Can anyone tell us what the cost of living is like in Australia i keep getting conflicting stories.Some say if you both work the wages are alot better than in England and the cost of living is cheaper.Other people say its just as hard as in the UK to make ends meet,is it alot slower way of life with less working hours.If so is easy to sustain a good standard of living just working 40hrs a week.A normal week is between 50-60hrs for me and 40hrs for my wife i come home from work she goes to work we dont want to be doing this on the other side of the world.Dont get me wrong we dont want to sit on our backsides and expect to get paid well we are more than willing to graft.I am a vehicle paint sprayer does anyone know what sort of salary this jobs can command and what sort availabilty it has around Brisbane are they plenty of bodyshops.Sorry for waffling but we are still in the process of deciding on whether to go or not hope someone can help with some info.

HELLO TO EVRYONE I AM NEW ON HERE.

THANKS Paul

 

Hi Paul,

Welcome to BIB, I am just going through the process of selling up to move to Aus ( all visas approved etc ).
I wish you all the best in searching for a job, if you do land one let me know as I do a lot of rally driving and could do with a good vehicle sprayer.

Arron.

 

There seems to be plenty of work available for Motor Trades here, and from what I have seen the wages here are OK, probably slightly lower than the UK, but on the plus side you are able to claim a lot of work expenses back on your income tax here, (tools, overalls, laundry etc) which you couldn't do in the UK on PAYE.
I am an ex mechanic, and ran my own business for a few years in the UK, initially I migrated to Adelaide, and the wages there were terrible, it really was hard to make ends meet, so I got out of that game, but I was surprised how much more they paid when we arrived in Brissie, if I worked in the same role here I would be better off.
I would think that the pay may be lower in the smaller QLD towns for this kind of work though.

As for cost of living, the houses are much cheaper, the petrol is much cheaper, so there are 2 major expenses that will improve, but everything else is similar in price to the UK, some things are more expensive too, e.g frozen or convenience foods in supermarkets are much dearer, but many fresh meats are much cheaper, so I guess it balances out.

Everybody is unique, with different lifestyles and different ideas of essential things, so we all spend different amounts of money on "living" , it is difficult to know whether one person would be better off financially here or not.
To some extent the amount of money you bring with you also makes a major difference, if you arrive with plenty of funds from a house sale you will be much more comfortable than someone who doesn't, but you don't need to be loaded to come here.

For us the cost of living was better, but it certainly isn't a cheap place to live, you need to have realistic expectations, but unfortunately a lot of people seem to think (or are led to believe) that you can live like a king here on very little money, and that's definitely not the case

 

hiya Paul welcome to brits in brissy ,youve been given some good advice and tips ,as the guys have said work wise you shouldnt have a much of a problem ,good luck with everything
Cal x