Muldrake if the high tax rate in Scandinavia is bothering you, don't go to Oz. Aussies get taxed to hell every which way they turn. Money in hand at the end of the day, you will be miles ahead in the Middle East. As Duck said, with that comes some other issues, but I would recommend the Middle East to anyone for a great experience for a few years at least.
Gotta say though whoever it was that said Oz has a low cost of living, hasn't tried to buy a house in a good suburb of Melbourne recently, and with rising interest rates, the situation is getting worse by the month. And try eating out on the cheap in Melbourne! Quality of food is second to none, but almost as good here in Abu Dhabi and for a fraction of the cost ( unless you insist on eating all swanky at the Beach Rotana that is). A brilliant steak dinner , with starters and many many many beers at 49'ers for two, 200 dirhams ($70 Ozzie), will struggle to find that in Oz these days.
BTW Tinpusher, if 3,000 a month isn't enough for you and you don't mind living in an apartment rather than a villa, you can make 33,000 dirhams (about OR3,300 a month) in the Area Centre in Abu Dhabi, and from all reports schooling is about the same price, as is all the rest of the costs of living. Bonus here being, that you live an hour and half drive south of Dubai (but thankfully don't actually live there!), and that Etihad is growing all the time as is the number of cabin crew (many from Scandinavia I hear) based in Abu Dhabi. Worth considering.
Muldrake you wouldn't feel out of place here either since we have been flooded with Norwegians, Swedes, and bits of both (I guess you'd callem Swegians??) lately, so Scandihooligan is the language of choice in the centre a lot of days.
Last edited by AirNoServicesAustralia; 3rd Sep 2006 at 06:25.
Reason: Cos I forgot TinPusher was a kiwi and muldrake was the Scandinavian.