $5 after 9), I only pay $25 a month for my cell phone with 9gigs of data (which is insane, you can't get anything like that right now. Closest I have seen (just looked for a friend) is about $40 but with only 3 gigs).

Meanwhile to add a cell phone sim card to the above you can get 1 gig for 10$ /3 for 15 5 for 20 and
freaking 15g for 30$ (that is all in AUD though so after converting it even 15G is cheaper than what I pay lolz).

Seriously, that doesn't seem to be a deterrent at all. Also never realized when people were complaining about video game costs that the exchange rate was so hith.

It's $60 in the US for a new game and $90 (89) in Austrralia....but if you convert that 90 to US dollars,
it's $67.....a bit higher but not rediculous (and that was for a physical copy.....I'm pretty sure you can get around the higher prices for digital stuff).

That being said after a bit more research it seems min wage is just shy of $21 I guess (although it does say most jobs pay more than that, and the average wage is much higher). Converted into US$ that is only $15.75 US/hr min wage, so ......much higher then our federal min wage, but not much higher than many places in the US now at least.

Still the rent does seem lower even on the coastal cities with $100-$125/week for 1 bedrooms/studio apartments. That IS possible to find in the US but you won't find em on costal cities or near big towns (not anymore at least).

Considering the conversion rate though if AUS was willing to let Americans retire there, it would probably be the best solution by far (Especially if US citizens could still get Social Security etc, which they should still be entitled to).

$1200 or so US will barely let you survive here, but with the conversion rate that is $1600 AU......and it looks like you can literally get a place for $400-$500 a month (to yourself, no roomates etc). Utilities/internet look cheaper or comparable to here as well. Food is a bit more but if you tip that evens it out pretty well, so your total cost of living looks significantly cheaper there, and medical suplies etc (insulin especially but all medications) are significantly cheaper.

But...big giant spiders......I don't think I could handle that.

The service is awful and slow in most places in Australia. You need to live pretty much in the middle of a congested urban center for fast internet.

It's alright, at least the drought's over

Sales tax is already added to the cost of things, food and gas are extremely high while minimum wage is about the equivalent of $15US last time I checked

Nice beaches, I love Melbourne (family live there) and Sydney, wish I had checked out Perth.. and maybe Adelaide

Oh and also when they say it's 45 out that means it's hot as shit :D

Nog, I saw that most of Australia is really hot, but yeah it seems like the east coast I think it is, is milder (with highs in the 80's in the summer I think it was). I can handle that.

I saw the sales tax was added in, and there is no tipping, so that reallly does balance alot out. Games for instance the cost there includes sales tax, so your really paying the same as we do here (unless in a state like oregon with no sales tax). $60 here + 11% sales tax (where I live) =$66.60

Meanwhile the conversion makes your $89 into $67 US bucks.....so it's really the same price.

Food out is similar, as long as you add in normal tipping here (big diff if you don't tip though). I always tip because I hate making people feel bad (Even though they make 4x as much as me).

But yeah from what I understand as of April 1st the converted Min wage is like 16-17$ an hour. That being said MUCH less people supposedly make the bare min wage in Australia then here.

Supposedly about 40% of americans make $15/hr or less.

But yeah I would have to move to a very select few places to avoid super hot weather. Then again it hit like 117 or something here last summer (can't believe that was less than a year ago still). I guess everywhere is getting hot.

Well if you want to avoid the hot weather, there's always the local swimming spots:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/7/8/AALeh_AADIHe.jpg https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/7/9/AALeh_AADIHf.jpg
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/8/0/AALeh_AADIHg.jpg

Lol, yeah I'm to old to go croc hunting anymore. I'm big enough still, but not in good enough shape and i'm over 50.

Not even sure if I would ever go into the ocean, but I would live near it for the cooler weather.

Also maybe ocean = spider free zone in case they swarm or something. I'll take sharks over spiders any day.