Cost of living UK/OZ
lynparnell
price on the following shopping list. We have not yet made out any
paperwork for emigrating to Australia from the UK, we are still doing some
homework to find out as much as we can before committing to anything. We
have visited both Sydney and Melbourne but not for 7 years so some up to
date prices would be helpful. We are very aware that prices vary from city
to city and state to state but any help and info is appreciated.
On another topic, I am a licensed avionic aircraft engineer (UK licenses)
and any info on aircraft maintenance companies in Australia would, also, be
very much appreciated. I have already been in touch with the major
airlines.
Many thanks in anticipation.
Kev and Lyn
Here is the shopping list;
1 Litre milk
1 loaf bread
1 pack of butter
1 doz eggs
Breakfast cereal
1 kilo hard cheese (equivalent to cheddar)
Coffee/tea
1 kilo bananas (fruit in general also)
Vegetables in general (per weight unit)
BEER (lets get our priorities straight) I'm rather partial to Tooheys.
Wine (for her) local and imported
Various meats and seafood (per weight unit)
Pasta (any style)
Petrol per litre
domestic fuel (gas/electricity also phone bills based on a young family of
4)
top ten video/cd/dvd
once again, thanks for any help.
Zebee Johnstone
lynparnell <lynpa...@tinyworld.co.uk> wrote:
>In the name of research we would be terribly grateful if someone could put a
>price on the following shopping list. We have not yet made out any
www.woolworths.com.au - try the demo of the home shopping service.
Petrol varies widely. at the moment in Sydney you'll pay over 80c/l,
2 weeks ago you'd pay 78c/l
CDs and such are expensive. Range from $15-$30 depending on who has
what on special.
Ditto videos.
Zebee
Mark Deayton
lynparnell wrote:
>
> In the name of research we would be terribly grateful if someone could put a
> price on the following shopping list. We have not yet made out any
> paperwork for emigrating to Australia from the UK, we are still doing some
> homework to find out as much as we can before committing to anything. We
> have visited both Sydney and Melbourne but not for 7 years so some up to
> date prices would be helpful. We are very aware that prices vary from city
> to city and state to state but any help and info is appreciated.
> On another topic, I am a licensed avionic aircraft engineer (UK licenses)
> and any info on aircraft maintenance companies in Australia would, also, be
> very much appreciated. I have already been in touch with the major
> airlines.
> Many thanks in anticipation.
>
> Kev and Lyn
>
> Here is the shopping list;
>
> 1 Litre milk
> 1 loaf bread
> 1 pack of butter
> 1 doz eggs
> Breakfast cereal
> 1 kilo hard cheese (equivalent to cheddar)
> Coffee/tea
> 1 kilo bananas (fruit in general also)
> Vegetables in general (per weight unit)
> BEER (lets get our priorities straight) I'm rather partial to Tooheys.
Once you get here it won't take you long to break that habit. Although
Tooheys Old is a nice brew.
But seriously, the Woolworths website that Zebee mentioned would be a
good starting point for you. The Woolworths site probably won't have
beer listed, so beer ranges from $20 to $30 per carton/case (24 x 375ml
bottles) depending on what is on special and where you live.
> Wine (for her) local and imported
Cheap local stuff starts at around $6/bottle. You can get quite good
Australian wines on special for around $10-12. $15-$20 gets you
excellent quality Australian wines.
> Various meats and seafood (per weight unit)
> Pasta (any style)
>
> Petrol per litre
> domestic fuel (gas/electricity also phone bills based on a young family of
> 4)
> top ten video/cd/dvd
>
> once again, thanks for any help.
--
Mark Deayton
mdea...@bigpond.com
http://www.geocities.com/markdeayton/
ICQ# 314598
nft321
This should give you some idea about the cost of food etc. In general it would
seem that fish, meat and vegetables are cheaper. Other items such as shampoo
and other non food items are more expensive, overall form a weekly shop
perspective the cost will be similar to the UK. Cars, TV's washing machines
etc. are expensive in Aus, the real advantage certainly in Perth/Adelaide is the
cheap cost of quality housing and associated expenses such as rates . As
several people have said to me, in the UK you need to have a really good income
or be someone special to live in a "nice house by the sea", in Aus this is the
expectation not a pipe dream.
