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What I find alot of in the other capitals and not Perth is those cheap lunchtime meal deals. In Queensland it was common to find steak meals at $7-10, sometimes even with a cold glass of beer! Of course the steak wasn't a 500g slab like a $30 steak, but it was still pretty decent and filling. The same thing here in Perth would be at least $20. $15 'specials' here are about as cheap as I see for steak meals. Italian food in Adelaide and Melbourne is just as good as Perth but often more like $12-16 for a pasta main meal rather than the $18-22 which is more typical here.
Then you need to eat out Monday to Wednesdays at places like Sienas here in Leederville on those nights it's $12 for pizza or pasta and always full on these nights. Went tonight actually as it's only a short work.
I'm not either. Just can't get past the prices. I make my morning coffee at home and that's it for me for the rest of the day. Co-workers buy at least two a day.
I had actually considered Oz as a retirement option but once I visited and found out the prices... I scratched it off my list... it's too bad as I think it would be an awesome place to retire
I had actually considered Oz as a retirement option but once I visited and found out the prices... I scratched it off my list... it's too bad as I think it would be an awesome place to retire
That's what we thought too. We moved here in 1999 but since then, prices have skyrocketed to the point where that idea has been shelved.
Problem is, you can't "buy down" too easily here. The Australian housing focus is on single-family homes with few condos and multi-family dwellings in central areas that are reasonably priced. Most of the apartments being built around Perth are pretty posh, starting at half a million. We looked at some older & cheaper townhouses and apartments and they were awful, many with mould and cheap finishings, or feral neighbours. And they still weren't reasonably priced enough. Smaller towns aren't much cheaper and living in the back of beyond isn't our cup of tea either. Anything by the ocean is expensive and living inland can be pretty brutal climate-wise. The options just aren't here, not for us. And circling Australia in a caravan til we die sounds so bleak and depressing now that we've seen the landscape.
And then there's the cost of living. We're retiring back to Canada, and snowbirding it to the US. We've done the maths, it's much more reasonable overall and it puts us in a more central location to travel. Everything is far from here so flights are also expensive and torturously long.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Originally Posted by Vichel
That's what we thought too. We moved here in 1999 but since then, prices have skyrocketed to the point where that idea has been shelved.
Problem is, you can't "buy down" too easily here. The Australian housing focus is on single-family homes with few condos and multi-family dwellings in central areas that are reasonably priced. Most of the apartments being built around Perth are pretty posh, starting at half a million. We looked at some older & cheaper townhouses and apartments and they were awful, many with mould and cheap finishings, or feral neighbours. And they still weren't reasonably priced enough. Smaller towns aren't much cheaper and living in the back of beyond isn't our cup of tea either. Anything by the ocean is expensive and living inland can be pretty brutal climate-wise. The options just aren't here, not for us. And circling Australia in a caravan til we die sounds so bleak and depressing now that we've seen the landscape.
And then there's the cost of living. We're retiring back to Canada, and snowbirding it to the US. We've done the maths, it's much more reasonable overall and it puts us in a more central location to travel. Everything is far from here so flights are also expensive and torturously long.
To live here, great, but retire? No way.
I'd say the West Coast of the US is more isolated from the rest of the world than Australia is. It's a decent distance from Europe, Asia and basically everywhere else apart from the rest of North America of course. We're 5 hours to Asia but just far from Europe and the Americas.
And then there's the cost of living. We're retiring back to Canada, and snowbirding it to the US. We've done the maths, it's much more reasonable overall and it puts us in a more central location to travel. Everything is far from here so flights are also expensive and torturously long.
To live here, great, but retire? No way.
Depends where you want to go, I much prefer Having South east Asia a relativly cheap and easy flight away.
I'd say the West Coast of the US is more isolated from the rest of the world than Australia is. It's a decent distance from Europe, Asia and basically everywhere else apart from the rest of North America of course. We're 5 hours to Asia but just far from Europe and the Americas.
Oz is great for those interested in travel to Asia but we're not fascinated by it at all, with no plans on going there. Been to HK, Japan. No appeal to return or explore elsewhere in the region.
West Coast US/Canada has lots to occupy us and far more interesting, for us, landscape and things to do and see. We prefer the wilderness areas in that part of the world than here. Alaska's on our list as well as the Yukon, Montana, the Rockies - would rather be some place where we can do short trips to those places than the big ordeal from here.
It's also not far from East Coast US/Canada, which has even more of what we like to explore and do. Easier to go to Europe from the West Coast Canada because we can stopover somewhere interesting in the east, break up the flight. Cheaper flights out of NYC to London/Paris than from here. 7+ hours is about my limit on a plane anyway. From Perth that gets you to HK then another insane 13 hours to say, Frankfurt. Hell, absolute hell, done it, hated it, no more.
It just all works out better for us. We've experienced life in both hemispheres, done the comparisons and the figures. COL is a biggie when you go to a fixed income.
I had actually considered Oz as a retirement option but once I visited and found out the prices... I scratched it off my list... it's too bad as I think it would be an awesome place to retire
Last I looked, if you "retired" to Australia you could only stay half of the year and also the real estate rules are restrictive for foreigners buying property requiring one to go through their foreign investment board to get approval.
I can't remember all the rules to a T, but there are some and depends on what visa you are on too.
I have taken quite a few month long trips in Australia and New Zealand. At the end of the day their combined population is only 25 million and there is only so much to do and see. For me, at the end of those month trips, I was ready to come back to the USA. I enjoy exploring down there and always look forward to going back, but compared to north america, it has a limited number of options.
Assuming the world is still around when I retire in 30-35 years, I wouldn't mind living down under 4-6 months of the year, but I probably would not want to be there year round.
If Oz was even say only 10-20% more expensive than here.. I would have seriously considered retiring there year round as I really like the weather and the wildlife.. but when you are doubling, tripling prices and even quadrupling prices for various things.. it makes a huge difference to someone on a fixed income as Vichel said.
I think I probably will do something similar for retirement down the road.. snowbird in the American tropics/subtropics in winter and summers in Canada.
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