Anyone live in Australia

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why dont you ask one of your butlers to go to australia and find out ?

I'm here in AU for another week... not in Perth though.. The public transport here is pretty crap and really expensive.

As for transport to different towns, there's pretty much none. Trains and busses to go between the more major cities, and schoolbusses ferry kids to and from the outer towns. Basically, your friend needs a car.

Where is "here"?

thanks, I will let her know.
So do you like it over there?
I want to visit Australia one day, I have Holland plannned for this summer tho.

Despite what our friend above has to say let me tell how it is as a resident here in Australia.

It really depends on where your friend wants to travel. If she is going to be in Perth then she will find that there is a good public transport system in place with plenty of buses and suburban trains.

If she wants to travel outside of Perth to major regional centres in Western Australia then, once again, there are trains and buses to most major centres.

The cost of public transport is relative I guess. Most Australians would think that it was quite reasonable in the circumstances.

Travelling between capital cities is also relatively easy and there are plenty of discount airfares even though there are not as many airlines in Australia as there are in the US.

If your friend needs a car then it will probably be cheaper in the long run to spot hire a car when the need arises. Car rentals within capital cities are cheap but if you want to travel outside of the capitals then rental can become a bit expensive.

If your friend needs anymore help perhaps they can hit me up via the contact details you will find at the end of the link in my sig.

I'm sure your friend will love this country but tell them to pack some warm clothes - Western Australia in winter can be a bit on the cool side

yeah where exactly is 'here'

thanks "other steve"
She is a horse trainer and hopes to get on for the summer at a ranch training horses, she has done this in Finland and the UK, when she applies she only asks for room/board and only enough money to live off off and see the sights.
Since she will be on a ranch, it will probably be outside of town a bit, she is just looking for public transportation so she can get aroudn and see things and also wants to know any "must see" places for tourists if you know of any.

Venus

If she wanted to tow a horse float around then she really would need to buy her own vehicle and she should expect to pay at least $5K plus for a used car that would be capable of reliably towing a trailer of that size.

Your friend will also find that the exchange rate is gradually getting worse so she won't get as much for her US dollars as she might think.

Every Australian country town has a tourist information office these days and I'm sure she will find all the information she needs about 'must see' places not only in the locality where she is but in the State as well.

Sorry Venus - for some reason I thought you said she wanted to tow a horse float but after re-reading your post I see I must have been dreaming

Still, a good used vehicle that will get her around in some outlying places will still set her back around the same price I mentioned before.

You can certainly get cheaper cars but if she is going to be out of town she will still want something that's reliable.

Although that said, most of the country towns outside of Perth don't have much public transport at all, other than the occasional busses. But thats really to be expected.

How long is your friend planning on staying in Australia? will they be travelling to any of the other states? Does she want to know some of the places she SHOULD visit? (if she is in perth, she has got to visit monkey mia) And will she be visiting any of the other states or cities?

FYI, i live in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia ... wouldnt want to live in any other country in the world either.

Hi Venus,

Just put my 2cents in too.

Public transport in Aus is some of the best in the world. However, she could just rent a car or whatever from the airport, and drive wherever she wants.
LMK if you want some rental links for cars or anything. A American licence is fine for driving here I'm pretty sure (is for us driving over in US), however, she will need to get used to driving on the LHS of the road though.

The public transport HERE in Melbourne.. .is quite shit compared to where I live in europe. It costs a LOT.

Most Australian's think they have nice public transport because they have never been anywhere else in the world, except possibly the UK or USA where they also have shit public transport.

But, I am enjoying the country, actually I love it I was born here so I'm true blue :P

she is planning on going there june or july and will be there untill september or october.

Australia is not that big is it? from a map, it looks to be about as big as one of our small states so she will probably be traveling to other states.

what is monkey mia?

You all drive on the wrong side of the road in australia?
I am going to make sure she knows that

She is wanting to see "the outback"
like crocadile dundee stuff

You're either joking or retarded

oh, so its as big as the US or russia or china?

I have no idea how big it is, I am just looking at it on a map program.

Its pretty fuckin big mate ... Then again, i suppose that depends what you compare it too.

Monkey Mia is just one of the towns on the coast of western australia that springs to mind as a good tourist destination. You get into the water and play around with the dolphins, its really quite surreal.

Well, if she travels to some of the other states, there is plenty of stuff to do ... and if she wants to experience the outback, probably no better way to do it than by driving from state to state ...

I like her attitude though, most tourists just want to climb the sydney harbour bridge or go surfing at the gold coast.