Neil.
lynparnell wrote:
> Wine (for her) local and imported
Lisa
>
> In the name of research we would be terribly grateful if someone could put a
> price on the following shopping list. We have not yet made out any
> paperwork for emigrating to Australia from the UK, we are still doing some
> homework to find out as much as we can before committing to anything. We
> have visited both Sydney and Melbourne but not for 7 years so some up to
> date prices would be helpful. We are very aware that prices vary from city
> to city and state to state but any help and info is appreciated.
> On another topic, I am a licensed avionic aircraft engineer (UK licenses)
> and any info on aircraft maintenance companies in Australia would, also, be
> very much appreciated. I have already been in touch with the major
> airlines.
> Many thanks in anticipation.
>
> Kev and Lyn
>
> Here is the shopping list;
>
> 1 loaf bread ***$1.97 (900g loaf on special) $2.09 (700g loaf not on special)
> 1 pack of butter *** $0.81 (250g)
> 1 doz eggs *** $2.25(plead guilty to non-free range)
> Breakfast cereal *** $4.94 (Nutrigrain 500g- a treat!)
> 1 kilo hard cheese (equivalent to cheddar) $6.29
> Coffee/tea $7.99 (Nescaf 250g-on special)
> 1 kilo bananas (fruit in general also)
> Vegetables in general (per weight unit)
Bananas(I only eat the expensive Lady Finger type) $3.99kg, Sweet corn
$0.44cob, Apples $1.69kg, Strawberry $1.49(250g), Avocado $1.68, Tomato
$2.99kg, Mango $0.97ea, Grapes $3.98kg, Cherries $14.99kg, Peaches
$3.96kg, Mushrooms $6.99kg, Plums $1.98kg, Pears $2.29kg, Rockmelon
$1.65 half, Kiwi fruit $0.50ea,
Hey, I've just realised that there's no veges on my shopping list. Oh
yeah, it was a December receipt- we live on salad and fruit in December.
Too hot for veges!
> BEER (lets get our priorities straight) I'm rather partial to Tooheys.
** Sorry, we both drink wine.
> Wine (for her) local and imported *** Local cardboard box wine 4litre, (one for the cooking, one for the chef!) $11.00
A reasonable, 'must pick up a bottle for the BYO cafe' $8 to $15
Anything upwards!
As a UK comparison, the commonly found Jacobs Creek is under $10 in Oz.
> Various meats and seafood (per weight unit)
1kg bag of chicken thighs $4.67
Sausages $1.99-$2.99kg (kids only. If you want decent sausages, pay
lots!)
> Pasta (any style)
>
> Petrol per litre $0.80 as a budget helper. It's been up and down lately.
> domestic fuel (gas/electricity also phone bills based on a young family of 4) No gas in my suburb. Don't own a heater. Family of 5, kids 6/5/1
Electricity: (3mths during summer)$179.25 made up of
Hot water:$33.11 Pool filter and clothes dryer: $24.51 (it's been a wet
summer!) General household, cooking, lighting: $122.81 (turn off the
lights, kids!)
Phone:(quarterly) line rental about $30, local calls about $100
(untimed, but going online sure chews them up. Kids don't use the phone
yet. Local calls are available from about$0.17each) Offpeak call to UK:
$2.58 for 12minutes (weren't we good, only did one last month!)
> top ten video/cd/dvd ??? Not good on this one!
Just found the insurance bill: 2 cars, both elderly sedans, one fully
insured, one for 3 party property only (repair the other car in an
accident, but not ours! Helpful if you hit a Roller!) $387 annually.
and Registration: I think it was $450-$500 per car. YUCK.
>
> once again, thanks for any help.
You're welcome. All these receipts and bills were sitting beside me
waiting to be filed!
BTW, we are in Brisbane.
lynparnell
Sorry about the delay in replying - we had some personal answers to the
original note, and we felt we should reply to those first!
