Cost of Living in Oz

We have a great farmers market held locally every week from 6am to 11am. They all get out of bed soooooooooo early here! I'm lucky if I make it there before it closes but when I do I find some real bargains.

Here's a picture of what I bought there today: -Grapes, tomatoes, rock melon, pineapple, eggs, peaches, nectarines, oranges and apples. That little lot costs me $22.50 all together which, at todays rate is equal to 10 pounds (sorry, I don't have a 'pound' sign on my keyboard). Not a bad price. The supermarkets are more expensive obviously but it gives you an idea of what the cost of living is like around here.

My weekly shopping bill at the supermarket is around $180 - $220 for the 4 of us which converts to 80 - 100 pounds. It used to cost us about 130 pounds at home. The prices are not as good as they were in comparison to the UK when we were here on holiday 8 years ago but they're still not bad.

A litre of petrol is curently costing us $1.11 (50p). It has been as low as 80c but it tends to go up and down all the time. Thursday's are when the prices are increased, then it comes down gradually until the following Thursday. Even so, we don't see queues at the pumps on Wednesday nights. The Aussies still think it's expensive! It costs me $50 -$60 per week to fill the car up (usually about 3/4 a tank unless we've been doing lots of miles in a week).

House prices are scarey! I'm still converting to pounds all the time and when I see a price tag of $400,000 I'm thinking in pounds instead of $'s. It's not so bad when it's converted. You get a lot more for your money though. Hopefully we'll be able to become house owners soon :o)