Australia is about the same size as the continental US (that's the US without Alaska or Hawaii)

I'm from Perth
The transportation is very good here at the moment, shouldn't have any problems at all... (Around Perth that is), but around australia there is only plane really, they do have trains but they cost about as much as just getting on the plane so its not really worth it...

I live in perth, the public transportation is excellent.

Your friend can go to www.transperth.wa.gov.au and see what its like in the particular area she is staying in, because it does vary a bit.

Even that may not quite put it in perspective for you Venus. Australia is so big and so sparsely populated (thanks to some very inhospitable climate) that in the north west of Australia there are some cattle stations that are bigger than several of your smaller states combined.

It's a big place with a lot of friendly people.

I'm from Perth, though currently living in Las Vegas, I go back usually a couple times a year. I have also lived and worked in many different areas of the state of Western Australia as well as several other cities in USA and Europe. Perth is still my favorite. It is a cleaner, friendlier, cheaper and safer version of San Diego. So few visitors to Australia see it though as they stick to Sydney with a quick trip to Queensland most of the time.

If she is staying out of the city or even on the outskirts, she will need a car to get around. For a three month trip, she could look for a good monthly rate from a place like http://www.bayswatercarrental.com.au/ (maybe ~US$2500 + mileage for a small car) or buy a car for $4-5000 and hope it lasts as was suggested earlier, but then you gotta sell it at the end.

There is a lot to do and see in and around Perth and of course elsewhere in http://www.westernaustralia.com/en/ . It all depends on what time she will have off. It is "cold" and rainy for a lot of the Winter unless you go North. There are plenty of weekend destinations 1-5 hours away. If she has a week or more off she can head up the coast.

Compared to the US, gas is expensive as are domestic airfares.

I can guarantee you she will love it there, everybody does

How is it that possible?

I'm not trying to pick on you I just cannot get my head around it

Buy a car

after reading some of the posts I decided to do some research on Australia, pretty interesting
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Australia is the sixth largest country in the world. It's about the same size as the 48 mainland states of the USA and 50 per cent larger than Europe, but has the lowest population density in the world - only two people per square kilometre.
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With 24 million head of cattle, Australia is the world's largest exporter of beef.
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The world's longest continuous fence known as the 'dingo fence', runs through central Queensland for 5,531 kilometres. It is 1.8 metres high and is designed to keep sheep safe from Australia's native dog.
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Australia's 140 million sheep (mostly merinos), found on around 53,000 properties, produce more than 70 per cent of the world's wool.
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Coober Pedy in South Australia is known as the opal capital of the world. Its population is made up of more than 40 nationalities and, with year-round extremes in temperature, more than 50 per cent of the population live in below-ground 'dugouts'

I am going to tell her some people said transportation was good, but most suggested buying or renting a car

buy a car then sell it, never used public transport myself in australia but here on the gold coast there's no subway, or trains running between the suburbs.
lots of taxis tho.

Hi there,

Yeh, I'm sure you have a point, I've only been to the states where the transport was just fucking terrible, although the rail service was ok, everything else was shit. I thought Melb was pretty cheap, but it all depends what your comparing it to and your exchange rate. Have you tried getting the weekly pass tickets or daily tickets that allow you full access to all around Melbourne? Not that I've used them, but I think Melbourne is an awesome city, I'm biased though.

Buy a car/trailer.........

Its usually a fews days drive between cites

For instance 5 days ez driving between Sydny and Perth - The train is very expensive as well

well across the Nullarbor would be easy anyhow, just tie a rope to the steering wheel to keep it pointed straight and go to sleep

G'day MATE

Well, since the bloody entire public transport in melb is privatised, it's about twice as expensive as it used to be.

Yeah I suppose I really should say that it's not at all THAT bad, but considering it used to take me 2 hours to get from the s.e. suburbs to latrobe uni, because I needed to get 1 tram, two trains, and 1 bus just to get there. It imprinted on my mind that the service is shit, when actually it's not too bad. There's just not enough of it.

Additionally, my leetle brother has a job cleaning trains ( ), and finds all kinds of the most disgusting shit (literally) on them you can imagine. It reminds me that a lot of the inner-city trains are often filthy inside.

Maybe I'm a perfectionist, but I think a lot of problems could be solved by having a really really good public transport system.

I have not met one American that likes Australia more than USA.

and why would you?