All the info you have given us is great - it just made us even more keen to
come out there. Your prices are unbelievable - petrol especially, as we pay
77p (AU$1.95) per litre!! We looked at some real-estate sites as well, and
your house prices (in comparison to UK prices) are amazingly low, i.e less
than half the UK price. However, this leads us to the question - how much
are you guys paid out there, and is there anyway we can find out how much a
Licensed Avionic Engineer could expect to earn? We have tried contacting the
major airlines, but they are reluctant to discuss salaries with us, and it's
not something we can just guess at. Also, what is the current mortgage
interest rate, and what is the trend in interest rate rises at the moment?
(over here it's going up slowly but surely)
Zeebee - you say CDs and such are expensive - we pay an average of AU$40-50
per CD/video and AU$50-60 for a DVD so for us, AU$15-30 is peanuts for these
items, although again, that all comes down to monthly wage, I guess!
As for the Woolworths/Dewsons sites for prices, we found Dewsons was the
best, and very simple to use, so thanks to Neil for suggesting that. We'd
certainly recommend it for anyone else looking for similar info.
Thanks again everyone!
Kev & Lyn
Stephen Ashley <ste...@fl.net.au> wrote in message
news:38c6...@news.syd.fl.net.au...
> it would be nice to hear your response
>
> --
> Thanks
>
> Stephen
> lynparnell <lynpa...@tinyworld.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:38c02...@news1.vip.uk.com...
> > In the name of research we would be terribly grateful if someone could
put
> a
> > price on the following shopping list. We have not yet made out any
> > paperwork for emigrating to Australia from the UK, we are still doing
some
> > homework to find out as much as we can before committing to anything.
We
> > have visited both Sydney and Melbourne but not for 7 years so some up to
> > date prices would be helpful. We are very aware that prices vary from
> city
> > to city and state to state but any help and info is appreciated.
> > On another topic, I am a licensed avionic aircraft engineer (UK
licenses)
> > and any info on aircraft maintenance companies in Australia would, also,
> be
> > very much appreciated. I have already been in touch with the major
> > airlines.
> > Many thanks in anticipation.
> >
> > Kev and Lyn
> >
> > Here is the shopping list;
> >
> > 1 Litre milk
> > 1 loaf bread
> > 1 pack of butter
> > 1 doz eggs
> > Breakfast cereal
> > 1 kilo hard cheese (equivalent to cheddar)
> > Coffee/tea
> > 1 kilo bananas (fruit in general also)
> > Vegetables in general (per weight unit)
> > BEER (lets get our priorities straight) I'm rather partial to Tooheys.
> > Wine (for her) local and imported
> > Various meats and seafood (per weight unit)
> > Pasta (any style)
> >
> > Petrol per litre
> > domestic fuel (gas/electricity also phone bills based on a young family
of
> > 4)
> > top ten video/cd/dvd
Zebee Johnstone
lynparnell <lynpa...@tinyworld.co.uk> wrote:
>are you guys paid out there, and is there anyway we can find out how much a
>Licensed Avionic Engineer could expect to earn? We have tried contacting the
>major airlines, but they are reluctant to discuss salaries with us, and it's
>not something we can just guess at. Also, what is the current mortgage
>interest rate, and what is the trend in interest rate rises at the moment?
>(over here it's going up slowly but surely)
Salaries are hard to say really, espcially for something like that,
you
get better idea of computer salaries cos there are more computer
people.
What does an avionic engineer do? Does it require a degree, or is it
more of a trade? Would they be eligible for IEEE or a similar
professional organisation?
If it's a degree qualified electronic engineer, I'd imagine $60K+ but
how much plus well.... maybe $80k maybe more, but it is all just
guesswork.
If it's more a trade thing - such as the RAAF advertises - I'm even
less able to help. BUt I'd imagine $60k would be more an upper than a
lower limit.
What do they get in the UK?
>Zeebee - you say CDs and such are expensive - we pay an average of AU$40-50
>per CD/video and AU$50-60 for a DVD so for us, AU$15-30 is peanuts for these
>items, although again, that all comes down to monthly wage, I guess!
really? boggle :) I guess i'm used to the yanks who pay nothing.
