Brisbane Cost of Living

Ahhh. just spent 15 minutes typing a long response but lost it because I hadn't logged in. This response will be much shorter. sorry.

No point in trying to find an affiliated bank, because it won't make things any easier to transfer or ask for a line of credit. To be honest you probably won't get a line of credit here because you have no credit history and no security (property or assets) here. So you'll probably have to set the line of credit up in Canada. It's the best choice anyway because the interested rates are WAY higher here.

As far as moving your money over it's better to use a currency exchange place to do it. The banks take a while and give you a crap exchange rate plus charge fees so something like Ozforex would be a lot better. We move our money with the banks and with Ozforex (most of it with Ozforex) and they were way faster and cheaper than going through the bank. And yes, they are very safe to use. We moved over about $200k and it was very stressful watching it disappear but everything was just fine.
http://www.ozforex.com.au/
I would recommend getting an account set up with them right away and then you have it ready to transfer money when you see a good rate. It does take a short amount of time to get it set up so you want it ready to use before you need it.

As far as banks go you can get accounts set up before you arrive with either Westpac or Commonwealth.
http://www.westpac.com.au/internet/publ ... nt+banking
http://www.commbank.com.au/movingtoaustralia/

We have a Westpac account and I've been pretty happy with them so far. We didn't set it up before hand though, we just walked into a bank when we arrived and did it. Then we moved the money over afterwards. Not sure how long it would take to set yours up before you arrive though. If you do set up your bank account while in Canada you can deposit money in your Oz account but won't have any access to it until you walk into the bank and prove your identity. Just so you're aware that money is stuck there until you arrive at the bank with your ID.

What we did is give someone in Canada (my mother in law) authority on our bank account. She has full access to it so she was the one that initiated the transfers on our behalf. It also comes in very handy because I want to deposit or take out money in Canada she can do it for us. So if you've got someone you trust then it would be handy to have that. Alternatively go talk to your bank and make sure that you will be able to do things by phone, fax or email while you are abroad.

I hope that helps a little bit.

As a side note I notice that you are arriving on Nov 13th. I will be picking my mother in law up at the Brizzie airport that morning so you two might just be on the same flight.

I should note that it is very handy to have someone with access to your account. Obviously you would need to completely trust them though! But we've had her deposit cheques, pay bills, etc. Anything that needs to be done she can do so it really helps.

Wow, we might just be!

Thanks for the bank info - I filled out an online application to set up an account with the Commonwealth bank.

A few of the other Canadian students going over have been discussing this too.

I agree, the line of credit should be at a canadian bank, and I will probably get my parents to have authority for me.

Here's a question concerning cost of living again.
Are gym memberships common in Brisbane? If so, how much are they usually? just throwing things out there as they come to mind.

Thanks again!

Thanya

hi again!

So I was looking at the site you posted, for Ozforex. I noticed that they will only do transfers over $10 000AUD.

Oztrekk had mentioned Northstar Currency in an e-mail to all the students, so I checked them out too - they will do transfers over $5000AUD. I find as a student, this is a little more ideal!

i cant post the URL yet, as a new member, but google then and you'll find it.

hopefully now I am helping some other poor student like myself

Thanya

For smaller amounts you could use Transferz. I believe they are owned by Ozforex and they specialize in smaller amounts. Just shop around but make sure that they are a reputable secure exchange company.
http://www.tranzfers.com/index.html

Gym memberships do seem pretty common here. If you want to join a gym you generally have to go into a one year contract, although you can pay fortnightly (every 2 weeks) or by the month. When I joined my gym there really wasn't even an option to sign up for anything smaller than a year, although once you did your year you could go month by month. Actually, to be fair I could pay per use but it was like $15 per use versus $66 a month. So my gym membership costs $860 a year. There are cheaper gyms around, but I like mine because it has lots of facilities and equipment and several pools.

There are lots of gyms around so just take a look around the area you end up to see what's around. With any luck there will be a free or cheap gym at the university you'll be attending.

Hi,

Here is the approximate cost of my everyday life in Brisbane:
(it is in Australian Dollar)

Rent $125/week
Electricity/gas $45/months
phone $25/months
mobile phone $30/months
internet $70/months
Public transport $100/months (2 zones)
Food shopping $100/2 weeks + $10/week at the market (west end good and cheap)
Restaurant $40/2 weeks
Going out $20/night (when we go out)

That's pretty much it

Hope it will give an idea

comet555

Thanks for your post here.

I am an engineer from Calgary and am considering to continue my career in Australia. How's your feeling about Australian job market now and
real estate? Thanks

The job market is hard to say. it really depends on the industry. If you were in banking I'd say it'd be tough finding a job at the moment. As a whole things are slowing down although again, it depends on your profession.

As an engineer I think some types might be ok, and others not so much. Construction is certainly slowing down so if you dealt with that side of things then it could be tough. Mining is showing some signs of slowing although so far my husbands job seems to be secure. Although you never know.

I suggest you do some job searching to see if you can find things listed that would suit you. Try:

www.seek.com.au

Also, have a look through this forum for more info. There's been a lot of talk lately about job losses and whatnot. so have a read through those. Remember, it's just people's opinions although there are some interesting links in there.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=54

This thread in particular talks about job losses.
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=569569

As far as housing goes it really depends on the area and type of housing. We bought our house last year and our area seems pretty stable with either no change or about a 4% increas, I'm not too sure which although I think a slight increase. Other areas like some of Sydney's overprices properties are getting hit really hard. So agian, sort of hard to answer. You can also check for chit chat on the housing at the British Expats website listed above. Particularly this one:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=576702
Again. lots of opinions and speculation.

comet 555,

Great information. Thanks

Post few more questions but seems get lost as web upgrade.

A few more questions,

1. Can I use my Alberta driver license there, for how long?

2. Is that OZforex can be used to exchange and tranfer money together?

Ok, I wrote a long reply to your questions yesterday but with the new update it seems to have disappeared. So I'll be quick this time.

1. Yes you can use your licence when you get here. You normally have 3 months to change over to an Oz licence although being on a temp visa you might not have to do that (alhtough it would make things easier for ID purposes). Just look up the state you're going to and find out the details.

2. Yes, Ozforex does pretty much everything. Once you're set up with them they will give you two bank account choices in Canada. You then arrange for your bank to send them the money to their Canadaian bank account. Once that money is in Ozforex's Canadian account they will transfer it to Oz and do the currency exchange. It then goes into your Oz account as Oz funds. I would recommend getting set up with Ozforex before you actually need to do the transfer. You'll need to sign their forms with some information and fax/email it back to them. You'll also ave to send them copies of your passport and the bank account statement where the money is coming from.

So where exactly are you headed to? If you're going to New South Wales and you have school kids you'll have to pay about $4000 a year for schooling on a temp visa. If not then no worries.

Also, since you're going on a temp visa you should try to have LAFHA including in your salary. This is the living away from home allowance and it basically means a big tax break, your rent and some living expenses are deducted from your pay BEFORE you are taxed. This would save you from paying a lot of tax. They employer doesn't have to give this to you, but if you can arrange it the LAFHA won't cost them anything although does make them do a bit more paperwork.

Good luck with the move.