Originally Posted by
McNugget
Add 60-80% to those figures to get the equivalent in town.
Beer - $8 when not happy hour. Most HH are 2:1 or similar.
Night out for two $200-300.
Champagne brunch for 2 $200
Transport monthly (living in DB) for two $170 ish
Groceries for 2 $150 a week
Cinema tickets $12-15
Cheeky pizza lunch for 2 $50 excl drinks
Curry for two $40 excl drinks
Local Chinese lunch $5-10
Western set lunch menus $15-20
Decent deli sandwich or salad $10
M & S salads bowl $5-7
Local flight (on staff) business class $120-200
Hotels for 3 night break each month $450-600
Long haul USA business class return $550
Junk boat outing $50-70 per person a few times a summer
Designer/name brand goods the same as everywhere, but without the great sales you find in the US.
Hope that pads it out for you. You can see that you can certainly get through it, but with a bit of discipline you'll be fine.
Of course, that is notwithstanding the need for a bigger place for a family. And I couldn't comment on raising a child here, but it looks like an expensive endeavour.
If married/kids/pets you can throw in a helper at USD $500 per month and dont forget the stamp duty if not local.
For that stunning 1 bedroom apartment for $480,000 you will pay stamp duty of $100,000 - non refundable. But hey don't worry. You can't have any better contract as expats because you can't discriminate against the local pilots. The government will happily discriminate against you though. Enjoy