- Australia's cost of living is twice as much.
- Everything is more expensive, except pizza.
- High AUD$ = bad for US travelers coming over.
- Our country closes down at 5pm. Nothing is open except 7 eleven after this time.
- Tightasses everywhere.. nobody can relax and girls are super stuckup

Here's a bit of trivia for you aussies. Remember the First Fleet :D? Well when I was in grade 9 at school, we studied australian history (all of 1 semester), and during our exam, something totally blew my mind away. We had to analyse a letter from one 'Nathanial Lucas'; a letter he'd written from Australia back to his family (he was a prisoner convicted of stealing a loaf of bread and was promptly shipped off to australia).

Well, the thing I couldn't believe is that he's the very man who was the anscestor of my mother and therefore myself. I mean, this was my great great great great something or other that they were all answering questions about on the exam. I was thrilled!

Ok I probably haven't convinced anyone that it was an amazing occurrance, but to me it was, because I'd been trying to find information about him since learning from my mother of his existence, and had only found his name listed in some list.

Kewl huh... I'm descended from a crook and one of the first inhabitants of Australia

LOL - The first person I met in Australia was an American who had moved to Australia 5 years ago

The cost of living in Australia is not twice as much as the US

High AUD$ actually makes imported things cheaper

Where I lived in Sydney, there were 5 bars within a 10 minute walk. 2 of the bars were open 24 hours a day.

I've been to over 20 countries and I would say Australians are some of the most laid back and relaxed people in the world.

Ok, I wouldn't go as so far as to say that Australia has the best in the world.

Australia's public transport is nowhere near as good as that in Europe (which incidently, is nowhere near as good as that in HongKong / Singapore etc), but you have to bear in mind - Australia a very, very large place.

For example, you can walk from one side of brisbane city to the other, and as such, we have only 2 train stations for the city- however - the trains extend over 150-200 kilometers on the LOCAL line.

Buses, trains and ferries, in Brisbane, cost about $1,50 - $2,00 Australian for a single way transfer, or about #3-5 US for an all day ticket.

Getting from state to state, or major city to major city is, as mentioned, also easy, with out discount air lines. They're not as cheap as the easy* or Maersk in the EU, but again - the distances are much greater.

Compare the cost of rail travel in the UK to Australia - to go from London > Manchester return, it will cost you over 100Pounds.
In france, for a 6 hour train journey (Paris > Figeac) - you're looking at about 80Euro.

In australia, a similar train cost will be less than an airfare, at around 90$ Australian (30Pounds, or 45 or so Euro)

1) The cost of living is reliative. If you've living in Sydney, it's going to be a Sydney cost of living, but you will be earning a Sydney wage. Ditto for Brisbane, etc.
In general - compared to London - at least 1/3 the cost of living, compared to Paris, perhaps 1/2, and compared to HongKong - about the same (HK's cheap food + clothes balances out the insane cost of land)

2) I think you're totally wrong. Without sounding condascending, I'd love to know where else you've travelled.

3) Yes, the US$ is getting stronger for Australians at the moment. Sure, it used to be .54 3 years ago, and is now .79 - but this is a Weaker US dollar, not a stronger Australian dollar. The Euro and Pound remain unchanged - so it's hard for Americans wherever they go.

4) Closing at 5PM? You're out of your mind. Supermarkets here close at 9 - 10PM in the evening. Cafe and restraunts at 12AM on weeknights, later on weekdays.
Bars, pubs and clubs close up to 5AM - compare this to ALL bars closing at 10PM in the UK. I've walked around Paris at 11PM on a Saturday night, and found only 1 convenience store open, and practically everything is dead in Virborg after 10PM.

5) Please, if you're visiting Australia, ignore this guy. Australians are acknowledged internationally as being friendly, forward and helpful. The women are generally lovely, and if you come up to Brisbane, you'll be shocked at how little they actually wear.
Again- if you've got a problem with an entire country of people, perhaps it's not the country.

That all aside, it's a great place to travel to, and I can say that having travelled quite a bit throughout Asia, the UK and the middle East.

If your friend loves to drive or seeing the countryside, she MUST do the "Great Ocean Road" - http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au/ - which will show some of the loveliest, lushest side of Australia, and take you through Melbourne, the 'cultural captial' of Australia.

If she's a wine fan, she'll know that Australian wines are internationally acclaimed, and Queensland has many, many boutique vineyards that can be visited.

Anyhow - if you need more info, ask some of the friendlier GFY members ;)

Alternate universes DO exist, because you must be in one

Just because you didn't get laid, doesn't mean you should hate Australia