Sydney Travel Forum

Hi,

My girlfriend and I will be visiting Australia for 9 weeks (Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney) starting in June and were looking for some guidance on how much to budget per week. We have already booked accommodation and set aside money for this so are specifically interested in day to day living costs such as food and drink.

We will be staying in apartments and hostels with access to cooking facilities etc, so are interested in likely weekly shopping costs. Also, we would like the freedom to go out for lunch, buy a coffee, maybe visit a modest restaurant/go to the cinema/have a few drinks 2-3 times a week.

I have tried to find this info on the VT website but can't find it anywhere so if the topic has already been covered I apologise, but any help/advice would be very much appreciated.

Cheers!!!

Hard to tell you and depends on your tastes etc, but as a rule of thumb.
A decent coffee will set you back between $2 and $3
Bistro meals at a pub or club are usually between $10-$20, but you should find plenty of places with nightly specials or $7 steaks etc
Sydney is full of places where you can get a bargain, particularly mid week. There are always promotions/early bird sittings or cheap meals when you buy a drink etc.
As for drinks, expect to pay between $4 and $6 a beer depending on where you buy.

Hi
I have yet to find a coffee for $2.00 these days, better budget about $3.20+ in a cafe. As for groceries, herewith some examples from a supermarket.

Steak - $14-$25 per kilo
Fish - $20+ per kilo
sausages $10 per kilo
Bread $2-$5 per loaf
Coffee $10 for 200 grams
Apples $3.50 per kilo
Bananas $3.00 per kilo
Breakfast cereal $5-$6 per box
Milk $2 per litre
Wine $5 - $250 per bottle

Better still check out the prices at: http://www.woolworths.com.au/weeklyspecials/result/

These are from the Woolworths group (Safeway in Melbourne) but there are cheaper stores to shop such as Aldi etc. Also when in Melbourne, check out the Victoria market which has acres of fresh produce at great prices.

As for restaurants, check out: http://www.yourrestaurants.com.au/?
You may be able to get prices somewhere in the site. When in Melbourne, go to Lygon Street or Brunswick Street where you can get a pizza for under $10 each. The cheaper cuisines are Indian, Thai and Chinese. Movies are about $14 each but in certain days you can get tickets for under $10.


Enjoy you time here
John

Here's a bit of a list and the sort of mid range prices at a supermarket;
Box breakfast cereal $4.50
Fruit juice 2 litre $3
Eggs $3 dozen
Bread $2.50+ loaf
Packet of 8 sausages $4
Steak $13 kilo

If you want to really check out prices, use this link as a bit of a guide http://upcolaph6.colesonline.com.au/ but I think prices would be a bit dearer than shopping at the supermarket (Coles is one of the 2 big chains here)

Combine cook at accomodation with a few cheap eat out meals and about $125 - 150 each/week would be plenty. As previous poster said, plenty of cheaper restaurant meals during the week (one nick name is "tight a*** Tuesday - LOL)

Enjoy Oz

Some Brisbane info: Coffee $2.50- $3.50, plenty of Food Courts in the many shopping malls to get a wide selection of food at say under $10 per meal. Places such as the Irish Club, the Beach House and the Criterion Hotel (all in the city centre) have nightly specials where you can get a good meal (steak or roast) for under $10 on certain nights. Also the TinBilly Backpackers and the Embassy Backpackers have great steak specials on a daily basis. The Royal George Hotel in Fortitude Valley is also good for a great meal at a very reasonable price. Movies are cheaper if you go on Tuesdays (about $10) A glass of house wine can range between $3.20 (Irish Club Happy Hour)and $11 if you really want to splash out. There are many places such as South Bank Parklands and the Kangaroo Point Cliffs which are in and around the city centre and easily accessible by City Cat or City Ferry, where you have excellent barbecue facilities if you want to cook for yourself. There are also plenty of supermarkets to buy what you need. Perhaps if you were to get a little picnic kit of disposable plates, cutlery etc. together you could barbecue on a regular basis which would be very economical, but most of all you would be eating outdoors in the midst of wonderful views of the river and the city.

I spend on average $500 a month for housekeeping for 2 adults. This is being fairly generous without buying a vast quantity of meat, but including cleaning materials and basic toiletries.
As far as I know, cost of houskeeping is about the same in Perth as it is in Sydney.

Hi It depends upon what you want to eat , good fresh fish from a supermarket like Coles or Woolworths will cost from Au $ 25 to $50 a kilo , however there are cheaper smaller fish such as fresh herring etc at less than $10kg. Good steak is from $20kg upwards, however the supermarkets have specials, but make certain it is good grade steak. Vegetable prices have recently increased due to floods and drought, however there are plenty of frozen vegetables approx $4 for 500 grams. Bread $3 to $4 sliced loaf.

Plenty of cheaper restaurants, Chinese, Italian ,Fast food etc where you should get a good meal for $ 20 dollars per person. Plenty of markets around and meals a good and much cheaper than restaurants.

Suggest you visit VT pages for Brisbane, Sydney and wherever else you are visiting and page through the recent restaurant tips. When in Brisbane, visit Southbank , you will find many cheap restaurants, do not forget pub meals.

Good Luck,
Mike

Ok, if I was on holiday at your chosen destinations, I would budget $500 a week as follows-

Basic essentials for a week including breakky & bbq stuff - $150
Allocation for a nice dinner once a week - $160
Drinks for 2 nights - $120
Other, including Cinemas/lunch etc $70.

Thanks for all the replies, very helpful!!!

I was wondering ann, is the $500/week that you mentioned per person or $500/week between 2 people?

Just seemed like a big difference compared to earlier suggestions.

Thanks again

<<Basic essentials for a week including breakky & bbq stuff - $150>>

I don't know what Ann spends her housekeeping money on,(Ann, does it include going to the pub every time you go shopping?), but I would think this amount very generous housekeeping money for 2 for a week, more than enough to buy food for 3 meals a day not just breakfast.

>I was wondering ann, is the $500/week that you mentioned per person or >$500/week between 2 people?

Sounds like you should try and get an invite to Ann's place for a meal rather than the rest of us skin flints - LOL

Ann's place = 3 course meal, Oysters, fillet steak, yummy dessert.
Rest of us = watered down soup and day old bread.

Could someone please pass a crust

Yes SM, it is for 2 isn't it? You and your GF :o)

Shuddup the rest of you haha....Lesley & David lol.

When hubby & I go on holidays we like to budget $100 a day so $500 a week is not too excessive.

If you do better then great!...all the more to spend on other stuff. It's always better to over-estimate ;o)

& sure...you're all invited over to my place for a good seafood feed & spa :o)

Cheers, Ann.