Sydney & Melbourne Living Costs – How to budget
How much do I need to budget per week to live in Sydney or Melbourne? Well read below and you will have all the information you need to work this out!
Let’s get into some numbers; we will be looking at the cost of getting you to Sydney or Melbourne and what it will cost to live there.
The individual living costs in Sydney and Melbourne vary slightly, but the overall cost of living in either city is about the same.
Please note that while we have tried to give an accurate account of typical costs, everyone spends money differently! There is an expensive way and a more cost effective way to approach your time in Sydney.
“If you eat out every night and party every night then you will spend a lot of money”.(Sam, Bournemouth University – 2009 marketing internship – Sydney)
All of the accommodation we can put you in touch with will have full cooking facilities for you to cook at home as much as you want.
Now some research is going to be needed on your part, so we have included a couple of websites you will be able to get quotes from so you can tailor your budget.
We also have some of our students writing on the blog, about how much they are spending each week in Sydney or Melbourne.
Costs before you leave
We have detailed these in UK pounds, if you are in Europe, USA or Canada it pays to check your local travel agent to get a quote on how much these costs will come to.
| Flights | £500/ £900 (return) | The best place to research flights is online. As long as you are flying outside of the Christmas period and school holidays, flights to Australia are quite reasonable.
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| Insurance | £40/ £150 | It pays to look around, it also pays not to take the cheapest quote you find! Check out the article on:
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| Visa Cost |
230 (Australian $) | Your Australian Working Holiday visa is applied for online through the Australian Immigration website, Intern Options will provide you with the links and assistance to do this. |
Living costs in Australia
All living costs in Australia are detailed below in Australian dollars, so you will need to look up the current exchange rate to UK pounds or US dollars or Euros to add these to your budget.
| Accommodation | A$150/ 290+ pw | Intern Options can provide you with 5-7 accommodation options in Sydney. This is done after we have confirmed your Internship and you know what area of Sydney you will be working in.
. Accommodation can be sharing 2/3 people to a room to cut costs, or your own room within a house. This usually includes all utility bills and sometimes wireless internet
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| Food | A$100-150 pw | This cost depends on how many meals you eat out per week which can increase this cost a lot. |
| Transport | A$20-35 pw | Transport costs in Sydney will be bus, underground, ferry’s and for Melbourne also trams. This cost will depend on how far from work you live. |
| Entertainment | $ ?? | This is so hard to guestimate as everyone is different, have a look at the list below for some common areas you will spend money on entertainment |
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This should give you a start on budgeting for your 2010 summer internship. Excluding entertainment you should budget between A$300 and A$600 per week for rent and living costs .
Below are some estimated costs for entertainment, they are all in Australian dollars so you will need to divide them by the current exchange rate.
| Movies | $15 |
| Eating Out | $30+ |
| Take away food | $10 – $15 |
| Lunch in a café | $8 – $10 |
| Cup of coffee | $2.50 – £3.50 |
| Fast food (McDonalds, KFC, food courts) | $5 – $10 |
| Nightclub entrance | $10 – £25 |
| Pint of beer (570 ml) | $5 – $7 |
| Taxi | $1.55 per kilometre |
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Any questions or comments we would love to hear them, you can leave a comment at the bottom of the page or click through to our Facebook page where you will find over 4,000 students asking questions and giving feedback on their internships.
To see example company and position descriptions in your subject area, click through to the Summer 2011 Internships page for full details.
To talk through the kind of internship we can look at for you in 2010, or if you have any questions on Australia or New Zealand, pick up the phone and call the experts on 0207 353 7699.
