Just curious. Mutton, wool, anti-venom …what? What things do you guys have exceptionally good deals on relative to other countries? You must have some deals.
Vegemite springs to mind. And a lot of primary produce. Beer…
But is all relative to whichever country you are talking about. Petrol (gas) is cheaper than the UK but more expensive than the US and so on.
One thing is a lot cheaper than the US- we don’t have a culture of tipping.
Unfortunately the prolonged drought we have been experiencing has meant that primary produce (such as lamb and beef) is now getting expensive.
Kangaroo (and emu) meat.
Barramundi
Products derived from eucalyptus, maybe?
Wine perhaps?
You can get a very decent bottle of plonk for under $10 or $15 in most supermarkets or liquor stores.
Mutton is cheap, but nobody eats it.
Pretty much nothing is cheaper than anywhere else. It’s a first world, industrialised country, so we pay through the nose for the same over-packaged and over-advertised crap they pay through the nose for in other first world, industrialised countries.
As has been pointed out, we are in the middle of a very serious drought, and primary produce is becoming expensive (by our standards). Japanese tourists still go nutso on the steaks here, because they are much cheaper than at home. Europeans tend to do likewise, but Americans and Canadians do not. I think steak is cheapest in South America. The Japanese also come to Australia for golfing holidays as the cost is prohibitive in Japan. Then again, that is possibly the most expensive country on the planet, so comparing Australia to it is no different from comparing most any other place to it.
Fossil fuels are cheaper than in Europe, but more expensive than North America. Cars themselves are more expensive than in the US. Not sure about Europe.
Australia’s sheer size does not make much difference in terms of real estate prices, because most of the place is uninhabitable desert, so we are all crammed into a few coastal cities in which it is not unheard of to pay a million dollars for an apartment. A suburban house in a working class suburb an hour’s drive from downtown is about US$300 000 - 400 000.
US-style litigation has blown insurance costs (particularly public liability insurance) sky high, and those costs are being passed on through increased prices for products and services. This is causing many non-profit organisations to close down. An example: a railway preservation society has placed its historic train tours on hold because you can open the windows and doors in the old carriages while they are moving. The insurance company trebled their insurance last year because of this.
Beer and cigarettes are more expensive than in the US (I think) as they are taxed to an incredible degree. Beer is about half to two thirds the cost of beer in the United Kingdom (but their product is arguably better). A draught / draft beer in a suburban non-trendified pub (Moe’s Tavern) will cost you about US$2.50. A packet of 25 cigarettes about US$7. Australia does not have a tradition of manufacturing foreign beers under licence, so if you have a hankering for your favourite overseas drop whilst here, you’ll need to pay top dollar for an import (Heineken or Budweiser US$13 - 15 a sixpack). Australians do have access to some of the world’s cheapest very high quality wine.
Train / subway rides start at about US$2 for a short hop to the next station. I pay US$25 for a seven day ticket between two stations about fourteen miles apart. Once again, I think this is higher than the US and lower than Britain.
Those exotic things everyone has been thinking of, like kangaroo steaks tend to be expensive here too. You know how much it costs to build the fences for those farms? Seriously, much of that meat is hunted, and this is an expensive process, especially as the meat needs stringent subsequent safety clearance from the government meat inspectors. Other forms of weird meat (emu) are farmed, but still remain a niche product usually only served in inner city restaurants. It’s expensive.
Vegemite is expensive.
In general, British and European tourists find Australia a cheap place to stay (which is good because they have to sell a kidney to afford the fare). The Japanese also find it cheap and cannot believe the open space - even in the cities. Americans and Canadians usually find it more expensive than they had been led to believe before they left home - but nothing too terrible. New Zealanders often find it a little more expensive, but were prepared for that.
Well, sure. It’s just that it’s cheaper there than anywhere else which is what the OP asked. Why? Because it’s produced there.
They don’t hunt kangaroos anywhere but Australia. If I were to order kangaroo meat at a restaurant in Boston you can take all those costs you mentioned and add on the cost of getting the stuff here. That makes it more expensive here than there.
I know there is some emu farming in the US. Maybe the costs of that meat is more equal.
Looking over this thread, I think the only really good deal Aussies get over anybody else is wine. A workingman can take home a bottle of top quality cabernet shiraz for mere beer change.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned where we do have an advantage is the quality of our produce. Many foodie-types from the Northern Hemisphere weep with jealousy at our ultra-fresh fruit, vegetables, and seafood. Price doesn’t really come into this though, as this stuff is usually all that is available here, and isn’t available at all overseas, so it’s hard to compare direct pricing. This is why, as has been pointed out, Australians don’t EVER eat mutton. That stuff is used in pet food only.