>As for the Woolworths/Dewsons sites for prices, we found Dewsons was the
>best, and very simple to use, so thanks to Neil for suggesting that. We'd
>certainly recommend it for anyone else looking for similar info.
Better chuck in the FAQ I guess :)
Zebee
Stephen Ashley
Helena
> All the info you have given us is great - it just made us even more keen
to
> come out there. Your prices are unbelievable - petrol especially, as we
pay
> 77p (AU$1.95) per litre!!
Yesterday, all the pumps here in Perth had 90 cents or more listed, with
further price rises predicted. Yuk! So who knows, maybe we'll be up there at
$1.95 soon too, and you'll feel right at home ;-)
> We looked at some real-estate sites as well, and
> your house prices (in comparison to UK prices) are amazingly low, i.e less
> than half the UK price.
And since housing can be your biggest expense, that one cost alone can
impact your cost of living immensely.
> However, this leads us to the question - how much
> are you guys paid out there, and is there anyway we can find out how much
a
> Licensed Avionic Engineer could expect to earn? We have tried contacting
the
> major airlines, but they are reluctant to discuss salaries with us, and
it's
> not something we can just guess at.
How about your husband asking whomever he works for now in the U.K. to see
if they can find out salaries in Australia? Is there some Society or
organized group of avionic engineers there who might be able to get in touch
with a similar group here & find out for him? Except for government jobs, I
find that salaries are not advertised in the papers here very much,
especially in the higher salary ranges. It's always "negotiable".
>Also, what is the current mortgage
> interest rate, and what is the trend in interest rate rises at the moment?
> (over here it's going up slowly but surely)
It's been going up here since last year. A quick glance in the papers at
rates:
- 3yr fixed: 7.59 to 8.60 with most of them around 8%
Makes me glad we don't have to have one anymore.
> Zeebee - you say CDs and such are expensive - we pay an average of
AU$40-50
> per CD/video and AU$50-60 for a DVD so for us, AU$15-30 is peanuts for
these
> items, although again, that all comes down to monthly wage, I guess!
I still think AU$30 is a rip-off. We order our CDs and DVDs online from
Canada where we can buy 2 CDs for $30, shipping included. The exchange rate
is more favourable than the US$. Customs doesn't seem to bother you for
receiving goods under about $200. When you've got kids nearing the teen
years and music being oh so important to their daily lives, you look for all
the savings you can get. And I like music too.
> As for the Woolworths/Dewsons sites for prices, we found Dewsons was the
> best, and very simple to use, so thanks to Neil for suggesting that. We'd
> certainly recommend it for anyone else looking for similar info.
Fruit & veggies are often much cheaper at local markets around town. So
wherever you settle, look for them. Here in Perth, we have the Wanneroo
Markets with some great prices on fruit & veg, i.e., you can pay about 80
cents or more for one lime at the big grocery shops, but about 25 cents at
the markets.
Good luck, Kev & Lyn,
Helena
----------
Work like you don't need the money, Love like you've never been hurt, and
Dance like you do when nobody's watching.
ICQ 727527
Lisa
That's the website of Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association
(whew, mouthful). When the businesses won't talk money, the trade unions
usually will! The site has links to download the award agreements of
various companies (airlines etc). And hopefully the awards will specify
pay rates for various licences/levels.
Mortgage interest rates are slowly creeping up. You can get rates from
about 6%. Standard variable is about 6.8%. Fixed for 5yrs is about 8.2%
so it looks like they'll be rising, but not too much!
Lots of variations in rates depending on who you get your money from!
Hope that helps.
