Is it better to live in Australia or New Zealand?

Question

I am a Registered Nurse with a associate's degree. I will be ready to move in 2012 and I'm wanting to live in one of the two countries. To my understanding the cost of living is higher in New Zealand than Australia. Tell me your opinion on living and surroundings and people and anything that would help in my decision making. Thank you.

Answer 1

New Zealand. We are a bunch a laid back friendly people, well most of us any way :)

Answer 2

Depending on where you move from, the cost of living comparison will differ.

Melbourne accommodation is quite cheap, you would be paying about 250-400 p/w for a NICE one bedroom in the CBD.

Rent in the outer suburbs is much cheaper, depending where you go. Typically, you can hire a nice 3 bedroom house for 250-300 p/w, but of course you would need your own mode of transport into the city.

Transport is a bit of an issue in Melbourne. You will be paying about $10.50 per day for the train, and the trains are ALWAYS late. The train service is absolutely horrible.

If you drive into the city by car, the traffic is usually pretty bad during peak hour. You can expect at least an hour+ driving into the city via any freeway in the morning and at night.

Parking in the city can be quite cheap compared to other cities. If you get in before 9 or 10am and catch the early bird rate, you will only pay about $15, otherwise you can pay up to $50 per day.

Petrol, lately, has been about $1.45 per litre on average. My car holds 55 litres, so I usually pay about $80 p/w to fill up.

Eating out is usually quite cheap. I'm a man who enjoys a good steak, and I typically pay $35-$50. Some of the best food is found on Southbank and Lygon Street (both of which are just one or two minutes out of the city).

Nightlife is a bit of a hassle. Saturday nights are overflowing with a lot of morons, jocks/football heroes who just cause trouble. Countless fights, assaults and rapes take place (in the more secluded places), and don't bother looking for a police officer. Victorian police are a useless enforcement agency, they don't do anything except set up drug buses and try to ambush speeders. They never patrol the streets or will never investigate an assault etc.

Apart from that, there are thousands of great bars and clubs/cafes etc scattered throughout the city. Usually found in alleyways in the city. South Yarra/Prahran (about ten minutes out of the CBD) is the current trend in nightlife at the moment.

Drinks at a club/bar is quite expensive. You can pay up to $9 dollars for a single mixed spirit.

Melbourne is notorious for its weather patterns. You can wake up to a hailstorm with icy cold winds, have a shower and go outside to a beautiful sunny day. It happens quite frequently, so you'll adapt pretty quick (although it's annoying when trying to dress appropriately). Our summer is normally quite hot, with days averaging 25-35 degrees in the hottest peak of summer. Winter can be quite cold, usually 5-15 degrees on average.

People in Melbourne are well-known for being friendly. It's typically a safe city, excluding Saturday nights and some suburbs. A lot of the north, north-west and north-eastern suburbs have a lot of scummers and 'gangs' of idiots who vandalise, assault and burgle etc. Usually they loiter at train stations and/or local fast food outlet car parks, abusing/beating random people, as long as the odds are in their favor. They usually carry (and aren't afraid to use) knives, trolley poles or other weapons.

Good luck

Edit: oh yes, I forgot to mention the massive spiders and venomous snakes. Kangaroos are also aggressive if they perceive you to be a threat, they can kill you if you get too close, but usually they will hop away.

Answer 3

Hi there,

You will get lots of different strongly opionated answers to this question relating to whether its kiwis answering or Aussies.

My thoughts (being a kiwi) are that New Zealand is better to live in, but it depends what your looking for to a certain extent also. I love New Zealand, because I feel that we have such a safe, beautiful and interesting environment. Also the people are friendly, the climate is mild (so not too hot and not too cold, although we definetly do have our fair share of very hot summer days in many parts of the country, and we do also get very cold overnight temperatures and snow in regions close to mountains in winter). We have all modern conveniences but not so much of the negative stuff that can come from big city living i.e traffic congestion and smog. theres a website called newzealand.com that could be worth checking out. As far as cost of living goes yes i do believe that its lower in Australia, I know our petrol prices are higher in NZ. Housing prices vary depending on what part of the country your in, check out www.trademe.co.nz too as you can view real estate listings on there and get an idea of the average house prices. As for the people, kiwis are considered some of the friendliest people in the world, you certainly wouldnt have any trouble fitting in here. I have travelled to Australia, USA, Canada, England, and Europe and so my opinions of NZ aren't based on having not been anywhere else, its just NZ will always be home for me

Answer 4

I am an American who has been working and living in NZ off and on since 1985.  I am onlyhere because of contractual obligations.  Australia is so much better.  Cheaper to live, better climate, better roads, better shopping, better health care, better government too.  NZ is fairly backwards and actually quite racist and very very sexist, in my opinion.  Stay away from NZ if you can.

Answer 5

I live in New Zealand now, and have only been told about life in Australia. I would put it this way:

New Zealand appears to be the "quainter" place of the two, more bucolic, and may appeal more to someone from Europe or the UK than Australia's vast stretches of land. It also seems to be slightly more gentle in mentality, with a strongly egalitarian culture which abhors brashness and blokishness (although these things do occur here, too; it's just that they're "officially uncool").

For me, the absence of creepy crawlies in NZ was a major factor in choosing it over Australia. I mean, insects OK, but have you seen pictures of the Huntsman Spider? I think I would faint if I encountered one in the shower, which apparently is not unusual in Australia (let alone snakes and so on).

One thing I really like about NZ is the dollhouse factor it has:

You can pretty much walk everywhere in the cities (I live in Dunedin, which feels just like a city in Scotland), and within minutes, I can be at either a sandy beach, on a mountain, near some breathtaking cliffs, in town, at home, or in one of the surrounding villages. Everything is so close, and so small. You get to appreciate this when it's gone - I used to live in Canada, where things are as spread out as in Australia. You just want to grow wheels after a while...

And then there's what some colleagues of mine who came from Australia said:

Apparently, NZ is a more "mellow" place, less sophisticated in some aspects, but also more forgiving, and more slow-paced. My colleagues chose to come back to New Zealand when they had children, because they found they spent so much time commuting to work in Australia that it essentially took away two hours or more of their day.

Answer 6

yeh you're right the cost of living is higher in new zealand

there's also more opportunities and bigger variety of things to do in oz