That’s a very good and logical point you raised in that last post, LL. What I was getting at (though perhaps phrased badly) is that I wouldn’t consider the price of kangaroo meat if deciding to holiday or live in any given place. As a generalisation, Australians don’t eat the stuff, and Americans don’t either. It would be a bit like worrying about the price of a 'coonskin hat if I was going to the States. I’m sure they’re cheaper there than here, but…
In my experience, licorice seems to be considerably cheaper in Australia. Of course, that’s probably because so much of the licorice sold in the US seems to be from there. It wasn’t until i moved to the US that i realized that Australia was such a large exporter of licorice.
One thing that really struck me (and my American partner) on a visit home to Sydney last year was how cheap and incredibly good the orange juice was. There are places in Sydney where you can buy a 250ml (8oz) bottle of freshly squeezed OJ (that literally tastes like you’ve just squeezed it yourself) for $A 1.00, or about $US 0.70.
Another fruit product that’s really fantastic and comparatively cheap in Australia is the mango. At the height of the summer season, a tray of 14 huge, beautiful mangoes can be had for about $A10-15. I’ve been in the US for four years now, and have never had a mango to compare with the Aussie product. And the ones over here are also horribly expensive.
Basically, as TLD said, the overall quality of fresh produce is amazing in Australia, and the prices are generally pretty good, especially compared to buying similar quality stuff in the US.
Don’t know about this. Even the everyday stuff like tomatoes and lettuce and mushrooms and spinach are generally cheaper and better in Australia, in my experience.
Of course, if you’re in the US, the quality and price of fresh produce varies quite widely, depending on where you live. When my partner and i visit her family in California, we generally find that the fruit and vegetables are better and cheaper than they are over here in Baltimore.
Of course, as TLD also pointed out, comparisons like these are really only valid for first-world countries with similar standards of living. I’m sure you can get really good mangoes for almost nothing in Papua New Guinea, but you miss out on many other conveniences.
I don’t know where you are but it’s not like that in Brisbane. More like US$100,000 for a place an hour away from the CBD. I live 5 mins drive away from the CBD in a decent suburb in a 3 bedroom/ 2 bathroom house that cost around US$150,000. We even have views of the national park. Admittedly it was a bargain, and doesn’t have an enclosed garage.
I have other issues with your post … such as vegemite being expensive. Truth is though, I’m not entirely sure how much one pays for things overseas to compare them.
Also, an almost hour-long journey on the train costs US$3.15 for us here.
I guess I should point out that Sydney (where I am) is Australia’s NYC, pricewise (especially real estate).
Burnt Sugar Vegemite is expensive in that it’s… dunno the exact price of the top of my head… but it’s a few dollars for a little jar of the stuff, and all it is is waste material from the brewing process (tasty though!).
As **TheLoadedDog ** has said, houses in Sydney are considerably more expensive than in Brisbane. If you were looking to buy a 3 bedroom/ 2 bathroom house in Sydney within 5 minutes’ drive of the CBD, I doubt that you’d get much change from $1 million.
The Australians I’ve met have bitched the most about the price of prawns, of all things.
As with most things like prawns, the price Japanese (and South East Asian) markets are prepared to pay mean that they are no longer inexpensive. Fruit and vegetables are inexpensive- as is meat.
I can’t see why other posters say that vegemite is dear- simply because it’s a small bottle? You can get a large bottle for the price of a jar of honey.
And Sydney real estate is the most expensive in Australia. Who would want to live there is the question. And the days of bargain houses in Brisbane are just about over.
New Zealanders.
There are so many of there they would give us away.
… the very thought of someone… anyone… paying 15 bucks for a sixpack of Budweiser.
It simply boggles the mind.
The very thought of someone paying anything for it…
Seriously, it is lawnmower beer, and if you want something like that in Australia, there’s always Fosters at half the price. This means that not much Bud is imported, so profit margins are squeezed, and prices go up further. It is the same price as quality European beers here. Sam Adams stuff hasn’t really caught on yet.
Re prawns - for some reason, they used to be really cheap here, but are now up to the prices of other quality seafood. A real bitch, if you ask me.
And LoadedDog, where the hell do you buy your beer? A decent 6-pack isn’t more than $15 Australian dollars round my way…
You know, I just realised I stuffed that up. In my bottle-o, Heinies are about $15 - 17, with frquentlower specials. Budweiser is about the same, but without the specials. It’s sixpacks of Australian beer which seem to be dearer than they should now (everyone’s drinking longnecks @ 3 for A$10. :D).
Remember though that you got a great deal and bought at exactly the right time. My house is the same distance to the CBD and the next door neighbours house just sold for $650,000.