Regds, LJ
lynparnell wrote:
However, this leads us to the question - how much
> are you guys paid out there, and is there anyway we can find out how much a
> Licensed Avionic Engineer could expect to earn? We have tried contacting the
> major airlines, but they are reluctant to discuss salaries with us, and it's
> not something we can just guess at. Also, what is the current mortgage
lynparnell
Many thanks for your past help and answers. In response to your query below
an avionic engineer is responsible for all the electrical, electronics and
instrumentation installations on aircraft. Air forces around the world tend
to segregate avionics into sub-trades but civil aircraft operators engineers
do it all! Although one doesn't require a degree to do this (here in the UK
anyway) it does require an apprenticeship which includes the award of some
sort of trade certificate. Once you have done this (normally around 3
years) you have to spend time working on aircraft to satisfy the CAA (or
CASA in Australia) that the knowledge you have acquired is not leaking away!
One can then progress towards gaining Aircraft Maintenance Engineer
Licenses. To gain a licence requires a written exam followed by a
multi-choice exam and then on oral exam so it's not a simple process. When
you hold these you can perform tasks on an aircraft and "certify" that the
work has been carried out to a specific standard. You can also be required
to certify work carried out by other people who do not yet have their
licenses. My husband currently holds his electrical and instrument licenses
and is half way towards his autopilot license. There really isn't a simple
answer to your question but hopefully this covers it. by the way he
currently earns between £27k-£30k depending on how much overtime is
available. (AU$68-76k)
Now a question for you - what is IEEE?
best regards Lyn and Kev
Zebee Johnstone <ze...@zip.com.au> wrote in message
news:slrn8cdkp9...@zipperii.zip.com.au...
> What does an avionic engineer do? Does it require a degree, or is it
> more of a trade? Would they be eligible for IEEE or a similar
> professional organisation?
>
> If it's a degree qualified electronic engineer, I'd imagine $60K+ but
> how much plus well.... maybe $80k maybe more, but it is all just
> guesswork.
>
> If it's more a trade thing - such as the RAAF advertises - I'm even
> less able to help. BUt I'd imagine $60k would be more an upper than a
> lower limit.
>
> What do they get in the UK?
>
> > Zebee
Zebee Johnstone
lynparnell <lynpa...@tinyworld.co.uk> wrote:
>to certify work carried out by other people who do not yet have their
>licenses. My husband currently holds his electrical and instrument licenses
>and is half way towards his autopilot license. There really isn't a simple
>answer to your question but hopefully this covers it. by the way he
>currently earns between £27k-£30k depending on how much overtime is
>available. (AU$68-76k)
Well someone already posted the site with the awards, so hopefully you
can find something there. Tradesmen aren't all that valued in this
country, but it sounds like at A$60-A$70k job but as I say I'm just
guessing.
>
>Now a question for you - what is IEEE?
>
Ineternational association of engineers, the exact words of it escape
me, but its the international professional association. All kinds,
Electrical/Civil/Electronic/Mechanical.
Zebee
LJ
You could also pop over into aus.aviation and ask the guys there. From
the posts, there are plenty of LAMEs there.
LJ
lynparnell wrote:
>
> Zebee,
>
> Many thanks for your past help and answers. In response to your query below
> an avionic engineer is responsible for all the electrical, electronics and
> instrumentation installations on aircraft. Air forces around the world tend
> to segregate avionics into sub-trades but civil aircraft operators engineers
> do it all! Although one doesn't require a degree to do this (here in the UK
> anyway) it does require an apprenticeship which includes the award of some
> sort of trade certificate. Once you have done this (normally around 3
> years) you have to spend time working on aircraft to satisfy the CAA (or
> CASA in Australia) that the knowledge you have acquired is not leaking away!
> One can then progress towards gaining Aircraft Maintenance Engineer
> Licenses. To gain a licence requires a written exam followed by a
> multi-choice exam and then on oral exam so it's not a simple process. When
> you hold these you can perform tasks on an aircraft and "certify" that the
> work has been carried out to a specific standard. You can also be required
> to certify work carried out by other people who do not yet have their
> licenses. My husband currently holds his electrical and instrument licenses
> and is half way towards his autopilot license. There really isn't a simple
> answer to your question but hopefully this covers it. by the way he
> currently earns between £27k-£30k depending on how much overtime is
> available. (AU$68-76k)
>
> Now a question for you - what is IEEE?
>